LIBRARY 

OF  TIM. 

University  of  California. 

OIKT  OK 

Received           tTV^.               ,  i^m.    V^OO           1 
Accession  No.  /  S  O"  0  ui .    CLns  No.' 

1 

A  NATIONAL  INSTITUTION  OEVOTED  TO  THE  EXTENSION  OF  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCE. 


W.  P.  WILSON,  Director. 

BUREAU  OF  INFORMATION. 

WILLIAM  HARPER.  Chief. 

fOREIGlV  DBPARTMBXT. 

WILFRED  H.  SCHOFF,  Chief. 


m^wmm/m^mi 


'my 


Cable  Address : 
Museums,"  Philadelphia. 

All  standard  codes  used. 

BANKERS, 

h'ourth  Street  National  Bank,  Philadelphia. 


BOARD    OF    TRUSTEES 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  BOARD  Of  PUBLIC  EDUCATION.        CHARLES  H.  CRAMP.         WILLIAM  I.  ELKINS.        J.  C.  STBAWBRIDGI, 

DANIEL  6AUGH.  W.W.  FOULKROD.  CHARLES  F.  WARWICK, 

SIMON  GRATZ,  JOHN  WANAMAKER. 

GEORGE  F.  EDMUNDS.      THOMAS  MEEHAN.  P.  A,  B.  WIDENER. 

SYDNEY  L,  WRIGHT.  MRS.  CORNELIUS  STEVENSON,  SC.  D. 


THE  GOVERNOR  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

THE  MAYOR  OF  PHILADELPHIA.  THE  SUPERINTENDENT  01-  PUBLIO  SCHOOLS, 

THE  PRESIDENT  OF  SELECT  COUNCIL,       THE  STATE  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  PUBLIC  INSTRUCTION.        THOMAS  DOLAN 
THE  PRESIDENT  OF  COMMON  COUNCIL     THE  STATE  FORESTRY  COMMISSIONER. 
EX  OFFICIO  MEMBERS  OF  THE  BOARD. 


Dear  Sir: 


Accept  this  copy  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  International 
Commercial  Congress  with  the  compliments  and  best  wishes  of  this 
Institution. 

The  edition  is  limited  and  nearly  exhausted,  but  so  long 
as  they  last,  additional  copies  will  be  furnished  to  those  desir- 
ing them,  at  $2.00  per  volume,  the  actual  cost  of  production. 
Postage,  30  cents,  will  be  extra)  or  the  volume  will,  if  preferred, 
be  sent  by  express,  at  recipient's  expense. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMERCIAL  MUSEUM. 
January  15,  1900. 


V^n^^Toe^-.. 


C.A.GREEN,  WILLIAM   HARPER, 

AsS'T  Chief,  Bureau  of  Information,      Chief,  Buheau  of  Information. 


WILFRED  H.  SCHOFF, 
Chief,  Foreign  Department. 


DR.  GUSTAVO  NIEDERLEIN,  DR.  WILLIAM   P.  WILSON, 

Chief,  Scientific  Department.  Director. 


E    W.  S.  TINGLE, 
Assistant  to  the  Director. 


OFFICIAL  PROCEEDINGS 


OF   THE 


INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL 

CONGRESS 


A  Conference  of  all  Nations  for  the  Extension  of  Commercial  Intercourse 


HELD   UNDER   THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE 


PHILADELPHIA  COMMERCIAL  MUSEUM 


IN   THE 


CITY   OF   PHILADELPHIA 


October  12  to  November  i,  1899 
tTNIVERSITY  1) 


PRESS  OF 
THE   PHILADELPHIA  COMMERCIAL   MUSEUM 


^\f«'' 


EDITED  BY 

WILLIAM   MILL    BUTLER 

Philadelphia  Coniniercial  MuSfum 


PREFACE 


In  presenting  to  the  govemmenta  and  the  commercial 
world  in  general  this  official  account  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  first  International  Commercial  Congress,  it  may  not 
be  inappropriate  to  add  a  few  words  by  way  of  preface. 

The  Congress,  as  stated  by  the  Director  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Commercial  Museum,  at  the  closing  session,  was  not 
the  work  of  a  day,  or  a  week,  or  a  mouth,  but  of  several 
years  of  earnest  thought  and  effort.  It  was,  in  fact,  the 
natural  outgrowth  of  the  work  of  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum.  The  plan  of  this  Institution  included 
from  the  start  the  organization  of  an  Advisory  Board  com- 
posed of  representatives  in  various  countries,  and  the  first 
annual  meeting  of  this  body  was  held  in  the  City  of  Phil- 
adelphia, in  1896.  At  that  time  the  membership  included 
representatives  from  boards  of  trade,  chambers  of  com- 
merce and  other  organizations  in  the  TTnited  States  and  two 
foreign  countries.  During  the  year  following,  its  member- 
ship was  extended  widely  throughout  Mexico  and  Central 
and  South  Ameiica,  until  over  40  Chambers  of  Commerce 
were  included.  At  the  second  annual  meeting,  from  June 
1st  to  4:th,  1897,  sixteen  countries  were  represented  by 
delegates,  either  from  Chambers  of  Commerce  or  other 
commercial  bodies,  while  several  republics,  notably  Mexico 
and  Brazil,  sent  representatives,  appointed  by  their  chief 
executives.  This  gathering  took  on  a  much  broader  char- 
acter than  the  previous  one,  and  was  known  as  the  Pan- 
American  Commercial  Congress.  At  the  second  day's 
session,  the  Hon.  William  McKinley,  President  of  the 
United  States,  made  a  memorable  address,  formally  inaug- 
urating the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  as  a  public 
institution.  An  extract  from  this  address,  and  an  outline 
of  the  work  of  the  Museum  mil  be  found  in  the  latter  part 
of  this  volume. 

The  Pan-American  Commercial  Congress  demonstrated 
the  international  character  of  our  Institution  and  showed 
that  it  was  qualified  to  bring  about  closer  and  better  trade 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  foreign  countries. 
The  visiting  delegates  were  brought  into  touch  with  the 
manufacturers  and  business  men  of  this  country,  to  their 
mutual  interest  and  benefit,  by  means  of  excursions  to  the 
principal  cities  of  the  United  States.  As  a  result,  a  lai-ge 
amount  of  business  was  transacted,  and  many  new  and  val- 
uable connections  were  made  by  the  visitors. 

This  natiirally  led  to  the  idea  of  a  special  exposition 
of  American  manufactures  suitable  for  export,  and  such 
an  exposition  was  determined  upon,  to  be  held  in  connec- 
tion with  the  next  Commercial  Congress.     Active  prepa- 


rations were  begim  and  carried  on  amceasingly,  until  on 

September  14,  1899,  the  National  Export  Exposition  was 
duly  opened,  and  on  October  12tli  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress  was  called  to  order  in  the  large  audi- 
torium of  the  Exposition  building. 

Of  the  Exposition  much  might  be  said.  That  it  served 
its  pui-pose  well  (despite  difficulties  and  drawbacks  incident 
to  the  organization  of  an  enterprise  of  this  kind  at  a  time 
when  American  manufacturers  were  overwhelmed  with  or- 
ders at  home)  there  is  ample  testimony.  Its  financial  suc- 
cess was  pronounced,  and  over  a  million  and  a  quarter  of 
\asitors  were  admitted  from  September  14th  to  December 
2d,  the  day  upon  which  its  dooi-s  were  i-eluctantly  closed. 

The  history  of  the  Intel-national  Commercial  Congress 
is  best  told  in  the  proceedings  contained  in  this  volume. 
We  may  state  briefly,  however,  that  thirty-eight  foreign 
governments  responded  to  the  invitation  by  sending  forty- 
six  delegates  to  the  Congi-ess.  The  governments  were  as 
follows: 

Argentine  Republic,  Austria,  Bahama  Islands,  Belgium, 
Bermuda,  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Canada,  Chile,  China,  Costa 
Rica,  Cuba,  Ecuador,  Germany,  Great  Britain,  Greece, 
Guatemala,  Haiti,  Hawaiian  Islands,  Honduras,  Jamaica, 
Japan,  Leeward  Islands,  Liberia,  Mexico,  New  South 
Wales,  New  Zealand,  Nicaragua,  Peru,  Paraguay,  Queens- 
land, Roumania,  Russia,  Salvador,  South  Australia,  Uru- 
guay, Venezuela  and  Victoria. 

Three  other  governments,  those  of  Newfoundland,  the 
South  African  Republic  and  Persia,  appointed  delegates, 
but  circimistances  prevented  their  attendance. 

Foreign  chambers  of  commerce  and  trade  organizations 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  to  the  number  of  164,  appointed 
286  delegates  to  the  Congress.  There  were  actually  in  at- 
tendance 151  delegates  representing  112  such  organizations. 
The  delegates  were  men  of  fine  standing  and  business  ca- 
pacity— the  foremost  in  the  interests  of  the  fifty-five  coun- 
tries from  which  they  came.  These  countiies  were  the 
same  as  those  given  above,  with  the  following  additions: 
Africa,  Arabia,  British  Guiana,  Ceylon,  Colombia,  Den- 
mark, France,  Hungary,  India,  Italy,  Madeira,  Norway, 
Portugal,  Spain,  Sweden,  Turkey  and  Western  Australia. 

The  Congress  was  in  session  seventeen  days,  from  October 
12th  to  November  1st,  and  was  presided  over  by  distin- 
guished business  and  professional  men  who  were  called 
upon  from  day  to  day  to  guide  the  discussions.  Among 
these  were:  The  Hon.  David  J.  Hill,  Assistant  Secretary 
of  State:  Hon.  Thoimas  Brackett  Reed,  ex-Speaker  of  the 


PREFACfc 


Hf  Representatives;   Hon.   Boies  Penrose,   United 

States  Senator  from  Pennsylvania;  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  Di- 
rector of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museiun  and  Di- 
rectoi^General  of  the  National  Export  Exposition ;  Sir  Eod- 
orick  Cameron,  hea<i  of  R.  W.  Cameron  &  Co.,  Australia 
and  Xt'w  York:  Ihni.  Cornelius  N.  Jili.ss,  cx-Sc'cn'tary  of 
the  Tiitei-ior:  Hon.  J-lverctt  Frazar,  Consul-Ciencral  of 
Korea  and  President  of  the  American- Asiatic  Association; 
Hon.  Scth  Low,  President  of  Columbia  University,  New 
York;. Hon.  Henry  H.  Bingham,  member  of  Congress 
from  Pbiladcli)hia;  Hon.  J.  C.  Monaghan,  U.  S.  Consul 
at  Chemnitz,  Gennany;  Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.,  member 
of  Congress  from  Philadelphia;  Hon.  George  H.  Anderson, 
ex-State  Senator,  Secretary  and  Manager  Pittsburg  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce;  Henry  W.  Peabody,  Esq.,  New  York; 
Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill,  Director  Bureau  of  American  Re- 
publics, "Washington,  D.  C. ;  Hon.  Innng  P.  Wanger,  mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  Norristown,  Pa.;  Hon.  Charles  H. 
Duoll,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Patents;  Hon.  Dr.  James 
Johnston,  of  Kingston,  Jamaica;  and  Sir  Horace  Tozer, 
Agent  General  in  London  for  the  Government  of  Queens- 
land, Australia. 

There  were  presented  for  the  consideration  of  the  Con- 
gress 150  papers  and  addresses  on  subjects  of  vital  interest 
to  the  e.vtension  of  international  commerce,  and  the  well- 
being  and  comity  of  nations.  An  indication  of  their  usej- 
fulness  and  value  may  be  obtained  from  a  glance  at  the  in- 
dex, whirl]  will  be  found  at  the  end  of   this  publication. 

Resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Congress  upon  the  fol- 
lowing subjects:  In  favor  of  the  assimilation  of  trade-mark 
laws  and  the  establishment  of  a  common  standard;  in  favor 
of  the  extension  of  the  parcels-post  system;  in  favor  of  a 
uniform  system  of  gathering  and  presenting  trade  statistics; 
in  favor  of  an  international  bureau  for  the  collection  and 
dissemination  of  the  agricultural  reports  of  commercial  na- 
tions as  to  their  cereals;  recommending  to  the  various  gov- 


ernments and  commercial  bodies  the  Philad6li)hia  Commer- 
cial Museum  and  enlisting  for  it  their  active  co-o]j©ratiou ; 
in  favor  of  the  creation  of  international  courts  of  arbitra- 
tion; urging  the  construction  of  an  Isthmian  canal  on  the 
Western  Hemisphere  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment; 
favoring  the  free  exchange  of  art  and  artistic  works  be- 
tween nations;  calling  attention  of  capital  to  the  opportun- 
ity for  the  formation  of  new  international  transportation 
lines;  and  extending  the  tlianks  of  the  Congress  to  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  the  Mayor  of  the  City,  the 
Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museiun,  and  the 
various  commercial  and  other  bodies  and  individuals  who 
helped  to  make  the  stay  of  the  delegat/cs  a  pleasant  and 
memorable  one. 

Arrangements  were  made  to  secure  frequent  meetings 
between  the  foreign  delegates  and  visitors  and  the  manu- 
facturers of  this  country,  especially  the  exhibitors  at  the 
National  Export  Exposition.  Many  delegates  from  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce  and  Boards  of  Trade  in  the  United  States 
also  attended  the  Congress,  and  one  of  the  most  important 
influences  for  future  legislation  will  come  from  personal 
contact  and  acquaintance  thus  made  at  the  Congress. 

It  has  been  deemed  jwopcr  that  there  should  be  presented, 
in  connection  with  this  record  of  the  proceedings,  the  poi^ 
traits  and  biographical  sketches  of  as  many  of  the  delegates 
as  possible;  also  the  portraits  of  the  presiding  officers  and 
others  prominently  identified  with  the  success  of  the  gi-eat 
gathering.  We  are  happy  to  be  able  to  present  a  majority 
of  the  faces  of  the  foreign  delegates,  but  regret  that  more 
of  the  pictures  of  those  from  this  country  could  not  be 
secured  in  time. 

Witli  these  few  remarks,  and  with  the  hope  that  this 
International  Commercial  Congress  may  prove  the  fore- 
runner of  many  notable  gatherings  of  this  kind  in  the  fu- 
ture, we  take  pleasure  in  submitting  the  proceedings  in 
their  carefully  corrected  form. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


FIRST    DAY'S   SESSION— OPENING    CEREMONIES. 


Philadelphia,  Thursday,  October  12,  1899. 

The  ceremonies  attending  the  opening  of  the  Internation:il 
Commercial  Congress  began  in  the  Auditorium,  at  3.58  p.  ui., 
with  music  on  the  grand  organ. 

At  eight  minutes  past  3  o'clock  the  Diplomatic  Corps  ap- 
peared upon  the  stage,  followed  by  the  entrance  of  the  dele- 
gates from  the  foreign  Governments  in  their  respective  places. 

The  United  States  Marine  Band  then  played  Sousa's  "The 
S<tars  and  Stripes  Forever,"  followed  by  another  piece  enti- 
tled "The  National  Prayer." 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  the  delegates  had  not  yet  ar- 
rived. Dr.  Wilson  requested  that  another  piece  be  played, 
which  was  done,  the  selection  being  entitled  "The  National 
Bride." 

At  3.30  o'clock  the  Hon.  George  F.  Edmunds,  ex-Senator 
from  Vermont  (now  of  Philadelpliia),  stepped  forward  and 
opened  the  convention  with  a  few  remarks. 

Hon.  George  F.  Edmunds: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  my  privilege,  speaking  for 
the  Trustees  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  to  say 
that  we  had  expected  that  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the 
United  States  would  be  able  to  be  present  and  preside  at  this 
opening  meeting  of  the  Congress.  Imperative  and  long-made 
engagements — tlie  day  for  this  meeting  having  been  neces- 
sarily changed — ^prevented  him  from  doing  so.  In  his 
stead  has  come,  as  representing  the  Government  of  the 
LMted  States,  the  Assistant  Secretaiy  of  State  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  as  you  gentlemen  in  other  countries  call  it,  to  be 
present,  at  this  opening  Congress,  intended  to  promote  the 
increase  of  trade,  of  friendships,  and  mutual  good-will,  among 
all  nations,  and  to  give  himself  the  pleasure,  on  the  part  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  to  bid  you  welcome. 

I  have  the  honor  to  present  the  Honorable  David  J.  Hill, 
Assistant  Secretar}'  of  State. 

Hon.  David  J.  Hill: 

Delegates  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress,  Your 
Honor  tihe  Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  the  Director  of  the  Export 
Exposition,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  As  the  dignity  of  human 
labor  is  derived  from  the  happiness  it  confers  upon  mankind, 
the  more  widely  its  benefits  are  distributed,  the  more  noble 
it  becomes.  The  patient  toiler,  whether  in  the  field,  the 
mine,  the  factoi^  or  the  great  agencies  of  transportation, 
can  entertain  no  more  worthy  sentiment  than  that  inspired 
by  the  thought  that  his  toiling  and  his  skill  are  destined  to 
satisfy  the  needs  of  some  fellow-being,  and  awaken  a  thrill  of 
pleasure  in  some  unknown  recipient  as  the  reivard  of  his 
activities.  All  too  slowly,  but  none  the  less  surely,  men 
have  learned  that  it  is  better  and  nobler  to  feed  and  clothe 
and  help  one  another  than  to  rob  and  plunder  and  destroy. 
(Applause.) 

The  lessons  of  beneficient  industry  which  have  lighted  the 


fires  of  happy  homes,  which  have  been  learned  after  centu- 
ries of  savage  battle,  and  built  up  peaceful  communities  in 
every  State  of  the  civihzed  world,  are  at  last  being  learned 
by  great  nations  also,  and  peaceful  ships  of  State,  without 
fear  of  piracy,  traverse  the  great  international  highways  of 
the  deep,  bearing  the  fruits  of  the  soil  and  the  products  of 
the  loom  and  factory  to  distant  peoples.  Commerce  spreads 
the  white  wings  of  her  peaceful  sails  on  the  barren  sea,  and 
the  joy  of  mutual  exchange  and  reciprocal  service  springs 
up  in  the  hearts  of  men.  The  great  oceans  which  have 
divided  them  during  the  long  morning  sleep  of  human  intel- 
ligence now  bind  them  together  in  closest  intercourse,  and 
the  word  "stranger,"  once  synonymous  with  "enemy,"  has 
become  potential  with  friendship.     (Applause.) 

The  convocation  of  this  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress in  this  city  at  this  time  is  a  significant  token  of  the 
world's  progress.  It  reassures  us  that  the  independence  of 
nations,  which  is  essential  to  their  existence  and  well-being, 
is  not  inconsistent  with  their  social  and  economic  interde- 
pendence. It  gives  hope  and  promise  that  the  asperities  of 
commercial  competition  may  be  tempered  with  the  ameni- 
ties of  generous  and  intelligent  co-operation.  It  indicates 
the  disposition  on  the  part  of  all  portions  of  the  civilized 
world  to  secure  the  widest  possible  distribution  of  the  bless- 
ings arising  from  the  achievements  of  the  potent  and  prolific 
century  in  which  we  dwell.  It  is  a  mark  of  high  honor  to 
the  Government  of  the  United  States,  as  well  as  to  the  city 
and  corporation  in  whose  name  the  invitations  have  been  ex- 
tended through  the  embassies  and  legations  of  the  govern- 
ment, tha.t  delegates  from  all  the  civilized  and  commercial 
countries  of  the  globe  and  more  than  200  representatives  of 
foreign  Chambers  of  Commerce,  have  conferred  upon  these 
meetings  the  distinction  of  their  presence.     (Applause.) 

If  the  problem  of  economic  distribution  can  be  rightly 
solved,  there  will  not  be  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth  a  single 
human  being  capable  of  rendering  a  social  service  whose 
legitimate  needs  may  noft  be  satisfied. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  (applause)  has  great 
pleasure  in  this  signal  indication  of  interest  in  the  Interna- 
tional Commercial  Congress,  and  has  expressed  the  desire 
that  it  may  form  a  bond  of  closer  imion  between  this  and  all 
the  coimtries  represented.     (Applause.) 

May  this  reunion  prove  a  permanent  aid  and  an  incalcu- 
lable inspiration  to  the  commerce  and  amenities  of  the  world. 
(Applause.) 

The  band  then  played  "International  Congress"— a  medley 
of  national  airs — "America"  being  played  first,  and  ending 
with  "The  Star  Spangled  Banner."     (Great  applause.) 

Hon.  David  J.  Hill: 

It  is  my  great  privilege  to  present  to  this  audience  his 
Honor,  Mr.  Ashbridge,  the  Mayor  of  Philadelphia.  (Ap- 
plause.) 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Hon.  Samuel  11.  Ashhridge,  Mayor  of  Philadelphia: 

Mr.  OhaiiTnaii  and  Gentlemen:  A  million  and  a  half  of 
jK'ople,  constiinting  llie  first  American  city  of  the  continent, 
through  me,  as  their  Chief  Executive,  cordially  welcome  the 
delegate  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress  gathered 
here  to-day  in  tlie  interest  of  peace  and  progress.  The  greet- 
ino-  is  not  perfunctory,  but  is  kindled  by  the  whole-souled 
hospitality  for  which  Philadelphia  and  Philadelphians  are 
famous  the  whole  world  round.  Distinguished,  as  it  is,  as 
a  city  of  homes,  with  a  name  significant  of  brotherly  love, 
and  With  a  history  that  speaks  of  the  lessons  of  liberty  and 
points  to  a  liiglu'r  civilization.  Philadelphia  gladly  welcomes 
an  assemblage  whose  deliberations  can  so  greatly  foster  peace 
and  promote  progress. 

It  was  in  this  city  that  liberty  'vvas  proclaimed  througlimit 
the  land,  and  few  buildings  have  the  historic  interest  and 
arc  so  suggestive  of  the  development  ol  civilization  as  the 
little  structure  which  stands  in  the  centre  of  our  great  finan- 
cial disitrict  and  in  which  the  immortal  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  first  pronounced.  It  was  there  that  Washing- 
ton read  his  farewell  address,  a  monument  forever  of  lofty 
patriotism,  and  it  was  there  also  that  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation were  adopted  and  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  framed,  a  document  famous  in  every  nation  and 
clime  as  the  highest  exponent  of  true  liberty.  Here  it  was 
that  the  American  manufacturer  and  merchant  first  assumed 
pre-eminence.  The  ships  of  Stephen  Girard,  a  philanthro- 
pist, whose  great  estate  supports  and  educates  thousands  of 
our  youth,  circumnavigated  the  globe.  This  was  the  home 
of  the  great  financiers  and  statesmen  whose  impress  on  the 
early  history  of  our  country  was  as  wise  as  it  was  profound, 
and  in  the  old  city  one  meets  constantly  with  memorials  of 
the  giants  of  those  early  days. 

The  great  men  of  the  past  have  their  counterparts  to-day. 
The  fame  of  the  merchants,  mariners  and  maniifacturers  of 
earlier  times  is  equaled  if  not  surpassed  by  their  enterprising 
descendants.  The  ships  which  are  built  on  the  banks  of  the 
Delaware  carry  many  a  foreign  flag.  The  men  who  built 
tlie  Atbara  bridge  across  old  Father  Nile  have  but  recently 
returned  to  their  homes.  The  whistle  of  the  American  loco- 
motive awakens  the  echoes  of  the  Andes  and  startles  the  fur- 
clad  denizens  of  Siberia. 

The  cradle  of  liberty,  Philadelphia,  shares  in  the  triumphs 
of  peace.  It  is  commerce  which  conserves  peace,  for  com- 
merce is  the  life-blood  of  civilization  and  is  the  tie  which 
binds  all  people,  of  all  tongues,  in  the  fruitful  vocations  of 
peace.  It  is,  therefore,  peculiarly  fitting  that  a  Ciommercial 
Congress  made  up  of  the  representatives  of  the  great  nations 
of  the  earth,  of  the  great  markets  of  the  world,  should  as- 
semble here,  where  can  be  witnessed  a  people  thriving  and 
contented;  industries,  prosperous  and  exjianding,  and  insti- 
tutions elevated  and  beneficent  under  a  Constitution  whose 
provisions  were  wiser,  perhaps,  than  even  the  dream  of  the 
foimders  of  the  nation. 

Never  was  such  a  eo.smopolitan  gathering  witnessed  else- 
where; never  were  so  many  nations  and  peoples  assembled, 
by  representatives,  who  discuss  the  peaceful  arts  of  business. 
In  this  distinguished  assemblage  are  numbered  men  not  only 
from  surrounding  nations;  not  only  from  English-speaking 
people;  but  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe — even  from  Spain, 
now  fast  forgetting  the  late  unpleasantness.  The  Ti-ansvaal 
and  Cape  Colony,  around  which  the  dread  clouds  of  war  ai-c 
lowering,  let  us  hope,  never  to  break,  are  represented  here, 
together  with  the  American  nations  to  the  south  of  us,  all  of 
the  (Continental  powers  and  many  of  the  Oriental  potentates. 

That  such  a  gathering  is  possible  is  a  hopeful  sign  of  the 
times.  Nations  are  forsaking  the  panoply  of  arms  Un-  the 
no  less  glorious  triumphs  of  industry.  TJiat  the  meeting  is 
held  in  Pliiiadelphia  is  a  matter  of  pride  f^r  the  citizens, 


who  give  due  honor  to  the  foresight  of  those  whose  genius 
conceived  the  Commercial  Museum,  and  whose  intelligent 
and  unceasing  labors  have  contributed  to  the  success  of  this 
Exposition,  and  of  this  distinguished  gathering.  The  home 
of  liberty,  the  centre  of  progress  and  the  best  type  of  American 
municipalitv',  it  is  fitting  that  Philadel];ihia  should  lead  in 
the  contest  for  the  markets  of  the  world.  Our  country  has 
developed  in  population  and  resources;  we  have  outgrown 
our  own  needs,  and  now,  in  a  spirit  of  reciprocity,  we  are 
offering  our  products  for  those  of  other  climes  and  people. 

For  many  years  the  development  of  the  great  West  claimed 
all  oiir  resources  to  supply  the'  needs  of  the  settlements  in 
the  advancing  frontier.  Now,  however,  the  frontier  has 
crossed  the  Golden  (Jate,  and  exjiansion  has  taken  in  the 
distant  Phili])])ines  and  the  islands  of  the  Gulf.  The  West, 
long  past  the  day  of  need,  is  now  alive  with  enterprise  and 
alert  for  opportunities  of  trade.  The  time  has  come  to  turn 
to  other  markets,  and  Philadelphia  takes  the  lead. 

At  once  conservative  and  progressive  in  its  commercial 
relations,  enterprising  and  stable  in  its  financial  achieve- 
ments, Philadeljihia  rests  upon  the  secure  basis  of  the  con- 
tentment of  its  people;  with  a  population  of  more  than  a 
million  and  a  half,  the  number  of  separate  homes  in  the  city 
is  in  excess  of  two  hundred  thousand,  while  new  homes  are 
being  built  yearly  for  almost  fifty  thousand  people.  These 
homes  are  largely  owned  by  their  occupants,  who  have  won 
them  l\v  skill  and  thrift,  aided  by  building  associations,  which 
have  reached  a  degree  of  development  unknown  elsewhere; 
and  who  take  a  just  pride  and  pleasure  in  the  beauty  and 
comfort  of  their  environment.  The  city  has  more  than  six 
hundred  miles  of  asphalted  and  brick  pavements,  while  Broad 
street,  the  longest  and,  perhaps,  the  finest  thoroughfare  in 
the  world,  is  asphalted  its  entire  length.  Contented  at  home 
the  city  is  prompt  and  generous  in  its  answers  to  the  cause 
of  humanity.  Is  there  a  famine  in  Ireland,  Philadelphia 
is  the  first  to  send  relief.  Is  Russia  sounding  a  Macedonian 
cry,  a  Philadelphia  vessel  reaches  the  destitute  with  the  first 
relief.  The  starving  Puerto  Ricans  ei-y  for  help!  Philadel- 
phia hears  and  sends  the  first  cargo.  So  that  in  many  cor- 
ners of  the  earth,  people  can  rise  up  and  truly  bless  her  name. 

Its  great  medical  colleges;  its  high  classical  and  scientific 
schools;  its  many  public  institutions,  which  tend  to  the  ele- 
vation of  the  race,  bring  students  from  every  country  of  the 
world,  among  them  some  who  are  now  delegates  to  this  great 
Congress.  To  many  of  you,  therefore,  Philadelphia  is  not 
merely  a  name,  l)ut  a  token  of  open-handed  hospitality.  You 
have  experienced  its  welcome  in  the  past,  you  will  find  the 
same  glad  welcome  to-day. 

The  city  is  open  to  you;  metaphorically  I  hand  each  one 
cif  you  the  key.  The  people  of  Philadelphia,  knowing  that 
your  deliberations  cannot  fail  to  work  for  the  higher  civiliza- 
tion, the  progress  of  education  and  the  development  of  Con- 
gress, welcome  you  to  the  city  of  homes  and  the  birthplace 
of  American  liberty.     (Applause.) 

Ilun.  David  J.  Hill: 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  one  whom 
the  Philadeliihia  Commercial  Museum  and  the  National  Ex- 
port Ex]iosition  feel  greatly  indebted,  the  lion.  Senator 
George  F.  l^ilniunds,  of  X'ciniont. 

Iliiii.  tlciirijc  /•'.  I'ydiiiinid.i : 

I  shall  address  myself  but  a  very  few  moments  to  the 
gentlenu^n  dt'legated  to  this  Congress,  in  order  to  explain 
brielly  the  nature  of  the  Commercial  Museum,  under  whose 
chief  ausjiices  this  conventimi  has  assembled. 

I  have  the  honor,  since  its  early  organization,  (o  lie  one  of 
the  trustees  of  (his  establisliineni ;  not  a  private  corporation, 
not  a  body  of  gentlemen  serving  for  pay,  not  a  municipal 


FIRST  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER    12,    1899 


organization,  neither  a  State  nor  a  national  organization,  but 
an  international  one,  whose  purposes  and  designs  have  been, 
and  whose  work  has  been,  devoted  to  the  increase  of  intelli- 
gent commercial  intercourse  among  all  nations. 

It  has  gathered  in  its  museums,  year  after  year,  products 
of  almost  every  clime,  and  the  manufacturers  of  almost  every 
country  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  beginning  with  the  simplest 
raw  products  of  the  tropical  and  arctic  regions,  and  from 
everywhere,  in  order  that  our  artisans  and  manufacturers 
and  producers  of  manufactured  goods  could  see  where  they 
could  obtain  the  largest  and  best  means  for  developing  in- 
dustry and  the  products  of  the  United  States  through  the 
aid  of  our  brethren  in  every  other  coimtry,  who  were  able  to 
produce  things  that  the  climate  of  the  United  States  does 
not  produce. 

It  has  put  together  also,  as  I  have  said,  the  artificial  pro- 
ductions of  the  labor  of  men  of  all  kinds  and  descriptions 
in  order  that  our  citizens  and  manufacturers  could  have  an 
opportunity  of  seeing  where  and  from  whom  they  could 
obtain  most  advantageously  the  products  that  were  desired 
to  be  consumed.  It  has  also  assembled  the  productions,  raw 
and  manufactured,  of  our  own  people  of  every  description 
and.  kind  in  order  that  our  brethren  of  other  countries, 
coiaing  here  or  sending  here,  could  perceive  what  we  could 
do  and  make  comparison  for  a  mutual  interchange  of  product 
for  the  benefit  of  trade. 

It  has  established,  besides  that,  what,  in  a  short  manufac- 
turer's term,  would  be  termed  a  bureau  of  information;  but 
it  is  much  larger  than  that,  it  is  an  encyclopaedia  of  all  the 
commercial  relations  over  the  globe.  If  the  citizens  of 
Japan,  if  a  student  of  Russia,  if  a  gentleman  from  South 
American  States,  or  wherever  he  is,  wishes  to  know  where 
he  can  best  send  his  productions  in  the  United  States  and 
where  he  can  best  find  a  market  to  dispose  of  them,  taking 
into  account  the  cost  of  transportation,  custom  duties  and 
everything  that  enters  into  the  laws  of  transport  and  trade, 
five  minutes  by  letter,  or  ten  minutes  of  a  personal  visit  will 
point  that  gentleman  to  the  very  place  where  his  merchandise 
can  best  be  disposed  of  on  the  globe.  He  will  know  pre- 
cisely what  to  do  ■with  his  goods  in  this  country  or  in  any 
other,  and  where  to  dispose  of  his  goods  to  the  best  advantage. 

The  intercourse  of  nations  in  the  way  of  trade,  as  has  so 
well  been  said  by  the  Secretary  of  State  and  by  his  Honor, 
the  Mayor,  constitute  the  first  chord  of  unity  and  broth- 
erhood among  men.  It  is  for  these  purposes  and  for  these 
ends  that  this  Congress  has  been  invited  and  assem- 
bled, and  it  is  hoped  and  believed  that  the  discussion  of 
the  gentlemen,  your  visits  to  the  Museum  and  Exposition, 
your  comparison  of  views,  will  promote  every  grade  of  trade 
iu  its  largest  sense,  and  a  friendly  intercourse,  social  and 
otherwise,  between  all  coimtries,  and  will  bring  us  nearer 
and  nearer  to  that  goal  so  much  hoped  for  and  so  much  dis- 
appointed in  finding  yet — the  universal  peace.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  David  J.  Hill: 

It  is  not  necessary,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  I  should 
present  to  you  the  distinguished  citizen  of  Philadelphia,  a 
great  leader  of  the  movement  which  brings  us  together  on 
this  occasion.  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  director  of  the  Phdadelphia 
Commercial  Museum.     (Great  and  prolonged  applause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  welcome  here  to-dav  the 
diplomatic  bodies  assembled,  the  Governments  and  foreign 


delegates  who  have  come  from  all  commercial  countries, 
both  near  and  far,  which  represent  the  commerce  of  the 
world.  The  occasion  is  a  special  and  pecuhar  one.  The 
plans  for  this  Congress,  wliich  opens  here  to-day,  have  not 
been  trivially  arranged,  but  were  most  carefully  planned 
fully  two  years  ago. 

This  magnificant  gathering  of  representatives  from  every 
quarter  of  the  globe  owes  its  existence  to  the  Philadelphia 
Commercial  Museum.  This  institution  was  not  planned,  as 
its  name  might  indicate,  to  benefit  the  interests  of  Philadel- 
phia alone.  It  was  not  designed  to  help  only  such  as  might 
come  to  it  for  information  from  the  State  of  Pennsylvania, 
it  does  not  confine  its  investigations  and  its  proffered  aid 
alone  to  the  manufacturing  interests  and  commerce  of  the 
United  States.  It  has  from  the  very  first  extended  its 
thoughts  and  activities  to  foreign  nations,  earnestly  believing 
that  there  are  broad  lines  of  reciprocity  and  commerce  yet  to 
be  discovered,  yet  not  in  one  direction  more  than  in 
another,  between  every  commercial  country  and  the  United 
States.  The  delegates  who  have  come  to  this  Congress  are 
invited,  without  prejudice,  to  the  freest  and  most  open  dis- 
cussion of  all  topics,  which,  in  any  possible  waj',  may  be  of 
international  commercial  interest. 

No  one  can  estimate  at  the  present  moment  the  results 
which  may  flow  from  the  conserved  commercial  energy 
brought  together  by  the  renowned  delegates  of  this  Congress. 
I  need  not  tell  you  that  we  fully  appreciate  the  great  effort 
which  you  have  made  in  reacliing  this  city  and  the  pleasure 
on  our  part  in  receiving  you.  We  have,  however,  the  confi- 
dence in  you  that  from  the  public  discussions  and  the  private 
conferences  which  we  invite  from  you,  plans  may  be  outlined 
and  movements  inaugurated  which  will  more  than  compen- 
sate you  for  the  time  expended  in  getting  here,  and  which 
will  result  in  great  benefit  to  the  respective  countries  you 
represent. 

I  desire  to  announce,  then,  that  the  discussions  of  this  great 
International  Commercial  Congress  will  open  to-morrow, 
October  13,  in  Convention  Hall,  on  the  second  floor  of  the 
North  Pavilion,  at  10  o'clock. 

The  session  will  be  presided  over  by  the  Honorable  Thomas 
Brackett  Eeed,  of  Maine,  late  Speaker  of  the  National  House 
of  Representatives.     (Applause.) 

Ron.  David  J.  Hill: 

I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  the  Congress  a  few  tele- 
graphic salutations. 

The  President  of  the  Republic  of  San  Salvador  regrets 
that  he  cannot  attend  personally  the  opening  of  the  Inter- 
national Commercial  Congress  in  Philadelphia,  and  sends 
his  best  wishes  to  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  and 
its  esteemed  officers.     (Applause.) 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Sydney,  Australia,  sends 
congi-atulations  on  the  opening  of  the  Congress,  and  sin- 
cerely trusts  that  its  results  will  bo  satisfactorv'  to  the  world's 
commerce.     (Applause.) 

The  Mayor  of  Odessa  sends  by  cable  his  best  wishes  for 
the  success  of  the  Congress,  and  very  much  regrets  his  in- 
ability to  attend.     (Applause.) 

There  now  remains  for  us,  gentlemen,  but  to  thank  you, 
delegates,  and  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  your  assistance  upon 
this  occasion,  and  to  say  that  the  International  Commercial 
Congress  is  now  fonnally  opened. 

(The  band  played  "Hail  Cyhuubia,''  and  the  first  day's 
session  closed  at  4.27  p.  m.) 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


SECOND    DAY'S    SHSSION. 


Philadklphia,  Friday,  October  13,  1899. 

MoKNiNG  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  in  the  Convention  Hall, 
second  floor.  North  Pavilion,  at  eleven  o'clock,  by  Director 
W.  P.  Wilson. 

Dr.  W.  r.  Wilson: 

Gentlemen. — I  should  like  to  invite  the  government  dele- 
gates this  morning  to  assemble  on  the  platform,  if  you  will 
bo  so  kind.  Will  the  direct  representatives  of  foreign  govern- 
ments kindly  step  up  and  take  the  platform?  (The  delegates 
then  assembled  upon  the  platform.) 

Are  there  any  other  representatives  of  the  governments? 
If  so,  will  you  kindly  take  the  platform  this  morning — direct 
representatives  of  foreign  governments?    (After  a  pause.) 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  be  able  to  introduce  to  the 
delegates  of  this  convention,  the  Chairman  of  this  meeting, 
the  Hon.  Thomas  Brackett  Kocd,  of  Maine.    (Applause.) 

Jloii.  Thomas  BrachcU  Itecd: 

Whatever  doubts  may  have  arisen  by  reason  of  scientific 
discovery  or  political  dispute,  I  am  one  of  those  who  cling 
to  the  path  of  my  childhood,  that  God  made  out  of  one  blood 
all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  (Applause.)  In  His  wisdom  He 
did  not  see  fit  to  make  these  blood  relations  acquainted.  That 
task,  so  intimately  connected  with  the  progress  of  mankind. 
He  has  left  to  ourselves.  He  placed  between  us  broad  rivers, 
weary  deserts,  mutual  fear,  and  mountjiins.  We  have  spanned 
the  rivers,  we  have  crossed  the  deserts,  we  have  sealed  the 
mountains.  Mutual  fear  alone  still  lingers.  Much  has  been 
done,  but  much  remains  to  do.  Only  five  hundred  years  ago 
this  continent,  on  which  we  stand,  was  hidden  from  the  Old 
World  by  a  trackless  sea,  but  the  three  thousand  miles  of 
distance  have  been  l)ridged  by  the  genius  of  man,  so  that 
to-day  the  ]*]uropean  coast  is  not  farther  oil'  than  Pliiladel- 
phia  used  to  be  from  New  York  within  i.he  lifetime  of  this 
Republic.  All  the  Americas  and  the  Old  World  lie  before 
our  view.  We  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  you;  we 
desire  that  you  should  become  acquainted  witli  us.  To  this 
generation  and  the  next  arc  open  broader  possibilities  than 
were  ever  open  in  the  history  of  the  world.  AH  the  inventions 
which  devour  time  and  place  are  the  harbingers  of  trade;  and 
trade,  when  it  has  its  senses,  is  always  the  luirbinger  of 
peace.     (A])plause.) 

You  may  receive,  perhaps,  too  many  welcomes,  but  I  desire 
lo  add  one  by  welcoming  you  hen;  to-day,  and  I  do  it  in  order 
(()  add  that  it  is  my  full  belief  that  the  wclcoiiu'  will  l)ecome 
warm  with  the  advancing  years.    (Applause.) 

I  will  now  call  upon  a  delegate  from  the  Ohaiubor  of  Com- 
merce of  London.  General  Laurie. 


Li.-Gcn.  J.  Wimhurn  Laurie,  M.F.  (delegate  of  tlie  London 

Chamber  of  Commerce): 

Mr.  Eeed  and  Gentlemen. — When  I  was  instructed  that  it 
would  bo  my  place  to  reply  to-day  to  the  address  of  welcome 
so  cordially  extended  to  us  on  behalf  of  the — well,  I  think  I 
am  justified  in  saying,  tlie  people  of  the  United  States,  by 
the  late  Presiding  Officer  of  their  Congress;  when  I  received 
that  intimation,  I  was  told  at  the  same  time,  that  I  was  not  to 
deliver  or  prepare  a  set  lOr  formal  address.  Whatever  the 
orders  were  that  I  received,  as  a  soldier  I  should  have  carried 
them  out,  but  I  am  happy  to  say  that  the  orders  I  received  on 
this  occasion  were  thoroughly  harmonized  with  the  \dews  I 
entertained.  I  believe  that  to  reply  to  an  address  of  welcome 
in  set  and  formal  terms  would  be  absolutely  inappropriate. 
A  reply  to  such  an  address  ought  to  be  distinguished  l)y  an 
impromptu  utterance;  it  ought  to  come  cordially  and  from 
the  heart,  and  if,  gentlemen,  I  am  to  speak  on  your  behalf 
to-day,  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  oonsulting  you,  but  I 
am  sure  that  the  sentiments  that  I  express  will  be  shared  by 
every  one  of  you.  In  the  first  place,  of  course,  it  will  be  very 
difficult.  I  have  had  no  opportunity  of  eon.sulting  you  as 
to  how  you  would  like  me  to  reply.  Necessarily,  therefore,  I 
am  thrown  on  my  own  ideas  for  the  moment.  I  am  quite 
sure,  however,  that  on  every  one's  behalf  our  first  duty  is  to 
thank  the  municipality  of  Philadelphia,  who  are  our  hosts  on 
this  occasiion,  for  the  princely  way  in  which  we  have  been 
treated  as  their  guests.  (Applause.)  I  hope  that  I  am  not 
using  the  word  "princely"  in  a  way  that  would  perhaps  be 
somewhat  inappropriate  here.  We  come,  many  of  us,  from 
monarchial  countries,  and  we  are  apt  to  use  that  term  as 
expressing  the  highest  way  in  which  hospitality  can  be  shown. 
(Applause.)  If  I  am  wrong,  I  will  substitute  the  word  "mag- 
nificent" hospitality;  but,  after  all,  hospitality,  the  material 
hospitality  that  we  have  received  and  with  which  we  are 
welcomed,  is  but  the  gilded  frame  of  the  plan  or  idea  that 
is  to  be  placed  before  us  in  this  Congress — it  is  but  the  frame 
in  wliich  that  is  set.  It  is,  after  all,  the  morocco  binding  in 
which  the  new  edition  of  commercial  liistory  is  placed — the 
new  commercial  history  of  the  world — I  think,  on  l)ehalf 
of  most  of  you,  if  not  all  of  you,  the  new  eojnmereial  history 
which  we  hope  is  to  be  aided  by  tiiis  ('(numercial  (Congress 
and  by  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  which  has  taken  tlie  initiative 
in  it. 

I  suppose  I  shall  not  be  out  of  place  in  looking  back  for  a 
while  as  to  what  has  led  uj)  to  the  action  that  is  now  being 
taken.  It  has  lieen  my  fortune  to  be  in  contact  with  the 
citizens  of  the  United  States  for  tbe  last  forty  years,  and  I 
have  really  had  to  go  liehind  that  time  to  study  how  the  in- 
dustrial development  of  tlio  coimtry  has  been  inaugurated; 
that  goes  back  seventy  or  eighty  years.  But  going  back  to 
the  time  of  the  Civil'  War,  and  from  that  time  on,  it  was 
felt,  that  what  other  countries  have  done  in  maintaining 
tbeir  home  markets  within  themselves  and  what  should  be 
done  bv  the  United  States,  if  I  recollect  aright,  culminated 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  13,  1899 


in  practical  results  which  were  arrived  at  about  the  time  of 
the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  1876.  While,  I  think,  the 
American  people  were  able  apparently  to  point  to  the  fact 
that  they  had  developed  their  industries  so  that  they  could 
supply  their  home  market,  from  that  day  to  this,  traveling 
through  this  country,  men  on  the  street,  in  the  car,  where- 
ever  you  met  them  would  say:  "It  is  all  right,  but  our 
country  will  not  prosper  until  we  can  get  outside  markets; 
in  order  that  our  people  may  be  employed  we  must  have 
places  to  which  we  can  send  the  products  of  our  industries." 
I  am  not  prepared  to  say  who  the  inaugurator  of  this  was, 
but  we  are  enabled  to  point  to  Dr.  Wilson,  on  this  platform, 
as  the  energetic  and  capable  executive  who  has  earned  out 
the  idea  and  put  it  into  such  shape  that  we  see  it,  first  of  all, 
in  the  Commercial  Museum,  in  this  city — an  example  to  every 
country  in  the  world — I  won't  say  perfect.  Dr.  Wilson  is  the 
last  man  to  allow  me  to  say  that  his  institution  is  perfect, 
but  allow  me  to  say  that  when  we  come  to  the  next  Com- 
mercial Congress,  he  will  be  able  to  say:  "Here  is  an  im- 
provement that  I  have  made,  or  a  method  that  I  have  thrown 
aside,  because  it  was  not  a  success."  It  is,  after  all,  tenta- 
tive; it  is  tentative  in  one  sense.  It  is  a  marvelous  success, 
an  example  that  every  one  :of  us  delegates  can  carry  home 
to  our  own  countries  to  show  what  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  led  by  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  are  doing  in  the  direc- 
tion of  aiding  and  pushing  the  commerce  of  their  country 
outside  of  the  limits  of  their  own  land. 

I  think  that,  as  I  said  just  now,  the  material  entertain- 
ment we  are  receiving  is  practically  as  nothing,  as  grand  as 
it  is,  in  comparison  with  the  idea  that  it  is  placed  before  us 
in  connection  with  this  Commercial  Congress. 

Commerce  has  been  said  in  the  past  to  be  selfish.  Reading 
the  reports  of  our  consuls  throughout  the  foreign  countries, 
which  have  been  sent  home  and  collated  by  our  Foreign 
Office  and  published,  I  find  that  the  consuls  say,  over  and 
over  again,  that  our  merchants  combine  and  say,  "Wliat  can 
be  done  in  this  market?"  But  we  have  learned  that  those 
merchants  who  have  already  got  a  footing  there,  say,  "Thank 
you;  we  have  a  footing  here  and  don't  want  rivals  to  come  in 
and  share  it."  The  United  States — the  great  commercial 
rival  of  all  commercial  nations  of  the  world — on  the  contrary, 
invite  us  to  come  and  see  for  ourselves  how  they  propose  to 
develop  their  commercial  intercourse  with  other  nations, 
and  ask  us  to  share  all  the  information  they  have  obtained, 
and,  having  obtained  that  information,  if  we  can  aid  or  help 
their  plans,  they  would  welcome  our  suggestion  and  make  us 
a  present  of  all  that  they  have  themselves  devised.  It  is  a 
new  departure  in  commercial  politics  absolutely,  and,  there- 
fore, we  are  thoroughly  grateful  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  especially  to  those  of  Philadelphia;  they  are  taking 
us  in  as  partners  and  asking  us  to  share  their  ideas  and  benefit 
by  their  experience.  The  difficulties  that  necessarily  must 
accompany  any  gi-eat  development  of  trade,  the  people  of 
the  United  Kingdom  know  well,  and  we  have  been  reminded 
of  them  over  and  over  again  by  Lord  Salisbury,  one  of  the 
prominent  leaders  of  public  thought  in  England,  who  takes 
the  view  that  practically  we  have  an  open  field  only  in  those 
countries  that  are  actually  under  our  own  ilag.  It  has  been 
the  policy  of  countries  to  build  up  their  own  trade  first  of 
all,  to  close  the  doors  of  their  own  borders  to  a  certain  extent 
to  foreign  trade  and  give  advantages  to  home  trade.  It  is  not 
for  me  at  any  rate  to  criticise  what  has  been  said.  Each 
country  is  the  best  Judge  of  its  own  business;  each  country  is 
able  to  decide  what  is  best  for  itself;  but  we  are  also  striving 
necessarily,  not  merely  for  the  civilized  markets,  but  bidding 
for  the  less  advanced  markets  of  the  world.  What  we  desire 
would  be  a  fair  field  and  no  favor,  for  all;  it  was  suggested 
by  the  meeting  of  the  Congress,  and  will,  I  hope,  mater- 
ialize.    I  believe  that  the  trade  of  the  world  will  pass  into 


the  hands  of  central — I  won't  say — trusts,  I  won't  use  words 
that  are  obnoxious  to  many — but,  at  the  same  time,  we  will 
find  out  which  countries  have  the  best  markets  and  which 
have  the  'worst  markets  for  the  products  of  other  countries, 
and  more  and  more  we  shall  centre  on  this.  There  is  an  old 
story:  first  the  missionary,  then  the  trader,  and  then  the 
soldier.  Perhaps  that  may  be  the  only  justification  I  have 
for  addressing  you  to-day.  I  cannot  pass  as  a  commercial 
soldier,  but  as  an  old  soldier  representing  commerce.  I  have 
no  right  and  I  have  no  authority,  and  I  have  actually  not  been 
furnished  with  data,  to  express  the  opinion  of  my  Chamber 
on  the  point  that  may  go  in  advance  and  be  considered  as 
matters  coming  up  properly  for  consideration.  There  will  be 
opportunity  for  discussing  all  matters  as  they  severally  come 
forward,  but  I  tliink  we  are  all  entitled,  we  are  all  bound  to 
realize  that  tlie  parable  of  the  talents  applies,  if  I  may  so 
interpret  it — the  talents  are  in  the  resources  of  Nature  in  the 
vai'ious  countries  of  the  world.  If  these  resources  are  utilized 
by  the  inliabitants  and  residents  and  goveniments,  then  they 
are  profitable  servants  to  the  Almighty,  and  they  are  doing 
their  duty  in  developing  the  resources  that  God  has  placed 
before  them.  If  they  neglect  to  utilize  these  resources  they 
are  unprofitable  servants,  and  therefore  that  talent  shall  be 
taken  away  from  the  unprofitable  servant  and  given  to  him 
who  will  use  it.  That  is  one  of  the  many  subjects  which  we 
are  entitled  to  consider  in  the  Commercial  Congress.  It  is 
with  no  idea  that  we  have  a  lust  for  territory;  it  is  with  no 
idea  that  we  have  a  desire  to  add  to  the  square  miles  of  the 
leading  nations  of  the  world,  but  what  we  do  claim  is  that 
the  resources  of  nature  provided  by  Providence  should  be 
utilized  for  the  general  benefit  of  tlie  world,  and  I  believe 
that  this  Congress  will,  in  considering  this  question,  lead  to 
a  greater  beneficial  development  of  the  resources  of  the  earth. 
Great  credit  is  due  to  the  American  nation,  and  especially 
to  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  for  the  lead  it  has  given  us  in  the 
consideration  of  this  subject,  and  in  bringing  material  benefit 
to  the  world  at  large. 

On  behalf  of  the  delegates,  I  desire  to  thank  you  for  the 
kind  and  courteous  welcome  you  have  extended  to  them,  and 
if  we  can  in  any  way  contribute  to  make  this  Congress  a  great 
success,  and  to  benefit  in  any  way  the  enterprise  of  the  Com- 
mercial Museum,  it  is  our  duty  and  pleasure  and  delight  so 
to  do. 

I  thank  you,  sir,  and  the  people  in  whose  name  you  have 
spoken,  for  the  kind  and  courteous  way  in  which  you  have 
welcomed  us  to  your  country  and  your  Congress. 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Beed:  1  will  now  call  upon  Herr  Eduard 
Arnhold,  delegate  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Berlin. 

Ilerr  Eduard  Arnhold: 

As  delegate  of  the  corjDoration  that  represents  in  Berlin 
the  interests  of  commerce  under  the  name  oi  Aeltesten  der 
Kaufmannschaft,  speaking  for  myself  and  for  my  colleagues 
and  friends  (Mr.  Loewe  and  Mr.  Goldschmidt),  I  most  heart- 
ily thank  you,  on  behalf  of  the  Berlin  corporation,  for  your 
kind  invitation,  and  extend  its  best  wishes  for  the  successful 
labor  of  this  Congi-ess. 

We  have  come  to  Philadelphia  to  see,  I  may  say,  after  only 
a  short  visit,  your  most  interesting  Exposition,  and  to  make 
ourselves,  in  assisting  at  this  Congres.?,  acquainted  with  your 
means  and  ways  to  extend  the  foreign  trade  of  the  United 
States  of  America. 

As  Germany  is  most  particularly  interested  in  your  en- 
deavors, yoii  may  depend  upon  its  earnest  intention  to  help 
you  in  finding  out  what  would  best  suit  our  mutual  interests, 
and  the  establishment  of  an  equilibrium  of  those  interests. 
The  United  States  of  America  and  Germany  have  so  many 
touching  points,  both  material  and  intellectual,  that  it  should 


(3 


IMtOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


not  be  diflicult  to  create  a  system  permitting  us  to  derive 
profit  from  one  another  without  hurting  one  another.  If 
there  have  been  dissensions  hitherto  and  controversies,  we 
must  examine  witliout  prejudice  where  is  the  fault,  whether 
it  lies  in  reguhitions  and  stipulations  or  in  the  manner  in 
which  they  are  interpreted  and  put  into  practice,  by  personal 
intercourse  and  verbal  exchange  of  our  views.  We  think  a 
great  deal  can  be  efi'ected,  many  misunderstandings  removed, 
and  a  basis  ])reparcd  on  which  the  provisional  authorities  of 
both  governments  will  be  able  to  settle,  to  the  satisfaction  of 
both  jKirties,  the  important  question  of  trade  between  the 
United  States  of  America  and  Germany — tliose  two  great 
countries  that  want  to  compete,  not  only  on  the  field  of 
material  interests  but  on  the  field  of  general  human  progress. 
(Applause.) 

Ilvn.  Thomas  B.  Reed:  I  will  now  introduce  to  you  Dr. 
Vosberg-Rekow.  of  the  Central  Bureau  for  the  Preparatinn 
of  Commercial  Treaties,  at  Berlin. 

Dr.  Voshcrcj-BeJcow  : 

Mr.  President,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen — Several 
hundred  miles  towards  the  north,  the  Niagara  plunges  with 
thundering  noise  from  its  rocky  height.  Majestic  is  the 
strength  of  the  falling  waters,  crushing  everything  that  comes 
beneath  their  force.  Even  the  solid  rock  is  gTadually  gnawed 
and  crumbled  by  the  restless  waves.  And  yet,  neither  we  nor 
our  children  shall  live  to  see  the  time  when  the  rocky  barrier 
is  washed  away  and  the  Niagara  glides  along  peacefully  and 
smoothly  in  its  even  bed.  We  live  only  a  few  years,  but  the 
firmness  of  the  rocks  defies  the  centuries. 

With  resistless  energy  the  current  rushes  towards  the  ocean; 
likewise  also  the  current  of  commercial  intercourse  and  ex- 
change of  goods  sweeps  around  the  earth.  But  just  as  firm 
as  the  rocks  .of  the  Niagara  are  the  peculiarities,  characteris- 
tics and  distinctions  which  separate  the  nations  from  each 
other.  They  also  remain,  and  the  beginning  of  centuries  sees 
them  come,  and  the  end  of  the  centuries  will  see  them  go. 

It  would  be  desirable  for  navigation  if  the  rocks  in  the 
Niagai'a  would  crumble  to  pieces,  but  whether  it  would  also 
be  for  the  welfare  of  the  nations,  if  the  distinctions  and  con- 
trasts which  mark  them  could  be  wiped  out,  we  shall  leave 
for  those  to  decide  who  like  to  dream  of  one  large  family 
formed  by  the  entire  human  race.  I,  for  my  part,  do  not 
believe  it.  Such  contrasts  are  often  of  great  value,  and  the 
best  thing  which  a  nation  possesses  consists  in  its  peculiar 
characteristics.  Did  we  meet  here  to  take  away  any  of  those 
characteristics?  I  hope  not.  When  the  chaos  of  rocks,  reefs 
and  cliil's  are  forming  gulfs  and  abysses  which  fill  the  soul 
with  horror,  it  is  a  pleasing  sight  to  the  eye  to  behold 
here  and  there  a  tree  covering  as  with  a  green  veil  the  awful 
depths  below.  S,o  be  it  with  the  combat  of  the  nations.  The 
])eculiarities  which  separate  them  shall  not  be  taken  away, 
but  they  shall  not  part  them,  and  may  amiability  and  kind 
consideration  of  the  needs  of  each  other  be  the  means  with 
which  we  cover  these  peculiarities  and  overcome  prejudices. 
Practically  speaking,  may  the  corps  of  the  guardians  of  the 
frontiers  be  pleasant  and  without  malice  and  mean  arbitrari- 
ness, and  may  the  dividing  portals  from  one  country  into  the 
other  be  opened  as  wide  as  possible.  The  attainment  of  this 
end  is  worth  our  most  ardent  strife,  but  its  accomplishment 
cannot  yet  be  seen,  and  even  the  optimists  can  only  detect  it 
in  the  far-away  future. 

During  my  journey  to  this  country,  I  read  in  the  "Atlantic 
^fontlily"  an  article  from  Professor  Miinsterberg  of  Boston, 
with  which  I  did  not  at  all  agree  at  that  time.  We  lairopcans 
ri'gard  the  Americans  as  practical  politicians,  while  Miinster- 
lierg  .said  in  his  article,  "The  American  is  an  idealist  thraui;b 


and  through."  To-day  I  understand  this  word.  It  takes  a 
good  deal  of  idealism  to  call  together  this  Congress,  that  it 
may  serve  the  interests  of  commerce,  not  only  of  America, 
but  of  the  whole  world.  It  takes  a  good  deal  of  idealism  to 
make  an  effort  to  adjust  commercial  politics  among  such 
difEerent  elements  as  are  united  here.  I  respect  the  Ameri- 
cans, our  hosts,  on  account  of  this,  and  am  confident  that 
they  are  conscious  of  the  ideal  foundations  of  their  aims  and 
strive  to  uphold  them. 

Although  we  Germans  are  known  as  idealists,  I  come  to 
you  as  a  practical  man.  I  know  vei-y  well  that  all  ideal  things 
have  also  a  very  realistic  side — yea,  even  a  realistic  effect.  If 
I  step  over  my  threshold  in  the  morning  to  witness  the  rising 
of  the  sun,  my  soul  is  refreshed  at  the  beautiful  sight,  and 
at  the  same  time  I  am  strengthened  by  the  purity  and  fresh- 
ness of  the  morning  air.  The  same  sun  which  coaxes  the 
enthusiast  to  rise  early  from  his  bed  caaxes  multitudes  to 
useful  and  successful  labor. 

And  in  this  sense  I  shall  contemplate  our  Congress  as  the 
rising  sun  of  commercial  politics,  and  after  being  satisfied  of 
the  ideal  background  of  our  undertaldng,  1  a.sk  you  what  is 
the  practical  policy  that  we  wish  to  pursue.  If  we  tui-u  back 
to  the  cause  through  which  the  arrangement  of  such  a  modem 
affair  as  this  Congi'ess  has  been  made  possible,  we  have  the 
answer  to  this  question.  It  is  found  in  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  the  leading  economic  nations.  This  development  is 
so  astonishing  and  comprehensive,  that  even  the  most  able 
orator  or  writer  could  give  but  a  faint  illustration  of  it.  1 
cannot  even  make  an  ert'ort  to  describe  it  in  this  limited  dis- 
course. Let  us  turn  back  to  the  times  when  the  first  Euro- 
peans discovered  the  Western  Continent,  which  they  invaded 
like  robbers,  annihilating  the  ancient  culture  of  the  Indians 
and  Aztecs,  carrying  with  them  whatever  gold  and  silver  they 
could  get,  after  which  they  departed  again.  To-day  the  same 
Europeans  have  formed  here  a  culture  of  first  rank,  and  they 
have  even  now  come  across  the  ocean  to  form,  through  peace- 
ful consultations,  a  world's  system  of  commercial  politics. 
AVhat  a  change  from  then  until  now!  At  the  beginning  of 
this  century  anyone  that  wished  to  travel  in  Germany,  my 
native  country,  from  the  east  to  the  west,  had  to  pass  not 
less  than  seventeen  tollgates.  To-day  we  are  here  to  at  least 
lower  the  tollgates  between  continents.  From  then  until  now, 
what  a  change!  In  order  to  open  up  one  river  to  smooth 
navigation  it  was  necessary  to  create,  among  great  political 
difficulties,  the  Navigation  Act  of  the  Rhine.  And  to-day 
we  meet  in  this  beautiful  city  to  consider  how  the  great  inter- 
national commercial  highway  of  the  coming  century,  the  Nica- 
ragua or  Pananut  Canal,  may  be  best  constructed. 

It  is  by  modem  development,  which  transcends  everything 
ever  witnessed  before,  that  our  eyes  are  turned  away  from 
the  present  towards  the  future,  and  that  we  are  taught 
to  strive  towards  aims  which  may  almost  be  called  ideal. 
There  are  peo])le  who  contemplate  this  development  with 
great  anxiety.  They  say:  "If  things  go  on  in  this  way  the 
population  of  the  earth  will  become  too  large  and  the  means 
for  their  su]iport  will  become  insufficient,  and  it  is  therefore 
a  nation's  duty  of  self-preservation  to  take  advantage  of  the 
others  wherever  possible  and  to  annex  all  it  can  get  in  the 
way  of  uncultivated  lands  to  be  utilized  for  future  markets.'' 
Expiansion  and  annexation  is  their  motto.  But  this  motto 
is  wrong.  It  is  wrong,  first,  because  the  resources  of  society 
are  very  productive  and  can  never  be  exhausted;  second,  be- 
cause history  teaches  us  that  a  distribution  of  the  earth  atnong 
the  nations  or  potentates  has  never  been  of  any  duration, 
either  ])o]itical  or  economical. 

It  was  thought  formerly  that  the  only  s(nircc  of  a  nation's 
wealth  consisted  in  its  actual  production  of  goods.  ]^nt  the 
fact  was  overlooked  that  the  iiroducts  of  hand  and  machine. 
as  well  as  original  imulucts.  increase  their  value  in  surprising 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  13,  1899 


proportions,  and  it  is  through  intercourse  that  tliis  is  ac- 
complished. The  following  is  an  example  of  the  sums  which 
are  gained  by  international  trade  through  international  in- 
tercourse. 

In  the  year  1868,  the  Suez  Canal  was  opened  to  navigation; 
ships  which  heretofore  had  to  take  their  coui-se  around  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  could  now  reach  India  by  the  shorter 
route  through  the  Red  "Sea.  For  every  sea-mile  which  the 
new  route  was  shorter,  a  saving  was  made  in  time,  coal  for 
the  machinery,  provisions  for  the  crew,  etc.  If  these  numbers 
are  added,  which,  however,  is  a  somewhat  complicated  task, 
computing  the  route,  number,  tonnage  of  the  ships  and 
horsepower  of  the  engines,  we  find  that  the  maritime  nations, 
from  the  time  the  Suez  Canal  was  opened  to  the  year  1884, 
have  saved  the  enormous  amount  of  13,500  marks  per  mile. 
The  amount  would  be  still  larger  if  an  account  had  been  kept 
up  to  the  present  time.  I  beg  your  pardon  for  placing  before 
you  these  old  figures,  but  I  received  notice  only  yesterday 
that  I  should  have  the  honor  to  address  j'ou  on  this  occasion. 
I  had  not,  therefore,  sufficient  time  to  prepare  myself  thor- 
oughly, and  for  this  reason  I  must  ask  you  to  have  patience 
with  me.  If  we  further  consider  that  the  English  steamship 
companies,  according  to  the  estimate  of  experts,  receive  a 
total  of  £70,000,000  per  year,  which  amounts  of  $350,000,000, 
or  1,400,000,000  marks,  in  payment  of  freight  rates  for  the 
transportation  of  foreign  goods,  you  will  understand  that  the 
modern  standard  of  international  commerce  has  opened 
sources  of  riches,  which  add  such  an  enormous  overplus  to 
the  production  of  goods  that  a  possible  impoverishment  of 
mankind  is  out  of  question.  On  the  contrary,  in  countries 
whose  populations  grow  fastest,  capital  and  property  increase 
most  rapidly,  and  opportunities  to  procure  labor  and  its  earn- 
ings are  oifered  as  nowhere  else. 

If,  therefore,  the  fear  of  future  impoverishment  does  not 
justify  a  heightening  of  political  combat  for  territorial  pos- 
sessions, there  is,  in  my  belief,  even  less  reason  to  fear  that 
certain  potentates  might  divide  the  earth  among  themselves, 
leaving  nothing  to  other  nations  aud  depriving  them  thereby 
also  of  their  commercial  importance.  History  teaches  us  that 
not  only  the  possession  of  colonies,  but  even  the  utilization 
of  a  country's  own  territories  depends  upon  the  condition  of 
its  labor  facilities  and  economic  health.  It  would  take  too 
much  time  to  give  here  striking  examples.  May  it  suffice 
to  point  out  that  economic  development  is  not  bound  or 
limited  by  political  possessions.  Industries  wander.  Markets 
move  from  country  to  country,  and  the  political  potentates 
cannot  hinder  it.  Political  evolution,  on  the  contrary,  must 
yield  to  economical  evolution  and  serve  its  end.  The  nations 
should  therefore  not  emulate  in  political  expansion.  At  the 
most  this  should  be  the  outcome  of  potent  economical  devel- 
opment. But  how  about  expansion  on  the  field  of  economy? 
Does  it  seem  necessary  to  uphold  the  combat  to  the  utmost 
in  this  direction,  where  the  competition  with  weaker  nations 
is  supported  by  the  aid  -of  political  power?  No,  a  thousand 
times  no!  It  is  true  that  a  large  number  of  nations  are  en- 
gaged in  the  production  of  articles  of  general  consumption, 
and  they  are  therefore  opposed  in  sharp  competition.  Never- 
theless, the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  nations,  which  I 
said  above  it  was  necessary  to  uphold,  result  in  a  diversity 
of  products.  Moreover,  industries  do  not  always  remain  in 
the  place  where  they  have  first  sprung  up.  Conditions  that 
seemed  originally  favorable  to  the  production  of  certain 
articles  may  he  found  to  be  more  advantageous  in  other 
places;  then  the  industry  wanders  and  no  diligence  and  no 
measure  is  able  to  retain  it.  Thus  political  expansion  finds 
here  its  natural  boundaries.  Not  inconsiderate  competition, 
but  wise  specializing  would  be  advisable.  This  specializing 
of  products  will  result  from  the  characteristics  of  the  different 
nations,  and  the  more  these  are  developed  in  a  likewise  de- 


gree the  wants,  offers  and  demands  will  grow,  and  instead  of 
working  against  each  other  the  nations  will  cooperate  with 
each  other.  Not  commercial  hostility,  but  commercial  friend- 
ship, cooperation  and  coordination  are  what  is  needed. 

With  this  I  see  our  aim  draw  nearer.  Let  the  work  of  our 
Congress  be  to  try  to  place  political  contrasts  in  the  back- 
ground, to  study  the  economical  contrasts,  to  confirm  their 
true  foundations,  and  to  take  away  their  severities  by  finding 
new  ways  whereby  it  is  possible  to  avoid  conflict  and  to  labor 
side  by  side.  Then  nations  should  not  exercise  a  restraining 
influence  one  upon  another,  but  altogether  they  should  serve 
and  further  modern  progress. 

The  potentates  of  Europe  have  asked  for  admission  to  the 
large  Chinese  Empire,  but  they  shall  not  come  to  disturb  the 
ancient  and  venerable  culture  of  the  "sons  of  the  Sun,"  but 
as  guests  who  bring  with  them  new  wants  and  who  desire  to 
open  up  new  commercial  relations.  Those  lands  that  were 
formerly  a  market  for  the  European  production  are  develop- 
ing by  and  by  to  commercial  independence  and  cease  to  be 
the  domains  of  foreigners.  I  beg  to  call  attention  to  the  fact 
that  as  an  example  India  possessed  as  early  as  li^94-95  not 
less  than  3,:00,()00  spindles  and  30,000  looms.  If  the  in- 
dustrial countries  wish  to  keep  open  a  market  there,  it  is 
necessary  that  they  produce  specialties.  The  world  does  not 
produce  more  than  can  be  consumed  by  its  inhabitants.  To 
divide  the  products  properly  is,  therefore,  the  only  source  of 
wealth  for  all  and  everybody. 

Here  our  labor  may  begin.  The  rapid  development  carries 
with  it  severities.  Let  us  all  do  all  we  can  to  mitigate  these. 
Like  death,  all  springing  into  life  is  connected  with  diffi- 
culties and  pain.  We  perceive  them  all,  but  may  we  be  united 
in  the  work.  By  well-directed  labor  we  can  accomplish  a 
great  deal.  The  help  which  we  can  lend  is  manifold.  I  will 
mention  only  a  few  ways. 

The  foundation  for  a  proper  division  of  the  products  of  the 
earth  is  a  thorough  knowledge  of  their  origin  and  their  dis- 
bursement. This  is  found  in  the  commercial  statistics.  But 
what  are  these  reports  at  present?  Can  we  believe  these  state- 
ments? For  instance,  the  record  of  the  importation  and  ex- 
portation of  a  certain  article  varies  in  such  a  manner  that  a 
difference  of  100  per  cent,  occurs,  where  the  same  amount- 
ought  to  be  obtained.  Does  not  this  indicate  that  mistakes 
have  been  made?  But  the  mistakes  arise  from  the  different 
methods  of  computing  employed  by  the  nations.  And  why  is 
this?  Because  the  nations  have  hitherto  not  found  the  op- 
portunity to  cooperate  in  such  a  way  as  is  being  done  here 
for  the  first  time. 

What  amount  of  tariff  and  other  difficulties  there  exists 
will  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  in  one  country  a  certain  article 
is  called  by  one  name  and  in  another  by  another  name.  Is 
it  an  article  of  combination,  one  country  will  take  especial 
notice  of  one  part;  another,  of  other  parts.  For  instance,  a 
toy  over  a  foot  high  is  exported  from  Germany  into  Austria, 
this  toy  being  a  sheep  with  a  little  piece  of  silk  ribbon  around 
its  neck,  which  is  being  sent  according  to  law  as  "silk  ribbon, 
duty  paid."  Is  this  not  enough  to  awaken  international  dis- 
cussion, and  is  not  a  reason  here\rith  given  for  cooperation 
in  compiling  a  general  international  list  of  articles?  I  know 
very  well  that  there  are  difficulties  which  make  the  working 
out  of  this  project  almost  an  impossibility;  but  can  we  not 
at  least  express  our  opinions  upon  this  question  and  find  out 
what  is  practical  and  attainable?  The  introduction  and  use- 
fulness of  equal  measures  and  weights,  and  the  selection  of 
specific  tariffs  in  different  cases  and  on  different  articles, 
might  be  considered  while  the  experts  of  all  nations  are 
assembled. 

Let  us  make  an  effort  to  learn  to  know  each  other  better, 
that  prejudice  may  be  overcome,  which  separates  us  farther 
than  its  signification  justifies.     One  of  my  American  friends 


8 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


asked  me  serioiu^ly  yesterday  whether  it  was  true  that  "bacon 
and  beer"'  was  the  German  national  dish,  and  I  had  never 
even  dreamed  of  tlie  existence  of  tliis  appetizing  food,  al- 
tliough  1  am  a  German  even  in  the  details  of  eating  and 
drinking.  Sauerkraut!  And  yet  I  have  never  eaten  it  more 
often,  nor  better,  than  in  Paris  at  "Lucas,"  Place  de  la  Made- 
laine  9.  On  tlie  oilier  hand  I  cannot  deny  that  the  legend  of 
(he  American  duel,  which  is  being  fought  over  a  handker- 
chiefj  or  on  top  of  two  powder-barrels  with  burning  lanyard, 
is  still  existing  in  the  minds  of  our  "provincials."  Let  us 
draw  nearer  and  learn  to  know  each  other,  that  we  may  un- 
derstand that  every  characteristic  has  its  good  side,  and  let 
us  respect  one  another.  Then  will  happen,  what  we  are  also 
striving  for  here,  the  cessation  of  those  mean  and  small  com- 
mercial political  gnunldings,  which  rob  us  of  our  good  humor, 
and  which  are  apt  to  bedim  the  clear  sight  of  the  politician. 
All  nations  have  causes  for  complaints.  Especially  have  I,  a 
Genuan,  come  to  America  with  many  grievous  complaints. 
I  am  convinced  that  also  you  have  cause  for  finding  fault. 
But  I  sincerely  hope  that  we  may  deliberate  upon  our  disagree- 
ments, and  I  assure  you  that  I  shall  be  frank  and  open,  which 
at  the  same  time  I  expect  of  you. 

It  gives  me  great  plea-sure  to  state  that  during  the  short 
period  of  my  stay  in  this  country  I  have  met  gentlemen  whom 
I  am  proud  to  call  my  friends,  whose  friendship  I  hope  to 
retain,  and  to  whom  I  shall  ever  be  grateful  for  the  amiability 
which  they  have  shown  me  by  conferring  upon  me  the  honor 
of  addressing  you  to-day,  like  our  London  friends.  But  I 
cannot  help  remarking  that  if  you  were  to  present  to  me  the 
Appraiser-General  and  offer  me  his  friendship  at  this  hour, 
I  am  afraid  that  I  would  have  to  decline,  as  I  cannot  over- 
come an  uneasy  feeling  towards  this  bad  man.  He  reminds 
me  of  the  difficulties  of  certifying  an  invoice;  of  the  fact 
that  somebody  wishes  to  send  two  bottles  of  wane  as  samples 
to  this  cottntry,  where  he  is  expected  to  pay  duty  on  at  least 
a  dozen  bottles;  and  many  other  things.  I  have  not  the  least 
doubt  that  you  may  have  cause  for  similar  complaints.  How- 
ever, I  am  convinced  that  by  an  open  and  frank  discussion 
of  these  questions,  which  shall  occur  witliin  the  next  few  days, 
many  difficulties  will  be  overcome,  even  though  we  only  be- 
come personally  better  acquainted  and  lend  an  open  ear  to 
our  respective  complaints.  I  already  see  herein  the  beginning 
of  an  improvement.  Although  we  cannot  change  the  business 
situation  and  enter  into  contracts,  we  have  nevertheless  ex- 
perience and  a  purpose.  It  is  without  question  that  whatever 
steps  we  may  recommend  as  being  attainable  will  be  carr- 
fully  weighed  and  pondered  at  the  places  of  authority  on  botli 
sides  of  the  ocean. 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen — I  beg  to  thank  you 
for  the  attention  with  which  you  have  followed  this  dis- 
course. Allow  me  to  close  with  the  remark  that  I  am  con- 
vinced that  our  working  plan  augurs  already  at  its  outset  the 
guarantee  of  a  certain  success.  At  the  same  time  I  express 
the  hope  that  this  Congress  may  not  be  the  last  which  brings 
us  togetlier. 

I  have  for  the  first  time  had  the  pleasure  of  treading  the 
soil  of  the  United  States.  I  know  that  the  representatives 
of  other  nations  have  received  the  same  impression.  We  are 
surprised  at  the  magnificent  social  and  economic  develop- 
ment. We  respect  and  admire  the  energy  and  pleasure  in 
work  which  manifests  itself  in  every  action  and  deed.  We 
are  delighted  with  tlie  amiability  and  liospitalily  with  which 
you  have  received  us.  All  these  (|ua]ifications  awake  in  us  the 
desire  to  remain  your  friends,  and  we  are  conscious  a.t  the 
same  time  that  the  work  which  has  brought  us  together  can- 
not be  altogether  devoid  of  success,  but  will  end  to  the  satis- 
faction of  all. 


Hon.  Thomas  B.  Heed: 

I  have  the  honor  now  to  introduce  to  you  the  Governor  of 
Pennsylvania.     (Applause.) 

Governur  Stone: 

I  am  exceedingly  fortunate  once  more  to  sit  in  a  Congress 
presided  over  by  our  American  Czar.  (Applause.)  I  am 
mighty  glad  that  we  have  him  again  in  Congress.  (Applause.) 
1  am  glad  also  to  stand  before  the  representatives  of  the  differ- 
ent countries  coming  here  to  investigate  our  claims  for  foreign 
trade.  It  might  naturally  challenge  our  argument  when  it  is 
admitted  that  we  pay  more  for  our  labor  entering  into  all 
the  products  which  we  export  than  other  nations.  The  ques- 
tion might  truthfully  be  asked:  "How  does  it  come  that  we 
can  put  our  products  in  foreign  countries  as  cheap  as  other 
countries  paying  less  for  labor?"  Let  me  tell  you  that  in  the 
sharp  competition  among  ourselves,  we  have  learned  the  first 
great  jjrinciple,  and  that  is  to  economize  labor.  (Cries  of 
"Hear.")  We  have  advantages  in  other  respects  not  enjoyed 
liy  all  with  whom  we  compete.  We  have  the  advantage  of 
cheap  raw  material.  We  have  learned  to  load  ore  at  a  cost 
of  four  cents  a  ton,  by  the  application  of  modern  machinery, 
which  is  the  result  of  the  genius  of  the  American  mechanic. 
We  claim  tluit  we  can  put  our  products  into  foreign  countries 
and  sell  them  there  cheaper  than  many  other  nations.  We 
know  that  unless  we  can  do  that,  unless  we  can  furnish  a  pro- 
duct cheaper  and  as  good  (cries  of  "Hear")  we  cannot  get 
this  foreign  trade.  Trade  is  not  governed  Ijy  patriotism  or 
by  sentiment  outside  of  its  own  rigid  rules.  No  legislative 
body  can  pass  a  law  that  will  encourage  trade.  It  must  result 
from  its  own  internal  philosophy.  Therefore  we  want  the 
trade  of  foreign  countries.  Our  claim,  and  our  only  claim,  is 
that  we  can  put  our  products  into  foreign  countries  cheaper 
than  many  other  nations.  We  invite  an  inspection  of  our 
wares.  We  challenge  a  comparison  of  prices  and  we  chal- 
lenge a  comparison  of  quality,  and  upon  those  two  items,  upon 
tliose  two  claims,  we  make  our  appeal  to  the  trade  of  the 
civilized  world  for  a  verdict  in  our  favor.  (Applause.)  We 
are  glad  to  see  you  here.  We  are  glad  to  shake  hands  with 
the  representatives  of  foreign  countries.  Our  great  misfor- 
tune has  been  that  you  haven't  visited  us  oftener.  Our  hope 
is  that  you  will  visit  us  oftener  in  the  future.  We  claim  no 
superknowledge.  We  claim  no  par  excellence  of  virtue.  We 
claim  simply  to  be  in  the  race  for  the  world's  markets  (cry 
of  "Hear")  and  we  bid  Godspeed  to  all  who  join  us  in  that 
ciiutest.  Let  the  fastest  runner  get  the  prize.  We  know  that 
upon  the  merits  alone  of  our  products — if  merits  there  are- 
must  rest  the  result.  This  Congress — this  Exposition — as  I 
understand  it,  is  simply  put  before  your  eyes  to  open  to  your 
inspection  what  we  can  do.  We  ask  only  that  you  will  con- 
sider such  samples  of  our  products  as  we  submit  to  you.  Look 
at  them  carefully.  Remember  that  the  great  contest  in  this 
country  is  for  the  world's  trade.  Our  own  strife  and  internal 
difficulties  we  will  manage  to  adjust,  and  we  will  promise  to 
keep  our  hands  off  of  yours.  (Cries  of  "Hear"  and  applause.) 
Tlierefore,  in  the  spirit  of  the  broadest  fellowship,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  kindliest  friendship,  in  the  spirit  of  the  best 
huniauity,  we  welcome  you  one  and  all,  extending  to  you  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship,  hoping  that  your  stay  among  us 
will  lie  pleasant  to  you  and  profitable  to  us.    (Applause.) 

Ilnii.  Tliomas  B.  Bccd: 

\'(mv  attention  one  moment.  The  Director  ot  the  "Museum 
will  make  a  few  announcements. 

D'nrdorW.P.  Wihon : 

In  harmony  with  the  manufacturers  and  genilenicn  of 
Philadelphia  who  are  interested   in  your  visit,  and  who  arc 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  13,  1899 


9 


desirous  of  making  it  pleasant  here  while  you  stay,  and  also 
to  give  you  the  opportunity  of  seeing  as  many  as  possible  of 
the  industries  of  this  city  and  other  localities,  I  have  an 
announcement  to  make,  that  on  Saturday,  in  the  afternoon, 
after  the  morning  session  has  closed,  there  will  be  ears  just 
at  the  side  entrance  here  to  take  all  the  delegates  to  the 
Delaware  River,  where  a  steamer  will  be  provided  for  you  to 
make  an  excursion  on  the  river,  to  look  over  the  harbor  and, 
finally,  to  visit  the  Cramp  shipyard,  which,  of  course,  is  one 
of  the  places  in  which  you  will  be  interested.  (Applause.) 
Mr.  Charles  li.  Cramp  is  the  president  of  the  Philadelphia 
Commercial  Museum.  He  invites  you  on  that  day  to  accept 
his  courtesies.  He  would  like  to  have  as  full  attendance  as 
possible.  It  will  not  be  necessary  for  you  to  stop  here  for 
your  lunch.  A  lunch  will  be  served  on  the  steamer  for  all  the 
guests  and  delegates. 

I  have  also  another  announcement  to  make,  that  on  Sunday 
we  have  arranged,  by  special  train,  for  the  delegates  of  this 
Congress,  a  visit  to  Atlantic  City,  which  is  our  nearest  and 
largest  watering  place  on  the  seashore.  The  train  will  leave 
Chestnut  street  wharf  precisely  at  ten-fifteen  in  the  morning 
(Sunday),  returning  later  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day, 
so  that  you  will  have  the  opportunity  of  spending  several 
hours  at  Atlantic  City  and  returning  to  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia during  the  evening.  I  make  this  announcement  some 
time  in  advance,  in  order  that  you  may  make  your  arrange- 
ments accordingly.     (Applause.) 

Allow  me  to  state  that  there  is  a  restaurant  in  the  far  end 
of  this  building,  on  the  same  floor,  and  all  of  the  delegates — 
all  of  the  official  delegates  to  this 'Congress — are  privileged 
to  go  to  that  restaurant,  and  your  meals  will  be  simply 
cheeked  up  as  they  would  be  in  the  hotel.  It  will  give  you 
the  convenience  of  not  leaving  the  grounds,  if  you  please. 
You  can  all  go  to  the  restaurant  just  the  same  as  you  would 
in  your  hotels. 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Feed: 

Gentlemen,  if  there  be  no  objection,  the  chair  announces 
that  the  assemblage  will  be  in  recess  until  two  o'clock  and 
thirty  minutes. 

(Adjourned  at  12.10  p.  m.) 


Philadelphia,  Friday  Afternoon,  October  13,  1899. 

SECOND  DAT. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  2.30  p.  m.,  by  Hon. 
Thomas  Brackett  Reed. 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

Gentlemen — I  understand  that  the  arrangement  which  has 
been  made  is  for  a  five  minutes  talk  from  the  various  dele- 
gates with  regard  to  the  participations  of  their  respective 
countries  in  the  Congress,  and  the  first  name  that  has  been 
given  to  me  is  that  of  Mr.  II.  Llewellyn  Smith,  and  I  am  very 
glad  to  introduce  him  to  the  Congress. 

Hull.  H.  LkveUyn  Smilh: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Fellow  Delegates — For  many  reasons  I 
could  have  wished  that  it  had  fallen  to  the  lot  of  a  delegate 
of  greater  distinction  and  experience  than  myself  to  have 
been  the  first  to  respond  to  your  kind  invitation,  but  I  recog- 
nize that  in  letting  your  choice  fall  upon  me  you  have  acted, 
not  out  of  regard  to  the  special  qualifications  of  the  individual 
delegate,  but  out  of  compliment  to  the  country  whose  gov- 
ernment I  have  the  honor,  however  unworthy,  to  represent 


here  to-day — a  country  which  is  linked  to  the  United  States 
by  so  many  ties,  not  only  of  commercial  relations,  but  of  kin- 
ship and  friendship,  that  it  has  been  very  diiticult  for  us,  the 
British  delegates,  to  feel,  since  we  have  arrived  here,  that  we 
really  come  in  the  category  of  foreign  delegates  at  all.  (Ap- 
plause and  cries  of  "Hear,  hear.") 

I  am  bound  to  add  since  our  arrival  in  Philadelphia  every 
one  has  seemed  to  conspire  together  to  render  yet  more  difi&- 
cult  the  task  of  remembering  what  our  proper  position  is. 

This  is  the  first  opportunity  that  any  official  representative 
of  any  other  government  has  had  of  addressing  this  Con- 
gress, and  even  at  the  risk  of  repeating  to  some  extent  what 
has  been  so  well  said  this  morning  by  the  representatives  of 
the  great  commercial  organizations,  I  cannot  entirely  let  this 
opportunity  pass  without  expressing  to  you,  sir,  and  through 
you  to  all  proper  authorities,  the  sense  which  I  am  sure  all 
my  official  colleagues  feel,  equally  with  myself,  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  cordiality  of  the  welcome  and  the  kindness  of  the 
reference  which  both  you  and  your  predecessor  in  the  chair 
and  others  have  made  in  regard  to  the  foreign  delegates. 

I  understand,  sir,  that  it  is  our  business  this  afternoon  to 
say  something  about  the  view  which  we  take  of  the  purposes 
and  the  program  of  this  Congress,  and  of  the  objects  by 
which  our  governments  were  actuated  in  accepting  the  in- 
vitation of  the  United  States  to  take  official  part  in  this 
Congress.  With  regard  to  the  purpose  and  the  program,  I 
rather  think  that  personally  at  this  stage  I  have  nothing  to 
add  to  the  lucid  statements  which  have  already  been  made, 
both  by  you,  by  Dr.  Wilson  and  by  others.  We,  sir,  are 
present  as  guests,  and  it  is  rather  for  the  host  tihan  for  the 
guests  to  order  and  direct  the  entertainment;  it  is  rather  for 
us  to  take  the  places  to  which  we  have  been  kindly  invited  at 
the  intellectual  banquet,  guarding  so  far  as  we  can  lest  the 
very  abundance  of  the  fare  on  the  menu  lead  to  an  attack 
of  mental  indigestion. 

We  observe  that  there  are  to  be  discussions  on  many  im- 
portant topics  which  are  laid  down  on  your  program,  and 
we  are  to  report  to  our  respective  governments  any  point  and 
any  new  thing  which  is  being  done  or  thought  of,  or  pro- 
jected in  the  various  countries  which  are  represented  here, 
and  to  make  the  personal  acquaintance,  the  pleasantest  of 
all  the  duties  which  fall  upon  us,  of  many  persons,  with  whom 
as  yet  we  have  only  had  dealings  by  correspondence,  and 
who  hitherto  have  been  but  names  to  us;  and,  finally,  when 
we  disperse  to  do  our  utmost  that  any  conclusions  of  a  prac- 
tical and  useful  kind  which  have  been  arrived  at  by  this 
Congress  shall  not  be  allowed  to  go  without  result,  but  that 
shall  bear  solid  results  in  the  various  countries  to  which  we 
report.     (Applause.) 

As  regards  the  objects  by  which  our  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment is  actuated  in  taking  part  in  this  Congress,  I  have  no 
official  statement  to  make,  but  I  am  merely  recording  my 
personal  opinion  and  I  take  it  that,  in  accepting  the  invita- 
tion which  was  extended  to  it,  my  government  desired  to 
give  a  proof  of  the  deep  interest  which  it  takes  in  every 
measure  and  every  discussion  and  every  institution  which 
has  for  its  object  the  development  and  advancement  of  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  nations,  and  in  especial  degree 
to  show  its  interest  in  that  interesting  and  wonderful  ex- 
periment which  is  now  being  carried  on  in  Philadelphia  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum.  It 
lias  sent  me,  rather  more  as  a  listener  than  as  a  speaker, 
rather  to  learn  than  to  teach,  and  rather  to  be  silent — like 
small  children  should  lie  in  school — seen  and  not  heard.  I 
hope  that  we  ■ndll  fulfill  that  duty  better  than  small  children. 
I  think  at  least  we  may  find  that  if  our  performances  do  not 
always  come  up  to  the  demands  of  our  masters,  the  com- 
mercial public,  at  all  events  that  our  words  will  speak  less 
loyally  than  our  actions. 


10 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Now  it  must  bu  obvious  from  a  glancu  at  tlie  program 
that  there  are  some  subjects  of  the  very  deepest  interest  to 
the  commercial  world,  to  which  the  official  representatives 
of  o-overnments  can  only  be  listeners,  but  it  is  the  feeling 
in  our  country  that  in  this  great  movement,  the  extension  of 
commerce,  wliicli  characterizes  the  present  age,  m  this  draw- 
ing nearer  together  of  distant  nations,  in  this  great  game,  if 
I  may  iise  that  expression  of  friendly  rivalry  and  emulation 
among  the  nations,  all  governments  must  to  a  very  large  ex- 
tent be  greatly  interested  onlookers.  True  they  have  the 
same  functions  to  perfonn,  true  they  may  do  much  by  looking 
at  the  outcasts  of  the  entire  districts,  by  publication  and  a 
disseminatiiin  of  accurate  information,  also  by  the  removal 
of  the  artificial  obstacles  to  the  advancement  of  commerce 
and  in  facilitating  that  movement,  and  by  directing  the  power 
and  the  force  of  "the  movement;  this  must  always  depend,  as 
it  has  always  depended,  on  the  efforts  of  individual  energy 
and  enterprise  (applause) — energy  and  enterprise  for  which 
no  government  action,  the  action  of  no  institution,  not  even 
such  an  institution  as  the  Philadelphia  Museum  will  be  alto- 
gether an  effective  substitute,  but  within  these  limits,  these 
narrow  limits  I  may  say,  which  necessarily  confine  govern- 
ment action  there  is  doubtless  very  much  room  for  im- 
provement. 

It  is  our  hope  that  we  shall  learn  from  the  representatives 
of  the  commercial  world  here  many  of  our  defects  and  many 
things  which  we  could  order  otherwise. 

My  fellow  British  delegates  will  be  aware  that  the  improve- 
ments for  collecting  and  disseminating  commercial  informa- 
tion have  recently  engaged  the  most  anxious  consideration  of 
Her  Majesty's  Government. 

I  may  tell  this  Congress  that  at  this  very  moment  there  is 
l)cing  organized  in  connection  with  the  Board  of  Trade,  which 
1  represent,  a  special  branch  or  department  for  the  diffusion 
of  commercial  intelligence,  not  so  wide  in  its  scope,  not  on 
such  a  large  scale,  not  precisely  with  the  same  objects  as  the 
great  Philadelphia  Museum  from  which  we  have  so  much  to 
learn,  but  akin  to  it  in  object  for  promoting  by  every  means 
within  the  power  limits  of  public  action  the  spirit  of  accurate 
and  full  commercial  infonnation. 

Now,  sir,  in  a  work  like  that  we  do  not  wish  to  shun  criti- 
cism, but  we  rather  welcome  it.  Personally  I  always  feel  that 
so  long  as  we  are  praised  for  our  merits,  if  we  have  any,  and 
blamed  for  our  defects,  which  we  always  have,  then  I  am  as- 
sured that  our  work  is  responding,  however  imperfectly,  to 
the  real  vital  needs  of  Commerce.  It  is  only  when  criticism 
ceases  that  I  begin  to  think  that  something  is  wrong.  So  I 
am  using  no  paradox  when  I  say  that  much  as  we  value  the 
praise  of  the  commercial  public  we  would  much  rather  have 
their  censure  than  their  apathy.  I  would  rather  that  our 
publications  were  thought  worthy  of  praise  than  worthy  of 
i)lame,  but  almost  anything  is  better  than  their  being  thought 
worthy  of  the  waste  paper  basket. 

Now,  sir,  I  have  not  much  to  add  at  pi'esent  in  regard  to 
the  program  of  Ihis  Congress.  If  anything  can  result  from 
its  labors  to  promote  the  cause  we  have  at  heart  in  advanc- 
ing to  a  greater  degree  of  uniformity  in  the  methods  of  col- 
lecting and  classifying  the  statistics  of  tlio  world  followed 
by  different  countries,  it  seems  to  me  that  (hat  alone  would 
be  no  unworthy  result  of  this  assemblage,  and  where  we  ask 
for  suggestions,  and  for  criticisms  from  you,  we  ask  also  that 
you  will  give  credit  to  the  official  representatives  that  they 
are  at  least  actuated  by  a  single-minded  desire  to  do  all  in  their 
limited  powers  to  promote  the  cause  that  has  brought  us 
together  in  Pliiladelphia,  in  extending  the  facilities  for  com- 
mercial intercourse  among  nations. 

I  thank  you,  sir,  and  T  lliank  Ihe  Congress  for  having  lis- 
tened to  me  so  patiently.     (Applause.) 


IIiiii.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

I  now  call  on  the  Hon.  R.  R.  Dobell,  of  Canada. 

Hon.  B.  B.  Dohell: 

Gentlemen  and  delegates  from  the  various  parts  of  the 
world  to  this  Conference,  I  represent  the  Dominion  of  Canada, 
(sensation)  and  in  doing  so  I  may  state  that  I  feel  that  I 
am  very  much  honored  in  being  able  to  come  before  you 
at  such  a  jjeriod  as  the  present,  when  everything  is  over- 
flowing with  prosperity  and  good-will.  Mr.  Chainnan,  with- 
in the  last  half  hour  I  have  heard  that  a  cable  has  been  re- 
ceived advising  us  that  an  agreement  has  been  reached  be- 
tween your  government  and  ours  in  reference  to  the  Alaska 
boundaries.  It  is  only  a  temporary  agreement;  it  is  a  modus 
Vivendi,  but  now  that  such  a  step,  so  far  in  the  right  direc- 
tion, has  been  taken,  I  feel  pretty  confident  we  shall  come 
to  a  lasting  agreement  which  will  enable  both  countries  to 
pursue  and  develop  that  gi'eat  icy  region  and  make  it  a 
country  from  which  both  the  United  States  and  Canada  may 
derive  great  benefit. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  wish  to  refer  very  briefly  to  what  has 
lately  taken  place  in  your  sister  city,  Cliicago.  It  would 
be  impossible  for  me  to  convey  any  idea  of  the  magnificent 
reception  which  we  received  there.  I  will  only  say  this,  t^iat 
Chicago  is  a  very  worthy  younger  sister  to  Philadelphia.  She 
has  gone  a  long  way,  even  to  rival  her,  but  since  coming  to 
Philadelphia  I  find  that  Philadelphia  w-ill  still  hold  her  place, 
but  she  has  evei-y  reason  to  be  proud  of  her  younger  sister. 

I  feel  very  happy  to  tell  you  that  we  inaugurated  a  new 
era,  we  inaugurated  a  new  fellowship,  a  new  relaitionship, 
\rith  those  with  whom  we  had,  for  a  period  of  forty  years,  been 
working  together,  as  cousins,  while  we  were  actually  brothers, 
who  never  properly  realized  the  close  bond  of  affection  that 
should  bind  the  countries  together.  Both  countries,  I  dare 
say,  have  much  to  forget  and  much  to  forgive,  but  on  that 
evening,  when  the  guest  of  the  evening  was  your  honorable 
president,  and  gathered  around  the  table  were  the  cabinet  of 
this  great  country,  and  several  statesmen  from  our  own  coun- 
try, when  it  was  suggested  that  we  had  been  on  WTong  rela- 
tions so  long  and  that  we  were  now  permitted  to  join  hands 
as  brothers,  the  meeting  stood  up  and  cheered  to  the  echo 
and  accepted  the  proposition  and  broke  bread  on  it  and  drank 
wine  on  it,  echoing  a  sentiment  which  I  hope  all  here  will 
endorse  to-day.     (Applause.) 

I  may  perhaps,  without  offence,  refer  to  the  few  remarks 
that  were  made  by  our  veiy  esteemed  Premier.  In  the  course 
of  his  speech,  giving  as  a  reason  to  all  assembled  why  Canada 
was  so  generous  to  the  United  States  and  why  she  had  borne 
so  much,  he  said  that  Canada  has  seventy-five  million  popu- 
lation and  the  United  States  only  seven,  but  in  admitting 
the  mistake  of  saying  seventy-five  million  for  Canada  he  drew 
the  inference  he  wished  to  put  before  them,  the  case  being 
reversed.  We  all  know  that  the  United  States  has  seventy- 
five  million  of  people  and  we  seven  million,  therefore  to  find 
that  seventy-five  million  has  convened  us  together,  she  has 
put  a  connnand  on  us  to  bring  our  views  and  take  part  in  the 
great  Commercial  Congress,  that  we  shall  enjoy  with  you. 

I  think  that  it  is  in  order,  and  I  am  sure  if  I  trespass  in  the 
Ir.isl  if  yim  will  give  me  ihe  slightest  hint  I  will  stop — I  only 
want  1(1  name  one  or  two  practical  points,  so  that  the  work 
of  this  Conference  will  not,  as  was  said  by  the  late  speaker, 
be  dissipated,  but  that  we  shall  tackle  some  salient  points  that 
have  lieen  the  cause  of  irritation  for  a  long  time. 

Allow  mc  to  mcnfion  one,  with  the  chairman's  approval, 
and  it  is  this:  In  ISGO  Canada,  fhrougli  Great  Britain,  made 
a  treaty  with  the  Tnifed  States  Government  by  whicli  wo 
gave  the  United  Slates  the  use  of  our  canals  and  rivers  for  all 
time.     The  people  nf  the   Ifniicd   Slnl(>s  have   nindf   ii>c  of 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  13,  1899 


11 


that  privilege,  and  last  year  four  millions  of  tons  of  American 
shipping  came  through  our  Soo  Canal,  and  we  did  not  exact 
one  dollar  from  you.  Boats  come  up  from  New  York  laden 
with  coal,  they  pass  up  the  Hudson  and  go  through  the  Al- 
bany canal  and  through  the  Eichelieu  River,  passing  through 
Lake  Champlain  into  the  St.  Lawrence;  thence  to  the  Ottawa 
River,  discharge  their  coal  in  Ottawa,  load  back  in  lumber, 
and  they  do  the  same  with  Quebec  and  the  same  with  Mont- 
real, but  when  our  boats  want  to  go  to  New  York  laden  with 
lumber,  we  are  stopped,  and  we  cannot  go  through  the  ten- 
mile  canal  between  Troy  and  Albany;  we  have  to  unload  into 
American  bottoms. 

When  I  was  in  Washington  some  years  ago,  this  matter 
was  brought  to  the  attention  of  the  United  States  Govem- 
ment,  and  I  was  assured  the  trouble  would  be  removed.  I 
was  exceedingly  well  received,  and  was  told  by  the  Foreign 
Relations  Committee  that  such  a  condition  could  not  be  pos- 
sible. 1  was  pleased  to  get  such  a  reply,  but  it  was  possible, 
and  it  was  in  existence,  and  our  boats,  since  1869,  have  never 
been  able  to  come  down  to  New  York  with  the  same  freedom 
from  hindrance  as  the  American  boats  have  been  able  to  come 
from  New  York  into  Canada. 

It  is  not  of  very  serious  moment,  and  I  am  not  naming  it 
as  a  cause  of  discord.  I  am  naming  it  more  with  the  idea 
of  being  a  younger  brother,  and  I  have  the  perfect  freedom 
to  bring  before  the  elder  brother  our  trouljles  that  our  big 
brother  may  help  us. 

I  claim,  to-day,  that  that  ought  to  be  removed.  We  Cana- 
dians labor  \inder  a  hardship  unfortunately  in  the  fact  that 
the  change  from  wood  to  iron  has  practically  swept  the  seas 
of  wooden  ships  as  you  all  well  know.  Your  navigation  laws 
are  also  unfair  to  us.  I  myself  had  a  ship  in  New  York 
that  I  chartered  some  years  ago,  without  knowing  your  re- 
striction, to  take  a  cargo  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco, 
and  to  my  surprise  I  could  not  carry  it  out,  because  that  was 
called  a  coasting  voyage,  a  voyage  which  took  probably  six 
months  to  perfonn — one  of  the  longest  voyages  you  can  take, 
but  it  could  not  be  done. 

Now  I  think  the  navigation  laws  of  the  United  States,  if 
they  really  want  to  encourage  trade,  and  bring  about  a  bet- 
ter state  of  things,  should  he  swept  away,  or  amended,  so  that 
we  will  be  allowed  the  same  privileges  that  you  have,  and 
your  ships  now  can  go  from  Canada  to  Australia  and  the 
East  Indies  and  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  back  to  London 
loading  at  any  port  in  the  empire,  while  you  hamper  us  with 
ungenerous  restriction. 

I  must  say  that  I  agree  with  what  your  minister  said  at  a 
public  diimer  in  London,  I  mean  the  Honorable  Mr.  Bayard, 
a  very  honorable  and  high-minded  gentleman  who  was  sent 
across  the  Atlantic  by  your  government.  Mr.  Bayard  said 
that  this  country  was  the  wa}'ward,  wilful  eldest  son,  and 
although  you  were  all  that.  Great  Britain  gave  you  more  at- 
tention than  she  did  all  the  other  good  little  boys.  I  be- 
lieve that  is  the  ease  to-day.  You  have  a  larger  share  of  the 
old  mother  love  than  all  the  rest  put  together,  and  I  am 
not  sure  that  this  is  not  strictly  right. 

And  there  are  some  other  things  that  I  think  might  be 
mended,  but  when  I  was  talking  thus  quietly  to  Mr.  Gage, 
as  I  sat  next  to  him  at  dinner,  he  said  to  me,  "Don't  go  to 
Washington,"  and  I  replied  that  I  agi-eed  with  him,  there 
was  no  use  going  there.  Wliat  we  should  do,  he  said,  was 
to  form  a  commercial  club,  like  this  here  in  Philadelphia, 
or  like  the  one  in  New  York  and  Boston,  and  get  the  mem- 
bers together  and  give  them  a  good  time,  get  them  all  in- 
terested, and  then  they  will  have  some  weight  in  Washington, 
and  I  am  sure  that  is  the  easiest  and  readiest,  way  to  accom- 
plish the  result  desired. 

To-day  I  feel  that  we  need  not  even  do  that,  for  here  is  a 
Commercial  Club  which  T  am  satisfied  flill  answer  every  pur- 


pose, and  I  would  a])peal  to-day  to  this  Congress  to  look  into 
these  matters,  and  it  may  be  that  there  will  be  an  opportu- 
nity of  putting  before  them  more  clearly  than  I  can  do  now, 
and  taking  your  decision  on  the  subject,  whether  it  should  be 
remedied  or  whether  it  should  be  left  as  it  is. 

I  claim  that  I  appeal  to  Caesar,  and  you  could  not  have 
a  higher  Caesar  than  this  Congress.  I  appeal  to  this  Con- 
gress to  give  its  verdict  upon  the  ca.se  that  I  have  put. 

Now  I  will  not  say  more.  The  Chairman  of  your  meeting 
in  a  beautiful  speech  which  he  made,  used  three  sentences 
which  struck  me  as  exceedingly  pertinent — he  said  that  the 
United  States  should  live  upon  terms  of  unchanging  friend- 
ship with  Canada. 

We  shake  hands  over  that.  On  that  (question  we  are  en- 
tirely one. 

He  then  said  the  two  essential  elements  in  making  an  en- 
during civilization  were  sympathy  and  kindly  intercourse. 

Well,  we  can  shake  hands  again. 

He  finished  up  by  saying,  that  at  all  times,  and  upon  all 
subjects,  we  should  be  found  working  together  for  the  hap- 
piness and  welfare  of  the  people. 

Well,  sir,  nothing  could  be  more  in  unison  with  the  feel- 
ings of  the  Canadian  Government.  I  can  only  say  that  we 
are  glad  and  more  than  willing  to  join  hands  and  work  for 
the  good  not  only  of  the  two  countries  but  for  every  coimtry 
in  the  world.  Placed  as  we  are,  sir,  with  all  countries  within 
our  reach,  and  our  country  rich  in  everything  mineral,  agri- 
cultural and  in  their  forests  having  a  very  great  inJieritance, 
we  should  only  be  too  happy  to  share  with  countries  not 
so  blessed,  and  to  make  the  world  somewhat  better.  Our  two 
countries  are  occupied  by  two  people,  energetic,  and  blessed 
with  resources  that  will  extend  and  increase  year  after  year, 
as  we  grow  wealthy  and  great,  and  as  I  view  it  in  the  near 
future  the  United  States  are  going  to  be  the  wealthiest  people 
in  the  world — there  is  nothing  to  prevent  it — the  wealthiest 
people  in  the  world.  When  they  do  get  into  that  position 
they  should  remember  that  then  their  responsibilities  be- 
come greater  with  their  wealth,  and  they  should  learn  that 
right  held  too  rigidly  hardens  into  wrong  and  also  that  if 
they  are  so  wealthy,  and  they  want  to  be  correspondingly 
great,  they  must  be  generous.  I  feel  to-day  that  this  ex- 
hibition is  only  a  sample  of  your  generosity,  and  I  am  sure 
I  say  that  T^ithout  the  slightest  feeling  of  envy  of  your  great- 
ness, and  I  feel  too  that  this  greatness  will  go  on  and  in- 
crease, because  you  know  how  to  scatter  and  yet  to  increase. 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

The  next  gentleman  I  shall  call  upon  to  address  this  assem- 
bly is  Lieutenant-General  Sir  Andrew  Clarke,  of  Victoria, 
Australia.     (Applause.) 

Lieutenant-General  Sir  Andrew  Clarl-e: 

Mr.  President,  Delegates  and  Gentlemen:  Fortunately  to 
myself,  but  much  more  fortunately  for  you,  it  will  not  be 
necessary  for  me  to  say  more  than  a  very  few  words  as  there 
are  other  speakers  already  behind  me  from  different  countries 
who  have  to  speak,  and  more  especially  as  I  am  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  two  of  my  colleagues  of  Australasia,  more  recently 
and  better  acquainted  with  that  part  of  the  world  than  I  am, 
because  my  recollection  and  knowledge,  although  it  goes  back 
many  and  many  a  year  is  not  equal  to  that  of  my  colleague 
from  South  Australia,  the  Honorable  Dr.  John  Cockburn, 
who,  as  its  premier,  has  received  from  his  colony  thanks  for 
the  effort  he  has  made  in  education,  and  in  agriculture.  My 
other  colleague,  Mr.  Reeves,  of  wide-world  fame,  who  has 
done  much  to  lay  the  foimdation  for  the  recognition  of  the 
claims  of  labor  and  capital,  will  also  address  you. 

Do  not  think  because  I  may  tariT  with   vo^i  but  a  few 


12 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


moments,  that  I  am  not  in  sympathy  with  you— my  first 
lecollection  of  that  glorious  flag  of  yours  vfas  fonned  when 
I  «aw  it  in  the  South  Atlantic,  under  the  southern  constella- 
tion on  hujiilreds  of  your  ships,  while  hundreds  of  others 
were  cairying  the  llag^of  my  country  in  hannonious  rivalry, 
of  a  com'mon  danger  and  a  common  enterprise.  We  Aus- 
tralians, in  the  days  when  the  great  discoveries  of  gold  in 
1851  were  made,  were  found  as  a  pastoral  people,  our  only 
means  of  locomotion  being  the  bullock  cart;  but  the  Ameri- 
cans came  to  the  rescue  and  we  remember  such  names  as 
that  of  Gulp  and  Adams,  names  that  are  known  throughout 
the  lengt.h  of  that  broad  land.  It  was  the  same  spirit  of 
co-operation  that  I  recognize  in  this  meeting.  It  is  therefore 
from  wliat  I  have  already  seen  in  the  efforts  of  able  and 
talented  men,  from  impressions  I  have  every  reason  to  be- 
lieve will  be  still  more  confimied,  that  I  will  be  able  to  re- 
port to  my  government  the  remarkable  and  practical  results 
of  these  meetings;  and  it  is,  I  assure  you,  with  feelings  of 
confidence  that  they  again  place  themselves  in  direct  com- 
munication with  your  organization  and  administration  here, 
to  establish  within  their  territories  societies  created  upon  the 
same  principles. 

I  have  heard  it  said,  and  to  a  certain  extent  there  may  be 
self-interest — naturally  there  is;  but  I  cannot  but  ask  you  to 
note  the  significance  of  that  table  which  your  executive  has 
l)laced  on  the  wall  to  show  from  that  table  alone,  in  the 
progress  of  this  last  century,  that  there  is  more  certainty 
of  the  progi-ess  in  the  future  from  the  prosperity  of  the 
past,  more  promise  and  more  certainty  of  its  still  continuing, 
and  that  there  is  room  for  all,  and,  in  thanking  you,  and 
the  gentlemen  for  inviting  us  here,  I  cannot  do  better  than 
to  recall  to  your  recollection  the  word  of  your  own  president 
— President."  JIcKinley — in  opening  the  famous  conference 
in  1897,  but  I  will  ask  you  to  make  one  alteration  in  that 
sentence,  and  when  he  says  in  his  book  placed  in  my  hands, 
"Resting  upon  this  principle  of  looking  not  solely  to  the 
welfare  of  the  country  at  large,  but  benefiting  other  nations 
as  well,  the  intent  and  realization  of  this  world-industrial 
ol)ject  lesson  are  in  accord  with  the  best  spirit  of  the  age 
and  worthy  of  the  good  will  and  helpfulness  of  every  pa- 
triotic American.  A  patriot  makes  a  better  citizen  than  a 
pessimist." 

lie  says,  "Every  patriotic  American";  I  say,  eveiy  patriotic 
man  of  every  nationality.     (Applause.) 

I  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have  done  us,  and  will  as^k 
you  to  hear  my  colleagues. 


lion.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

Gentlemen,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  next 
the  Honorable  W.  P.  Reeves,  of  New  Zealand. 


lion.  \V.  r.  Reeves: 

Mr.  Reed,  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Allow  me,  with  the 
iiK'St  heartfelt  sincerity,  to  second  the  thanks  which  Sir 
Andrew  Cllarkc  has  just  uttered  on  behalf  of  Australasia  for 
your  hospitality,  kindly  welcome  and  greeting  to-day,  your 
meeting  and  your  welcome  to  this  city,  the  very  name  of 
which  breathes  of  universal  kindliness  and  concord.  The 
Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  in  his  frankly  worded  speech  this 
morning,  said  that  he  hoped  that  this  occasion  would  be  as 
pleasant  to  all  of  us  visitors  as  it  would  be  profitable  to  our 
entertainers.  Allow  me,  Mr.  Reed,  to  incorporate  that  in 
my  speech  and  to  express  the  hope  that  it  will  1)C  as  plea.sant 
tx)  my  entertainers  as  it  will  be  undoubtedly  profitable  to  us. 
(Applause.)  And  when  I  say  profitable  I  do  not  confine  tlie 
meaning  of  the  word  merely  to  pounds,  shillings  and  pence 
or  to  dollars  and  cents.     'I'here  are  more  indirect  and  eiiually 


useful  forms  of  profit,  and  one  of  these  consists  in  the  acqui- 
sition of  useful  information. 

Now,  we,  on  our  side  of  the  Pacific,  have  always  been 
ready  to  learn,  but  whether  it  is  our  comparatively  humble 
rank  at  present  amongst  the  great  Commonwealth  of  Nations, 
or  whether  it  may  come  from  other  causes,  certainly  we 
have  been,  and  are  ready  to  learn  from  the  greater  nations 
(►f  the  earth,  and  in  particular  from  this  great  Republic. 

Wlien,  for  example,  if  I  may  go  to  the  affairs  of  my  own 
little  colony,  when  many  years  ago  agricultural  machinery 
was  brought  out,  our  colony  was  the  first  customer  to  obtain 
and  use  this  machinery,  long  before  the  benefits  of  it  had 
been  recognized  in  Europe. 

Later  on  the  Government  of  the  United  States  saw  fit  to 
puss  a  law  that  made  some  difference  with  us,  and  even  in 
recent  times  has  been  of  very  little  advantage  to  yoii.  Our 
country  took  the  initiative  in  first  establishing  a  steam  ser- 
vice across  the  Pacific  and  in  laying  the  foundation  ot  steam 
communication  betw^een  San  Francisco  and  Australasia,  which 
has  been  unbroken  until  to-day. 

Now,  sir,  we  recognize  that  the  advance  that  America  has 
made  in  the  Pacific  will  bring  her  very  soon  into  a  more  close 
contact  with  us  than  has  yet  been  the  case.  We  welcome 
that  advance  and  are  prepared  to  meet  you  with  open  hands. 
The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  remarked  this  morning  that 
patriotism  did  not  make  trade.  I  am  inclined,  however,  to 
think,  sir,  that  patriotism  can  cause  trade.  I  do  not  criti- 
cise, far  be  it  from  me  to  venture  to  do  so,  the  msdom  of 
3'our  Congress,  over  whose  deliberations  you  have  presided 
with  all  that  force  of  character  that  is  so  famous.  I  do  not 
ve;vlure  to  criticise  the  wisdom  of  that  great  Congress  which 
has  obliged  us  in  Australia  to  seek  a  market  in  Europe  for 
oar  raw  products.  No  doubt,  sir,  in  doing  that  they  were 
actuated  by  motives  which  had  the  endorsement  of  your 
whole  country,  and  which  bear  the  stamp  of  statesmanship, 
but  I  will  remind  you  that  San  Francisco  is  the  half-way 
house  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Australian  colonies. 

New  the  external  trade  of  my  own  little  New  Zealand  is 
ncf.i-ly  one  hundred  million  ($100,000,000)  dollars  a  year, 
and  the  trade  of  Australia  is  seven  hundred  million  ($700,- 
000,000)  dollars,  which  may  not  seem  very  great  to  the 
American  idea — still  it  may  seem  very  great  to  your  states- 
men, that  a  portion  of  that  trade  would  be  worth  your  secur- 
ing. Seeing  that  nature  has  put  you  half-way  between  Great 
Britain  and  Australia,  it  is  obvious  it  has  given  you  the 
opportunity,  if  you  desire  it,  to  take  a  step  in  the  direction 
of  securing  a  portion  of  your  trade. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  you  have  listened  with  interest  and 
a  great  deal  of  attention  to  the  eloquent  remarks  of  Sir 
Andrew  Clarke,  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  spoke 
before  me,  but  had  you  known  one  incident  about  which 
his  modesty  kept  him  silent,  I  think  your  welcome  would 
have  been  a  great  deal  more  cordial.  Fifteen  years  ago  the 
situation  between  the  English  Government  and  yours  was 
somewhat  difl'erent;  it  then  fell  to  him  to  give  his  advice, 
and  it  was  important  advice,  as  to  what  steps  should  be 
taken  "vvith  reference  to  the  po^ibility  of  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  other  countries  of  the  world,  and  he  gave  advice 
which  was  peculiar,  and  when  the  qiiestion  came  up  of  there 
being  a  war  between  Groat  Britain  and  America,  what  Sir 
Andrew  said  was  that  it  was  an  unthinkable  thing.  Such  a 
crime  against  humanity,  he  said,  ought  to  be  put  in  a  posi- 
tion by  itself.     (Applause.) 

Now  in  this  year  of  1899,  it  may  seem  somewhat  like  a 
haclcneyed  truism — fifteen  years  was  not  such  a  great  while 
ago,  hut  it  was  true,  and  that  statement  Avas  made  and  you 
ail  know  the  stcpi>ing-stone  which  leads  to  international  con- 
rord  and  respect.     (Applause.) 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  13,  1899 


18 


Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

Gentlemen,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  the 
Hon.  Dr.  John  A.  Coekburn,  of  South  Australia. 

Dr.  John  A.  Coclchurn: 

Mr.  Eeed,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  On  behalf  of  the  Gov- 
ernment and  people  of  South  Australia,  I  most  cordially 
thank  you  for  your  welcome.  I  should  like  to  say  a  word 
with  regard  to  the  address  which  was  made  this  morning  by 
Mr.  Reed.  Its  quality  was  so  excellent  that  I  regret  it  was 
such  an  admirable  example  of  brevity.  We  have  come  over 
many  leagues  of  water  to  join  in  your  deliberations  and  we 
have  been  asked  to  express  our  opinions,  individually,  as  to 
what  direction  these  deliberations  shall  take  and  what  we 
shall  be  able  to  carry  away  with  us  for  our  mutual  instruction 
and  advantage.  I  do  not  think  the  profit  will  be  altogether 
on  one  side,  I  think  we  shall  all  equally  profit  from  our 
gathering  together  here.  We  in  South  Australia  have  a  largo 
country — Australia  is  a  continent  in  itself,  and  South  Aus- 
tralia comprises  an  area  of  some  five  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  million  acres  (.578,000,000),  an  area  so  vast  you  have 
to  look  on  the  map  in  order  to  appreciate  its  significance, 
and  you  have  to  have  a  diagrammatic  e.xplanation  in  order 
to  be  impressed  with  these  particularly  abstract  figures.  Our 
chief  industry  is  pastoral.  We  export  a  large  amount  of  wool. 
During  the  last  ten  years  we  exported  four  hundred  and  fifty- 
six  million  (450,000,000)  pounds  weight  of  wool. 

We  look  very  much  for  information  which  is  necessary  to 
develop  our  great  territory — wo,  like  yourselves,  are  an  off- 
shoot from  the  great  old  stock  planted  in  a  practically  com- 
paratively little  occupied  country,  and  our  problems  are  the 
same  as  your  problems.  We  have  much  to  learn  and  we 
have  already  learned  a  great  deal  from  you.  We  have  in 
South  Australia  adopted  much  that  has  been  taken  from 
your  American  institutions.  We  have  noted  in  the  press 
with  the  greatest  of  satisfaction  the  information  issued  by 
your  bureau.  I  myself  many  years  ago  had  the  honor  to 
be  one  of  the  members  of  a  select  committee,  and  we  turned 
our  eyes  to  your  countiy  and  we  imitated  your  example,  and 
we  have  to-day  one  of  the  most  thriving  institutions — the 
Bureau  of  Agriculture. 

I  witnessed  yesterday  at  the  Museum  something  which  is 
worth  coming  a  long  distance  to  see.  Never  in  my  life  have 
I  seen  such  a  perfect  system  of  collating  information  of  value 
to  the  commercial  world. 

Now  there  arc  very  many  otliers  to  speak  and  I  will  not 
detain  you  any  longer.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  one  could  not 
help  thinking  yesterday  when  we  heard  and  when  we  wit- 
nessed the  mutual  respect  that  all  nations  paid  to  the  na- 
tional anthems  of  each  that  a  new  epoch  of  civilization  had 
dawned  upon  the  world.  At  the  very  earliest  dawn  of  our 
era  a  great  sentence  was  pronounced — that  no  man  could 
live  for  himself  alone.  The  close  of  this  century  has  wit- 
nessed the  further  truth  of  the  fact  that  no  nation  can  live 
for  itself  alone.  We  are  bound  together  by  a  network  of  most 
intimate  ties,  which  consist  in  more  than  the  circulation  of 
merchandise  through  the  channels  of  trade  and  the  commerce 
of  the  world,  and  there  is  nothing  more  important  than  the 
problems  concerned  in  the  maintenance  and  extension  of  this 
circulation,  which  is  the  life-blood  of  our  modern  world. 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Eeed: 

Gentlemen,  we  will  now  cross  the  Pacific  in  another  direc- 
tion. We  have  here  with  us  to-day  the  Chinese  Minister  to 
the  United  States.  (Applause.)  And  I  can  assure  you  from 
personal  knowledge  that  he  speaks  Chinese  in  such  a  charm- 
ing manner  as  to  bring  it  within  the  reach  of  all. 


His  Excellency,  Wu  Ting- fang: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  feel 
highly  complimented  by  the  introductory  remarks  made  by 
the  president,  and  after  the  example  of  one  of  the  orators  of 
this  morning  I  have  felt  that  I  must  follow  his  example  and 
speak  my  own  language  to-day.  (Applause.)  But  there  is 
this  unfortunate  circumstance  that  the  Chinese  language  is 
not  so  well  known  here  as  the  German  language,  and  so  I  am 
compelled  to  speak  English,  for  if  I  were  to  speak  my  own 
language  the  majority  of  those  present  would  leave  this  room. 
(Laughter  and  applause.) 

Ladies  and  gentlemen:  Upon  this  topic — -now  it  occurs  to 
my  mind  that  I  have  a  little  proposition  to  make  to  you — 
this  International  Congress,  composed  of  delegates  from  all 
nations  of  the  world,  and  it  is  a  thing  that  is  most  important, 
that  is,  the  language  that  should  be  used  in  the  Interna- 
tional Congress.     (Applause.) 

I  am  not  so  favored  as  most  of  you  are  who  have  got  a 
splendid  education  in  your  school  days  or  college  days,  when 
you  learned  the  modem  languages  and  Latin,  Greek,  Ger- 
man, French  and  Russian,  and  whatever  else  there  is  to 
learn — why,  that  is  enough  to  occupy  a  man's  whole  life  in 
itself,  that  is,  if  he  does  it  right.  Therefore  I  put  the  mat- 
ter before  you  as  one  of  tlie  subjects  that  should  be  brought 
up  before  this  International  Congress,  whether  in  the  future, 
in  the  International  Congress,  and  in  the  international 
meetings  of  the  International  Congress,  as  this  is,  the  uni- 
versal medium  for  a  speaking  language,  and  for  the  expres- 
sion of  our  thoughts,  should  not  be  agreed  upon. 

If  that  was  the  case,  then  I  know  what  to  do — all  the 
people  of  the  world  would  know  what  language  to  use. 
Now  here  you  have  the  French  language,  and  the  German 
language,  and  how  are  we  to  learn  it  all,  besides  our  own 
language,  which  is  not  easily  learned,  as  you  all  know. 
Tlierefore,  I  say  it  is  not  fair  in  an  International  Congress 
to  speak  different  languages.  I  was  kept  in  ignorance  this 
morning  a  long  time  during  the  remarks  of  one  of  the  mem- 
bers, and  I  did  not  understand  a  word  of  what  he  .said.  Was 
not  that  a  tantalizing  thing  to  me?  (Applause.)  Now  gentle- 
men delegates,  I  wish  to  jmt  Ijefore  you  this  proposition,  for 
you  to  decide  upon  some  language  as  the  medium  of  ex- 
pression in  the  next  International  Assembly  such  as  this.  I 
do  not  care  what  language  it  is.  Then  it  comes  to  this  ques- 
tion: -which  language  shall  we  adopt?  That  is  a  question 
not  to  be  easily  decided  upon,  and  I  am  afraid  it  would,  of 
course,  cause  a  good  deal  of  discussion  and  disagreement. 
15ut,  delegates,  you  have  a  principle  in  Europe  and  in  America 
by  which  we  shall  be  guided,  and  it  is  l)y  a  majority  of  votes. 
Let  the  delegates  vote  for  the  Chinese  language  and  you 
will  all  liave  to  learn  it.  (Laughter.)  But  I  am  afraid  there 
would  not  be  a  majority  of  votes  for  that  language.  (Laugh- 
ter.) However,  let  us  decide  it  by  a  majority  of  votes  and 
then  adhere  to 'the  result  in  the  future.  I  put  it  before  you, 
that  is  one  of  the  urgent  questions  of  the  day,  and  I  hope  it 
will  be  decided  and  acted  upon  in  the  future." 

Gentlemen,  when  I  came  here  yesterday  I  had  no  thought 
of  being  called  upon  to  make  a  speech  "to-day,  and  I  was 
going  back  thi.s  afternoon  in  the  train,  when  I  got  a  notice 
that  I  had  to  speak  here.  There  is  one  thing  that  is  very 
gratifying  to  me:  each  speaker  this  afternoon  is  limited  to 
the  space  of  five  minutes,  and  as  I  have  already  occupied 
two  minutes  I  think  I  can  easily  run  out  the  remaining 
three  minutes  without  much  difficulty.  (Cries  of  "Go  on' 
Go  on!") 

Gentlemen,  when  I  came  into  this  room  I  was  reminded  of 
a  saying  of  Confucius,  uttered  twenty-five  centuries  ago. 
One  of  his  disciples  asked  another  disciple  of  his,  "What  shall 
I  do,  I  have  no  friend  and  no  brother?"  And  the  fellow- 
disciple  answered  him  in  this  wise;  he  said,  "I  have  learned 


14 


PROCi'^CDINGS  OP  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


from  our  master,  Confucius,  that  if  you  deal  fairly  with  other 
people,  all  people  within  the  four  seas  are  your  friends  and 
brother.-."     (Applause  and  cries  of  "Good,  good!") 

Now  it  is  gratifying  to  me  tliis  day  to  see  an  example  of 
this  kind,  and  a  fulfillment  of  the  .saying  made  twenty-five 
centuries  ago.  Here  we  have  delegates  not  only  from  the 
dilVerent  nations  of  this  country,  not  only  from  South 
America,  but  from  Europe,  and  also  from  Africa  and  Asia. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  world  is  becoming  smaller,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  we  are  all  now  congregating  together  and 
becoming  a  family  of  the  universe.     (Applause.) 

Here,  when  I  look  around  this  room,  I  see  the  cause  of  the 
usefulness  of  this  Congress.  I  see  around  me,  hanging  on 
these  walls,  different  charts  giving  information  about  almost 
everything  you  want  to  know.  The  quantity  of  gold  im- 
ported and  exported,  and  the  amount  of  commerce  between 
the  ditferent  nations  of  the  world.  That  testifies  the  useful- 
ness of  the  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia  and  also 
to  the  value  of  this  International  Commercial  Congress. 
(Applause.) 

But  wliile  I  am  congratulating  you  with  great  sincerity 
upon  the  successful  efforts  of  Dr.  Wilson  and  his  associates 
in  getting  up  this  Congress,  I  hope  that  all  the  delegates 
who  are  assendaled  here  will  not  fail  to  bring  it  to  a  suc- 
cessful issue,  and  that  it  will  bear  good  fruit.     (Applause.) 

I  was  very  much  interested  to  hear  a  few  moments  ago, 
about  the  population  of  the  United  States  compared  with 
llie  jiopulation  of  Canada  and  that  the  United  States  have  a 
pojiulation  of  seventj'-five  million  (7.5,000,000)  and  Canada 
a  Jiopulation  of  only  seven  million  (7,000,000).  That  shows 
the  interest  each  nation  should  take  in  the  welfare  of  each 
other.  But  wliat  do  you  say  of  my  nation  with  a  population 
of  four  hundred  million  (400,000.000).  There  the  commer- 
cial interests  are  very  great,  and  if  seven  millions  (7,000,000) 
of  people  are  of  interest  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
what  do  you  say  with  regard  to  the  large  territory  of  China 
and  its  vast  population  of  four  hundred  million  (400,000,000) 
])C(>ple.  I  have  been  invited  here  to  take  part  in  this  Con- 
gress, aiul  I  hope  when  your  deliberations  are  held  you  will 
bear  in  mind  and  take  good  cai'o  to  protect  the  interests  of 
cacli  nation.  When  we  come  into  an  assembly  of  this  char- 
acter, an  international  assembly,  we  ought,  as  far  as  is  con- 
sistent witli  our  dignity  and  our  interest,  to  sink  out  of  sight 
minor  differences  of  opinion,  and  to  discuss  matters  with  a 
view  of  promoting  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  people 
of  the  wliole  world.     (Applause.) 

Jf  you  bear  this  in  mind  you  will  not  be  selfish  or  narrow- 
minded,  you  will  not  stick  to  the  hard  and  fast  rule,  but 
will  come  here  acting  on  broad  lines  for  the  universal  good 
of  the  nuijority  of  the  people  of  the  world. 

There  is  aimther  thing  I  wish  to  say,  and  there  are  many 
other  points  I  may  have  to  speak  upon,  but  my  time  is  up, 
and  as  this  Congi'ess  will  be  in  session  for  a  few  days  I  hope 
to  have  the  pleasure  of  addressing  you  on  a  future  occasion. 
I  will  just  close  with  this  earnest  prayer:  that  this  Congress 
will  bear  good  fruit,  and  that  each  one  of  the  delegates,  after 
having  taken  part  in  this  Congress,  will  go  away  with  pleasant 
remembrances  of  the  good  feeling  and  friendly  feeling  and 
brothei'ly  feeling  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  other 
nations.     (Tremendous  applause.) 

Ifini.  'riiintiajy  B.  Beed: 

tientlemen,  I  liave  nmv  the  pleasure  of  iiitrmlucing  to  you 
M.  de  K'luitkowsky,  of  Russia. 

M.  dp  NoiilJcfnr.il-y: 

Mr.  (Chairman,  Delegates  and  Ladies  and  Gentk'tnen:  I 
should  like  very  mucli  to  address  you  in  Russian,  with  which 


I  am,  of  course,  familiar,  it  being  my  native  language,  more 
so  than  I  am  with  English.  In  the  future  the  use  of  the 
English  language,  of  course,  will  not  be  considered  as  a 
binding  precedent,  binding  us  to  the  use  of  the  English  lan- 
guage for  the  International  Congress.  Jn  the  future,  if  it  is 
the  desire  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  to  have 
all  the  discussions  in  English,  I  will  ask  your  leniency  in 
my  speaking  your  language.  The  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Jluseum  invited  the  Imperial  Ru.ssian  Government,  through 
the  good  auspices  of  the  LTnited  States  Government,  to  take 
part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  International  Commercial 
Congress,  and  the  Russian  Government  welcomed  that  in- 
vitaition  as  an  indication  of  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  Government  to  facilitate  foreign  trade,  and  the 
United  States  Government  finds  us  in  hearty  cooperation. 
The  Imperial  Pussian  Government  has  made  great  sacrifices 
in  order  to  foster  its  trade.  It  has  spent  about  three  hun- 
hundred  million  ($300,000,000)  dollars  for  the  construction 
of  the  great  Trans-Continental  Railroad,  which  will  enable 
the  whole  world  soon  to  reach,  from  the  centre  of  Europe, 
to  China  and  Japan  in  less  than  two  weeks,  perhaps.  It  has 
made  great  efforts  and  sacrifice.^,  and  this  has  been  done,  of 
course,  by  our  government  to  fester  its  own  trade,  but  it  will 
welcome  all  nations  of  the  world  to  make  use  of  that  railroad 
and  of  the  facilities  which  will  be  offered  by  foreign  com- 
merce, and  will  welcome  any  recommendations  that  this  Con- 
gress shall  find  it  uecessaiy  to  make  in  order  to  cause  trade 
to  flow  through  those  channels. 

Now,  then,  delegates,  if  during  your  discussions,  you  find 
it  necessary  to  make  recommendations  concerning  foreign 
trade,  I  will  be  most  happy  to  transmit  to  my  government 
those  recommendations.  I  can  assure  you  that  the  recom- 
mendations of  this  government  will  be  followed  o\it,  and 
that  our  government  will  take  steps  to  see  that  those  recom- 
mendations are  adopted,  and  we  will  meet  them  half-way. 
(Applause.) 

1  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity  to  express  my  deep 
thanks  to  the  people  of  the  United  States  for  having  tendered 
such  a  cordial  welcome  to  me  and  my  country. 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Bccd: 

Gentlemen,  I  introduce  to  ycju  as  the  next  speaker.  Dr. 
Alexander  Von  Doni,  of  Austria. 

Di\  Alexander  Von  Dorii: 

Esteemed  Assembly:  We  have,  Just  now,  in  the  space  of 
about  three-quarters  of  an  liour  made  a  trip  around  the  world. 
It  started  in  England,  and  through  Canada  reached  Austra- 
lia, from  whence  via  China  and  Russia  we  returned  to  the 
centre  of  Europe,  from  where  I  come  in  response  to  the  kind 
invitation  of  the  Museum,  to  bring  you  greetings.  I  have 
undertaken  this  task  not  only  on  behalf  of  tire  Austro- 
Hungarian  Export  Association,  with  which  I  am  particularly 
identified,  but  in  the  name  of  all  corporations  and  chambers 
of  commerce  represented  here,  which  have  commissioned  me 
to  thank  the  Museum  for  tlve  opportunity  it  has  given  tis  to 
take  part  in  this  unique  Congress.  Wo  thank  you  cordiallj', 
and  felicitate  the  Museum  and  the  City  of  Philadelphia  for 
having  conceived  such  a  magnificent  undertaking. 

We  have  made  a  Journey  around  the  world.  It  was  a 
Journey  in  thoughts  only,  but  it  was  also  a  Journey  of 
thoughts,  and  let  us  hope  that  tlie  day  may  soon  come  that 
the  tlioughts  and  principles  uttered  here  to-day  may  ride  all 
over  the  world. 

We  are  exceedingly  glad  to  lia\e,  fur  the  first  time,  the 
opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  this  country,  and  our 
(irst  impression  of  it  was  that  of  delight  and  surprise.  We 
knew  beforehand  that  everything  in  America  is  on  a  large 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  13,  1899 


15 


scale;  but  books  and  periodicals  or  newspapers  can  only  give 
an  inadequate  description  of  tbis  greatness.  It  is  not  the 
conglomeration  of  people;  one  great  city  is  like  the  other 
in  this  respect,  and  where  many  people  live  there  is  always 
a  great  crowd.  Tliis  does  not  surprise  us,  but  there  is  a 
general,  great  undercurrent  of  life  which  is  evident  to  the 
visiting  foreigner. 

We  came  here  with  a  certain  curiosity,  and  enjoy  the  novel 
sights.  But  we  feel  particularly  at  home  in  Philadelphia, 
where  there  is  not  evidenced  such  a  great  hurry.  The  Tempo 
here  is  somevi'hat  slower,  something  like  what  in  Vienna 
we  call  "Gemiitlichkeit."  Philadelphia  is  one  of  the  finest 
cities  in  America;  Vienna  is  one  of  the  finest  cities  in  Europe. 
We  are  in  a  position  to  judge.  We  admire  your  city,  and 
— and  permit  me  to  state — we  admire  your  beautiful  women, 
— we  also  have  many  at  home, — but  we  did  not  expect  the 
great  courtesy  and  hospitality  which  have  been  showered 
upon  lis  by  this  city.  We  in  Europe  are  accustomed  to 
think  of  the  American,  as  a  rule,  as  a  business  man  only  who 
wants  to  make  money;  and  we  are  therefore  greatly  surprised 
by  this  liberality  which  is  ofl'ered  to  us  and  which  we  heartily 
appreciate.  We  hope  that  during  the  course  of  the  proceed- 
ings we  shall  find  an  opportunity  to  speak  further  upon  the 
intercourse  of  your  country  with  Europe  and  particularly 
with  our  country.  If  we  succeed  in  convincing  you,  gentle- 
men, that  it  will  be  in  your  own  interest  to  be  somewhat 
less  severe,  we  shall  feel  that  we  have  done  something  toA\-ards 
realizing  the  purpose  of  this  great  International  Commercial 
Congress. 

Anent  the  merchant,  we  can  say  with  our  great  poet  Schil- 
ler: "The  merchant — he  goes  forth  to  seek  goods,  but  is  fol- 
lowed by  the  goods."  And  this,  gentlemen,  is  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  mercliant,  as  a  factor  of  civilization.  But  he 
cannot  only  fetch  goods,  he  must  also  bring  some  home  with 
him;  commerce  and  traffic  are  based  upon  reciprocity;  and 
when  this  reciprocity  is  not  granted  there  is  sure  to  be  ill 
feeling  on  one  side  or  the  other.  We  can  again  say  with  the 
poet: 

"Thou,  man  w-itli  closed  pockets, 

Thou  canst  expect  no  favors  from  others; 

One  hand  washes  the  other; 

If  thou  wilt  take,  thou  must  give." 

This  is  one  of  the  principles  of  commerce  and  peaceful 
intercourse;  and  if  this  Congress  will  succeed  in  making  an 
appreciable  stride  fonvard  in  this  direction,  we  may  hope 
that  the  words  of  the  great  Briton  will  come  true,  who  said: 
"Peace,  good  will,  and  free  trade  among  all  nations." 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Eeed: 

Gentlemen,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  the 
government  delegate  from  Japan,  Mr.  S.  Uchida,  who  will 
now  address  you. 

Mr.  S.  Ucliida: 

It  affords  me  the  greatest  of  pleasure,  as  one  of  the  official 
delegates  from  His  Imperial  Japanese  Majesty's  government, 
to  have  this  opiiortunity  of  thanking  all  those  connected  with 
this  magnificent  Commercial  Congress  and  Export  Exposition 
for  their  many  kindnesses  to  the  representatives  of  my  gov- 
ernment, and  I  can  assure  you  officially  that  we  appreciate 
everj'thing  thaf;  has  been  and  is  being  done  for  us,  and  will 
be  most  happy  to  reciprocate  at  any  and  all  times.  As  you 
well  know  it  was  Commodore  Perry  who  introduced  oar  na- 
tion to  the  world,  and  therefore  we 'have  the  most  friendly 
feelings  toward  the  great  people  of  the  United  States,  and 
I  am  authorized  to  say  that  in  every  way  it  will  give  us  the 
greatest  pleasure  to  do  business  with  them,  and  to  extend  the 


already  growing  and  large  business  which  we  are  doing. 
There  is  probably  no  greater  or  more  appropriajte  way  of 
celebrating  the  end  of  this  great  century  than  by  a  congress 
of  giant  merchants  of  the  world  coming  together  to  proclaim 
a  great  desire  for  international  intercourse  in  a  commercial 
way,  and  I  doubt  whether  the  great  conference  of  peace,  even, 
only  held  a  ie\v  months  ago,  will  be  productive  of  more  good 
than  this  conference  of  the  commercial  nations  of  the 
world.  Although  ive  are  the  baby  nation  among  the  great 
nations  of  the  world,  we  are  striving  in  every  way  to  prove 
ourselves  competent  to  compete  w-ith  all  nations,  and  I  can 
only  say  that  in  the  treasures  of  our  country  we  possess 
boundless  resources,  and  in  the  brain  of  our  people  we  have 
boundless  faith  also  in  their  power  and  in  their  progress,  and 
we  hope  to  make  more  magnificent  strides  in  the  next  thirty 
years  than  we  have  made  in  the  past.  Our  greatness,  we 
think,  is  within  ourselves,  and  we  shall  try  very  hard  indeed 
to  enter  the  great  field  of  foreign  commerce,  as  this  is  the 
great  material  realm  which  we  shall  conquer  in  the  future. 
We  have  a  great  position  in  the  world  to  fill,  and  I  feel  con- 
fident that  with  our  arm  stretched  to  the  East  and  the  West 
and  the  North  and  South,  and  with  all  the  advantages  which 
we  have  it  will  not  be  long  before  we  can  boldly  embark  upon 
the  career  of  a  large  commercial  extension.  The  great  aim 
is  the  peaceful  triumph  of  friendly  intercourse  and  to  re- 
ciprocal trade  in  ever}-  direction.  I  wish  again  to  thank  all 
of  you  and  to  assure  you  that  we  appreciate  all  the  kindnesses 
which  we  have  received  at  your  hands.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Beed: 

1  will  next  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Ivahe  Otani,  of  Japan. 

(Mr.  Kahe  Otani  spoke  in  his  native  tongue.  Mr.  Furuya, 
his  interpreter,  followed  with  the  translation.) 

Mr.  T.  Fnruya: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Did  you  understand  what  Mr. 
Kahe  Otani  said  at  this  moment?  Mr.  Kahe  Otani,  who  rep- 
resents the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Tokyo  and  Yok(3hama, 
and  various  organizations  and  industrial  societies  in  Japan, 
desires  to  express  his  opinion  through  me  about  the  Interna- 
tional Commercial  Congress,  and  I  have  now  the  privilege 
of  reading  to  you  w'hat  he  has  said: 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates  and  Gentlemen:  I  feel  it  is  the 
greatest  honor  to  meet  the  distinguished  representatives  of 
every  civilized  nation  and  prominent  citizens  of  the  United 
States  under  the  same  roof  of  this  grand  assembly  hall,  and 
to  express  my  opinion  about  the  International  Commercial 
Congress  as  the  representative  of  the  commercial  delegates 
from  Japan,  who  assembled  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  the 
most  prominent  in  the  history  of  the  United  States. 

"Every  nation  has  its  own  laws  and  usages,  separated  a.s 
they  are  by  boundaries,  but  there  is  no  difference  in  the  com- 
mercial interests  of  nations  and  no  distinction  of  races,  and 
it  is  what  maintains  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  mankind; 
therefore,  the  commerce  of  nations  should  be  guided  by  the 
unity. 

"AVe  believe  the  object  of  this  conference  is  to  disciLss  the 
peaceful  arts  of  business  and  to  promote  the  general  welfare 
of  commerce  of  nations,  and  I  hope  that  the  calling  together 
of  such  a  CongTCss  shall  prove  to  be  a  precedent  which  other 
countries  will  in  the  future  be  forced  to  follow. 

"Gentlemen,  our  commercial  relations  with  the  United 
States  are  closely  connected,  historically  and  geographically, 
and  at  the  same  time  there  are  signal  indications  of  interest 
to  the  world  in  the  commercial  and  industrial  developments 
of  the  far  East.  I  sincerely  hope  that  the  Congi'ess  which 
is  now  in  session  may  prove  a  bond  of  closer  union  between 
Japan  and  all  other  nations  and  promote  universal  peace, 
progress  and  prosperity. 


16 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  TKE  INTEENATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


"Before  closing  my  short  address,  we  wish  to  congratulate 
the  successful  event  and  present  our  many  thanlcs  for  the 
kindest  hospitality  which  the  City  of  Philadelphia  has  shown 
to  us  so  royally."     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Heed: 

I  will  introduce  to  you  now  Senor  Enrique  Alzamora,  of 
Spain. 

Sr.  Enrique  Alzamora: 

I  cannot  speak  English  well.  If  I  speak  English  I  will 
be  ridiculous,  and  I  believe  it  is  not  a  good  thing  for  a 
Spaniard  at  this  moment  to  be  ridiculous  in  the  United  States. 
(Applause.) 

I  came  here  with  tlie  idea  to  hear  very  much  and  to  say 
nothing  at  all.  That  was  my  first  idea,  but  because  I  am  a 
Spaniard — and  precisely  because  I  am  a  Spaniard — I  cannot 
refuse  the  kind  invitation  of  the  committee.  That  would  be 
very  impolite.  I  will  only  say  a  few  words.  I  don't  repre- 
sent the  government  of  Spain.  I  cannot  speak  on  behalf  of 
the  government  or  of  the  trade  of  Spain.  I  came  only  as 
the  representative  of  a  Chamber  of  Commerce,  but  I  be- 
lieve I  will  not  go  too  far  if  I  say  that  the  general  feeling 
in  Spain  is  to  find  a  way  to  improve  our  trade  with  the 
United  States.  I  came  here  with  this  object — I  will  see  what 
I  can  do  for  export  trade — and  when  I  go  back  to  Spain  I 
will  have  very  great  pleasure  in  telling  my  counti^men  that 
I  have  been  with  a  very  great  nation,  and  I  can  find  in  the 
United  States  nothing  but  friends  and  brethren.  (Great  ap- 
jvlausc.) 

Ifini.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

1  will  now  call  on  Senor  Genaro  Eaigosa,  Mexico. 

Sr.  (Jen am  Uaiijosa: 

Gentlemen:  Responding  to  the  invitation  which  was  made 
til  nie  as  a  delegate  from  the  government  of  Mexico  to  show 
the  motives  for  its  paiticijmtion  in  the  deliberations  of  the 
present  Conuncreial  Congress,  I  have  the  honor  to  inform 
you  in  brief  about  this  interesting  matter. 

Tlie  geographical  situation  of  my  country,  the  surprising 
variety  of  its  natural  products,  the  traditonal  richness  of  its 
mountains  and  the  fertility  of  its  soil  assign  it  as  one  of  the 
most  notable  and  principal  purveyors  of  prime  substances: 
prinuirily-  for  its  immediate  neighbors  of  the  north,  and  sec- 
ondly for  the  whole  world.  Not  only  by  the  inexhaustible 
treasures  of  its  mines  of  all  kinds  of  metals  has  it  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  world,  liut  pi-incipally  through  the  va- 
riety of  its  products  of  the  vegetable  kingdom.  Mexico  can 
be  called  the  "land  of  fibres,"  that  is,  the  land  destined  to 
supply  the  richest,  most  extensive  and  popular  of  the  indus- 
tries invented  by  human  genius. 

T'nder  this  point  of  view  it  is  natural  to  see  the  interest 
which  the  peo|ile  of  Mexico  and  its  government  entertain 
for  all  that  tends  to  favor  and  develop  a  mutual  trade;  then 
in  the  interchange  of  its  products  the  country  reaps  the  bene- 
fit of  the  industrial  improvements  of  the  entire  world  through 
its  importations  of  articles  which  cannot  be  pi'oduced  in  it, 
or  are  produced  at  a  larger  cost  than  that  inanufaetured  in 
the  foreign  country. 

I)Ut  another  point  of  view  is  still  of  greater  im|iortance: 
Mexico  is  a  nation  wliich  has  solved,  during  the  present  cen- 
tury, one  of  tlie  ])roblems  of  human  evolution  which  in  other 
countries  has  lu'cessitated  centuries  to  develop.  From  the 
slavery  of  three  Innulred  (300)  years  to  which  conquest  sub- 
jected it;  from  the  paralyzation  in  which  consisted  the  sys- 
tem of  domination;  from  the  seclusion  and  isolation  into 
which  it  was  brought  by  the  colonial  system  of  the  metro- 


polis, Mexico  has  passed  as  if  by  magic  through  the  theocratic 
and  war  periods,  to  stop  at  last,  twenty  years  ago,  in  the 
quiet  and  prolific  field  of  science,  of  work  and  of  progress 
which  constitute  the  lines  of  its  actual  industrial  era. 

On  this  account  our  exportations  of  to-day  are  valued  at 
one  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  ($150,000,000),  of 
which  eighty  per  cent.  (80  per  cent.)  are  absorbed  by  the 
United  States  of  America,  our  importations  exceed  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  million  dollars  ($120,000,000)  or  sixty  per 
cent.  (60  per  cent.)  from  the  same  country;  our  budget  liqui- 
dates with  a  surplus,  our  credit  runs  around  par,  our  banks 
multiply  themselves  and  prosper,  our  industry  develops  itself 
notably,  and  from  all  sides  the  lamentations  of  the  wounded 
and  of  the  sick  in  the  fields  of  battle  of  former  days,  have 
transformed  themselves  into  a  hymn  of  iron  and  steam  into 
the  hosanna  of  peace  and  human  liberty,  into  the  holy  song 
of  universal  communion  of  all  nations  and  of  all  races  in 
one  and  the  same  faith  of  concord,  love  and  good  will. 

Gentlemen,  Mexico  has  stepped  fully  into  modern  civiliza- 
tion and  does  not  wish  to  be  retarded  in  its  run.  Its  govern- 
ment, at  the  height  of  the  tendencies  of  the  country,  protects, 
favors  and  esteems  all  that  tends  to  develop  the  intercour.se 
of  ideas  between  men  of  the  whole  world,  and  from  the  facil- 
ity of  traffic  and  exchange  of  its  respective  products;  and  its 
wishes  in  sending  representatives  to  this  country  will  be  sat- 
isfied, if,  as  the  result  of  its  present  deliberations,  we  can 
take  back  with  us  the  security  that  a  new  band  unites  us, 
from  to-day,  with  the  rest  of  the  countries  of  the  world. 
(Applause.) 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

The  Chair  will  now  call  on  Mr.  Herbert  Gibson,  of  the 
Argentine  Republic. 

Mr.  Herlerl  Gibson: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Tliere 
is  perhaps  no  group  of  nations  in  the  whole  civilized  world 
to  whom  the  kindly  invitation  of  the  Commercial  Museum 
of  this  city  conveys  more  wholesome  welcome  than  to  the 
Argentine  Republic  and  the  southern  part  of  America.  The 
great  distance  which  divides  them  from  their  American  neigh- 
bor and  the  comparatively  recent  appearance  tliat  they  have 
made  as  factors  in  the  production  of  the  world's  goods,  com- 
Itine  to  place  them  under  considerable  disadvantage  in  giving 
a  competent  knowledge  of  their  production  and  requirements. 
It  would  be  impossible  to  speak  of  the  Argentine  Republic 
without  including,  by  inference,  those  other  sister  Republics 
which,  in  common  with  herself,  derive  their  people  from  one 
kinship,  have  alike  the  same  ambition  and  are  working  out 
their  life-destiny  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  is,  therefore, 
a  matter  of  satisfaction,  not  only  to  the  host  of  delegates  who 
have  come  here  on  the  invitation  of  the  Museum  of  Phila- 
delphia, but  also  of  the  representatives  of  these  Republics 
themselves  to  find  that  not  only  one,  but  all  have  responded 
to  the  invitation  they  have  received. 

The  sea  of  commerce  and  progress  which  has  spread  across 
Europe  and  North  America  has  scarcely  yet  reached  with 
more  tlian  gentle  ripples  the  great  South  American  continent. 
There  lies  there  a  vast  undeveloped  field  of  both  mineral  and 
vegetable  resources  and  it  awaits  but  the  awakening  hand  of 
emigration  to  become  a  nuist  importaut  productive  continent. 
One  might  say,  without  any  exaggeration,  it  is  more  real  than 
a  metaphor,  that  South  America  lies  slumbering,  awaiting 
her  rediscovery  by  the  northern  pioneer.  The  exceedingly 
interesting  gi'aphic  charts  on  the  four  walls  of  this  building 
have  reealled  to  my  mind  an  epi.sode  in  my  childhood  when  I 
looked  upon  the  map  of  the  world,  based  ini  Mercator's  sys- 
tem, and  considered  what  an  extremely  insignificant  anu  un- 


WILLIAM   R.  GRACE,  WILLIAM    L.   ELKINS, 

Second  Prest.,  Advisory  Board.       President,  Advisory  Board. 


HENRY  W.   PEABODY. 
First  Prest.,  Advisory  Board. 


JUSTUS  C.  STRAWBRIDGE,  CHARLES  H.  CRAM  P,  Sydney  L.  Wright, 

Vice-Prest.,  Board  of  Trustees.    President,  Board  of  Trustees.       Treasurer,  Philadelphia  Museums. 


X,  >  B  R  A  Rj; 

OF  i'AJf. 


SECOND  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  13,  1899 


17 


important  piece  of  land  South  America  appeared  to  be, 
attached,  as  if  it  were  by  accident,  to  her  great  North  Amer- 
ican twin  sister.  In  area  it  seemed  to  be  no  longer  than  a 
small  portion  of  Greenland.  I  would  be  very  sorry  indeed  to 
suggest  that  Mercator  had  the  least  intention  of  misleading 
the  pliable  mind  of  the  youthful  student,  but  if  to  the  greater 
majority  of  those  countries  to  which  South  America  is  a  little 
more  than  a  name  the  same  impression  has  been  conveyed  by 
the  great  geographer,  I  would  have  them  reconsider  the  opin- 
ion they  have  formed  and  listen  to  the  possibilities  of  South 
America  which  will  be  presented  by  our  co-delegates  during 
the  session  of  this  Congress.  There  are  some  points  regard- 
ing this  interesting  International  Congress  that  were  amply 
treated  by  the  governor  of  this  historic  state,  of  which  we 
are  the  guests,  and  it  would  te  quite  superfluous  to  enlarge 
on  the  subject,  but  we,  as  the  South  American  Eepublics, 
and  I  more  particularly  may  say,  the  Argentine  Republic,  are 
dependent  upon  foreign  markets  for  every  article  of  daily 
consumption. 

This  is  a  sufficient  motive  to  attract  the  delegates  from  the 
South  American  Republics  and  to  give  them  an  opportunity 
of  taking  back  a  knowledge  of  American  manufacturing  in- 
dustries to  their  own  countries,  and  in  exchange  possibly 
they  may  have  occasion  to  present  to  the  nations  some  de- 
tails of  their  own  production.  Possibly  this  exchange  of 
knowledge  through  this  great  world's  meeting  will  be  of 
equal  interest  and  equal  value  to  those  who  have  come  from 
the  young  countries  and  those  who  meet  them  in  this  city. 
(Applause.) 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Reed: 

I  hope  we  will  next  be  favored  by  some  remarks  from  the 
German  Government's  delegate,  Herr  C.  B.  Marheinecke. 

Herr  C.  B.  Marheinecke: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Director  Wilson:  Only  two  minutes  ago 
Director  Wilson  informed  me  that  I  would  have  to  say  a 
few  words  in  behalf  of  my  Government.  I  did  not  feel  em- 
barrassed about  what  I  would  say,  but  only  about  the  lan- 
guage I  would  have  to  use.  I  think  it  will  be  fair  for  me  to 
follow  the  example  of  the  delegate  from  the  Spanish  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  speak  to  you  in  the  language,  which  you 
adopted  on  the  day  of  your  nation's  birth  as  the  language  of 
your  nation. 

The  German  Government  by  appointing  me  and  Mr.  Waet- 
zold,  the  Commercial  attache  of  our  Consulate  in  Chicago,  to 
assist  at  this  Congress  has  shown  the  interest  it  takes  in  the 
Exposition  and  in  the  proceedings  of  this  Congress.  The  same 
interest  has  been  shown  by  the  different  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce of  Germany  and  by  many  private  representatives  of 
German  commerce  and  industry.  They  prove  by  their  join- 
ing you  here  their  great  interest,  not  only  to  see  your  Exposi- 
tion and  to  assist  at  this  Congress,  but  to  see  your  commer- 
cial men  and  to  be  seen  by  them  and  to  talk  to  them  and  to 
visit  some  of  your  great  industrial  establishments.  All  Euro- 
pean nations  watch  with  satisfaction  the  great  development 
of  your  country  and  what  you  have  accomplished.  It  is  not 
only  one  European  nation,  but  nearly  all  of  them  which  have 
sent  to  you  every  year  thousands  of  their  people  to  help  the 
development  of  this  country. 

With  pride  I  can  recall  to  your  memory  wliat  in  this  re- 
spect Germany  has  done.  Not  only  workingmen,  but  men 
in  every  field  of  commerce  and  industry,  science  and  art,  have 
come  here  from  Germany  in  great  number.  And  especially 
in  this  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  in  this  State  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, they  have  often  been  prominent,  and  every  German 
must  be  proud  when  he  reads  and  hears  what  the  German 
clement  from  the  beginning  of  your  nation  has  done  here. 


How  your  country  has  grown,  we  have  learned  this  morning 
again  from  one  of  the  latest  addresses  of  your  President. 
From  about  a  million  square  miles  at  the  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence you  have  grown  to  nearly  four  millions  square 
miles  of  territory,  and  your  population  has  grown  from  a  small 
number  to  over  seventy-five  millions  people. 

I  hope  that  all  who  have  come  here  to  this  Congress  from 
Germany  will  not  only  study  your  Exposition,  but  will  visit 
many  of  your  industrial  establishments,  and  not  only  here 
but  also  in  Pittsburg  and  Chicago  and  the  Far  West,  and  that 
when  they  go  home  they  will  be  able  to  say  what  you  have 
accomplished  and  what  you  can  do. 

In  the  name  of  my  countrymen  I  thank  Director  Wilson 
and  the  Commercial  Museum,  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  for  this  invitation. 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Beed: 

We  will  now  hear  from  Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da  Graga,  of 
Brazil. 

Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da  Graga: 

Citizens  of  the  United  States,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  and 
Delegates. — It  is  very  difficult  for  me  to  speak  in  a  language 
that  is  not  my  own,  iDut  I  hope  that  you  will  be  so  kind  as  to 
excuse  my  bad  English.  I  apologize.  I  have  kept  in  mind 
tlie  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia,  which  has  its  birth 
in  the  same  place  as  that  of  Independence — and  the  inde- 
pendence of  ideas  of  the  United  States.  On  this  occasion  I 
cannot  forget  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  great  man  that 
the  world  feels  is  dead.  I  remember  the  great  man  of  this 
country,  Dr.  William  Pepper,  who  was  president  of  this 
institution.  (Applause.)  In  doing  this  now,  I  must  say 
some  words  as  regards  my  position  here.  My  government, 
in  official  letters,  told  me  to  do  as  much  as  I  could  to  bring 
the  relations  oJ  commerce  closer  with  this  Greater  Republic — ■ 
our  largest  consumer.  We  export  to  this  country  two-thirds 
of  our  production;  that  means  we  export  to  this  country  over 
fifty  millions  of  dollars,  and  we  do  not  import  from  this  coun- 
try more  than  thirteen  millions  of  dollars.  If  we  do  not 
import  more  from  the  United  States,  it  is  due  to  difficulties 
or  lack  of  communications.  Mr.  McKinley,  the  great  states- 
man and  magistrate  of  this  nation,  said  in  1897  that  the 
"maker  must  find  a  taker."  It  is  true,  but  the  maker  can- 
not find  the  taker  nor  the  taker  the  maker  without  commu- 
nication. I  am  advised  by  my  government  to  say  that  we 
will  allow  a  subsidy  for  encouraging  the  hoisting  of  an 
American  flag  on  an  American  ship,  as  we  were  accustomed 
to  see  several  years  ago.  Several  things  have  been  exported  to 
this  country,  as  rubber  and  other  goods,  but  the  lack  of  com- 
munication is  so  great  that  you  cannot  compete  in  freight 
with  other  nations.  These  are  facts.  We  want  navigation 
and  better  facilities,  and  it  is  for  these  two  things  that  I  have 
struggled  during  the  whole  time  I  have  been  in  this  country. 
Talking  in  this  way,  gentlemen,  I  show  you  that  it  is  my 
duty  to  fulfill  the  orders  of  my  government  to  close  more 
and  m.ore  the  relations  with  this  great  nation. 

The  Governor  of  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  said  that  the 
United  States  can  produce  cheaply  and  can  compete  with 
any  other  countrty.  You  allow  me  to  make  a  remark.  You 
cannot  until  you  have  facilities  for  navigation.  The  Consul 
General  of  Uruguay  told  me  that  when  a  ship  was  to  go 
from  New  York  to  ]\rontevideo  with  a  cargo,  and  returning 
from  Montevideo  to  Europe,  then  again  to  the  United  States 
in  ballast,  the  freight  from  the  United  States  to  Montevideo 
had  to  be  paid  in  ballast.  You  see  how  difficult  it  is  to  liave 
expansion  of  trade  if  you  have  not  the  first  thing — naviga- 
tion. 

Some  more  words  that  I  have  to  say  to  you  I  will  keep  for 


18 


PKOCEBDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  day  \rhich  is  set  apart  for  the  South  American  Republics. 
On  that  day  I  will  explain  more  and  more  the  ideas  which  I 
have  come  to  present  on  behalf  of  my  Government.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Hon.  Thomas  B.  Becd: 

Director  Wilson  will  make  s^mie  announcements. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  want  to  state  that  we  have  quite  a  large  number  of  dele- 
ii-ates  from  the  chambers  of  commerce  and  boards  of  trade 
here  from  the  United  States,  and  that  all  the  invitations  are 
extended  to  these  delegates  in  eveij  way. 

I  also  want  to  state  that  for  the  excursion  to-morrow  on 
the  river,  which  will  leave  here  on  cars  at  twelve-thirty,  the 
ladies  are  all  invited  to  attend.  All  the  gentlemen  who  have 
ladies  with  them  are  invited  to  attend  the  excursion  on  the 
river. 

Again,  for  the  Reading  special  train  to  Atlantic  City  on 
Sunday,  leaving  Chestnut  street  wharf  at  10.15  a.  m.,  the 
ladies  are  also  invited  to  accompany  the  gentlemen  on  that 
special  excursion.  Also,  there  is  to  the  left  here  a  large 
furnished  room,  which  has  been  arranged  especially  for  the 
convenience  of  the  delegates.  You  can  wander  in  and  out 
any  time  for  any  conferences  you  want.  It  is  a  room  fifty 
or  sixty  feet  square,  on  the  left  as  you  go  out. 

Again,  I  want  to  state  that  the  visiting  delegates  here  from 
the  United  States  will  consider  themselves  as  a  part  of  the 
hospitality  of  Philadelphia,  and  in  even'  way  we  will  make  it 
comfortable  for  the  gentlemen  from  foreign  countries.  It  is 
understood  that  all  the  foreign  delegates  will  be  furnished 


with  hotel  accommodations  wherever  they  are  stopping. 

While  you  are  in  Congress  here,  the  restaurant  on  this 
floor  is  at  your  service,  and  you  have  only  to  check  up  your 
names  after  whatever  has  been  supplied  you. 

I  should  state  that  it  is  our  intention  to  make  you  as  com- 
fortable as  possible  while  you  are  in  this  Congress  and  to  do 
anything  for  you  that  will  aid  in  your  entertainment.  We 
are  making  arrangements  to  place  you  in  communication 
with  the  large  industrial  and  manufacturing  concerns  where- 
ever  you  may  desire.  I  invite  any  of  you  to  make  yourselves 
known  just  to  the  left  of  the  Auditorium,  where  you  will 
see  "Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,"  if  you  would  like  to 
come  into  communication  with  any  business  interests  of  the 
United  States.  The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  will 
take  the  greatest  pleasure  in  placing  your  wants  in  such  a  way 
as  to  bring  you  in  contact  with  what  you  desire. 

There  is  a  little  gold  button  which  will  be  supplied  to 
every  foreign  delegate  in  the  Congress  this  evening  and  to- 
morrow morning,  that  you  may  be  recognized  anywhere  you 
may  go — a  small,  simple  gold  button,  which  I  will  ask  you 
to  wear  during  this  conference. 

The  session  of  this  Congress  will  open  again  to-morrow 
morning.  This  morning  we  were  delayed  a  little;  we  did 
not  open  as  promptly  as  we  should.  I  believe  ten  o'clock  is 
tlie  hour. 

Hon.  Thom,as  B.  Beed: 

If  there  are  no  furtlier  proceedings,  with  your  consent  the 
conference  will  be  adjourned  until  to-morrow  at  ten  o'clock. 

Atljouined  at  5. IT)  p.  m. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


THIRD    DAY'S   SESSION 


PuiLADELrHiA,  Saturday,  October  14,  1899. 

Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  iii  Convention  Hall,  Ex- 
'  position  Building,  at  10.40  a.  m.,  by  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  IT.  P.  Wilson: 

Will  the  speakers  who  are  not  on  the  platform  already 
kindly  take  their  places?  Mr.  Miles,  Mr.  Sternbergh,  Mr. 
Woolson  and  Mr.  Tompkins. 

1  wish  to  repeat  one  or  two  announcements  this  morning. 
You  will  probably  remember  that  we  leave  the  grounds  here 
in  trolley  cars  provided  for  us  at  twelve-thirty  to-day  for  an 
excursion  on  the  river,  furnished  by  Mr.  Charles  H.  Cramp, 
President  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum.  To- 
morrow (Sunday)  there  will  be  an  excursion  to  Atlantic  City, 
leaving  the  foot  of  Chestnut  street — there  is  a  ferry  there — 
by  the  way  of  the  Reading  Railroad,  at  ten-fifteen  sharp.  I 
want  to  say  that  on  both  of  these  excursions  your  ladies  are 
invited,  and  also  the  delegates  representing  the  Boards  of 
Trade  and  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States. 

There  will  be  in  the  adjoining  rooms  on  the  left,  on  this 
floor,  this  evening,  an  opportunity  for  the  foreign  delegates 
and  others  to  meet  many  of  the  representatives  of  the  manu- 
facturing interests  who  have  exhibits  in  this  Exposition,  and 
who  desire  very  much  to  meet  with  you  and  talk  with  you 
about  the  conditions  of  trade  and  manufactures  in  this  coun- 
try. We  have  arranged  an  informal  meeting  on  that  ac- 
count, where  you  will  have  the  opportunity  of  sitting  down 
and  smoking,  taking  a  bit  of  something  to  eat,  if  you  care  to, 
and  quietly  discussing  any  business  interests  which  may  be 
uppermost  in  your  thoughts.  It  would  be  a  pleasure  to  have 
the  foreign  delegation  here  as  fully  as  possible. 

I  have  great  pleasure  this  morning  in  introducing  to  you 
the  Hon.  Boies  Penrose,  United  States  Senator,  who  will 
preside  over  our  sessions  to  day. 

lion.  Boies  Penrose: 

Professor  Wilson,  Gentlemen  of  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress. — It  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  accept  the 
honor  you  confer  upon  me  in  selecting  me  to  preside  over 
your  deliberations  to-day.  On  behalf  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment, I  desire  to  extend  to  you  a  cordial  welcome.  The 
American  Congress  has  taken  a  peculiar,  an  extraordinary 
interest  in  this  undertaking,  an  interest  which  is  best  evi- 
denced by  the  generous  appropriation  which  was  made  for 
this  purpose.  The  President  of  the  United  States  has  like- 
wise taken  a  personal  interest  in  this  Exposition  and  in  this 
Congress.  I  regret  gTeatly  that  he  cannot  be  here  now  to 
participate  in  your  meetings,  but  I  desire  to  assure  you  that 
at  a  later  date  he  and  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  will  en- 
deavor to  be  present  to  attest  their  interest  and  to  contribute 
to  your  proceedings.     (Applause.)     Perhaps  you  could  not 


have  selected  in  all  the  broad  world  a  city  more  fitting  for 
this  noble  and  remarkable  assembly  than  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia. Here  you  will  witness  in  your  trips  and  excursions  a 
greater  degree  of  industrial  prosperity,  a  higher  average  of 
individual  comfort,  a  higher  general  average  of  individual  in- 
telligence than  is  perhaps  presented  in  any  great  community 
of  some  one  million  and  a  half  inhabitants,  the  world  wide 
over.  It  is  our  boast  that  it  is  the  one  peculiarity  of  our  city 
that  the  individual  homes  in  Philadelphia  are  about  equal  in 
number  to  the  total  adult  male  population,  indicating  that 
each  one  of  our  citizens  either  lives  in  his  own  home,  main- 
tained by  him,  or  under  circumstances  and  conditions  ap- 
proximate thereto.  In  this  birthplace  of  American  Indepen- 
dence and  Liberty,  it  is  likewise  our  boast  that  our  people 
have  a  stalwart  devotion  to  the  principles  of  American  liberty 
and  civilization,  unequaled  in  the  broad  limits  of  our  patriotic 
land.  You  will  see  this  afternoon  as  you  go  up  our  magnifi- 
cent Delaware  River  the  wonderful  facilities  afforded  by  the 
jiort  of  Philadelphia,  facilities  to  be  extended  and  increased  by 
the  generous  aid  of  the  National  Government,  so  that  the 
port  of  Philadel])hia  will  eventually  rank  in  the  depth  of  its 
channel  and  facilities  aft'orded  commerce  with  any  port  in 
the  world,  and  you  will  behold  upon  our  shores  ship-building 
industries  indicating  what  has  already  been  accomplished 
and  giving  assured  promise  that  here  will  be  found  ultimately 
one  of  the  greatest  ship-building  centres  known  to  modern 
times.  If  you  have  time,  and  I  hope  you  will,  when  you 
leave  the  seaboard  and  travel  westward,  across  the  Allegheny 
Mountains  to  western  Pennsylvania,  you  will  traverse  the 
great  commonwealth  within  the  borders  of  which  you  are 
now  assembled,  a  commonwealth  which,  it  is  no  exaggeration 
to  say,  it  an  empire  in  itself!  You  will  pass  through  a  coun- 
try, fertile,  picturesque  and  resourceful.  You  will  behold 
some  seven  millions  of  people,  industrious,  intelligent,  thrifty 
and  prosperous,  and  as  you  reach  our  western  borders  you 
will  come  in  contact  with  the  interior  of  the  great  American 
continent.  There,  upon  the  headwaters  of  the  Ohio,  at  the 
junction  of  the  Allegheny  and  Monongahela  Rivers,  you  will 
bo  placed  in  navigable  communication  with  the  enormous 
inland  waterways  of  America,  extending  from  that  point  clear 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  You  will  behold  an  industrial  de- 
velopment rivaling,  I  assure  you,  the  dreams  of  your  imagina- 
tion. There  nature  has  been  most  prodigal  in  her  resources. 
The  slack-water  navigation,  railroad  facilities,  coal  and  iron 
at  the  door,  and  energetic  and  vigorous  population  of  some 
million  or  more  inhahitants  will  present  to  you  a  spectacle 
which,  I  trust,  you  will  make  an  effort  to  witness. 

Gentlemen,  this  Commonwealth  and  this  city  were  founded 
by  William  Penn  in  a  spirit  of  good-will  and  justice  to  all 
nien.  Here  were  laid  the  seeds  of  civilization  upon  a  basis 
of  philanthropy,  of  benevolence,  of  a  hoiTor  of  war  and  love 
of  peace.  Here  were  laid,  I  say,  the  seeds  of  civilization  m 
the  wilderness,  and  here  they  have  prospered  and  grown  far 
bevond  the  wildest  dreams  of  the  founder.    Therefore,  I  say, 


19 


20 


PliOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


coiisidcriug  ihis  as  a  great  industrial  city,  as  a  great  indus- 
trial coiiiuioiaveaJtli,  bom  under  such  auspices  of  broad 
ln'iicvolencc,  no  better  place  could  have  been  selected  for  this 
noble  and  signifinnnt  Congress  of  the  delegates  from  all  over 
the  world.  ^Most  ages  may  be  said  to  mark  their  epochs  in 
ilie  history  of  niaiddnd,  and  it  would  seem  to  the  observer 
as  if  the  closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century  and  the 
opening  years  of  the  twentieth  century  were  about  to  inaugu- 
rate such  novel  conditions  as  indicating  that  a  new  line  has 
been  taken  in  (he  march  of  civilization,  and  that  hereafter  the 
human  race  was  to  march  imder  other  surroundings,  and  that 
civilization  miglit  assume  new  and  unknown  phases.  Civili- 
zation, as  predicted  by  the  ])oet  and  writer,  has  completed  its 
western  course  and  has  accomplished  a  circle  of  the  globe. 
The  steamship,  the  various  modern  inventions  and  appliances 
of  transportation,  have  brought  the  quarters  of  the  globe  to- 
gether. The  oceans  are  no  longer  -  barriers,  and,  in  many 
cases,  bring  nations  into  close  contact.  Political  conditions 
and  social  conditions  are  no  longer  confined  to  one  continent 
or  to  any  small  group  of  nations,  but  embrace  in  their  signi- 
ficance and  importance  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Under 
these  circumstances  it  would  seem  fitting  that  you  should 
assemble  here  to-day,  the  representatives  of  the  commercial 
bodies  of  the  different  people  and  sections  of  the  world,  to 
give  voice  to  this  condition,  to  express  this  sentiment.  No 
longer  does  war  or  conquest  constitute  the  basis  of  a  nation's 
power.  No  great  civilized  nation  can  exist  upon  the  condi- 
tions of  rapidly  advancing  modern  civilization,  unless  its 
prosperity  and  strength  be  founded  on  industry  and  com- 
merce. (Applause.)  That  is  the  best  assurance  of  peace. 
The  millennium  may  not  have  arrived  when  men  forget  their 
nationalities.  For  my  part  I  do  not  believe  that  such  a  condi- 
tion is  desirable,  but  the  time  will  approach  when  to  a  greater 
and  greater  extent,  under  the  benign  and  civilized  influence 
of  commerce  and  industry,  men  will  seek  their  aggrandize- 
ment, and  nations  will  promote  their  aggrandizement,  by  legit- 
imate, peaceful  methods. 

Gentlemen,  we  are  glad  to  have  you  with  us.  We  appre- 
ciate the  cordial  responses  which  you  and  your  peoples  have 
made  to  the  invitation  issued  by  this  Commercial  Museum. 
We  are  confident  that  this  meeting  will  lead  to  a  better  and 
more  cordial  understanding  between  us.  We  trust  that 
your  stay  will  be  pleasant  and  profitable,  and  I  am  con- 
fident that  this  meeting  will  mark  a  significant  and  his- 
torical epoch  in  the  history  of  modern  commercial  conditions, 
and  will  be  fraught  with  enormous  possibilities  and  important 
results  in  that  great  march  of  civilization,  in  which  is  in- 
volved the  destiny  of  the  human  race.    (Applause.) 

Gentlemen,  we  have  a  number  of  papers  to  be  read  before 
you  to-day  and  your  time  is  somewhat  limited  on  account  of 
the  excursion  which  you  are  to  take  this  afternoon  upon  the 
Delaware,  and  I,  therefore,  will  nut  detain  you  or  delay  your 
])rocecdings  by  any  remarks  of  mine,  but  1  take  pleasure  in 
introducing  to  you  at  this  time  a  distinguished  gentleman 
from  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Ivhvard  Atkinson,  who 
will  make  an  address  upon  the  subject  "The  Interdependence 
of  Nations."     (Applause.) 

Tin:  iNTKiuiEi'icNnENCK  OK  Nations. 

Mr.  Edward  Atkinson: 

Geidlemen. — I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  delegate  of  the  Mass- 
achusetts State  Board  of  Trade  at  this  Convention.  It  there- 
fore becomes  fit  for  me  to  say  that  in  presentng  my  own  views 
I  speak  wholly  on  my  own  responsibility  and  not  on  behalf 
of  the  Board,  some  of  whose  members  might  be  at  variance 
with  me. 

In  dealing  with  the  coniinerce  of  nations,  it  is  necessary  to 
treat  the  elfect  of  duties  on  imports  according  to  their  type — 


the  purely  revenue  tariff  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland;  the  almost  prohibitive  jarifE  of  France 
in  her  relations  with  countries  with  which  she  has  no  com- 
mercial treaties,  the  United  States  being  one;  the  tariff  for 
protection  with  incidental  revenue  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  tariffs  for  revenue  only  of  other  countries,  nearly  all  more 
complex  than  the  tariff  of  Great  Britain. 

In  dealing  with  this  question  I  shall  endeavor  to  hold  an 
even  balance  between  the  extreme  doctrinaires  on  either  side; 
on  the  one  side  tlio.se  who  in  disregard  of  the  logic  of  events 
would  place  an  obstinictive  barrier  against  every  import  from 
any  other  foreign  country,  and  those  on  the  other  side  who 
would  give  no  regard  to  the  long  existence  of  a  protective 
tariff  in  their  efforts  to  reach  a  radical  free  trade  system.  It 
seems  to  me  that  this  exhibition  is  the  bridge  on  which  mod- 
erate men  of  either  school  may  meet  and  may  adjust  their 
differences,  to  the  end  that  this  business  question  may  be 
taken  out  of  politics  and  so  adjusted  as  to  give  a  long  period 
of  rest  from  tarifl^  tinkering  to  the  people  of  this  country. 

I  am  often  reminded  of  a  story  of  two  old  clergymen  who 
had  been  disputing  on  points  of  doctrine  all  their  lives.  One 
day  one  proposed  to  the  other  to  put  down  their  respective 
points  of  agreement  so  as  to  get  a  clear  definition  of  their 
difference.  Presently  they  found  that  they  disagreed  on  the 
meaning  of  one  Hebrew  word,  and  as  that  was  unimportant 
they  concluded  to  stop  their  dispute.  I  am  very  certain  that 
if  the  reasonable  and  moderate  men  of  the  free  trade  school 
were  to  take  up  the  discussion  in  this  way  with  an  equally 
moderate  committee  of  the  advocates  of  protection,  it  would 
soon  appear  that  the  points  in  difference  between  them  were 
now  very  few,  and  that  on  the  one  side,  in  order  to  get  the 
revenue  for  the  present  and  on  the  other  side  in  order  to  get 
the  protection  for  the  present,  an  adjustment  would  be  made 
on  a  measure  of  tariff  reform  that  would  stand  for  twenty 
years,  or  lantil  the  present  national  debt  is  wholly  paid. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  to  treat  the  vexed  currency  ques- 
tion for  the  reason  that  in  the  conduct  of  the  great  commerce 
of  the  world,  which  is  now  conducted  at  the  measure  of  about 
eighteen  billions  of  dollars  ($18,000,000,000)  of  imports  and 
exports  from  one  country  to  another  there  is  and  can  be  no 
act  of  legal  tender.  This  commerce  has  therefore  become  es- 
tablished on  the  unit  of  the  pound  sterling,  which  is  merely 
a  weight  measure.  There  is  no  legal  coin  minted  in  Great 
Britain  bearing  that  lawful  name.  The  term  pound  sterling 
is  the  definition  of  113.0016  grains  of  pure  gold,  the  British 
sovereign  passing  for  a  pound  when  of  full  weight  contain- 
ing that  quantity  of  pure  gold  in  a  coin  which  is  eleven- 
twelfths  fine.  I  think  it  is  true  that  whatever  may  be  the 
unit  of  money  of  account  of  any  great  commercial  State  in 
the  world,  yet  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  interstate  trans- 
actions of  the  globe  are  conducted  at  the  standard  of  the 
jiound  sterling  as  to  warrant  us  in  dealing  with  it  as  the  com- 
mercial unit  or  standard  of  value. 

I  wish  it  might  be  hoped  that  the  Congress  here  assembled 
could  take  up  the  metric  system  so  as  to  bring  about  a  uni- 
formity of  weights  and  measures.  One  of  the  greatest  diffi- 
culties in  the  study  of  international  commerce  and  one  of  the 
causes  of  constant  error,  is  found  in  the  absolute  necessity 
for  adjusting  all  weiglits  and  measures  to  a  common  standard 
in  order  that  any  true  comparison  may  be  made,  but  I  sup- 
])ose  a  common  standard  or  inefric  system  is  yet  in  the  far- 
distant  future. 

'I'his  address  is  intended  more  for  reference  than  for  imme- 
diate interest.  In  presenting  it  I  will  spare  you  dry  details 
as  much  as  possible. 

Tins  not  fhe  time  come  when  the  true  nietliod  of  promoting 
domestic  industry  and  protecting  home  labor  may  be  pre- 
sented from  a  purely  l)usiness  point  of  view  w-ifhout  arousing 
political  prejudice  or  passion,  even  though  under  existing 


THIED  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  14,  1899 


21 


conditions  very  many  accepted  precepts  of  the  past  may  be 
modified?  It  has  required  a  little  over  a  century  for  the  de- 
monstration of  what  constitutes  the  true  wealth  of  nations  by 
Adam  Smith  to  secure  even  limited  acceptance.  He,  in  fact, 
enforced  the  principle  of  the  interdei>endence  of  nations  and 
of  their  mutual  sei-vice  each  to  the  other  in  the  conduct  of 
commerce,  in  place  of  the  mediaeval  fallacy  that  in  the  con- 
duct of  international  trade  what  one  nation  gained  another 
must  lose. 

It  is  not  my  present  purpose  to  deal  with  theory,  but  with 
facts.  I  shall  not  present  abstract  propositions,  but  will  call 
attention  to  the  lesson  of  which  this  great  exhibition  in  Phila- 
delphia is  but  the  alphabet.  1  will  first  present  certain  truths 
which  are  becoming  so  patent  to  all  persons  who  combine  re- 
flection with  observation  that  tliey  may  even  be  stated  as 
axioms. 

Axiom  No.  1.  In  all  arts  in  which  science  and  invention 
have  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  substituted  mechanical  for 
manual  labor,  the  highest  rates  of  wages  or  earnings  are 
derived  from  the  production  of  goods  at  the  lowest  labor  cost 
computed  on  the  unit  of  product;  the  pound,  the  yard  or  the 
bushel. 

Axiom  No.  2.  The  products  of  each  class — of  the  field, 
forest,  mine,  factory  or  workshop,  from  the  sale  of  which  at 
the  lowest  prices  current  at  any  given  period  the  highest  rates 
of  wages  or  earnings  are  recovered,  are  those  in  which  the 
labor  cost  per  unit  of  product  is  relatively  the  lowest  by  com- 
parison with  previous  periods  of  time,  or  by  comparison  with 
the  similar  products  of  other  States  or  other  countries. 

Axiom  No.  3.  Under  free  conditions  the  highest  rates  of 
wages  coupled  with  the  lowest  cost  per  unit  of  product  will 
be  found  at  the  points  where  crude  materials  can  be  derived 
from  the  soil,  the  forest  or  the  mine  with  the  application  of 
the  least  quantity  of  human  labor  or  effort;  or  else  they  will 
be  found  at  those  points  where  the  crude  or  partly-manufac- 
tured products  which  enter  into  the  final  processes  of  in- 
dustrj-,  commonly  called  manufactures,  can  be  assembled 
with  the  least  cost  in  money  or  in  labor. 

Axiom  No.  4.  Labor,  in  the  customary  sense  in  which 
that  term  is  used,  is  ineffectual  and  in  many  ways  incapable 
without  combination  with  capital;  while  capital  is  absolutely 
inert  unless  worked  in  co-operation  with  labor.  Hence  the 
necessary  harmony  of  interests  between  labor  and  capital 
gives  freedom  and  intelligent  direction. 

If  we  give  regard  to  land,  labor  and  capital,  the  three 
physical  factors  in  the  production  of  goods  which  men  con- 
sume, we  find  them  all  limited.  The  quantity  of  physical 
energy  in  or  upon  the  earth  is  a  fixed  quantity — ^it  is  subject 
to  conservation,  but  cannot  be  added  to  or  diminished. 
Hence  have  arisen  the  dismal  aspects  of  political  science; 
the  dogma  of  Malthus  and  the  like,  from  which  both  Darwin 
and  Wallace  derived  their  conception  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  neither  taking  cognizance  of  the  paramount  force  or 
power  of  mental  energy  as  a  factor  in  the  production  of  the 
means  of  living. 

We  count  under  the  decimal  system  in  ten  numerals;  music 
is  composed  of  a  scale  of  seven  notes — an  apparently  strict 
limit,  but  while  there  may  possibly  be  a  limit  to  the  varying 
combinations  of  numerals  or  musical  notes,  yet  it  is  so  in- 
finitely remote  that  it  may  be  wholly  disregarded.  The  same 
rule  may  be  laid  down  in  respect  to  the  elements,  as  they  are 
called,  of  physical  energy,  land  and  capital,  in  which  the 
forces  of  nature  are  combined  either  as  solids  or  liquids. 
Neither  the  exact  number  nor  the  exact  nature  of  any  of 
these  elements  is  known.  There  may  be  a  unit  from  which 
all  have  been  developed  in  the  progress  of  the  infinite  exten- 
tion  of  what  we  call  time.  Yet  relatively  few  in  number  and 
limited  in  quantity  as  these  so-called  elements  in  gaseous, 
liquid  or  solid  form  now  are,  they  are  capable  of  more  com- 


binations, dissociations  and  re-combinations  than  are  num- 
bers or  musical  notes.  It  is  in  this  process  of  conversion 
from  one  form  into  another  that  we  derive  the  means  of  sub- 
sistence for  the  human  body  in  which  man  dwells  during  the 
period  we  call  life  in  this  world.  If,  then,  no  one  Can  even 
imagine  a  limit  to  the  conversions  and  reconversions  of  the 
physical  energy  with  which  the  world  is  endowed,  who  can 
measure  the  capacity  of  the  earth  to  support  human  life  in 
comfort  and  welfare? 

I  have  presented  to  you  certain  rules  which  I  hold  to  have 
become  axioms.  First,  that  the  highest  rates  of  wages,  al- 
though antecedents  in  the  first  year  of  production,  are  in  all 
permanent  commerce  among  men  derived  or  recovered  from 
the  sale  of  goods  which  are  made  at  the  lowest  cost  of  labor 
by  the  unit  of  product.  In  witness  of  this  axiom  or  principle 
attention  is  called  to  the  examples  of  our  exports  displayed 
in  this  Philadelphia  Exhibition  and  to  the  figures  of  the  ex- 
ports of  the  last  fiscal  year. 

I  may  cite  in  the  first  instance  the  fact  that  we  exported 
in  the  last  fiscal  year  a  little  over  twelve  hundred  million 
dollars'  worth  ($1-^00,000,000)  of  what  are  rightly  called 
goods — the  goods  which  benefit  the  consumer  who  needs 
them,  and  which  benefit  the  producer  by  rendering  to  him 
adequate  remuneration  for  their  production.  The  law  of 
commerce  is  mutuality  of  service.  Dishonest  men  may  gamble 
in  fraudulent  goods  for  a  time,  occasionally  with  success, 
usually  fdling;  but  the  great  commerce  of  the  world  is  based 
upon  mutual  trust  and  mutual  benefit,  without  which  it 
soon  stops. 

When  1  hear  men  deriding  the  commercial  spirit  of  the 
age  I  look  back  with  serenity  to  Kant's  essay  on  "Eternal 
Peace,"  in  which  one  hundred  years  ago  he  predicted  the 
ultimate  suppression  of  war  by  the  force  of  the  mutual  bene- 
fits of  commerce.  We  seem  to  be  far  away  and  yet  we  are 
nearer  to  that  conclusion  than  ever  before;  perhaps  very  near. 
The  terrible  cost  of  preparation  for  war  is  becoming  an  un- 
bearable burden  to  many  European  States.  The  present 
forms  of  society  cannot  exist  much  longer  under  its  pressure; 
it  is  leading  to  anarchy. 

Our  exports  have  long  been  separated  into  classes: 

Per  Cent. 

Products  of  agriculture 65.25  $784,999,009 

Manufactures    28.10  338,667,794 

Mining    2.40  28,832,547 

Forest    3.50  42,316,779 

Fisheries    50  6,025,446 

Miscellaneous    25  3,281,559 

100.  1,204,123,134 

Foreign  re-exported   $23,079,954 

$1,227,203,088 

The  net  exports  of  silver,  which  are  not  in- 
cluded as  a  mining  product,  came  to $25,603,999 

This  sum  about  offsets  the  foreign  goods  re-ex- 
ported, making  domestic  exports  in  round 
figures $1,230,000,000 

Population,  June  1,  computed  at  a  fraction 

over    76,000,000 

Exports  per  head  of  population,  a  fraction  over 
sixteen  dollars,  fiscal  year  ending  June  30, 
1899    $16 

I  do  not  regard  the  oiBcial  classification  of  our  exports  as 
a  just  one,  because  refined  mineral  oil  and  copper  ingots  are 
classed  as  manufactures,  while  flour,  dressed  and  canned 
meats,  and  dairy  products  are  classed  as  products  of  agricul- 


00 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


ture,  altliougli  they  are  much  farther  advanced  from  the 
cnulo  condition  tluui  either  the  oil  or  the  copper.  But  we 
must  use  the  oflicial  figures  as  we  find  them. 

1  liave  in  past  years  induced  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  change  many  of  the  old  forms  of  our  government  state- 
ments.   1  have  tried  to  change  this  form,  but  have  failed. 

The  twelve  hundred  million  dollars'  worth  ($1200,000,000) 
of  goods  and  wares  which  went  out  from  our  harbors  last 
year,  supplying  tlic  wants  of  multitudes  with  food,  fuel, 
shelter,  clothing  and  light,  or  with  the  tools  and  implements 
which  may  enable  them  to  gain  a  better  living  than  they 
ever  had  before,  consist  of  the  crude  products  of  the  field, 
the  forest  and  the  mine;  of  the  partly-manufactured  products 
of  the  furnace  and  of  the  mill,  and  of  the  finished  products 
of  the  factory  and  the  workshop. 

Tiiey  constituted  our  surplus  or  excess  of  all  products  above 
an  abundant  and  sufficient  supply  for  domestic  consumption. 
They  were  exc'hanged  in  greatest  measure  for  articles  of  com- 
fort and  luxury,  for  tropical  products,  and  in  least  measure 
for  the  necessities  of  life.  This  commerce  benefited  the  peo- 
ple of  foreign  countries  by  whom  our  goods  were  consumed, 
and  tliey  benefited  ourselves  not  only  in  supplying  our  in- 
creasing wants  but  by  relieving  our  markets  from  temporary 
congestion. 

Exports  l)y  Continents.  Per  Cent. 

Europe   7f).33 

North  America 12.87 

Asia    3.94 

South  America 2.91 

Oceanica 2.43 

Africa 1-53 

100. 

Imports  by  Continents.  Per  Cent. 

Europe   50.77 

Norlli  Anieri(-a ll>.08 

Asia    15.36 

South  Ainei'ica 12.42 

Oceanica 3.87 

Africa 1.50 

100. 

I  l)eg  you  lo  observe  that  our  exports  are  governed  by  the 
purchasing  power  of  our  customers. 

The  per  cai>ita  jjurchasing  power  of  our  foreign  customers, 
hirge  and  small,  i.<  indicated  by  flie  ratio  of  the  value  of  our 
exports  to  the  apin-oximate  amount  bought  per  head  of  their 
respective  piipulatiniis: 

British  Nortii  America $18. 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland 13. 

Australasia    5. 

British  West  Indies r,. 

Germany,  Belgium  and  Netherlands A. 

Mexico,  separately   2. 

France   1.50 

All  Latin  America,  inc.  Mexico  and  Smilli  .\merica.        1.40 

South  America,  separately  1.00 

Japan .40 

China 06 

India    015 

Philippine  Islands 005 

'J'lie  totid  value  of  the  custom  of  the  Philippine  Islands 
can  only  be  graphically  presented  by  a  very  small  lly-sp(>ck. 

I  challenge  any  one  to  name  a  single  article  listed  in  the 
manifests  of  our  outgoing  vessels  in  which  the  wages  or  earn- 
ings of  those  who  jierform  the  manual  and  mechanical  work 
of  their  production   are  not  higher  in   terms  of  money  by 


twenty-five  (25)  to  one  hundred  (100)  per  cent,  than  are  the 
wages  of  the  manufacturing  or  exporting  countries,  chiefly 
Great  Britain,  France,  Genuany  and  Belgiam,  from  which 
the  same  kind  of  goods  are  sent  out  to  other  parts  of  the 
world.  I  challenge  anyone  to  name  any  article,  even  of  the 
crude  products  of  the  field  and  the  mine,  in  which  the  wages 
recovered  from  the  export  by  the  producers  of  this  country 
are  not  from  five  to  ten  times  as  great  as  are  the  wages  or 
earnings  in  money  of  other  countries  from  which  crade  pro- 
duets  of  like  kind  are  sent  out  into  the  markets  of  the  world. 
For  instance,  our  great  product  which  we  export  in  large 
quantities  is  cotton.  Tlie  earnings  of  the  laborers  in  the 
cotton  states  are  among  the  lowest  in  this  country,  yet  they 
are  from  five  to  ten  times  greater  than  the  earnings  of  the 
laborers  on  the  cotton  fields  of  India  and  Egypt;  and  so  it 
goes  on  until  we  come  to  the  highest  type  of  manufacture. 
The  watch  spring  and  the  watch  are  often  cited  as  the  prod- 
ucts in  which  the  cost  of  the  material  bears  the  least  pro- 
portion to  the  valuation  of  the  final  product;  neither  is  there 
probably  any  other  art  in  this  country  in  which  the  general 
rates  of  wages — so  largely  of  women — are  relatively  higher 
than  they  are  in  the  great  watch  factories  of  the  United 
States.  Yet,  although  English,  German,  French  and  Swiss 
wages  vary,  they  are  less  than  in  the  watch  factories  of  this 
country,  but  our  watches,  made  at  the  lowest  possible  per 
unit  of  product,  and  at  the  highest  rates  of  wages,  are  ex- 
ported to  every  part  of  the  world. 

Reversing  the  order  and  putting  the  case  interrogatively, 
if  the  rate  of  wages  governed  the  cost  of  labor  in  this 
country,  can  anyone  name  a  single  article  which  could  be 
exported  to  any  port  in  the  world? 

If  you  give  regard  to  this  grand  display  of  our  articles  of 
export,  will  it  not  be  well  to  put  your  mind  into  a  receptive 
condition  rather  than  to  make  an  effort  to  defend  the  theories 
of  the  past?  Let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead.  It  matters 
not  in  the  present  whether  we  have  reached  our  present  con- 
trol of  great  foreign  markets  by  means  of  one  legislative  policy 
or  another;  what  we  have  now  to  consider  are  the  means 
by  which  we  may  in  the  near  future  promote  a  yet  greater 
development  of  our  manufactures,  and,  having  an  almost 
complete  control  of  the  home  market,  how  we  may  yet  more 
develop  foreign  markets.  May  we  not  rightly  consider  what 
obstructions  to  imports  no  longer  have  any  place  in  our  own 
system  of  legislation?  We  have  no  control  over  the  legisla- 
tion of  other  countries,  but  we  possess  complete  control  over 
our  own.  It  will,  therefore,  be  suitable  to  give  some  atten- 
tion to  the  effect  of  some  of  our  heavy  taxes  upon  imports  in 
retarding  or  stopping  exports;  yet  more  in  limiting  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  those  with  whom  we  wish  to  increase  our 
trade. 

The  first  point  of  interest  is  to  consider  who  are  now  the 
largest  customers  for  our  export.  In  the  text  I  shall  only 
present  general  conclusions  with  few  figures,  referring  to 
notes  for  nearly  all  the  details.    I  now  present 

The  Rklative  Importance  of  Foheion  Markets. 

The  exports  of  the  United  Stales  in  the  fiscal  vear  ending 
June  30,  1899,  were  valued  at  $1,227,203,088. 

Exports  l>y  Continents. 
Per  Cent. 

Europe    76.33  $936,781,169 

North  America 12.87  157,931 ,409 

Routli  America 2.91  35,660.932 

Asia         3.94  48,360,161 

Oceanica 2.43  29,874,993 

Africa 1.52  18,594,424 

100.  $1,227,203,088 


THIRD  DAY*S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  14,  1899 


23 


Our  imports  of  merchandise  were  valued  at. .  .  .   $697,116,854 


Imports  by  Continents. 

Per  Cent. 

Europe   50.77 

Europe   50.77 

Forth  America    16.08 

South  America   13.43 

Asia   15.36 

Oceanica 3.87 

Africa 1.50 


100. 


$353,885,064 

$353,885,064 

113,133,871 

86,576,020 

107,081,431 

36,997,508 

10,442,970 

$697,116,854 


You  will  observe  that  the  objective  point  of  all  production 
is  consumption.  Conversely,  the  greatest  consumption  yields 
the  greatest  power  of  production.  We  now  number  apjiroxi- 
mately  76,000,000,  or  a  little  more  than  five  per  cent,  of  the 
computed  population  of  the  globe,  yet  we  now  produce  and 
consume  about  40  per  cent,  of  the  registered  product  of  iron 
and  steel. 

We  produce  about  seventy-seven  (77)  per  cent,  of  the  regis- 
tered cotton  crop  and  we  consiune  about  twenty-five  (35)  per 
cent.  We  consume  between  twenty  and  twenty-five  per  cent 
of  the  world's  wool  clip  and  of  sugar,  and  we  are,  I  believe 
the  largest  consumers  (in  the  aggregate)  of  the  tropical  and 
semi-tropical  products  of  the  continents  of  the  east  and  south. 
We  buy  from  them  much  more  than  we  sell  to  them,  paying 
by  bills  of  exchange  drawn  against  our  trade  balance  with 
Europe. 

Is  not  the  main  reason  of  the  disparity  in  trade  and  excess 
of  exports  over  imports  due  to  the  fact  that  the  markets  for 
England,  Belgium,  Holland  and  Germany,  and  in  some  meas- 
ure the  markets  of  France  are  open  to  the  free  import  of  the 
criule  products  of  the  tropics  and  semi-tropics?  Many  of 
these  articles  are  necessary  to  and  enter  into  the  processes  of 
manufacture,  especially  wool  and  other  articles  used  in  the 
textile  arts,  upon  which  we  impose  heavy  tariff  taxes.  It 
follows  that  the  cost  of  production  in  this  country  of  all  ar- 
ticles into  which  these  crude  materials  of  foreign  origin  enter 
as  component  materials  is  of  necessity  higher  than  that  of 
our  competitors  in  other  manufacturing  states.  Hence  it 
fallows  that  we  export  cotton  and  many  other  crude  products, 
together  with  the  food  of  the  operators,  to  Great  Britain, 
France  and  Germany,  where  they  are  combined  with  the  free 
wool,  the  dye  stuffs  and  the  other  materials  free  of  duty 
which  enter  into  all  textile  fabrics.  Do  we  not  therefore 
protect  the  foreign  manufactures  by  these  taxes  on  imports 
to  the  exclusion  of  our  own  from  competition  with  them  in 
any  very  large  measure  in  Asia,  Africa  and  South  America? 
Were  it  not  for  this  disparity  in  the  cost  of  these  taxed 
materials,  might  we  not  have  the  same  advantage  in  making 
the  useful  kinds  of  textile  fabrics  and  other  goods  for  export 
among  the  hand  workers  of  the  tropics  that  we  have  in  our 
metal  work,  exchanging  finished  goods  directly  with  these 
continents  instead  of  employing  foreign  manufactures  to  do 
that  work?  Do  we  not  pay  for  our  purchases  from  these  great 
continents  from  the  money  proceeds  of  our  cotton,  grain  and 
provisions,  which  might  have  been  converted  into  finished 
goods  were  it  not  for  this  method  of  taxation? 

It  is  not  so  much  the  amount  of  a  tax  that  makes  it  a 
burden  as.it  is  the  place  where  that  tax  is  pnt.  Is  it  not  bet- 
ter to  derive  our  revenue  from  the  results  of  our  work  rather 
than  to  tax  the  processes  or  the  necessary  materials  used 
therein? 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  states  which  are  now  our  largest 
customers  are  those  which  have  themselves  been  developed 
by  the  apjilication  of  science  and  invention  in  greater  measure 


than  any  other  countries  with  which  we  trade.  It  will  also 
be  remarked  that  the  largest  consumers  of  our  products  are 
tliose  who  inhabit  the  temperate  rather  than  the  tropical  zone. 
In  these  states  and  zones  the  highest  standard  of  living  pre- 
vails among  the  people,  coupled  in  greater  or  less  measure 
with  the  ability  to  supply  their  increasing  wants.  Herein 
we  witness  an  apparent  paradox,  the  manufacturing  states 
of  Europe  which  we  regard  as  our  most  dangerous  competitors 
in  foreign  traffic  are  in  fact  our  largest  and  best  customers, 
even  for  the  highest  types  of  our  own  manufactured  goods. 
How  shall  we  increase  our  ability  not  only  to  compete  with 
them,  but  to  supply  them,  as  well  as  other  countries,  with 
increasing  quantities  of  all  our  products? 

J?elative  Importance  of  Groups  of  States  by  Per  Cent,  of 
Purchases. 

Per  Gent. 

L'nited  Kingdom  of  Great  Britain  aud  Ireland 41.71 

British  colonies  and  dependencies 13.17 

53.88 

Germany,  Netherlands  and  Belgium 33.77 

France 4.94 

81.59 
Au.'-tria,  Italy  and  other  European  countries 6.86 

88.45 
South  and  Central  America,  Mexico,  Cuba,  Porto  Kico 

and  other  Latin  American  States 7.50 

95.95 
Africa,  not  British .28 

96.23 

Asia,  not  British,  China,  Japan,  etc 2.95 

98.18 
Oceanica,  not  British,  Borneo,  Java,  etc 79 

99.97 
Philippine  Islands .03 


100. 


But  some  one  may  say  if  we  succeed  in  rivaling  Great 
Britain,  France  and  Germany  not  only  in  supplying  the  great 
non-machine  using  states  ancl  continents  with  the  goods  which 
they  now  supply  but  in  displacing  their  own  manufactures 
in  their  own  Umits,  how  can  they  continue  to  buy  our  gi'ain, 
provisions,  cotton  and  oil? 

Exports  of  the  United  States  by  groups  and  coimtries: 

United  Kingdom    $511,816,475 

British  North  America $89,573,609 

Australasia 19,777,139 

British  West  Indies   8,751,817 

Bermuda 1,065,388 

British  Guiana 1,749,545 

British  Honduras   499,839 

Gibraltar  567,961 

Mali  a   144,080 

British  Africa   15,155,610 

British  China    7,733,535 

British  East  Indies 4,341,936 

$149,359,439 

Total,  Great  Britain,  her  colonies  and  depen- 
dencies       $661,175,914 


24 


Pi;()('F.EI»I\'(;S  OF  TlIK  IXT1':KNATH)XA1.  rOlBrKHCTAl.  conoeess 


Gennanv   $155,772,279 

Nethorlaiirls   79,305,998 

Belgium 44,299,239 

France  


$279,377,510 
00,596,899 


Great  Britain,  colonies  and  dependencies;  Ger- 
many, low  countries  and  France  com- 
bined, manufacturing  or    machine-using 

countries $1,001,150,329 

Other  European  countries: 

Italy $25,034,940 

Denmark   16,605,828 

Sweden  and  Norwav 12,218.289 

Spain   9,077,807 

Kussia 8,486,667 

Austria-Hungary 7,378,935 

Portugal '. 4,132,400 

Azores,  etc 361,252 

Turkey  in  Europe 354,457 

Switzerland    267,732 

Greece    213,507 

Itoumania,  Servia,  etc 146,424 

$84,278,238 

All  Europe   $1,085,428,567 

Latin  America: 

South  America   $33,911,387 

Mexico    25,480,281 

Cuba 18,015,707 

Haiti  and  St.  Domingo 0,076,964 

Central  America  .• 4,988,332 

Porto  Rico 2,085,848 

Miquelon,  etc 194,624 

$91,952,143 

Asia,  not  British: 

Japan $17,264,688 

China 14,493,440 

Russia  in  Asia 1,543,126 

All  other   2,984,446 

$36,285,700 

Oceanica,  omitting  Philippines 9,693,093 

Africa,  not  British 3,438,814 

$141,370,350 

Exports  to  all  markets  except  in  the  Philip- 
pines   $1,220,798,917 

Exports  to  the  Philippine  Islands  in  1899,  a 

gain  of  300  per  cent  over  1897 404,171 

Total  exports $1,227,203,088 

ObseiYation. 

Export  to  South  and  Central  America,  Mex- 
ico, Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  and  all  other  West 
Indies  not  British,  to  Asia,  Africa,  and 
Oceanic,  not  British,  omitting  Philip- 
pines      $141,370,350 

Export  to  British  colonies  and  dependencies 

only $149,359,439 

May  we  not  cripple  our  best  customers  by  interfering  or 
taking  away  some  of  their  present  markets? 

The  principal  machine-using  or  manufacturing  nations  of 
the  world  outside  of  the  United  States  are  tlie  Thiited  King- 
dom of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  Germany,  France,  Bel- 
gium and  the  Netlun-lands.  Their  exports  of  finished  goods 
constitute  so  large  a  part  of  the  exports  to  other  parts  of  the 


world  aside  from  those  of  the  United  States,  as  to  render  all 
the  rest  a  somewhat  negligible  quantity.  Their  combined 
population  with  our  own  numbers  less  than  two  hundred  and 
twenty  million  (220,000,000)  out  of  a  computed  population 
of  the  globe  of  over  fourteen  hundred  million  (1,400,000,000). 
Are  the  wants  of  all  the  rest  supplied?  Are  they  not  in- 
creasing? Our  problem  is  who  shall  furnish  the  supply  of 
their  greatest  demands? 

The  consumption  and  use  of  iron  is  the  best  standard  by 
which  to  gauge  not  only  the  productive  but  the  purchasing 
and  consuming  power  of  every  State  and  nation.  In  a  re- 
view of  the  iron  trade  made  nine  years  ago,  it  proved  that 
the  average  consumption  of  iron  in  this  country  in  the  year 
1889  was  three  hundred  (300)  pounds  per  head.  The  con- 
sumption or  use  of  iron  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany 
and  Belgium,  after  making  allowance  for  tlie  imports  and  ex- 
ports of  each  country,  did  not  exceed  one  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five (175)  pounds.  Taking  these  figures  of  consump- 
tion from  the  total  product  of  iron,  what  was  left  yielded 
only  eleven  (11)  to  twelve  (12)  pounds  per  head  as  the  con- 
sumption of  iron  of  the  remainder  of  the  population  of  the 
globe,  numbering  over  twelve  hundred  million  (1,200,000,- 
000)  people.  With  their  increase  in  the  use  of  iron  rails, 
tools  and  machinery,  their  power  of  production  and  eon- 
sumption  will  be  vastly  augmented.  Those  figures  were 
l)ased  on  a  total  production  of  twenty-five  million  (25,000,- 
000)  tons.  I  then  predicted  an  increase  in  the  year  1900 
reaching  forty  million  (40,000,000)  tons,  with  a  deficiency  of 
supply.  We  have  about  reached  those  conditions.  Our 
own  consumption  now  exceeds  three  hundred  and  fifty  (350) 
pounds  per  head  and  will  presently  reach  four  hundred  (400) 
pounds,  if  it  ha.s  not  already  reached  that  amount.  The 
production  and  consumption  of  the  other  iron-producing 
countries  named  has  also  increased,  but  not  in  as  great  a 
proportion.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  rest  of  the  world  is 
being  developed  by  the  railway  and  steamship,  and  every 
ton  of  iron  thus  consumed  develops  an  increasing  demand  for 
iron  for  other  purposes,  while  at  the  same  time  rendering 
the  people  of  the  continents  of  Asia,  Africa,  South  and  Cen- 
tral America,  and  Australia  more  capable  of  supplying  their 
increasing  wants  than  they  ever  have  been  before.  Wliat  we 
now  have  mainly  to  consider  is  not  only  how  to  maintain  our 
commerce  with  the  European  States  without  impairing  their 
ability  to  buy  of  us,  but  also  how  to  develop  the  increasing 
wants  and  the  purchasing  jwwer  of  the  great  multitudes  in 
other  parts  of  the  world.  Not  to  take  away  the  trade  of  any 
nation  or  State,  but  to  meet  the  increasing  wants  of  all. 

It  will  be  observed  that  commerce  consists  in  the  exchange 
of  goods  for  goods,  only  small  balances  being  liquidated  in 
money.  When  we  buy  and  use  freely  what  every  continent 
has  to  sell,  shall  we  not  exchange  more  and  more  of  our  own 
goods  with  them?  When  we  find  a  home  market  for  their 
products  will  they  not  find  a  home  market  for  ours?  Wlien 
we  thus  develop  the  producing,  purchasing  and  consuming 
power  of  Asia,  Africa  and  South  America,  may  we  not  create 
new  wants  and  develop  commerce  in  such  measure  that  not 
only  will  the  iron  furnaces  of  the  United  States,  Great 
Britain,  France  and  Germany  become  incapable  of  meeting 
the  demand,  but  their  factories  and  workshops  also? 

All  commerce  considered  as  a  whole  is  practically  an  ex- 
change of  equivalents  in  any  one  year,  yet  such  is  not  the 
fact  in  the  commerce  between  countries.  For  instance,  our 
neighbors  in  Canada,  numbering  in  round  figures  a  little 
over  five  million  (5,000,000),  bought  of  us  last  year  ninety 
million  dollars'  ($90,000,000)  worth  of  our  prodiict.s,  at  the 
rate  of  eighteen  dollars  ($18)  per  head;  while  we  bought  of 
them  only  thirty-two  million  dollars'  ($32,000,000)  worth  of 
goods,  at  the  rate  of  forty-two  (-12)  cents  per  head  of  our 
own  population.     TTnder  our  present  tariff  we  had  excluded 


THIED  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  14,  1899 


25 


their  products,  which  we  formerly  bougiit  iu  large  quanti- 
ties; for  instance,  barley.  The  change  forced  the  fanners  of 
Ontario  to  turn  their  attention  to  dairy  products  and  to 
improve  their  butter  and  cheese.  Tliis  they  have  accom- 
plished to  such  an  extent  as  to  have  cut  us  out  in  very  con- 
siderable measure  in  the  markets  of  Europe.  We  put  heavy 
taxes  on  their  lumber  and  are  consequently  depleting  our 
forests  at  a  dangerous  rate.  Who  gained  at  the  loss  of  the 
great  body  of  consumers? 

Suppose  there  were  no  gi'eater  ohstructions  to  the  traffic 
between  Canada  and  the  United  States  than  there  are  be- 
tween the  six  million  (G, 000,000)  people,  more  or  less,  of 
the  State  of  New  York  and  the  other  seventy  million  (70,- 
000,000)  of  their  fellow  countrymen,  what  would  be  the  meas- 
ure per  head  of  the  exchange  of  products?  Why  should 
there  be  any  artificial  obstructions  to  trade  along  an  imaginary 
line  between  people  of  the  same  kith  and  kin?  We  need 
their  timber,  their  fish,  their  coal  from  the  maritime  prov- 
inces, and  they  need  from  us  more  than  we  can  take  from 
them.  Their  public  debts  and  taxes  are  higher  than  ours  on 
the  average.  We  have  the  advantage  of  climate.  Why 
should  we  not  trade  on  even  terms?'  WTiat  stands  in  the 
way?  Only  the  owners  of  a  few  timber  lands,  coal  mines 
and  merino  sheep. 

I  happen  to  have  before  me  the  last  annual  report  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Cincinnati,  from  which  I  learn 
that  the  goods  brought  into  that  city  for  consumption  and 
distribution  came  to  about  six  hundred  dollars  ($600)  per 
head  of  the  popidation  of  the  city.  One  can  begin  to  com- 
prehend the  magnitude  of  their  conunerce  from  some  of  these 
figures.  At  whose  dictation  are  we  deprived  of  similar  bene- 
fits in  the  exchange  of  products  with  Canada? 

Again,  there  are  a;bout  six  million  (6,000,000)  of  our  kith 
and  kin  in  Australia  and  in  the  British  West  Indies.  We 
sold  them  last  year  a  little  under  thirty  million  dollars' 
($30,000,000)  worth  of  goods  at  the  rate  of  five  dollars  ($5) 
per  head.  We  bought  of  them  about  nineteen  million  dollars' 
($19,000,000)  worth  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  (25)  cents  per 
head  of  our  own  population.  Suppose  trade  were  free  with 
them,  what  would  be  the  measure  of  the  mutual  benefit? 
Who  would  suffer? 

Yet  more  conspicuous  in  the  small  volume  of  our  trade 
give  regard  to  our  next  neighbors  at  the  south — the  people  of 
Mexico,  Central  and  South  America,  numbering  in  all  about 
fifty-three  million  (53,000,000).  They  bought  of  us  last 
year  only  sixty-six  million  dollars'  ($66,000,000)  worth  of 
goods  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  ($1.25)  per  head; 
while  we  bought  of  them  only  one  hundred  and  twenty  mil- 
lion dollai-s'  ($120,000,000)  worth  at  the  rate  of  one  dollar 
and  fifty-eight  ($1.58)  cents  per  head  of  our  population. 
Here  is  an  example  of  our  purchase  of  an  excess  of  tropical 
products  over  and  above  our  exports.  How  shall  we  increase 
it?  The  people  of  these  countries  want  more  of  our  goods; 
they  prefer  them,  but  we  refuse  to  buy  without  taxing  them 
so  large  a  proportion  of  their  products  that  the  round  trip  is 
forbidden.  The  free  open  ports  of  Europe  take  their  prod- 
ucts and  naturally  get  most  of  their  trade. 

But  again  someone  may  ask,  if  we  remove  the  taxes  or 
duties  on  our  imports  from  these  countries,  where  shall  we 
get  a  revenue  to  support  our  government?  I  am  prepared 
for  that  question.  The  revenue  necessary  to  support  our 
government  under  conditions  of  peace  and  order  previous  to 
1898  was  less  than  five  dollars  ($5)  per  head.  The  necessity  for 
a  war  revenue  has  taught  us  how  to  get  that  revenue  of  five 
dollars  ($5)  per  head  without  putting  any  duties  on  the 
crude  or  partly  maniifactured  goods  that  we  need  from  South 
and  Central  America,  Australia  or  the  British  West  Indies. 
These  imports  now  consist  mainly  of  sugar  and  other  tropical 
products,  some  of  which  are  fit  subjects  for  revenue  duties. 


We  may  lose  that  reveuue  by  assuming  jurisdiction  over 
them  so  as  to  entitle  their  people  to  free  trade.  But  aside 
from  such  articles,  sugar,  rice,  tropical  fruits,  etc.,  our  im- 
ports consist  largely  of  the  crude  or  partly-manufactured 
articles  coming  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  which  enter  into 
the  process  of  our  own  domestic  industry,  very  many  of 
which  are  now  subject  to  ohstructive  or  prohibitive  taxation. 

I  have  only  named  certain  countries,  especially  in  the  trop- 
ics, but  if  all  the  articles  imported  from  all  countries  in  a 
crude  or  partly-manufactured  form  were  now  entered  free  of 
duty,  the  total  loss  of  revenue  on  the  basis  of  recent  years 
would  be  only  twenty  million  dollars  ($20,000,000)  a  year — 
a  very  considerable  sum  it  is  true;  but  under  the  necessity  of 
war  we  have  doubled  the  beer  tax,  and  that  additional  dollar 
per  barrel  of  beer  may  be  continued  after  the  war  is  over. 
That  added  dollar  a  barrel  on  beer  now  yields  nearly  double 
the  revenue  derived  from  these  crude  and  partly-manufac- 
tured materials  of  all  kinds. 

Again,  we  have  learned  how  to  collect  a  large  revenue 
from  stamps.  This  tax,  again,  yields  more  than  double  the 
revenue  derived  from  these  crude  or  partly-manufactured 
articles.  The  stamp  tax,  subject  to  some  readjustment,  may 
form  a  permanent  part  of  our  revenue  system.  It  is  the 
simplest  and  most  effective  method  yet  devised  for  distribu- 
ting a  burden.  What  the  tax  on  legacies  may  yet  yield  can- 
not be  stated. 

Not  only  can  this  be  done,  but  including  these  duties  on 
crude  and  partly-manufactured  materials,  over  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  articles  now  named  in  our  complex  tariff  are  subject 
to  petty  taxes  wliich  are  very  costly  in  their  collection  and 
very  obstructive  to  trade  in  their  nature,  yet  all  of  which 
could  be  abated  without  reducing  the  revenue  from  customs 
by  fifteen  per  cent. 

Many  years  ago  I  made  that  statement  to  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury.  I  think  it  was  in  1885,  when  we  were  under 
a  less  complex  tariff  than  is  now  imposed  upon  us.  He 
doubted  it.  It  was  referred  to  two  most  experienced  experts 
in  the  Treasury  Department  and  they  ridiculed  it.  I  then 
called  upon  them  to  test  the  facts,  calling  off  item  by  item 
from  the  imports  of  1884,  free  and  dutiable,  on  this  theory, 
then  leaving  them  for  a  day  to  reach  the  result.  When  I 
returned  they  were  forced  to  admit  that  I  had  put  into  the 
free  list  sixty  (60)  per  cent,  in  point  of  number  of  the  articles 
then  taxed  under  the  tariff,  and  that  the  total  revenue  pre- 
viously derived  from  these  articles  was  only  twelve  (12)  per 
cent,  of  the  whole.  Yet  from  such  abatements  no  reduction 
of  revenue  would  of  necessity  follow,  such  would  be  the  im- 
mediate increase  in  our  commerce  in  the  goods  left  in  the 
dutiable  list  for  revenue  purposes. 

Every  one  who  is  familiar  with  great  reforms  in  the  British 
tariff  brought  about  by  Sir  Eobert  Peel  and  his  successors 
from  1842  to  1847,  will  witness  that  with  each  apparent  re- 
duction of  revenue  by  cutting  off  petty  taxes,  a  large  increase 
of  revenue  followed  from  the  dutiable  list,  while  manufac- 
tures and  commerce  alike  were  developed  by  leaps  and 
bounds  with  the  removal  of  these  apparently  petty  obstruc- 
tions to  trade;  exports  especially  increasing  with  the  greatest 
rapidity. 

I  now  submit  a  complete  analysis  of  the  revenue  derived 
from  all  sources  in  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  1899,  from 
official  data  supplied  by  the  officers  of  the  government;  some 
of  them  in  advance  of  official  publication,  subject  to  frac- 
tional change  on  the  final  audit. 

Per  Head. 
Revenue  from  spirits  and  wines,  domestic  and  foreign.   $1.39 

From  fermented  liquors 91 

From  tobacco  and  cigars 75 


3.05 


26 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Erora  stamps,  legacies  and  small  internal  taxes 71 

From  public  lands  and  miscellaneous  permanent  re- 
ceipts   ~J: 

$4.00 
I'^rom  sugar  and  molasses 80 

$4.80 
All  other  duties  ou  imports  except  liquors,  tobacco  and 

sugar 1-74 

Total $<;.34 

You  will  observe  that  for  twenty  years  of  peace,  oi'der,  in- 
dusliT,  and  expanding  commerce,  from  1878  to  1897  inclu- 
sive, the  revenue  derived  from  liquors  and  tobacco  only  came 
to  two  dollars  and  a  half  ($3.50)  per  head,  varying  but  little 
year  by  year.  You  will  also  observe  that  the  normal  cost 
of  our  government,  including  the  new  navy  so-called,  dur- 
ing the  same  period  was  but  two  dollars  and  a  half  ($3.50) 
per  head,  varying  but  little  year  by  year. 

The  revenue  from  all  other  sources  in  the  same  period  was 
two  dollars  and  a  half  ($3.50)  per  head.  The  expenditures 
for  interest  and  pensions  also  the  same. 

Spirits  and  wines: 

Internal,  spirits  ....$99,383,543.16 

Duties,  spirits 3,039,950.13 

Wines 3,341,319.58     $10.5,r;i-j4,713.87     $1.39 

Beer: 

Internal   $GG,G44,55S.45 

Duties 733,366.78         69,377,925.23         .91 

Tobacco: 

Domestic   $53,493,307.64 

Duties 5,053,615.10         57,545,833.74         .7(; 

$333,578,460.84     $3.06 

Stamps $43,837,818.66 

Legacies 1,335,435.35 

Small  internal   7,942,598,35         53,015,853.26         .70 

$385,594,313.10 
Sugar,  molasses 61,438,331.87         .80 

$347,033,644.97     $4.5G 

Public  land $1,678,346.81 

Miscellaneous       per- 
manent       1G,754,159.73         18,433,406.54         .24 


All  other  duties.  . . . 


$365,455,051.51     .$4.80 
133,543,998.39        1.74 


$497,998,049.80     $6.54 


Five  dollars  per  head  covered  the  whole,  with  the  neces- 
sary tendency  of  ))ensions  to  diminish  by  lapse  of  time. 
Except  for  the  Spanish  war  the  rate  jier  liead  would  liave 
been  less  than  five  dollars,  and  our  revenue  in  the  present 
fiscal  year  ending  June  30,  \  900,  from  liquors,  tobacco,  sugar, 
stamps,  legacies  and  miscellaiu'ous  permanent  receipts  will 
be  more  than  five  dollars  ($5)  per  head  unless  we  lose  on  sugar 
and  tobacco  by  iiiccirpurating  tropical  islands  within  our 
jurisdiction. 

Although  our  revenue  is  now  defii'ient  for  war  ]iui'|)oses,  it 
is  in  excess  by  more  than  thirty  (30)  per  cent,  of  the  require- 
ments of  peace. 

You  will  observe  that  we  are  securing  a  revenue  from  the 
duties  on  miscellaneous  imports  other  than  liquors,  tobacco 


and  sugar  of  $133,500,000,  at  the  rate  of  $1.74  per  head. 

Now  I  venture  to  say  that  if  a  judicial  body  of  not  over 
three  men — better  one  man  if  you  could  find  the  right  man — 
were  to  revise  our  present  tariff  by  removing  only  fifty  cents 
per  head,  or  $38,000,000  of  the  present  obstructions  to  trade, 
mainly  with  Asia,  Africa,  Latin  America  and  Australia,  our 
trade  with  these  great  continents  might  be  doubled  in  a  sin- 
gle year.     Free  buyers  are  ahvays  free  sellers  and  vice  versa. 

It  will  be  remarked  that  the  policy  to  which  the  Export 
Exposition  inevitably  tends  is  not  to  a  revolutionary  change 
or  to  absolute  free  trade.  It  tends  to  freer  trade  qualified  by 
the  necessity  for  the  time  being  of  collecting  a  considerable 
revenue  from  duties  on  imports  of  tropical  products  or  the 
crude  and  partly-manufactured  articles  which  are  necessar}' 
in  the  jDrocesses  of  our  own  domestic  industry.  There  are  a 
large  number  of  foreign  articles  of  luxury,  or  of  voluntary 
use,  or  even  some  useful  article  which  depend  upon  style 
and  fashion  for  their  immediate  sale,  which  are  perfectly 
suitable  subjects  for  revenue  duties.  If  any  one  wants  them 
cheap,  one  can  buy  last  year's  styles;  they  are  just  as  good 
for  service.  Many  of  the  finest  and  most  expensive  of  these 
fabrics  are  hand-made;  the  fine  laces,  the  finest  silks  which 
are  woven  on  hand  looms,  and  other  articles  of  like  kind. 
We  cannot  aft'ord  hand  work  when  we  can  buy  hand-made 
with  machine-made  products.  In  fact,  when  the  problem  is 
approached  with  the  view  to  obtaining  a  suitable  revenue 
without  any  practical  obstruction  to  trade  and  without  any 
other  purpose  than  that  of  so  imposing  taxes  and  duties  that 
whatever  the  people  pay  the  Government  shall  receive,  the 
problem  becomes  very  simple.  Revenue  duties  may  be  im- 
jjosed  on  laces,  embroideries,  many  kinds  of  silk,  Hnen  and 
other  fine  textile  fabrics,  on  tine  glassware,  on  .fine  chinaware 
and  on  other  commodities  of  like  kind,  and  on  opium  and 
projjrietary  medicines,  and  beverages,  without  in  any  measure 
impairing  the  ability  of  this  country  to  compete  with  others 
in  maniifacturing,  while  at  the  same  time  securing  to  the 
Government  ample  revenue  from  this  class  of  subjects  of  tax- 
ation. 

It  may  also  be  observed  that  such  is  the  present  ability, 
even  of  those  who  are  occupied  in  the  arts  classified  imder 
the  liead  of  "manufactures"  in  tliis  country  to  produce  their 
goods  at  the  highest  rates  of  wages  and  the  lowest  cost  of 
labor  per  unit  of  pi'oduct,  provided  they  are  on  even  terms 
with  their  foreign  competitors  in  the  free  import  of  the  crude 
articles  of  foreign  origin,  that  at  least  ninety  (90)  per  cent. 
of  the  articles  listed  to  the  number  of  over  three  hundred  and 
.sixty  (360)  in  the  census  of  1890  specially  as  ''manufac- 
tures" are  free  from  any  possible  competition  from  the  im- 
port of  any  article  of  like  kind  from  a  foreign  country;  while 
on  the  other  hand  even  among  many  of  the  manufactures 
thus  listed  the  foreign  market  for  their  goods  is  the  balance 
wheel  or  regulator  on  which  the  mai-ket  price  of  the  whole 
domestic  product  depends.  In  dealing  with  the  ten  (10)  per 
cent,  or  a  little  more  or  less,  which  might  at  this  time  be 
subject  to  temporary  injurious  competition  if  revolutionary 
changes  were  made  in  the  tarifl',  proper  discretion  may  be 
used  and  the  right  adjustments  may  be  made  until  they  also 
l)ecome  independent;  thus  recognizing  in  a  certain  sense  a 
vested  right  to  consideration  on  their  part  in  view  of  the  long 
prevalence  of  the  stimulus  of  a  very  high  tariff.  I  know 
of  no  free  traders,  unless  it  be  some  theoretic  doctrinaires, 
who  do  not  admit  this,  and  their  counterparts  are  foimd  on 
till'  olher  side  among  a  few  equally  bigoted  doctrinaires  to 
»  Ikuu  the  words  "free  trade"  have  the  same  effect  as  a  red  flag 
upon  a  bull.  ]\lay  not-  tliis  exhibition  bring  together  all  rea- 
sonable men  wlio  will  modify  obsolete  theories  consistently 
with  the  facts  here  made  ma.nifest? 

The  first  half  of  the  present  century  was  devoted  to  war. 
In  1848  the  uprising  of  the  masses  of  the  people  of  Europe 


THIKD  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  U,  1899 


27 


against  the  military  classes  was  for  a  time  suppressed.  We 
then  entered  upon  the  era  of  the  railway  and  steamship,  of 
tlie  telegraph  and  the  telephone,  in  which  the  world  has  be- 
come a  neighborhood,  tending  to  the  diffusion  of  population 
as  well  as  of  products. 

Yet  more  revolutionaiy  than  these  mere  physical  agencies, 
we  also  then  entered  upon  the  era  of  common  education.  The 
common  soldiers  who  carry  the  guns  are  beginning  to  learn 
their  rights  and  may  soon  redress  their  wrongs.  The  think- 
ing bayonet  may  become  the  pen  more  potent  than  the  sword. 
When  that  force  is  developed  the  lesson  may  be  given,  per- 
haps in  letters  of  blood,  that  power  rests  with  the  masses  and 
not  with  the  classes  who  now  oppress  them  in  their  efforts  to 
sustain  jwivileges  that  no  longer  rest  on  rights. 

My  faith  is  firm  in  the  power  that  makes  for  righteousness, 
and  I  believe  the  dawning  centui-y  will  witness  the  fruition 
of  Kant's  prophecy  of  eternal  peace,  when  the  beneficent  force 
of  commerce  will  suppress  the  hell  of  war. 

On  what  grounds  may  it  be  held  that  the  force  of  com- 
merce will  suppress  war?  We  may  assume  that  there  is  a 
Power  Supreme  which  makes  for  righteousness,  and  that  the 
conduct  of  the  work  of  this  world  must  be  governed  by 
ethical  principles.  If  there  is  no  such  power,  then  the  re- 
verse. \Vliat  are  the  principles  or  rules  of  action  governing 
the  conduct  of  commerce?  Probity,  integrity,  truth,  a  high 
standard  of  character,  mutual  trust  and  mutual  service.  What 
is  the  motive?  Gain;  not  at  the  cost  of  others,  but  to  mutual 
benefit.  What  is  the  sei^vice  of  commerce?  To  distribute 
the  abundance  of  the  things  necessary  to  human  welfare;  to 
feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  to  house  the  homeless. 
It  has  been  well  said  by  Sir  Henry  Sumner  Maine  that  the 
conception  of  trust  on  which  credit  rests,  which  gives  life  to 
commerce,  is  relatively  modern.  In  the  Homeric  literatui'e 
the  cunning  of  Ulysses  possessed  as  high  a  merit  as  the  wis- 
dom of  Nestor  or  the  courage  of  Achilles,  but  in  the  con- 
duct of  modern  commerce  such  conditions  have  been  devel- 
oped in  the  relations  of  men  to  each  other  as  to  make  it  a 
truth  sustained  by  observation  that  the  "trust  reposed  in 
and  deserved  by  the  many  creates  the  opportunity  for  the 
fraud  of  the  few."  At  a  moderate  estimate  of  the  value  of 
the  annual  product  of  this  country  and  the  cost  of  its  con- 
version from  one  form  to  another  and  of  its  distribution 
through  all  of  its  manifold  phases,  there  is  at  least  five  hun- 
dred dollars  ($500)  worth  of  trade,  of  bargain  and  sale  every 
year,  nine-tenths  at  least  on  credit,  in  order  that  each  man, 
woman  and  child  of  our  seventy-six  million  (76,000,000) 
people  may  be  fed,  clothed  and  sheltered.  It  would  not  be 
worth  a  quarter  of  one  per  cent,  or  twenty-five  (25)  cents  on 
a  hundred  dollars  ($100)  to  secure  the  guarantee  even  of 
the  nation  for  the  payment  of  these  obligations  substantially 
at  the  time  when  they  become  due.  Neither  banks  nor  mer- 
chants could  pay  a  quarter  per  cent,  for  such  a  guarantee 
on  all  transactions.  Aside  from  these  purchases  and  sales 
of  goods  and  wares  there  are  to  be  added  the  huge  dealings 
resting  on  good  faith,  in  stocks  and  Ijonds,  in  real  estate  and 
for  services  of  other  kinds. 

Eeverse  this  picture.  Admitting  that  high  and  nolile  qual- 
ities have  been,  are  now,  and  will  again  be  developed  in 
the  conduct  of  war;  admitting  that  war  in  the  defence  of 
liberty  is  justifiable,  sometimes  necessary;  yet  on  what  prin- 
ciples is  the  science  of  war  now  based?  Wiiat  motives  of 
action  govern  the  conduct  of  warfare  even  when  directed 
by  the  men  of  highest  repute?  Is  not  the  first  precept  to 
take  advantage  of  the  enemy  at  every  point?  In  the  con- 
duct of  a  campaign  musit  not  the  motive  be  to  deceive  the 
opponent,  to  mislead  him,  to  learn  about  his  movements  by 
the  use  of  spies?  Is  it  not  necessary,  in  fact,  to  lie,  to  cheat, 
to  ambush,  to  strike  the  enemy  in  the  back  or  on  the  flank; 
to  secure  the  gun  or  other  instrument  of  carnage  by  which 


his  forces  may  be  slaughtered  without  power  of  defence  on 
his  part;  often  to  destroy  his  property,  to  devastate  his  coun- 
try, and  by  every  evil  method  that  would  be  thought  dis- 
lionorable  and  fraudulent  in  commerce,  to  secure  the  ends 
that  are  sought  in  warfare?  I  challenge  any  one  to  deny  the 
validity  of  these  statements.  They  may  be  qualified,  they  may 
lie  palliated,  they  may  be  stated  in  less  offensive  words,  but 
in  their  general  terms  such  are  the  differences  in  precept  and 
practice  between  the  conduct  of  commerce  and  the  conduct 
of  war.  It  follows  that  to  deny  that  as  time  goes  on  the 
hell  of  war  will  be  suppressed  by  the  service  of  commerce 
is  to  deny  that  God  reigns. 

"Shall  this  thing  come  to  pass? 
Nay,  if  it  be — alas! 
A  vision,  let  us  sleep  and  dream  it  true! 
Or — sane  and  broad  awake, 
For  its  great  sound,  and  sake. 
Take  it,  and  make  it  Earth's  and  peace  ensue!" 

(Applause.) 

Hon.  Boies  Penrose: 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  We  are  gratified  to  have 
with  ns  to-day  a  citizen  of  the  great  Dominion  which  lies 
north  of  the  northern  border  of  the  United  States,  a  great, 
prosperous  people,  connected  by  association  and  by  blood  with 
the  citizens  of  this  Republic. 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Henry 
Miles,  delegate  from  the  Montreal  Board  of  Trade,  who  will 
read  a  paper  entitled  "Foreign  Trade." 

Foreign  Trade. 

Mr.  Henry  Miles: 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  the  honor  of  par- 
ticipating in  this  great  commercial  gathering  as  a  delegate 
from  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Monti-eal,  Canada.  Fir.st — I 
would  extend  to  this  meeting  hearty  greetings  from  the  busi- 
ness men  in  Canada  whom  I  am  here  to  represent,  and,  to 
the  Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  to 
whose  energy  and  untiring  effort  is  due  the  holding  of  this 
International  Commercial  Congress,  I  would  .tender  the 
warmest  and  best  wishes  for  success. 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  the  organizers — our  hosts  to-day 
— have  already  the  enjovment  of  the  first  two  essentials  mak- 
ing for  the  ultimate  success  of  their  great  project,  i.  e.,  in 
the  number  of  National  Governments  that  have  accepted  par- 
ticipation in  this  Congress,  in  the  number  of  acceptances  of 
invitation  by  commercial  bodies  in  various  countries,  and  in 
the  lai-ge  attendance  of  delegates  actually  present  to-day  in 
this  great  city  of  Philadelphia. 

The  ultimate  success  sought  is  in  the  direction  of  an  in- 
creased interchange  of  commerce  between  the  United  States 
of  America  and  the  other  nations  of  the  world.  For  each  coun- 
try contributing  to  this  issue,  there  exists  the  same  interest. 
The  interest  is  one  for  us  all  here,  and  in  speaking  of  the 
natural  products  or  of  the  manufactures  of  any  country  rep- 
resented upon  this  occasion — the  country's  delegate  will  be 
but  adding  information  or  data  upon  which  an  increased 
commercial  acti\ity  may  be  souglit.  Canada  has  many  nat- 
ural products  similar  to  those  of  the  United  States  and  with 
which  her  interest  may  stand  in  the  light  of  a  competitor — 
yet  the  position  is  not  invariably  such.  The  commerce  be- 
tween the  United  States  and  Canada  is  quite  important  not- 
vrithstanding  the  tariff  disabilities  existing  on  both  sides  of 
the  international  boimdary. 

These  tariff  obstacles,  and  in  fact,  I  believe  all  matters  that 
tend  towards  restricting  commerce  between  the  two  countries 


28 


P'ROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


or  Ihal.  oll'ur  at.  all  the  opportunity  for  inijiiiiKlerstandiny, 
arc,  at  tlii.s  present  time,  engaging  the  attention  of  the  re- 
spective governments,  and  it  is  the  earnest  hope  of  our  busi- 
ness community  that  a  fully  satisfactory  solution  of  every 
item  and  difficulty  may  be  spwdily  reached. 

As  a  Canadian  merchant,  I  can  tell  you  that  hope  is  cen- 
tered in  the  direction  of  an  increased  commerce  with  our 
great  and  near  neighbor.  Propitious  conditions  or  those 
tending  toward  the  fullest  realization  of  this  hope  are  un- 
fortunately in  a  measure  dependent  upon  the  respective  reve- 
nue requirements  of  the  two  countries,  and  with  Canada, 
at  any  rate,  a  proper  respect  and  consideration  for  vested 
interest  is  involved;  i.  e.,  the  capital  invested  in  the  manu- 
facturing industries  has  had  a  measure  of  tariff  protection 
for  many  years  past,  and  this  cannot  be  immediately  altered. 

It  is  the  view  of  competent  authority  that  a  desire  upon 
Ijoth  sides  to  meet  the  question  fairly  can  secure  a,  greatly 
increased  and  more  satisfactory  trade.  The  policy  of  the 
government  of  Canada  is  undoubtedly  to  foster  foreign  trade. 
I'rod action  for  export  has  been  greatly  encouraged,  and  no 
stone  has  been  left  uutunied  that  would  facilitate  or  cheapen 
transportation  and  favor  the  profita,ble  marketing  of  produce. 
'I'he  foreign  or  export  trade  is  deemed  in  Canada  an  all-im- 
portant factor  in  the  stability  of  our  national  life,  and  from 
a  commercial  point  of  view,  we  have  reached  the  platform 
of  success.  For  the  past  two  years  Canada's  exports  have 
lieen  greater  than  her  imports. 

Since  the  confederation  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada — for  a 
period  of  some  thirty-one  years — the  imports  have  exceeded 
the  exports  in  value  nearly  five  hundred  million  dollars. 
During  this  period  the  imports  exceeded  the  exports  one 
year  $52,000,000.  In  18G8  the  Canadian  exports  were  ex- 
ceeded by  imports  $20,000,000.  The  turn  in  the  tide  of  com- 
merce— the  index  of  prosperous  stability — that  which  has  so 
long  been  striven  for — has  come  to  us.  In  1897  Canada's 
total  exports  exceeded  her  imports  by  $18,731,6-10,  and  in 
1898  by  nearly  $34,000,000,  the  value  of  exports  in  1898 
was  $164,152,683,  the  volue  of  imports  $140,323,053— a  total 
trade  with  the  outside  world  of  $304,475,736. 

Canada  stands  in  the  position  of  selling  more  than  she 
buys.  The  returns  for  the  year  1899  will,  it  would  now  ap- 
pear, show  a  large  increase  in  the  figures  I  have  quoted  and 
a  continued  augmentation  in  export  trade. 

Canada's  trade  is  most  important  with  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States.  The  aggregate  trade,  import  and  export, 
in  value,  with  both  countries,  on  the  basis  of  goods  entered 
for  consumption  and  exported  for  the  past  five  years,  was  as 
follows: 

Great  Britain.  United  States. 

1894  .$107,256,123  $88,844,040 

1895 92,988,727  95,932,197 

1896 !t9.670,030  103,033,434 

1897 106,639,690  111,033,513 

1898 137,489,735  124,410,936 

In  1898  the  exports  to  Great  Britain  were  valued  at  $104,- 
988,818,  and  the  exports  to  the  United  States  at  $45,705,336, 
while  the  imports  entered  for  consumption  for  the  same  year 
were  as  follows: 

From  Great  Britain $32,500,917 

From  Ignited  States 78,705,590 

The  percentage  of  duty  collected  on  the  value  of  goods 
entered  for  consumption — dutiable  and  free — for  1898,  was 
16.95  per  cent,  and  the  customs  duty  collected  in  that  year 
represented  $4.22  per  head  of  population. 

Figures  such  as  I  have  presented  to  you  are  interesting  in 


connection  with  the  sub^' i-t  1  would  deal  with  and  are  es- 
pecially so  in  the  consideration  of  the  conunercial  position  and 
progress  of  Canada — a  colony  of  the  British  Empire  and  a 
comparatively  recent  participant  in  the  world's  trading.  Not 
long  ago  the  word  or  name  "colony"  indicated  usually  a 
far  off  part  or  territory  that  afforded  an  easy  market  to  the 
mother  country,  and  in  that  respect  alone  yielded  a  return  to 
the  parent  nation  through  her  mercantile  community  for  the 
expense  of  colonization  and  protection. 

Canada  has  passed  from  this  stage,  and  while  affording  a 
good  market  for  the  mother  country,  has  extensive  trading 
relations  with  many  of  the  manufacturing  or  producing  coun- 
tries of  the  world — a  buyer  in  the  open  markets  and  a  seller 
to  a  greater  extent  at  the  same  time.  My  object  now  is  to 
speak  of  the  products — natural  and  manufactured — of  Can- 
ada, to  refer  to  what  we  have  to  offer  for  sale  outside  of 
our  own  borders.  In  other  words,  and  to  state  as  briefly 
as  possible,  I  wish  to  expose  to  you  what  Canada's  contribu- 
tion can  be  towards  that  increased  interchange  of  commerce 
which  business  men  of  my  native  country  so  earnestly  desire. 
It  ma.y  not  be  out  of  place  to  state  here  that  Canadians  are  a 
free  people.  Our  form  of  government  is  by  the  popular  will, 
and  with  bright  and  intelligent  leaders,  the  people  govern 
themselves  well.  We  owe  allegience  to  our  great  and  good 
Queen  Victoria,  and  to  the  institutions  of  the  British  Empire 
we  bow.  Love,  pride  and  respect  are  the  links  in  the  chain 
of  our  happy  bondage. 

The  Parliament  of  Canada  enacts  the  laws  under  which 
we  live,  and  amongst  the  duties  of  this  body  one  is  to  define 
the  fiscal  policy  of  the  country.  The  Tariff  and  Customs 
Acts  deal  with,  especially,  the  import  trade — a  most  interest- 
ing feature  to  those  who  wotild  have  access  to  our  market 
and  to  the  trade  within  our  border.?. 

While  the  imperial  sanction  may  be  necessary  before  trea- 
ties can  be  entered  into  with  foreign  countries,  it  can  be  said 
that  our  own  tariff  is  an  ill-important  factor  and  rests  with- 
in the  power  of  Canada's  legislators.  Canada  at  present  gives 
a  certain  preference  in  her  tariff  upon  the  produce  or  manu- 
factures of  Great  Britain  with  some  exceptions,  and  also  has 
a  commercial  treaty  in  effect,  upon  some  specific  items,  with 
France. 

The  preferential  tariff  of  Canada  (35  per  cent,  reduction) 
is  applicable  to  other  countries  as  well  as  to  the  British 
Empire. 

The  benefit  of  this  rebate  has  not  so  far  been  claimed  by 
other  countries,  for  the  reason  that  in  every  direction  Canad.a 
is  met  with  tarift's  of  a  more  or  less  pTohibitory  character, 
and  in  no  direction  with  that  reasonable  treatment  that 
would  enable  our  Minister  of  Customs  to  consider  we  were 
getting  a  fair  return  advantage. 

It  is  for  you,  gentlemen,  to  remedy  this.  Great  Britain 
admits  the  products  of  her  colonies,  as  well  as  of  all  other 
nations,  free  of  duty. 

Let  us  see  in  what  measure  this  condition  can  be  met  by 
other  trading  nations.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  ask  the 
question,  "Why  should  Canada  extend  the  preferential  tariff 
to  countries  that  ta:x  heavily  or  prohibit  the  importation  of 
the  products  she  exports? 

After  Great  Britain  our  largest  business  is  with  the  United 
States,  and  we  import  more  heavily  from  that  country  than 
from  across  the  ocean. 

We  would  look  with  pleasure  ujuui  an  example  being  given 
by  the  United  States  in  this  matter.  It  is  worthy  of  consid- 
eration, and  woidd  ajipear  as  within  the  scope  of  the  aims  of 
this  Congress. 

I  commend  this  point  to  the  attention  especially  of  the 
delegates  who  represent  the  business  interests  of  this  great 
union.  With  the  United  States,  as  also  witli  ofher  nations 
and  States,  there  is  a  great  desire  upon  the  ]iarl   of  Canada 


THIRD  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  14,  1899 


29 


to  foster  and  increase  international  commerce,  and  it  is  for 
practical  business  men  to  encourage  and  pave  the  way 
towards  improving  or  amending  existing  conditions.  In 
opening  wider  our  market  to  foreign  competition,  we  look 
for  a  reasonable  return — an  advantage  in  one  form  or  other 
for  our  own  products  that  will  extend  and  increase  our  ex- 
port business. 

I  will  now  mention  the  principal  exports  of  Canada,  1898: 

Value. 
Animals — Cattle,  horses,  sheep,  swine,  poultry  $12,000,000 
Breadstuffs — Barley,    beans,    bucWheat,    corn, 

oats,  peas,  rye,  wheat. 
Grain    products — Bran,    oatmeal,    wheat    flour, 

malt  4(»,()ii(),0r)0 

Carriages,  carts,  bicycles,  etc 480,000 

Coal,  charcoal,  etc 3,469000 

Cordage,  twine,  rope,  etc 152,000 

Manufactures  of  cotton 578,000 

Drugs,  dyes  and  chemicals 575,000 

Fish  and  produce  of  fisheries 10,5().3,000 

Fruits,  apples,  etc 1,783,000 

(In  the  year  previous,  1897,  value  was  $3,161,000.) 

Furs  and  manufactures  of 1,924,000 

(In  1894  the  value  was  $2,850,000.) 

Hay 358,000 

(In  1894  the  value  was  $2,601,000.) 

Hides,  horns,  tails,  skins,  other  than  fur 1,082,000 

Hops 25,000 

Leather  and  manufactures  of 1.630,000 

Gold  and  silver 7.109,000 

Metals  and  minerals  and  maniifncturfs,  total...    13,246,000 

Musical  instruments    370,000 

Oil  cake  199,000 

Oils • 79,000 

Raw  pelts 39,000 

Provisions: 

Butter    $2,523,000 

Cheese   18,486,000 

Eggs 1,25.5,000 

Bacon  hams   8,046,000 

Canned  meat.^  255,000 

Other  meats  and  lard 609,000 

The  total  value. provision  exports, $31,174,000 

Seeds 532,000 

Ships   191,000 

Spirits  and  wines 289,000 

Stone  and  manufactures 370,000 

Sugar  and  molasses 144,000 

Tobacco  and  manufactures 197.000 

Vegetables,  potatoes,  etc 741,000 

Wood,  timber,  lumber,  deals,  etc.  and  manufac- 
tures of  29,363,000 

Wool  and  manufactures  of 243,000 

Coin  and  bullion 4,623,000 

Any  information  that  may  be  desired  in  respect  to  these 
lines  can  readily  be  obtained  by  addressing  the  Department 
of  Trade  and  Commerce  at  Ottawa,  the  capital  of  the  Do- 
minion. 

I  will  now  refer  in  detail  to  some  of  the  branches  of  Cana- 
dian export  trade: 

Paper  and  Pulp — The  paper  and  pulp  industry  is  making 
great  progress,  and  our  present  position  is  indicated  by  the 
following  facts:  Xumber  of  paper  mills  in  operation,  34;  num- 
ber of  chemical  pulp  mills,  12;  number  of  ground  pulp  mills, 
23.  These  mills  turn  out  64,000  tons  of  paper  per  year, 
35,000  tons  of  chemical  pulp  per  year,  125,000  tons  of  groimd 
pulp  per  year.  The  capital  em]iloyed  in  this  industry  is 
$9,000,000.     Three  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  people 


are  employed  and  $1,200,000  is  paid  in  wages  annually. 
There  are  at  present  mills  in  course  of  construction  that  will 
increase  the  figures  given  by  25  per  cent.,  and  it  may  be 
stated  that  the  supply  of  crude  material  is  practically  inex- 
haustible. 

Cotton  Industry  of  Canada. — Up  to  1874  there  was  very 
little  done  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton,  the  product  of  the 
mills  to  this  date,  consisted  mostly  of  gray  cloth,  ginghams, 
etc.  In  the  above  named  year  the  Montreal  Cotton  Co.  com- 
menced to  build  their  '  mill  at  Valleyfield,  to  make  white 
goods,  this  being  the  first  attempt  in  Canada  on  a  large  scale 
to  bleach  by  machinery.  This  has  become  one  of  the  best 
equipped  mills  on  the  continent,  and  produces  a  great  va- 
riety of  colored  goods,  employing  nearly  2,000  hands,  with 
an  annual  output  of  two  million  dollars.  The  Dominion 
Cotton  Co.  mills  at  Ilochelaga,  Magog  and  other  places,  ai'e 
a  credit  to  Canada.  The  colored  Cotton  Co.  mills  at  Corn- 
wall, St.  Croix,  etc.,  are  all  doing  a  good  business.  There 
are  in  Canada  22  cotton  mills,  containing,  say,  fifteen  thou- 
sand looms  and  eight  hundred  thousand  spindles  employing 
a  capital  of  twelve  million  dollars  and  producing  goods  of 
the  value  of  say  eight  million  dollars  per  annum. 

The  only  print  mill  in  the  country,  that  at  Magog,  on  the 
whole  has  been  a  success,  producing  goods  that  are  popular. 
The  diversity  of  cotton  fabrics  made  in  the  country,  has 
helped  to  keep  our  market  to  ourselves  and  also  to  export 
a  little  occasionally,  and  giving  employment  to,  say,  10,000 
people.  There  has  been  no  cotton  machinery  made  in  Can- 
ada to  the  present  except  by  a  Valleyfield  company,  which 
makes  the  Crompton  Draper  loom,  a  great  labor  saving  ma- 
chine. Business  at  present  is  good  and  all  our  mills  are 
running  to  their  full  capacity,  to  supply  our  own  market; 
we  find  it  difficult  to  export/when  we  find  it  hard  to  hold 
our  own  with  an  average  protection  of  at  least  30  per  cent, 
duty. 

Grain. — The  Province  of  Manitoba  produces  the  bulk  of 
the  wheat  grown  in  Canada,  this  year's  crop  for  export  being 
estimated  at  fifty  million  bushels.  A  large  proportion  of 
this  product  finds  its  market  in  Europe  via  the  St.  Lawrence 
route  or  the  Erie  Canal  route.  Ontario  produces  winter 
wheat,  but  being  a  thickly  populated  province,  the  bulk  of 
this  product  is  consumed  locally. 

The  Provinces  of  Ontario  and  Quebec,  are  both  large  pro- 
ducers of  oats,  peas  and  barley,  and  the  surplus  of  same  over 
consumption  is  exported  to  Europe.  A  superiority  is 
claimed  for  Canadian  cereals,  due,  the  producers  assert,  to 
the  climate  of  our  northern  country. 

None  of  these  agricultural  products  of  Canada  find  a  mar- 
ket in  the  United  States,  for  as  that  country  produces  the 
same  cereals  in  profusion,  it  is  a  natural  competitor  with  us 
in  the  export  to  foreign  markets. 

Live  Stock. — The  "live  stock"  trade  has  varied  greatly  in 
the  past  few  years.  The  variation  is  dependent  upon  the 
market  and  demand  abroad,  and  not  so  much  upon  the 
ability  of  Canada  to  supply.  Montreal — the  commercial 
metropolis  of  Canada — is  the  principal  shipping  point,  and 
the  following  statistics  of  that  port  from  1893,  and  covering 
a  portion  of  the  present  year  will  give  a  fair  index,  in  the 
numbers  of  heads  shipped,  of  the  character  of  that  trade. 

The  shipment  of  "live  stock"  from  the  port  of  Montreal 
since  1893  has  been  as  follows: 

Sheep.  Cattle.  Horses. 
During  season  of  navigation,  1893.       3,743     83,322     1,660 

1894.  139,780     86,635     5,623 

1895.  210,607     94.972  13,303 

1896.  76,520     98,507  10,421 

1897.  60,638  117,247  10,051 

1898.  34,991     99,189     5,827 
During  season  up  to  Sept.  30,  1899.     44,537     68,724     3,695 


30 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


irjgh. — The  fish  industry  of  Canada  is  a  very  important  one, 
affording  employment  to  a  large  section  of  the  population 
en  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  and  partial  sustenance  to 
a  siill  larger  uumlier  of  persons.  For  several  years  past  the 
average  cx]iort  value  has  heen  in  round  figures  ten  million 
dollari;  yearly. 

The  once  plentiful  sujjply  of  herring  and  mackerel  on  the 
.'\ilaiitie  Coast  of  the  Dominion  has  for  some  years  not  been 
forthcoming,  the  reason  given  for  this  fact  by  the  fishermen 
being  that  tliose  fish  luive  migrated  to  the  coast  of  the  Brit- 
isli  Isles. 

The  canning  of  salmon  and  Inbster  has  become  an  import- 
ant industry  in  British  Columbia  and  the  maritime  provinces 
respectively,  the  fonner  constituting  about  one-third  of  the 
value  of  the  total  expoi-ts,  canned  lobsters  about  one-fifth, 
dried  codfish  constituting  another  third. 

The  Egg  Trade. — This  trade  bids  fair  to  develop  far  and 
away  beyond  any  possible  calculation  based  upon  past  rec- 
ords. Until  comparatively  recently,  the  surplus  production 
was  shipped  to  the  Tlnited  States  market.  The  change  made 
a  few  years  ago  in  the  United  States  tariff  obliged  the  seek- 
ing of  a  more  profitable  outlet.  The  result  of  experiment 
has  opened  to  us  an  almost  unlimited  market  in  Great  Bri- 
tain. This  has  given  a  marvelous  impetus  and  production 
has  largely  increased.  Figures  obtained  from  reliable  sources 
expose  the  fact  that  the  importation  into  the  British  Isles 
amounts  in  value  to  nearly  $15,000,000  annually,  the  surplus 
coming  from  France,  Denmark,  Belgium  and  Russia. 

We  have  overcome  the  first  difficulty  met  with,  i.  e.,  the 
transportation  across  the  ocean  in  proper  condition.  To  suc- 
ceed in  competing  for  a  share  in  the  egg  trade  in  the  British 
market,  scrupidous  care  and  attention  is  necessary  to  many 
details.  The  farmer,  the  gatherer  and  the  storekeeper  and 
the  exporter  are  obliged  to  closely  co-operate  to  fulfill  all  the 
necessary  conditions.  Cold  storage  or  refrigerator  in  transit 
has  proven  rather  detrimental  than  othenvise — shippers  find- 
ing ventilation  and  care  all  around  preferable.  Provision  to 
this  end  is  now  sought  from  the  railway  and  steamship  lines, 
The  cities  of  the  United  States  would  seem  our  natural  mar- 
ket for  this  product,  but  the  tariff  in  force  practically  pro- 
hibits the  trade. 

The  Canadian  roultiy  Trade. — The  poultry  trade  of  Can- 
ada has  completely  changed  within  the  past  few  years,  the 
market  for  our  surplus  poultry  being  now  the  United  King- 
dom, instead  of  the  United  States  as  formerly.  The  prepar- 
ing of  poultry  for  the  English  market  has  developed  into  a 
science,  English  importers  having  been  sent  over  to  instruct 
our  people  as  to  the  best  mode  of  killing  and  dressing. 

The  raising  of  turkeys,  geese  and  chickens  has  grown  to 
large  dimensions  during  the  past  year  or  two,  and  this  year 
will  show  a  very  large  increase.  A  good  authority  on  this 
subject  estimates  tluif  about,  3,.')00,000  pounds  of  dressed 
poultry  will  be  shipped  to  (ireat  Britain  during  the  coming 
season,  against  about  2,300000  pounds  last  season.  The 
poultry  is  bought  alive  from  the  farmers  by  exporters  who 
kill  and  dress  for  the  Liverpool,  Manchester,  London,  Bristol 
and  other  markets,  instead  of  for  the  New  York  and  Boston 
markets  a.s  in  former  years.  'I'lie  change  is  all  ribulable  to 
an  adverse  alteration  of  the  liiited  States  larilV. 

Butter  and  Cheese. — The  high  esteem  in  which  Canadian 
daii-y  produce  is  hold  in  Croat  Britain  to-day  as  compared 
with  ten  to  fifteen  years  ago  is  most  marked.  Ndt.  more 
than  ten  years  ago  the  British  community  declined  to  enter- 
tain any  offers  of  Canadian  dairy  produce  unless  they  could 
procure  it  at  a  lower  price  than  United  States  produce. 

This  was  a  state  of  affairs  that  Canadians  felt  nuist  be 
rhanged,  and  as  soon  as  this  fact  was  realized  efforts  were 
made  at  once  to  improve  the  quality  and  to  see  if  something 


could  not  be  done  to  turn  out  an  article  superior  to  that  of 
our  competitors. 

As  a  result  of  these  efforts  the  position  has  been  com- 
pletely altered,  and  Canadian  dairy  produce  to-day  occupies 
the  same  position  to  Great  Britain  as  the  other  did  ten  years 
ago,  that  is,  Canadian  dairy  produce  commands  a  higher 
price  in  England  to-day  than  the  produce  of  those  who  com- 
pete with  us  in  this  branch. 

This  has  been  attained  by  placing  at  the  disposal  of  the 
factory  men  a  satisfactory  system  of  transportation,  and  by 
employing  competent  inspectors,  who  visit  each  factory  from 
time  to  time  and  keep  a  careful  oversight  as  to  quality. 

Products  of  the  Forest. — There  are  about  six  thousand 
saw  mills  in  Canada,  giving  employment  to  not  less  than  fif- 
teen thousand  men.  The  average  output  of  these  mills  is 
for  each  saj',  400,000  feet  per  season. 

The  output  from  the  100,000  square  miles  under  license  in 
the  various  provinces  is  2,500,000,000  feet  board  measure, 
and  in  addition  there  is  a  large  amount  taken  from  private 
lands. 

The  carrying  trade  and  commerce  is  largely  indebted  to  the 
forest,  more  tonnage  being  employed  on  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  canals  in  conveying  timber  and  lumber  to  market  than 
on  any  other  commodity. 

My  colleague,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ward,  will  likely  address  you 
at  a  later  session,  and  it  is  his  purpose  to  go  more  minutely 
into  this  subject. 

Canada  with  her  population  of  less  than  six  million  people 
has  now  in  operation  a  most  extensive  system  of  railways 
and  canals,  enaljling  the  carnage  to  her  ports  of  the  products 
and  manufactures  I  have  enumerated.  A  system  which,  con- 
sidering the  enormous  area  of  the  Dominion  and  the  com- 
parative smallness  of  the  population,  can  uiilaesitatingly  be 
spoken  of  as  marvelous. 

Nature  has  given  us  the  St.  Lawrence — the  greatest  nat- 
ural highway  in  the  universe — and  to  this  the  pluck  and 
enterprise  of  our  citizens  have  added  canals  to  overcome  the 
difiicultics  of  the  rapid  running  water  at  several  points,  facili- 
tating thereby  upward  navigation.  We  have  now  a  fourteen- 
foot  waterway  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  tide  waters  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  season  of  1900  will  witness  a  marked 
change  in  the  transportation  of  the  produce  of  the  West. 
The  St.  Lawrence  navigation  extends  from  the  Straits  of 
Belle  Lsle  to  Port  Arthur  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior — a 
distance  of  3,260  miles. 

The  canals  of  Canada  were  built  and  are  operated  by  the 
government,  and  the  cost  to  the  country  has  been  about 
eighty  million  dollars. 

The  railways  of  Canada  cover  18,000  miles.     The  capital  • 
invested  by  the  railway  companies  amounts  to  $981,000,000 
and  the  government  railways  cost  approximately  $00,000,000. 

I  mention  these  facts  seeldng  to  demonstrate  to  you  that 
the  Canadian  people  are  endowed  with  energy  aud  enter- 
[ulse,  and  that  they  have  unbounded  confidence  in  their  coun- 
try and  in  the  future. 

Natui-e  has  blessed  Canada  Tvith  boundless  resources.  In 
forest  and  mine,  in  the  waters  that  gird  her  shores,  and  in  the 
|u-(i(liirli\('iicss  nf  her  soil.  With  increasing  population  will 
ilu'se  gi'cat  l)]('s,'iings  we  possess  he  developed.  The  past,  and 
the  present  genei'ation  have  laid  a  foundation  of  which  we 
are  to-day  proud,  and,  in  realizing  the  first  fruits  in  our 
national  aim,  we  look  forward  ho])cfully  to  the  future  of  our 
country. 

We  join  in  the  hopes  and  desires  of  our  great  neighbor, 
for  greater  commercial  activity  within  and  without  the  bor- 
ders of  this  c(mtinent  of  which  we  are  proud  to  be  a 
jiart.  We  bail  lliis  opportunity  with  j)leasure,  indeed,  to 
meet  in  Congress  here  therepreseniatives  from'so  many  climes, 
those  who  carry  the  messages  of  commerce  from  far  and  near, 


THIRD  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  14,  1899 


31 


for  we  want  in  Canada  not  only  to  improve  and  increase  our 
commercial  relations  witli  the  United  States,  but  with  all 
nations  to  whom  we  can  offer  Canada's  products  and  to 
whom  we  can  offer  a  market. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  your  atten- 
tion, and  in  concludiug,  I  again  extend  the  best  wishes  of 
the  Montreal  Board  of  Trade  for  the  success  of  this  great 
undertaking. 

Hon.  Boies  Penrose: 

Gentlemen:  We  liave  a  representative  from  the  great  sec- 
tion of  Pennsylvania  to  which  I  referred  in  my  opening  re- 
marks— the  western  part  of  the  State — who  will  address  you 
upon  the  great  staple  product  of  that  section — the  iron  and 
steel  industry  of  Pennsylvania.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  in- 
troducing Mr.  J.  H.  Sternbergh. 

The  World  as  a  Market   for  American  Iron  and 

Steel. 

Mr.  J.  II.  Sleriihergh: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  not  surprising 
that  in  the  early  stages  of  the  development  of  the  industrial 
arts  in  this  country,  manufacturers  were  unable  to  make  goods 
in  competition  with  the  older  and  more  experienced  foreign 
makers.  In  most  lines  we  were  not  able  even  to  supply  our 
own  demand,  hence  the  importation  of  foreign  goods  to  meet 
the  demand  of  our  rapidly  increasing  population  has  been 
for  years  on  a  stupendous  scale.  But  years  have  come  and 
gone  and  our  young  men  have  been  in  school  and  college, 
and  have  picked  up  ideas  here  and  there,  and  we  have  at 
length  so  improved  the  quality  of  our  goods  and  increased 
the  product  of  our  machines,  as  to  be  able  not  only  to  supply 
the  domestic  demand  in  mosit  lines,  but  to  spare  a  surplus  for 
our  friends  across  the  seas.  Time  was  when  we  thought  we 
should  never  be  able  to  sell  bolts  and  nuts  in  China  and  Japan, 
or  to  ship  iron  and  machinery  to  England  and  Australia, 
but  this  is  now  no  new  experience  to  us. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  point  out  briefly  a  icw  reasons  why  we 
are  able  to  ship  to  other  countries: 

Men. — In  Europe  there  are  eighteen  or  twenty  millions  of 
men  trained  in  the  arts  of  war,  a  large  part  of  whom  are 
withdrawn  from  agriculture,  manufactures,  trade  and  com- 
merce to  be  ever  ready  for  the  defence  of  their  country. 
These  men  are  in  the  prime  of  manhod,  the  best  of  their 
class;  as  a  consequence,  to  a  largo  extent,  women  and  boys 
are  obliged  to  take  their  places  in  the  fields  and  in  the  fac- 
tories. In  America,  our  eighteen  to  twenty  millions  of  men 
are  trained  in  our  colleges  and  schools  of  learning  in  the  arts 
of  peace,  while  but  a  few  thousand  only  are  educated  as  sol- 
diers. Rarely  are  women  employed  in  our  harvest  fields,  and 
but  few  boys  under  sixteen  years  of  age  are  employed  in  our 
factories.  Women  and  boys  are  ill  adapted  to  devise  and 
promote  improvements  either  in  methods  of  agriculture,  or 
to  invent  machinery  for  use  in  the  mechanic  arts.  Here  in 
America  our  intelligent  men  are  the  cultivators  of  the  soil 
and  the  inventors  of  our  improved  agricultural  implements — 
the  plow,  the  reaping  and  mowing  machine,  the  cotton  gin 
and  the  cotton  press  and  many  others;  and  men,  rather  than 
women,  are  principally  employed  in  our  factories  and  work- 
shops. Naturally  under  these  conditions  more  numerous  and 
more  useful  inventions  and  improvements  in  the  mechanical 
and  industrial  arts  are  made  in  this  country  than  in  Europe. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  cheap  labor,  nor  inded  of  fertile  soils 
and  congenial  climates,  but  it  is  rather  a  question  of  intelli- 
gent men,  capal)le  of  adopting  improved  methods  and  in- 
venting and  using  the  most  efficient  machinery  for  the  pur- 
pose intended.     The  Western  farmer  equipped  with  Ameri- 


can agricultural  implements  can  raise  and  market  wheat  at 
fifty  cents  a  bushel  and  corn  at  fifteen  cents  a  bushel,  while 
in  Europe,  the  same  crops  could  not  be  placed  on  the  market 
for  less  than  double  this  sum;  hence  our  happy  isolation  from 
contentions  and  warlike  neighbors  enables  us  to  employ  to 
the  gi'eatest  advantage  our  best  men,  in  the  prime  of  vigorous 
manhood,  in  the  development  of  the  industrial  arts  and  of 
commerce. 

Materials  and  Methods. — Scarcely  less  important  is  our 
wealth  of  natural  resources;  the  extent  and  fertility  of  our 
soil;  the  enormous  value  and  variety  of  our  crops;  the  pro- 
duct of  our  forests  and  mines,  and  the  production  of  the 
precious  metals  of  all  the  countries  under  the  sun.  Great 
Britain  until  recently,  has  led  the  race  in  the  production  of 
pig  iron,  but  the  United  States  has  lately  caught  up  with  her, 
and  now  holds  this  coveted  position  herself;  and  neither 
Great  Britain  nor  any  other  country  will' ever  wrest  it  from 
us.  Twenty-five  years  ago  we  produced  less  than  two  million 
tons  of  pig  iron  per  year.  This  year  we  shall  produce  thir- 
teen million  tons,  far  outstripping  the  production  of  Great 
Britain;  and  the  first  year  of  the  twentieth  century  we  shall 
probably  produce  fifteen  million  tons;  and  no  doubt  in  1910, 
if  nothing  in  the  meantime  checks  our  onward  progress,  we 
shall  produce  twenty-five  million  tons  of  pig  iron;  while  Great 
Britain  will  jirobably  not  be  able  to  produce  half  this  amount. 
England  mines  deep  for  her  ores  and  coal,  and  supplements 
the  scant  supply  with  importations  of  ore  from  other  coun- 
tries, while  in  this  country  the  richest  and  most  extensive 
ore  deposits  known  in  the  world  lie  near  the  surface,  in 
close  proximity  to  supplies  of  fuel  and  limestone.  For  three 
cents  per  ton  the  ore  is  loaded  by  machinery  on  cars  carry- 
ing fifty  tons  each  (a  sample  car  of  which  you  may  see  in  the 
transportation  building),  moved  to  the  furnace  over  a  line  of 
road  laid  with  steel  rails  weighing  one  hundred  pounds  to 
the  yard,  dumped  into  small  cars  that  elevate  the  ore  and 
distribute  it  by  automatic  machinery  over  the  surface  of  the 
roasting  ovens,  where  the  excess  of  sulphur  is  driven  off  under 
a  heat  of  about  fifteen  hundred  degrees  Fahrenheit;  thence 
elevated  automatically  and  dumped  into  the  top  of  the  blast 
furnace  where  two-thirds  as  much  coke  and  one-third  as 
much  limestone  are  also  dumped,  and  smelted  l)y  the  aid 
of  coke  and  an  air  blast  heated  to  fifteen  hundred  degrees, 
blown  into  the  furnace  under  a  pressure  of  eighteen  or 
twenty  pounds  per  square  inch,  and  the  molten  iron  drawn 
off  five  times  every  twenty-four  hours  into  large  ladles  sup- 
ported on  tracks  and  carried  a  short  distance  and  poured  into 
small  moulds,  each  of  siiitable  size  for  the  pigs  of  metal, 
wliich  moulds  with  tbeir  contents  are  carried  by  an  endless 
chain  and  drawn  through  a  tank  of  running  water  in  order 
to  cool  the  metal,  and  then  dumped  into  a  car,  weighed  au- 
tomaticnlly  and  sliipped  to  the  purchaser!  All  of  these  opera- 
tions from  first  to  last  are  perfonned  by  mechanical  methods 
without  human  hands  touching  the  material!  Formerly 
.scores  of  men  were  employed  about  such  a  furnace;  now  only 
here  and  there  a  man  is  to  be  seen.  Over  seven  hundred 
tons  of  pig  metal  are  turned  out  by  one  of  these  modern 
furnaces  every  twenty-four  hours,  week-days,  Sundays,  holi- 
days and  all — a  real  godsend  to  a  railroad  having  such  a  fur- 
nace on  its  line;  for  beside  the  one  thousand  tons  or  so  of 
iron  ore,  there  is  to  be  carried  and  delivered  to  the  furnace 
a  thousand  more  tons  of  coke  and  limestone,  and  then  the 
product,  seven  hundred  tons  of  pig  metal,  is  to  be  carried  to 
market.  In  all  twenty-seven  hundred  tons  or  more  are  trans- 
]iorted  every  twenty-four  hours!  Little  wonder  that  this 
country  has  at  length  been  able  to  ship  pig  iron  and  mer- 
chant bars  to  mother  England;  locomotives  to  China  and 
Japan;  steel  bridges  to  India  and  Egj'pt;  and  hardware  ar- 
ticles and  machinery  of  all  sorts  to  all  of  the  distant  corners 
of  the  earth.     Since  last  December  the  intense  activity  in 


32 


PKOOEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEKNATIUNAL  t'OMMEKCIAL  GONURESS 


all  departments  of  trade  and  commerce  has  led  to  an  ex- 
cessive domestic  demand  for  all  kinds  of  goods,  which  has 
checked  for  a  time  this  export  business;  but  normal  condi- 
liciis  are  bound  soon  to  resume  sway,  and  neither  broad  seas 
nor  far  distant  shores  can  prevent  us  from  resuming  on  a 
larger  scale  a  business  that  has  afforded  so  great  satisfaction 
in  the  beginning.  Nor  is  the  fact  that  we  pay  higher  wages 
in  this  country  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world,  a  bar  to 
our  ability  to  renew  the  export  of  our  manufactured  products. 
The  greater  productive  capacity  of  our  artisans,  the  lower 
cost  of  i'ood  and  especially  our  improved  methods  and  ma- 
chinery, more  than  offset  our  higlier  rate  of  wages. 

Markets. — Notwithstanding  these  advantages,  it  is  a  fact 
that  but  a  small  percentage  of  our  manufactured  products 
has  thus  far  found  its  way  to  foreign  markets.  This  is  owing 
to  our  lack  of  commercial  agencies  abroad  and  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  precise  kind  of  goods  wanted.  The  intel- 
ligent and  aggressive  English  and  German  manufacturer  has 
long  since  been  there  ahead  of  us.  He  has  cstablislicd  agen- 
cies and  sent  out  his  cousins  and  his  nephews  to  show  goods 
and  solicit  business.  He  has  learned  what  quality  and  style 
of  goods  are  wanted,  how  to  pack  and  how  to  ship,  and  is 
willing  to  wait  nine  months  or  a  year  for  his  pay.  He  has 
established  financial  institutions  and  laid  deep  and  strong  the 
fotmdations  of  permanent  trade  relations.  For  Americans 
to  crowd  in  alongside  of  our  enterprising  Englisli  and  Ger- 
man competitors  means  war — commercial  war — not  in  a 
liostile  spirit,  nor  even  an  envious  or  jealous  spirit,  but  in 
friendly  competition  and  open  rivalry,  relying  for  success  on 
the  quality  and  price  of  our  goods  and  upon  our  clean, 
straightforward  ways  of  doing  business.  But  we  shall  get 
there;  and  we  shall  stay,  because  we  have  got  the  men  and 
the  materials  and  the  machinery  and  the  methods  of  manu- 
facture, and  these  are  bound  ultimately  to  win  for  us  the 
markets.  Indeed,  so  lofty  is  our  ambition,  that  if  we  could 
only  find  means  of  transportation,  we  should  not  be  unwilling 
to  ship  our  goods  to  those  bright  orbs  that  so  long  have 
cheered  our  nightly  labors.  Mars  and  Venus,  Jupiter  and 
Saturn! 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  believed  in  a  protective  policy  for 
this  country.  As  long  as  we  were  more  or  less  dependent, 
and  making  an  effort  to  supply  our  own  demand,  I  have 
thought  it  not  unreasonable  that  we  should  build  up  a  wall 
and  keep  foreign  goods  out,  at  least  such  as  if  admitted  free 
would  work  a  hindrance  to  our  own  development.  But  now 
that  we  have  grown  more  strong  and  lusty  and  are  able  to 
compete  with  foreign  makers  in  many  lines,  it  seems  to  me 
we  ought  to  take  off  some  of  the  stones  from  this  wall  and 
allow  a  freer  trade,  at  least  to  give  as  much  to  other  nations 
as  we  ask  from  them,  and  treat  them  in  this  respect  as  we 
would  like  to  be  treated  by  them;  hence  a  freer,  more  liberal 
and  fairer  trade  with  all  tlie  nations  of  the  earth.  Such 
friendly  competition  would  tend  to  increase  mutual  respect 
and  confidence,  add  dignity  1o  our  national  character,  and 
promote  and  strengthen  tlie  bonds  dI  jieace  and  fraternity. 


The  Amebican  Coffee  Market. 

Mr.  A.  M.  Woolson: 

The  American  coffee  market  is  without  doubt  the  best 
market  in  the  world,  for  the  reason  that  we  drink  more  coffee 
than  any  other  country. 

By  reference  to  the  United  States  Government  statistical 
abstract,  published  this  year,  it  will  be  seen  that  we  imported 
the  year  ending  June  30,  1898,  0,451,000  bags  of  coffee  or 
870,514,455  pounds,  amounting  to  $65,067,631,  at  an  aver- 
age cost  of  7  4-10  cents  per  pound,  an  estimated  consumption 
per  capita  of  11  45-100  poimds.  These  figures  show  that  we 
consume  nearly  as  much  coffee  as  do  Germany,  France, 
Austria,  Belgium,  Holland,  Eussia,  England  and  all  other 
countries  combined.  It  can  be  safely  claimed  that  the  Amer- 
ican coffee  market  is  the  most  important.  It  is  presumed 
that  the  foreign  delegates  would  like  to  know  how  the  mer- 
chants of  America  market  so  much  coffee.  In  this  connec- 
tion, I  will  state  that  previous  to  1860  every  retail  merchant 
bought  his  coft'ee  green,  and  householders  generally  did  the 
roasting  at  home;  but  the  inventive  genius  and  skill  of  the 
American  mechanic  improved  upon  the  antiquated  methods 
of  roasting  to  the  manifest  advantage  of  consumers,  and  the 
appreciation  of  these  benefits  resulted  in  building  up  several 
large  roasting  establishments.  People  rapidly  became  edu- 
cated to  buy  roasted  coffee  instead  of  green,  for  it  is  natural 
for  the  American  people  to  shift  all  such  responsibilities  as 
roasting  coffee. 

The  industry  has  grown  to  such  an  extent  that  at  the  pres- 
ent time  ninety  per  cent,  of  all  the  coffee  imported  into  this 
country  is  sold  by  the  merchants  to  the  consumer  after  being 
roasted. 

The  marketing  of  roasted  coffee  in  this  manner  proves  to 
be  a  great  saving  to  the  consumer,  for  it  is  roasted  by  men 
skilled  in  the  business,  thoroughly  equipped  with  all  the 
neces.sary  machinery  and  facilities  for  conducting  the  pro- 
cess, which  gives  a  more  desirable  and  uniform  product.  A 
few  places  in  southern  parts  of  the  United  States  appear  to 
cling  most  tenaciously  to  the  direct  consumption  of  green 
coffee,  but  through  the  North,  East  and  West,  the  roasted 
article  virtually  monopolizes  the  field. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  so  much  of  the  coffee  imported  is 
so  impregnated  with  small  stones,  as  we  term  them,  Bra- 
zilian diamonds;  it  forces  the  roaster  to  separate  by  machin- 
ery these  foreign  substances  from  the  coffee.  The  average  is 
nearly  one  pound  of  stones  to  the  bag.  The  grower  who 
sends  us  the  cleanest  coffee  is  rewarded  by  having  his  coffee 
graded  higher,  consequently  a  better  price  is  commanded. 
We  have  used  hundreds  of  tons  of  these  stones  taken  from 
coffee  in  paving  the  walks  and  drives  about  our  homes.  Un- 
doubtedly many  growers  believe  that  they  receive  more  for 
their  coffee  in  the  aggregate  by  working  in  as  many  stones  as 
possible,  hut  in  this  they  are  in  error,  for  the  green  coffee  is 
all  graded  by  experts,  who  grade  stone  coffee  lower  than  they 
do  coffee  free  from  stones. 


lion.  Boies  Penrose: 

Tlie  Chairman  has  been  informed  that  Mr.  A.  M.  Woolson, 
of  Ohio,  who  was  to  have  delivered  an  address  here  tliis 
morning,  has  been  compelled  to  leave  Philaileljihia  on  ac- 
count of  sickness  in  his  family.  He  has  sent  a  paper  here 
which  I  will  ask  Professor  Wilson  to  read  by  title. 

Director  W.  1'.  Wihoii  : 

The  title  of  Mr.  Woolson's  paper  is,  "The  American  ColTee 
Mai'ket." 


Hon.  Boies  Penrose: 

I  will  now  call  on  the  gentleman  from  the  southern  section 
of  the  United  States,  from  the  great  State  of  North  Carolina, 
who  will  speak  to  you  upon  the  staple  products  of  our  south- 
ern-country— the  cotton  industry — and  before  I  introduce 
him  I  will  simply  state  one  fact  that  was  recently  called  to 
my  attention  by  the  Ti'oasury  Department  of  the  United 
States,  that  for  the  manufacture  of  this  single  product  during 
tlie  first  five  months  of  the  current  year  one  million  spindles 
have  been  em]iIoyed  and  the  enormous  sum  of  seventeen  mil- 
lion dollars  ($17,000,000)  has  been  added  to  the  mills  and 
factories  and  investments  already  made  there. 


D.   M.   PARRY, 

Indiana. 

JOHN    B.  JOHNSTON, 

Minnesota. 

EDMUND  SEYMOUR, 
Washington. 


HENRY   C.  STAVER, 
Illinois. 

CHARLES   R.   FLINT, 
N  Ew  York. 


W.  H.  HAILE, 
Massachusetts. 

COL.  JAMES    KILBOURNE, 
Ohio. 

HUGH    CRAIG, 
California. 


IVERSITY 


THIRD  DAY'S  SESSION,  UCTUiJKK  U,  1899 


83 


I  take  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  D.  A.  Tompkins, 
of  Charlotte.  North  Carolina. 

Mr.  D.  A.  TompMns: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen    of    the  Commercial  Con- 
gress.— I  know  of  nothing  except  the  Christian  religion  that 
can  be  compared  with  the  influence  of  a  free  social  and  com- 
mercial intercourse,  for  the  softening  of  asperities  and  remov- 
ing of  prejudices  and  extending  knowledge  and  promoting 
human  happiness.    This  sentiment  was  uttered  by  Mr.  Robert 
Aimes  more  than  fifty  years  ag-o,  in  speaking  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  constructing  a  railway  from  Charleston,  S.  C,  to  Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio.     It  seems  to  be  a  peculiar  and  appropriate 
sentiment  pn  this  occasion  when  the  people  from  all  parts  of 
the  world  have  assembled  here  for  the  purpo.se  of  encour- 
aging commercial  intercourse,  and  for  the  extension  of  knowl- 
edge and  promotion  of  human  happiness.     Although  myself 
born  in  South  Carolina  and  now  a  resident  of  North  Carolina, 
I  am  by  education  and  training  a  Pennsylvania  mechanic, 
and  I  have  a  peculiar  interest  in  hearing  the  Chairman  of 
this  Convention  tell  you  of  the  development  of  the  houses 
of  the  working  people  in  this  city  and  in  this  State,  and  of 
the  extent  to  which  the  condition  of  the  workingman  has 
been  improved  and  the  extent  to  which  the  homes  have  been 
improved.    I  myself  own  one  of  those  houses,  bought  while  I 
was  working  as  a  machinist  for  the  Bethlehem  Iron  Com- 
pany and  i)aid  for  with  machinist's  wages.     I  can  testify  to 
the  fact  tliat  here  in  Philadelphia  the  condition  of  the  me- 
chanic who  makes  the  best  goods  in  the  world  has  lieen  most 
extensively  promoted,  and  that  his  home  is  the  best  home  of 
the  workingman  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  the  world.     It  is 
very  gratifying  to  me  to  hear  the  expression  of  good-will 
from  the  people  who  have  come  here  to  take  part  in  these 
exercises.     I  have  just  been  to  Montreal,  the  home  of  the 
gentleman  who  has  spoken  as  the  representative  of  the  Mont- 
real Board  of  Trade,  and  I  can  testify  to  his  statement  that 
the  people  there  are  active  and  energetic,  and  that  they 
are    doing    a    great    many    important    things.       On    that 
trip  I  gained  a  great  deal  of  knowledge  and  lost  some  con- 
ceit, for  I  found  there  were  other  people  who  could  do  things, 
even  to  spinning  of  cotton,  as  well  as  we  can  do  it  in  North 
Carolina.     The  conditions  which  surround  the  commerce  of 
states  and  nations  are  constantly  changing.    The  best  develop- 
ment of  commerce  can  only  be  made  by  studying  the  chang- 
ing conditions  and  readapting  the  course  of  trade  to  those 
changed  conditions.     Less  than  forty  years  ago  the  section 
from  which  I  come  made  raw  cotton  and  exported  it,  and 
there  was  very  little  there  otherwise  to  interest  a  foreign 
merchant.     Within  that  forty  years  the  whole  condition  has 
changed,  and  that  is  not  the  only  change  that  has  taken  place 
in  the  cotton  region  of  the  United  States.    In  the  early  days 
of  the  Republic,  the  South  was  purely  an  agricultural  country 
with  more  or  less  diversified  products.    As  time  went  on  she 
developed  a  large  manufacturing  interest  under  the  protec- 
tive policy  established  by  Washington  a.nd  Hamilton,  advo- 
cated later  by  Clay,  Webster  and  Calhoun,  and,  as  late  as 
1810,  the  manufactured  ]n>oducts  of  Virginia  and  the  Caro- 
linas  and  Georgia  exceeded  in  quantity  and  value  that  of 
the  whole  of  the  New  England  States  put  together.     I  state 
this,  not  for  the  purpose   of  any  invidious  comparison   or 
boasting  of  what  was  there  at  that  time,  but  to  exhibit  the 
changes  of  enormous  significance  that  can  come  about  in  a 
very  short  time,  and  that  they  did  come  about  in  the  South  in 
the  early  days.    I  will  also  show  you  other  changes  that  have 
taken  place  which  it  would  be  valuable  for  the  commercial 
world  to  know  about.     At  a  later  period,  the  institution  of 
slavery  was  developed.     The  production  of  cotton  with  slave 
lalior  became  more  profitable  tlian  any  other  occupation.    And 
fis  slavery  developed  the  manufacturing  interests  dried  up 


until  there  was  scarcely  anything  left — as  late  as  1850  or 
1860.  Then  there  came  still  another  period  following  quickly 
on  the  abolition  of  slavery,  in  which  the  people  took  up  man- 
ufactures as  their  grandfathers  had  done  before  them,  and 
in  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  developments  of  the 
cotton  manufacturing  business  has  gone  so  far  in  the  South 
that  she  makes  the  price  that  the  world  pays  for  cotton  goods. 
It  is  being  developed  on  the  export  basis  and  with  a  rapidity 
that  cannot  but  be  surprising  to  anybody  who  looks  into  the 
figures;  it  becomes  clear  that  in  the  very  near  future  the 
merchants  of  the  whole  world  will  have  to  look  to  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  United  States  for  the  manufactured  cotton 
goods  in  coarse  numbers.  It  is  there  also  that  the  manu- 
facture of  pig  iron  was  put  upon  an  export  basis  in  the  same 
quarter  of  a  century  succeeding  the  Civil  War  and  the  aboli- 
tion of  slavery,  these  two  things  being  practically  together. 
It  is  there  that  out  of  a  material  which  in  the  days  of  slavery 
was  practically  worthless — cotton  seed — there  has  be€n  de- 
veloped an  industry  out  of  which  we  get  products  worth  one 
hundred  million  dollars.  It  is  there  that  the  business  of 
lumber  and  woodwork  is  being  done  upon  an  export  basis.  It 
would  seem  to  me  as  if  the  development,  both  in  the  produc- 
tion of  cotton  and  its  manufacture,  were  scarcely  more  than 
well  begun  in  that  region.  We  are  now  making  between  ten 
and  twelve  million  bales  of  cotton  a  year,  and  yet  I  believe 
that  within  the  next  fifteen  years  we  will  produce  fifteen 
million  bales  of  cotton.  In  that  same  time  the  present  manu- 
facturing capacity  of  the  southern  mills  will  probalily  be 
doubled,  if  our  government  takes  those  steps  which  will  pro- 
mote and  increase  our  export  trade,  upon  which  the  manu- 
facture of  cotton  in  the  South  is  practically  entirely  depen- 
dent. 

In  entering  into  trade  relations  with  other  people — foreign 
people  I  mean — it  would  be  the  consummation  of  folly  to  at- 
tempt it,  except  upon  the  plan  of  reciprocity  and  mutual 
advantage.  We  are  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  no  trade  can 
be  permanent  which  is  to  our  advantage  alone,  and  in  the 
development  of  the  cotton  manufacturing  business  in  the 
South  we  are  at  all  times  making  every  exertion  toward  put- 
ting it  on  the  basis  where  it  will  be  profitable  for  the  people  of 
the  world  to  come  to  us  for  our  cotton  goods.  So  far  we  have 
been  peculiarlv  successful. 

I  very  much  favor  some  measure  that  will  facilitate  their 
business  in  cotton  goods,  or  any  other  manufactures  of  the 
United  States,  with  foreign  people.  (Applause.)  I  wish  to 
see  the  Nicaragua,  or  some  other  Isthmian  Canal,  constructed. 
I  wish  to  see  any  measure  taken  by  this  government  which 
will  increase  and  promote  the  interests  of  our  merchant 
marine,  in  order  that  we  may  have  shipping  facilities  with  ' 
other  countries  with  which  we  may  do  a  profitable  trade  to 
our  advantage  and  theirs.  In  every  other  way  that  we  can 
create  facilities,  I  desire  it  shall  be  done,  and  that  the  gov- 
ernment shall  invite  the  co-operation  of  other  nations  in 
bringing  about  the  necessary  facilities  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  trade  between  this  and  other  countries. 

]\Ir.  Chairman,  I  thank  you  for  the  invitation  to  speak, 
and  I  thank  the  audience  for  the  attention  they  have  given 
me.     (Applause.) 

Ron.  Boies  Penrose: 

We  have  with  us  a  representative  or  delegate  from  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  who  will  very 
briefly  address  you.  I  will  ask  you  to  hear  him — Mr.  Leo 
Vossen. 

Mr.  Leo  Vossen: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
As  I  mil  not  n  native  of  England,  but  n  German,  of  course  I 


31 


PEOCEEDIXCIS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


c-minol  sjiciik  a<  gond  I'^nglisli  ;is  I  should,  and  I  must  ask 
your  kind  iiidtilgi'iK'e  if  I  sliould  lose  my  reins  sometimes, 
"but  against  that  I  will  he  as  short  as  possible,  and  in  the 
meantime  only  give  you  an  extract  of  what  I  have  to  say. 

First  of  all,  1  have  the  ])leasure  and  iionor  to  present  to 
this  Congress  the  greetings  and  most  liearty  salutations  of 
the  Aix-la-Chapelle  Clianibi'r  of  Commerce,  and  it  is  the 
desire  of  our  ( 'handier,  as  1  dare  say  also  is  the  present  feel- 
ing of  all  tlie  industrial  bidies  of  Germany,  that  this  ('on- 
gress  will  in  its  result  stimulate  the  industrs^  of  American 
people,  and  then  we  will  progress  more  and  more,  and  always 
get  a  larger  development. 

Let  me  say  one  word  about  the  feeling  in  Germany  towards 
our  cousins  in  America.  Dr.  Vosherg  yesterday,  in  his  Ger- 
man si)ee<-h,  mentioned  this  question,  and  lie  asserts  that  in 
(iermany  everyhody  will  be  glad  to  shake  hands  with  every 
American,  except  perha])s  the  chief  appraiser.  I  go  further, 
and  1  hope  and  I  lielicve  that  we  will  very  soon  be  able  most 
heartily  to  shake  hands  even  with  your  chief  appraiser. 

Wliat  makes  me  think  so  is  wdiat  Mr.  Sternl)ergh  has  said, 
which  you  confirm  when  you  applaud,  and  that  is  the  inten- 
tion to  take  by  and  by  a  few  stones  out  of  the  wall  which  is 
around  you  and  combine  in  a  general  free  trade.  (Applause.) 
(ientlemen,  wo  in  (4ermany  want  your  goods.  We  want  your 
wheat  and  we  want  your  meat:  we  like  your  fruits:  we  like 
your  a])ples,  and.  liy  and  by,  we  will  begin  to  like  your  ('ali- 
I'ornia  wines,  and  wine  is  a  very  good  thing  to  join  the  na- 
ti(ms.  You  take  our  wine  and  we  will  take  your  wine,  (ien- 
tlemen,  now,  you  all  know  very  well  that  trade  is  not  done 
l)y  feeling,  hut  by  intercourse.  Well,  I  might  say,  that  the 
impressions  that  I  will  take  with  me  from  this  C'ongress,  are 
in  effect  that  by  and  hy  it  will  lead  to  the  feeling  that  on 
both  sides  reciprocity  is  necessary.  We  in  Germany  can, 
of  course,  not  yet  expect  that  against  the  csta1)lished  inter- 
ests of  the  United  States  you  should  now  l)egin  to  take  down 
those  stones  out  of  your  ])rotective  wall,  but  I  think  that  the 
time  will  come,  and  quicker  than  we  have  hitherto  believed. 
We  all  in  Europe  sympathize  with  the  principles  of  free  trade 
with  America  and  when  that  time  comes,  of  course,  then  we 
will  be  all  right. 

I  will  refer,  with  your  permission,  to  some  words  which  yes- 
Ii  I'llay  Mr.  Stone,  Tlis  Excellency,  the  (Jovernor  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, said  about  labor.  J  shoidd  like  him  very  much  to 
come  over  lo  (iermany,  and  all  of  you  gentlemen  wdio  have 
not  been  I  here,  to  see  that  just  as  wages  are  decreasing 
bere  in  .\nieric-a,  they  are  increasing  in  (Germany.  If  we 
take  into  consideration  tliat  besides  flic  laboi'  we  also 
havi'  to  pay  very  heavy  t.ixes  to  our  govei'iinient  in  (U'der  to 
enable  it  to  satisfy  the  laws  ])rotecting  labor,  which  arc  always 
extended  in  (Jermany,  as  a  ri\\i\  not  madi'  by  the  ininnfar- 
turers  in  onr  Parlianu'Ut,  bnl  by  physicians  and  phi!  i~o- 
])liers  and  ])eople  not  being  practical  men,  but  good  fellows, 
all  of  them — well,  I  thiid<  that  by  and  by  you  will  find  that 
your  wages  and  our  wages  will  come  to  a  level.  Wtu  ninsl 
not  forget  that  food  is  more  expensive  in  (jcimanv  than  it 
is  bcfi',  and  that  willi  tlie  same  money  y  m  can  get  mucli 
nunc  Tor  ycmr  li\in'_;'  hei'e  than  in  Gei'many,  and  thai  ibis 
will  make  the  Icvcd  come  nincli  ipiickei'  than  \\r  belie\cil 
until   now. 

(ientlemen.  let  me  now  express  tlie  ihsirc  of  the  town  of 
.\ix-la-('haiiclle.  It  is  that  until  this  wall  can  be  abolished 
there  will  be  facilities  granted  in  so  far  that  when  a  German 
manufacturer  has  declared  his  goods  for  ex|)ort  at  the  ofiice 
I  f  the  .Xnierican  consular-:)nicer,  the  latter  will  legalix.i>  his 
export  [)apers,  showing  that  what  he  says  is  true  and  that  it 


should  not  be  disapproved  by  the  appraiser  here.  (Jentle- 
meu,  when  that  general  hope,  which  I  express  here,  will  be 
once  aecomj)lished — and  I  hope  that  I  shall  still  be  living 
when  it  will  be  aecomplislied — there  will  be  no  boundary  be- 
tween America  and  Germany,  and  I  hope  not  between  Amer- 
ica and  Europe,  and  we  all  will  be  able  to  work  together  for 
the  benefit  of  the  whole  world  and  come  to  the  fulfillment 
of  those  excellent  words  which  yesterday  the  honorable  chair- 
man pronounced  when  he  began  to  speak,  that  we  are  all 
children  of  one  (Jod  and  made  out  of  the  saiue  blood  and 
that  we  must  assist  each  other.    (Applause.) 

I  am  sorry  that  my  colleague.  Director  (jeneral  Schroeder, 
of  Aix-la-Chapi'llr.  was  unfortunately  obliged  to  leave  the 
city  yesterday,  but  1  can  state  that  his  views  coincide  with 
those  exjjressed  by  me  here. 

Hon.  Bdirs  I'eiinise: 

1  now  will  ask  Professor  Wilson  to  make  a  few  anuDunce- 
ments  for  the  information  of  the  delegates. 

JUrrrliir  W.  F.  Wilsa?i: 

1  would  state  first  that  the  meeting  of  this  Congress  will 
convene  on  Monday  at  the  Philadelphia  Ciunmercial  Museum, 
233  South  Fourth  street. 

Further,  this  evening  there  will  be  held  what  in  America 
we  sometimes  call  a  "smoker,"'  on  this  fioor,  in  the  rooms 
just  at  tlie  left.  The  foreign  delegates  and  visitors,  and  the 
delegates  from  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  the  Ignited 
States  are  all  invited  and  urged  to  bo  present.  We  have  in- 
vited the  exhiliitors,  those  who  are  manufacturers  and  have 
exhibits,  to  meet  you  on  this  occasion. 

In  the  notice  given  out  for  the  excursion  on  the  river  this 
afternoon,  there  are  the  words,  "Credential  cards  must  be 
shown  at  the  fi'rry  and  railway  stations."  1  wish  to  state 
that  our  representatives  will  l)e  at  the  boat  and  that  every 
delegate  from  the  chaniljers  of  commerce  of  the  United  States, 
and  all  the  foreign  delegates  are  cordially  invited.  If  your 
credentials  are  not  with  you,  it  will  make  no  dilferenee.  Do 
not  stay  away. 

/lull.  Itiiifs  /'I'liriisc: 

The  program  having  been  accomplislinl,  j  ikiu  declare  this 
session  adjourned. 

(.M'ter  a  pause.)  'i'lu'  convention  will  be  in  order  for  a 
moment. 

//(//(.  lUrlninl  I!.  Dn/ii-ll  (Canada): 

I  would  suggest  that  the  lirst  |inilion  ef  M(niday  nioi'iiing's 
session  be  taken  up  with  a  discussion,  limiting  the  speakers  to 
such  length  of  time  as  our  chairman  thinks  well. 

//(///.  Bdies  Pi'iinifif: 

If  there  is  no  objection   that  will  be  the  order. 

ninrlrr  11.   /'.   ir/7«//(.- 

Some  111'  I  be  delegations  of  the  foreign  go\ernnn'n(s  have 
asked  to  bave  special  sessions,  to  which  .\mei-icans  should  be 
added  i\>v  s|)ecial  work.  I  would  state  that  we  ai-e  attemjiting 
to  arrange  that  as  soon  as  possible.  The  delegates  will  aid  us 
in  doing  that.  'J'hat  can  be  facilitated  largely  on  Monday  at 
the  Mnsenni.  where  we  have  dilfei'ent  roiuus. 

Session  elosctl  at  P^.ln  p.  m. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


FOURTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


riiii.Ainci.i'iiiA,  Mduday,  October  IGtli,  1899. 
Morning  Session. 


Tlie  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  10. ''i4  a.  in.,  in  the  As- 
sembly E  )om  of  the  Commercial  Museum,  by  Director  W.  P. 
Wilson. 

Dircclur  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Will  the  deiet;ates  frnni  .Viislraiia,  wlio  are  to  speak  this 
morning,  kindly  take  the  phitform? 

Is  Mr.  John  iJarre  Johnston  here?  (ilr.  Johnston  responds 
"Here"). 

We  also  have  a  jiaper  this  ninming  from  Mr.  W.  J.  Mox- 
ham,  and  one  from  Colonel  G.  W.  Bell.  These  gentlemen  will 
jjlease  take  the  platform. 

Gentlemen,  I  have  been  a.sked  to  preside  this  morning. 
Will  you  kindly  come  to  order?  It  was  the  intention  in 
this  Convention  to  give  o])portunity  for  discussion  after  each 
set  of  subjects,  or  after  the  subjects  had  Ijcen  ])resented  in 
any  given  line.  We  will  take  a  brief  few  minutes  this  morn- 
ing for  the  discussion  of  the  topics  which  were  uppermost  on 
last  Saturday,  and  that  will  give  opportunity  to  anyone  who 
has  anything  to  present  to  come  forward.     (Ap])lause.) 

Allow  me  to  introduce  ^Ir.  James  D.  Allan,  of  the  Toronto 
Board  of  Trade,  wim  has  a  word  to  present  with  reference  to 
our  last  session. 


Mr.  James  D.  Allan: 

Dr.  Wilson  and  Delegates  to  the  International  Commercial 
Congress. — Reference  has  been  made  in  the  previous  session 
regarding  the  transportation  problem  and  the  ijossibilities  of 
its  development  for  better  service  between  the  two  countries 
— the  United  States  and  Canada  more  particularly.  Anyone 
studying  the  geography  of  the  North  American  continent  will 
be  struck  with  the  wonderful  distriljution  of  fresh  water  lakes 
and  waterways.  These  waterways  are  largely,  almost  entirely, 
I  may  .say,  witliin  the  Canadian  territory.  Oljstructions  do 
e.xist,  but  these  have  been  overcome  by  an  enormous  expendi- 
ture of  money  by  the  Canadian  Government,  a  canal  system 
alone  having  cost  in  the  neighborhood  of  eighty  million.?  of 
dollars;  the  obstructions  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence  have  been 
overcome  by  deepening  the  canals  to  a  depth  of  fourteen  feet, 
thus  giving  a  road  into  the  Great  Lakes  for  very  much  larger 
vessels  than  it  has  been  possible  before.  It  is  rather  unfortu- 
nate that  there  is  no  map  that  would  show  the  exact  po.sition, 
but  if  you  will  trace  these  waterways  through  the  interior  of 
the  country  you  will  see  that  the  western  part  of  the  United 
States  is  quite  as  much  interested  as  Canada  can  be  in  the 
perfecting  of  the  systems  of  cheap  communication.  It  is  said 
in  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  that  the  cheapening 


of  freights  to  the  extent  of  one  mill  per  ton  per  mile  would 
mean  a  saving  of  a  hundred  million  dollars  to  the  agricultur- 
ists of  the  West.  We  in  Canada  have  adopted  a  very  liberal 
principle,  partly  of  our  own  free  will  and  partly  as  a  result 
of  the  treaty  made  in  1869  with  the  LTnited  States  Govern- 
ment, by  which  we  have  given  the  free  use  of  our  canals  to 
the  Americans,  using  them  on  the  same  terms  as  we  ourselves 
have  done.  This  has  largely  increased  the  carrying  trade 
between  the  West  and  Canadian  points.  We  have  opened 
up  a  line  of  railway  extending  from  Parry  Sound  through  to 
the  Atlantic  which  does  now,  carry  grain  from  Chicago  alone 
to  the  extent  in  a  single  season — although  it  is  only  two  yea.rs 
old — of  ten  million  bushels.  This  is  enjoyed  by  Americans 
almost  alone.  Some  people  have  taken  the  ground  that  we 
should  not  have  offered  the  free  use,  because  there  will  prob- 
ably not  be  freight  enough  for  the  multiplication  of  marine 
on  these  upjjer  lakes,  but  anyone  studying  this  great  country, 
the  open  lakes  and  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  its  iinmeuse 
and  rapid  development,  should  see  that  we  cannot,  in  our 
wildest  dreams,  pos.siljly  arrive  at  what  may  come  twenty  or 
twenty-five  years  hence.  When  we  remember  such  miscon- 
ceptions regarding  the  country  as  existed  in  the  mind  of  an 
American  statesman,  Henry  Clay,  when  it  was  proposed  to 
build  the  St.  Clary's  Canal  (in  1855),  who  sneered  at  the  idea 
as  ridiculous  and  placed  it  on  a  par  with  a  proposal  to  build 
a  railway  to  the  moon — that  is  a  little  more  than  forty  years 
ago — we  see  to-day  St.  Mary's  Canal  as  the  pride  of  the  world. 
And  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  tonnage  during  the 
season  of  navigation  passing  through  the  caual  is  greater 
than  that  passing  through  the  Suez  Canal.  You  will  see  the 
great  importance  of  trade  in  Lake  Superior,  which  a  little 
more  than  twenty  years  ago  was  scarcely  traver.sed  by  ships 
at  all. 

Regarding  the  agricultural  country  in  the  American 
Xorthwest,  it  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  when  it  was  proposed 
to  settle  up  what  are  now  the  States  of  Dakota  and  Minnesota. 
Proctor  Knott  stated  there  would  never  be  enough  agri- 
cultural products  in  that  district  to  fatten  a  grasshoj)per. 
Within  twenty  years  afterward,  a  thousand  million  bushels 
of  grain  were  harvested  from  that  district  alone.  We,  in 
Canada,  have  opened  up  Manitoba  and  the  Xorthwest  terri- 
tories. The  Northwest  territories  in  1871  were  taken  over  by 
the  Government  of  Canada  on  the  jmyment  of  three  hundred 
thousand  pounds  from  the  Hudson  Bay  Company;  settle- 
ment has  been  going  on  there  and  so  successful  has  been  the 
pursuit  of  agriculture  that  in  this  year  the  Province  of  Mani- 
toba alone  has  raised  sixty  million  bushels  of  grain  to  be 
transported.  This  seems  like  a  fairy  tale,  but  west  of  Mani- 
toba there  is  great  territory  to  be  settled.  We  have  in  that 
territory  of  Canada  sixteen  hundred  thousand  square  miles  of 
magnificent  agricultural  country. 

The  product  of  all  this  region  must  find  its  way  to  the  sea- 
hoard;  it  belongs  to  us  as  trade.  It  behooves  us,  then,  as 
shrewd  commercial  men  to  look  fo  the  future  and  to  be  guided 


35 


36 


i'KULKIiDIA'GS  Ui"  THE  iATEl{XATlU-\AL  t'UM.MEKClAL  LUA'GEESS 


liV  asioci.ili;-  inU'LUiice  and  make  preparation  for  the  pouring 
in  iijioi!  ii;  of  rhi?  magnificent  lieritagc  of  the  West  possessed 
i.v  V'otli  countries  (eries  of  "hear,  "hear").  We  boast  in  this 
eo;;i;iry — I  mean  hy  that  Canada,  but  you  are  our  brothers 
iind  our  cousins,  sir.  part  of  the  same  stock.  (Applause.) 
We  liave  many  things  in  common,  and  I  am  especially  de- 
liglited  that  this  Commercial  Congress  has  a.ssembled  in  this 
great  city  of  Philadelphia  that  has  always  been  noted  for  its 
progress  and  desire  for  the  betterment  of  mankind.  I  was 
especially  pleased  at  the  opening  session  with  the  s|)eech  of 
th(^  Minister  rroni  China — a  s]ieech  that  I  shall  remember 
with  verv  great  iideresf.  coming  as  it  did  from  a  nation  that 
is  supposed  to  have  been  lying  inert,  asleep,  while  commercial 
develo))ment  was  going  on  elsewhere.  He  comes  here  in  the 
greatest  commercial  activity  and  counsels  ns  that  we  take  a 
broad  and  liberal  view  of  things,  (lentlemen,  tliat  is  tiu'  true 
spirit  of  connnerce.  We  should  take  a  liberal  view  of  things, 
and  the  befter  we  can  do  in  solving  these  various  problems  the 
better  we  bless  the  lot  of  the  huml)le  toiler  whom  we  re])resent 
here.  It  is  well  for  ns  to  remember  that  we  constitute  only 
one  side  of  what  goes  to  make  up  ccmimerce, — production  and 
di.strihution  go  hand  in  hand,  and  if  production  is  ever  so 
efficient  and  distribTition  weak,  then  production  is  retarded. 
But  I  take  it  that  the  business  of  the  delegates  here — reni'c- 
.«entatives  of  the  commerce  of  the  world — is  itself  a  great 
influence.  Whatever  difficulties  e.xist  we  ])ropose  to  si'lve 
them. 

I  am  drifting  off  into  lengthy  remarks  which  I  had  not  in- 
tended to  make,  I  will  come  down  to  the  subject  that  concerns 
us  in  Canada.  Mr.  Dobell,  member  of  the  Canadian  Cabinet, 
who  addressed  the  Conference  the  other  day,  briefly  referred 
to  the  position  that  exi&ts  in  regard  to  the  navigation  of 
canals  leading  from  the  Hudson  River  to  the  capital  of  Can- 
ada, Ottawa.  American  barges  can  go  from  New  York  to 
Ottawa  City,  load  lumber  and  return  to  New  York  City, 
liaving  in  that  time  used  for  more  than  one-half  of  the  dis- 
tance Canadian  waterways.  We  cannot  load  Canadian  barges 
at  Ottawa  and  send  them  down  to  New  York  over  the  same 
route.  AVe  are  stopped  at  Wliitehall,  in  the  State  of  New 
York,  and  are  obliged  to  unload.  We  have  some  other  things 
referring  to  the  carrying  of  American  grain  in  Canadian  ves- 
sels that  is  very  peculiar.  In  this  very  Parry  Sound  route, 
taking  grain  from  Chicago  for  export  via  Boston,  American 
vessels  can  engage  in  that  traffic,  the  reason  being  that  they 
are  not  "coasting"  but  are  going  between  two  American 
ports,  though  they  are  actually  loading  in  Chicago  and  un- 
loading at  a  Canadian  port.  The  Canadian  vessels  cannot 
engage  in  that  traffic,  because  the  American  authorities  in 
Boston  say,  "you  are  coasting."  You  have  used  the  waters 
of  CaTiada  and  Canadian  ports  to  unload  your  grain.  But  in 
place  of  considering  Parry  Sound  the  end  of  the  journey, 
they  consider  Boston  as  the  end  of  the  journey,  though  our 
transportation  facilities  by  rail  have  been  used  in  order  to 
make  Boston  the  terminal  ]iiiint.  We  are  prohibited  from 
engaging  in  that  trade.  'I'liere  arc  maiiv  things  of  this  nature 
that  have  arisen  between  us;  new  conditions  have  arisen  in 
regard  to  our  trade.  As  a  matter  of  fact  tlie  Dtnninion  (if 
Canada,  dm'ing  the  past  three  years,  has  gone  forward  by 
leaps  and  liounds.  Our  foreign  trade  in  the  past  three  years 
has  reached  more  than  it  liad  in  ibe  previous  thirty  years,  a 
new  era  seems  to  have  dawned  and  Canada  has  arisen  and  is 
a.sscrting  herself  in  the  sisterhood  of  nations.  You  will  ask 
what  we  are  doing.  We  are  only  asking  to  take  a  part  in 
litjcrality  with  yoti  in  trade  matters  and  in  that  matter  we 
appeal  to  your  good  sense. 

Our  mineral  discoveries  and  di'Vrldpmeiits  u|i  then'  read 
almost  like  a  fairy  tale.  We  bavi'  the  greatest  nickel  deposits 
in  the  world.  According  to  Congressional  reports  furnished 
your  Amorican  Congress,  m'c  have  one  district  lying  two  hun- 


dred miles  north  of  Toronto,  three  hundred  miles  long  and 
seventy-five  miles  broad,  containing  si.ic  hundred  and  fifty 
million  tons  of  nickel.  Wliat  possibilities  there  are  in  this 
for  numufac-turers  of  the  United  States  and  Europe  it  is  not 
necessary  for  me  to  state.  You  can  estimate  the  vast  possi- 
bilities of  this.  You  are  all  business  men.  We  have  made 
rich  discoveries  in  copper,  and  with  the  rise  in  the  price  of 
copper  during  this  last  year,  it  seems  to  us  a  very  opportune 
time  to  have  made  the  discovery.  We  have  opened  up  corun- 
dum mines  which  are  very  wonderful.  We  invite  you  to  come 
in  and  develop  them.  We  have  no  alien  labor  in  force;  we 
arc  willing  to  make  all  these  things  as  free  as  possible. 

We  ask  the  attention  of  the  world  to  us  as  a  country  to  be 
developed  and  we  do  not  fear.  You  will  find  in  us  children 
of  the  same  parent  stock  which  wrested  from  King  John  the 
rights  of  Magna  Charta  and  made  the  Anglo-Saxon  race 
throughout  the  world  synonymous  with  justice  and  fair  play 
and  of  Ijenefit  to  civilization  generally. 

The  transportation  problem  is  of  the  greatest  importance 
to  the  Western  agriculturist,  miner  and  lumberman,  and  with 
the  comjiletion  of  the  canal  system  of  Canada  to  a  uniform 
de];ith  of  fourteen  feet,  which  can  be  used  on  equal  terms  by 
the  ships  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  and  the  large  con- 
sumption of  American  products  by  Canada  and  the  com- 
munity of  interest  growing  between  the  two  countries,  justi- 
fies the  reasonableness  of  a  request  that  the  use  of  the  inland 
waters  amd  canal  systems  be  extended  to  the  shipping  of  both 
countries  on  equal  terms,  including  the  right  to  trade  between 
any  ports. 

Directur  W.  P.  Wilfion : 

Gentlemen:  I  will  now  introduce  to  you  Mr.  D.  W.  Bole, 
of  Winnipeg,  Manitoba,  Canada, 

Mr.  D.  W.Boh-: 

I  have  received  this  notice  this  morning  that  the  names  of 
delegates  be  announced  di.stinctly  and  the  countries  from 
which  they  come.  I  will  introduce  myself  as  coming  from 
that  section  of  Canada  which  gives  a  flat  denial  to  the  state- 
ment made  by  William  Brooks  two  years  ago,  that  in  1930 
the  wheat-consuming  world  would  overtake  the  wheat-pro- 
ducing world.  The  province  of  Manitoba  which  I  have  the 
honor  to  represent  here  has  eight  hundred  townships  of  3t) 
square  miles  to  each  township.  We  hope,  then,  in  twenty- 
five  years,  according  to  the  present  ratio  of  increase,  to  have 
two  hundred  million  bushels  of  wheat  for  export.  I  will 
simply  state  these  facts  and  will  emphasize  the  speech  that 
Mr.  Allan  has  made.  Quito  a  number  of  the  Canadian  dele- 
gates intend  to  leave  for  home  to-day  or  to-morrow,  and  I 
wish  to  take  this  opportunity  of  thanking  you  and  the  peo])lc 
of  Philadelphia,  through  you,  sir,  for  the  wholes<ile  hospi- 
tality tlicy  have  extended  to  us.  ("Hear,  hear,"  and  applause.) 
I  don't  tliink.  sir,  I  have  ever  experienced  in  all  my  lifu 
greater  hos])itality  and  more  warmheartedness. 

Dinrlvr  11'.  /'.  ^yihl,n: 

We  will  now  come  to  the  origiiuil  ])rogram.  Tbe  first  jiaper 
we  have  tlii<  iiuu-ning  will  be  given  by  John  !?arre  Johnston, 
Esq.,  delegate  from  the  Sydney  Cliaud)er  of  Comnu'rce.  (.\p- 
plause.) 

I'lxi'oK'i's  AM)  I.Mi'oii'is  ()!•■  Ni:w  S()i:th  Wales. 

.¥r.  J.  Barre  Johndon: 

1  tliank  vou  sincerciv  for  the  brartv  wclconu'  y(m  have 
extended  to  a  delegate  bailing  from  the  Antipodes.  I  am 
glad  to  say,  howt'ver.  thai  I  am  not  the  only  representative 
at  this  great  Congi'ess  from  those  far  distant  climes  of  Aus- 


FOrRTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  16,  1899 


37 


tralia;  otherwise,  I  woiild  naturally  feel  the  responsibility 
much  greater.  I  am  delighted  to  see  from  New  South  Wales 
my  friend  Colonel  Bell  and  your  consul  at  Sydney.  I  was 
nearly  going  to  say  our  consul,  for  Colonel  Bell  has  so 
identified  himself  with  New  South  Wales  and  its  interests 
that  we  are  inclined  to  consider  him  one  of  ourselves,  and  it 
is  no  exaggeration  or  flattery  to  say  that  no  man  in  New 
South  Wales  is  held  in  higher  esteem,  not  only  in  the  com- 
mercial conmumity,  but  also  in  the  social  life  of  the  colony 
and  to  his  well-known  eloquence  I  will  leave  the  telling  of 
the  story  of  New  South  Wales,  her  greatness,  her  magnifi- 
cent capital  and  beautiful  harbor,  contenting  myself  by 
referring  as  tersely  as  possible  to  her  commercial  achieve- 
ments and  future  possibilities,  which  I  hope  may  have  some 
interest  for  you,  my  brother  merchants.  I  call  you  brother 
merchants,  because  if  there  is  anything  which  binds  the 
worlcl  in  brotherhood  it  is 

COMMERC'K. 

Commerce  is,  so  to  say,  as  old  as  the  world  itself.  The 
oldest  records  we  have  show  the  interchange  of  commodi- 
ties. From  the  time  that  Esau  sold  his  birthright  for  a  mess 
of  pottage,  until  now,  all  records  show  how  mankind  has  had 
need  of  interchange.  I  am  not  here,  however,  to  sketch 
out  the  vari(nis  changes  which  have  t-aken  j>lace  a,s  the 
world  has  advanced  from  the  time  of  barter,  until  now  that 
with  money  and  credit  the  commerce  of  the  world  has 
assumed  the  gigantic  magnitude  which  is  the  boast  of  this 
nineteenth  century.  Just  drawing  to  a  close;  hut,  rather,  to 
deal  with  the  existing  conditions,  and  the  possibilities  of  a 
further  increase  in  that  commerce  which  is  the  civilizer  of 
the  world. 

When  Mr.  Harper,  representing  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum,  first  called  upon  the  committee  of  the  Syd- 
ney Chamber  of  Commerce  in  189?  to  advocate  the  views  of 
that  institution,  he  was  courteously  received,  and  although  an 
immediately  favorahle  response  was  not  then  given,  I  am  glad 
to  be  able  to  say  that  the  Sydney  Chamber  of  Commerce  was 
the  first  mercantile  body  in  Australia  which  became  affiliated 
with  the  Museum.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  reason  for 
this  response  is,  because  New  South  Wales  is,  as  she  has 
always  been,  a  firm  believer  in  Free  Trade  Principles,  recog- 
nizing that  the  more  goods  she  receives  from  a  country  the 
more  goods  that  country'  is  bound  to  take  in  return.  While 
merchants  everywhere,  and  the  gathering  hei'e  to-day  accent- 
uates the  fact,  are  endeavoring  to  foster  the  interchange  of 
commodities,  it  does  not  seem  strange  that  politicians  in 
many  countries  have  hut  one  aim  and  that  is  to  build  a  tariff 
wall  around  their  respective  coimtries. 

I  appeal  to  you,  my  brothers,  to  use  your  best  influence 
everywhere  and  at  all  times,  to  throw  down  these  walls. 
How  galling  are  the  restraints  on  commerce  is  shown,  that 
here  and  there,  attempts  at  "reciprocity"  are  constantly 
being  made  after  the  walls  have  been  built.  Wliat  is  the 
"most  favored  nation"  clause  we  often  hear  of?  Is  it  not 
a  tacit  acknowledgment  that  instead  of  fostering  commerce, 
efl'orts  have  been  made  to  strangle  it?  Yet  there  is  a  ray 
of  light  in  the  expression  showing  that  some  reparation  is 
sought  to  be  made.  Were  it  not  for  the  tariff  walls,  which 
have  checked  trade,  the  commerce  of  the  world,  great  as  it 
is  to-day,  would,  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt,  have  been 
infinitely  greater,  and  I  know  of  no  better  way  of  removing 
these  walls  than  by  a  Congress  of  commercial  men,  such  as 
here  assembled  meeting  together  and  deliberating  tipon  the 
best  way  of  doing  it.  I  cannot  think  we  should  be  entirely 
dependent  upon  our  politicians  in  matters  of  this  kind.  T 
am  hopeful  that  the  deliberations  of  this  great  and  enlight- 
ened assemblage  of  business  men  will    result    in    bringing 


about  a  more  liberal  spirit  in  commercial  matters  and  in 
creating  a  greater  interest  and  bond  of  union  amongst 
Chambers  of  Commerce  all  over  the  world. 

Now,  my  brother  merchants,  in  looking  for  business,  one 
of  the  first  things  necessary  is  to  know  what  each  country 
can  best  produce  and  consume,  and  it  remains  to  the  credit 
of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  that  that  body  has 
drawn  together  and  catalogued  so  numerous  and  so  valuable 
a  collection  of  exhibits,  by  means  of  which  our  United  States 
brothers  are  enabled  at  a  glance,  as  it  were,  to  know  where 
and  in  what  quantities  they  can  procure  almost  any  article 
in  the  world,  and  also  to  learn  from  tabulated  statistics  what 
each  country  more  especially  wants  of  American  products. 

It  is  a  lesson  to  me  and  one  which  I  .shall  do  myself  the 
pleasure  of  communicating  to  my  brother  merchants  in  New 
South  Wales. 

Now  you  will  wish  to  hear  something  of  New  South  Wales, 
the  oldest  and  most  populous  of  the  Australian  Colonies 
and  of  her  Capital  City,  Sydney,  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  which  I  represent.  But  just  before  entering  upon 
the  subject  of  New  South  Wales,  I  hope  you  will  pardon  me 
if  I  digress  a  little  for  the  sake  of  informing  those  who  have 
not  studied  the  geography  of  Australia,  tliat  New  South 
Wales  is  only  one  State  in  Australia.  Atistralia  is  by  far 
the  largest  island  in  the  world — its  area  being  2,94G,G41 
square  miles.  The  Australian  Colonies,  including  New  Zea- 
land and  Tasmania,  comprise  a  total  area  of  3,0'i9.'M7  sipiare 
miles,  not  including  ISritish  New  Guiana,  estimated  at  90,000 
sqiuire  miles.  So  you  will  see  that  the  territory  is  much  larger 
than  the  United  States  of  America. 

Being  situated  in  the  Southern  Hemisphere,  we  have  our 
sun  in  the  north  and  our  winter  during  your  summer.  The 
climate  is  a  very  healthy  one  and  well  suited  to  Europeans 
(and  Americans  of  course,  too).  All  of  our  Australian  Col- 
onies have  choice  sites  for  their  coastal  citie.s,  with  splendid 
harbor  accommodations  for  ships  of  the  largest  size  afloat. 
We  have  large  tracts  of  land  eminently  suited  for  pastoral 
and  agricultural  pursuits,  and  the  quality  of  our  wool  is 
famed  throughout  the  world.  Our  vegetation  is  altogether 
different  from  that  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  Many  of  our 
trees  shed  their  bark  instead  of  their  leaves.  We  have  some 
excellent  timbers  and  our  hard  woods  are  well  known  and 
mtich  appreciated  in  Europe  for  street  paving  purposes.  Of 
native  animals,  there  are  but  few  varieties.  The  kangaroo 
is  particularly  remarkable,  as  it  is  found  no  where  else. 
These  and  the  opossums  form  two-thirds  of  the  native  ani- 
mals and  both  carry  their  young  in  a  potich.  The  most 
peculiar  animal  is  the  duck-billed  platypus,  which  is  a  water 
mole  with  a  bill  like  a  duck  and  fur  instead  of  feathers. 
Among  the  birds  there  are  some  rather  remarkable,  the  emu 
and  black  swan  being  the  largest  and  distinctively  Aus- 
tralian. The  laughing  jackass  is  also  a  most  interesting  in- 
habitant of  the  bush,  while  the  lyre-bird  and  bower-bird  have 
great  fame  for  their  plumage.  There  are  great  varieties  of 
other  native  birds,  but  none  remarkable  for  melodious  song. 

To  pass  by  the  poor  "black  fellow"  when  referring  to 
Australian  natural  histoiy  would  be  unpardonable;  strange 
again  that  Australian-born  whites  should  be,  as  a  rule,  men 
of  good  physique,  some  of  them  renowned  in  the  sporting 
world,  notably  in  the  cricket  field,  yet  that  the  aborigines 
should  lie  so  degraded  a  race,  those  of  Aitstralia  proper  tak- 
ing the  lowest  rank,  while  those  of  New  Zealand  (called 
Maoris)  a  high  position  among  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  the 
world.  They  are  all,  however,  fast  decreasing  and  dj-ing  out, 
and  soon  we  will  not  be  able  to  have  the  "black  tracker"  as  a 
useful  adjunct  to  our  police  force. 

Australia  has  abundant  mineral  wealth.  The  Queensland, 
Victoria  and  Western  Australian  gold  fields  yield  richly — 
the  last  named  of  which  is  our  newest  field,  and  is  at  pre.*- 


38 


PROCEEDIXGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


cut  yiuliliiiir  at  the  nilc  of  £?,000.0()0  slcrling  per  year,  and 
iic.xf  year  the  vield  i^;  exjieeted  to  exceed  £10,000.000:  bill 
<;-old  IS  found  'in  all  the  other  eohmies.  \Vc  have  also  an 
idinndance  of  silver,  eopper,  tin,  and  coal,  all  of  which  are 
actively  worked  and  form  important  features  of  our  minin.t; 
and  exjiort  business.  If  Australia  has  been  richly  endowed 
with  ndnerals  and  metals,  it  has  also  been  favored  with  a 
soil  and  climate  eminently  litted  for  the  cultivation  of  other 
products.  The  ])astoral  industry  is  by  far  the  most  import- 
ant, with  us,  and  our  producti<in  of  wool  represents  nearly 
three  times  the  value  of  our  mining  industry,  while  our 
agricultural  statistics  at  present  show  far  exceeding  those  of 
our  mineral  resources.  The  total  value  of  our  productions 
for  lS;)(i-!'7  amounted  to  £114,400.000.  dis-tribiited  over  tiie 
colonics  as  follows: 

New  South  Wales £33.751,000 

Victoria  30,405,000 

New  Zealand    21.855,000 

tjueensland    14.387.000 

South  Australia 7.602,000 

Tasmania    3.442,000 

\Ve-:tern  .Vustralia   3.01S.000 

The  stocl<  returns  for  18117  give  the  number  of  sheep  as 
103,511,lOiS.  Of  this  numbei-  43.5  jier  cent,  are  depastured 
in  New  Soutli  Wales.  The  total  value  of  exports  for  18!)7 
amount  to  £72,354,()01  and  the  im])orts  to  £()5,74(>,505,  thus 
making  the  total  trade  of  Australia  £138,10]  ,10(i,  yet  the 
pojutlation  is  under  5,000,(100  souls.  1  )o  not  tliesc  liguiTs 
speak  volumes  for  the  richne.'^s  of  our  country,  and  the  in- 
dustry and  energy  of  our  peojde? 

Now,  to  return  to  Sydiu'y,  I  may  say  here  in  passing  that 
the  Chandiei-  of  Comnieree  was  fotmded  in  the  year  1851 
and  has  since  tlien  extended  its  operations  progressively  and 
witlunit  ostentaticm  up  to  the  ]iresent  time.  It  has  done 
good  work  and  is  recognized  as  the  most  important  com- 
mercial institutitm  in  our  nndst.  It  munbers  among  its  mem- 
bers the  most  priuiiiiieiii  niercliaiits.  Iiaiikers  and  under- 
writ  I'ls  of  the  city. 

Xew  South  \\'ali'<  (Ui  the  eastern  coast  of  the  island 
contiiuMit  of  Australia,  has  a  seaboard  of  nearl}'  700  miles, 
her  breadth  lieiug  about  the  same  from  east  to  west,  giving 
her  an  area  of  3 i 0,700  square  miles  or  198,848,000  acres,  or 
a  little  over  two  and  a  half  times  that  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland. 

Tlie  rainfall  on  Ihe  coastal  district  averages  41  inches; 
on  tlie  table  land  33  inches;  and  <in  wcslern  plain>  alimit  10 
inches  |ier  annum. 

With  the  long  stietch  froui  uoit  h  to  south,  wit  li  thevarving 
clianges  on  coast,  table  laml  and  western  plains,  she  enjoys 
such  various  lempeiatures  that  her  productions  \arv  from 
those  of  very  temperate  to  almost  lro|ii(al  elinies.  r>arle\', 
oats,  wheat,  the  nuts  of  Old  I'higland  to  the  vine,  su:;aT, 
bananas,  and  jnne  a|)plcs  <if  warm  climates. 

Siieep  flourish  amazingly,  and  our  wools  have  a  wm-ld 
wide  reputation.  Vor  the  season  18!)7-!is  (niir  wool  season 
is  calculated  from  .Inly  of  <nie  year  to  the  thirtieth  June  next 
year).  New  Sdutli  Wales  exported  of  lici'  nwu  |ir(i(hutiiui 
no  less  than  281,l(i7.119  lbs.  valued  al   t;8.000,0(i0  sti'riing. 

Of  tliis  large  exjiort,  I  regret  to  say  that  only  a  small 
(piantity  was  directly  taken  by  the  I'nifed  States  of  America. 
The  total  value  of  woid  exported  from  the  .\ustralian  Colo- 
nies in  1897  was  ovit  £18,500.000  sterling.  Oiu-  cattle  and 
horses  are  as  goo<l  almost  as  any  in  the  woidd.  .\s  regards 
our  race  horses,  y(iii  know  what  they  are,  and  San  |-'raiu-ise-o 
fnends  have  recognized  their  good  points  and  taken  miu'e 
than  one. 


Our  kangaroo  and  rabljil  skins  have  no  keener  buyers 
than  those  liailing  fr(un  the  laml  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 

Our  timliers  are  the  sti-ongest  in  the  world  and  none  are 
more  suitable  for  wharves,  etc.;  tindier  blixdcs  (for  street  pav- 
ing), the  produce  of  Australia,  are  used  in  England  and  on 
the  Continent  and  I  would  here  mention  that  the  United 
States  Constd  at  Sydney,  Colonel  G.  W.  Bell,  has  furnished 
your  government  with  a  splendid  re|3ort  on  this  subject. 

Many  of  our  timbers  are  s]ilendidly  grained  and  suitable 
for  the  finest  joinery  wm'k. 

Our  wattle  tree  provides  oiu'  of  the  most  valuable  barks 
for  tanning  purposes. 

Various  species  of  the  eucalyptus  ju'odnce  a  volatile  oil 
extensively  used  for  medical  purjjoses. 

The  Government  Director  of  the  Botanic  (iardens  had 
classified  the  varieties  which  properly  belong  to  Australian 
economic  botany  and  already  over  3,000  s])ecimens  have  been 
described.  Strange  to  say,  however,  but  few  of  these  varied 
resources  have  as  yet  been  realized,  aiid  here  I  wotdd  ask 
those  present  to  keep  this  well  in  view. 

As  regards  metals  New  South  Wales  has  ]u-odiiced  since 
1851,  £44.488,372.  gold;  1881.  £24,108,285  silver  and  ore; 
1872.  f(;,24G,418  tin:  1859,  £4,351,343  co])])er. 

In  all  the  above,  production  is  still  going  on,  and  owing 
to  better  ajjplianees  than  existed  when  the  first  great  outputs 
took  place,  many  fields  are  being  profitably  worked  over  again. 

New  South  Wales  has  vast  quantities  of  iron  ore  in  close 
proximity  to  limestone  and  coal.  This  iron  stone  on  analysis 
gives  from  40  to  50  per  cent,  of  juetallic  iron.  While  I  do 
luit  say  that  we  shall  early  rival  Pittsburg,  I  unhesitatingly 
say  that  in  her  enormous  deposits  of  iron  sitone.  New  South 
Wales  has  a  still  undeveloped  asset,  which,  with  a  larger 
po]inlation  to  work  upon,  must  make  itself  felt,  atid  that 
]ieiha[is  sooner  than  many  expei  t. 

We  have  antimony  in  large  (piantities.  manganese,  bis- 
muth and  many  others. 

C'oal  is  very  widely  distrilnited.  it  being  computitl  that  the 
ai-ea  over  which  it  is  found  is  23.950  square  miles.  I  need 
not  mention  Newcastle  to  you  gentlemen,  as  it  is  too  well 
known  in  connection  with  the  coal  trade. 

The  (piantitv  of  coal  raised  in  New  South  Wales  during 
the  year  1897  was  4.383.591  tons. 

We  also  raise  in  New  South  Wales  kerosene  shale  largely 
used  for  mixing  with  coal  in  nuiking  g-as.  The  low  price 
of  kerosene  has  stopped  the  manufacture  of  oil. 

In  precious  stones  we  have  diamonds,  sa|)phires.  emeralds, 
I'ubies,  garnets  and  0]>als.  In  tin-  last  named,  a  steady  increase 
in  production  is  reported. 

Marble,  slate,  fire  clays,  purple  and  yellow  ochre  and  other 
])i.gments  are  widely  distributed. 

Although  New  S(Uitli  Wales  produces  largely  in  agricul- 
tural lines,  so  far  she  has  not  been  much  of  a  factor  in  the 
wcii'ld's  sup]ily.  The  ,i;'rowth  of  wheat  is.  however,  rapidly 
exjianding. 

]\raiz(»  figures  largely  in  prodn<lion.  but  Ihe  tluetuation  in 
price  is  veiw  great,  and  aftei-  a  series  (4'  low  value's  farmers 
have  put  their  land,  especially  (Ui  our  northern  I'ivers,  under 
su.t;ar  cam'. 

The  low  freights  lalidy  nding  bctwetui  New  York  and 
Sydney  lunc  allowed  of  shipuu'uts  of  nniize  being  imiiorted 
fi'oiu  I  he  former. 

New  S(uoli  Wall's  is  at  present  a  jUdducin.ii;  in  contra- 
distinction t  )  a  maniiraeturing  country,  ami  that  she  does  a 
Ml;  luisiiu'ss  fiu'  her  I  ]  millions  of  peojile,  the  following  figures 
will  show:  . 

In   1898  the  imi)orts  were £2-1,  I53.5(i0 

In  1898  the  exports  were C27,<;is.l  i: 

which    von    will.    1    am   ^\Wf.  allow    are   large  amounts    for  so 
small  a  pcqndation. 


FOFRTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  ]6,  1899 


39 


Now  in  respect  to  the  trade  between  the  United  States  and 
New  Soiitli  Wales,  and  to  a  remark  made  early  in  my  address 
relative  to  the  effects  of  free  trade.  Just  let  me  give  yon  the 
particulars  of  trade  between  the  two  countries  for  a  few  years: 

Imports  from  United  States— 1892,  £823,532;  1893,  £526,- 
831;  1894,  £542,427;  1895,  £(i24,2(i8;  1896,  £1,729,871;  1897, 
£1,887,877;  1898,  £1,002,954. 

Exports  to  United  States— 1892,  £1,529,981);  1893,  £026,- 
566;  1894,  £374.551;  1895,  £(i83,0()0;  1896,  £2,00-1,904;  1897, 
£2,462,319;  1898,  £5,951,287. 

With  the  single  exception  of  1894,  our  exports  to  United 
States  of  America  exceeded  our  inipoi'ts  there.  In  the  ease 
of  1898  a  very  great  difference  is  shown,  but  this  is  owing  to 
transmission  of  gold  to  San  Francisco  direct,  it  being  more 
])rolitable  at  the  time.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact,  however,  that 
during  that  year  the  United  States  took  £1,379,278  worth 
of  the  ])roduce  of  the  colony. 

I  am  quite  content  myself  to  note  the  steadily  growing  in- 
terchange between  countries  so  ;dlii'd  liy  ties  of  kinship  and 
friendship. 

My  brother  merchants,  I  have  no  intention  of  wearying  you 
with  statistics  "viva  voce,"  but  I  have  had  prepared  n  few 
salient  ligures  which  you  can,  and  I  hope  will,  read  at  your 
leisure,  and  should  any  one  of  you  notice  an  item  which  in- 
terests you,  I  shall — upon  your  leaving  with  the  Secretary 
of  the  Museum  a  message  that  you  wish  to  consult  me  there- 
on— be  only  too  happy  to  give  you  any  information  in  my 
power,  wliich  you  may  seek. 

By  the  courtesy  of  the  Government  of  New  South  A\'ales, 
I  have  been  provided  with  a  few  books  and  pamphlets  which 
1  shall  be  happy  to  distribute,  from  which  you  will  be  able 
to  gather  more  particular  information  as  to  the  trade  and 
resources  of  the  colony  that  can  be  compressed  into  so  short 
an  address  as  I  have  considered  proper  to  make  to-day. 

That  New  South  Wales  is  not  altogether  a  wild  bush  or 
forest,  will  be  understood  when  you  look  upon  the  photo- 
graphs of  our  city  buildings,  wharves,  railways,  tramways, 
water  works,  etc. 

In  Sydney  we  have  three  large  ship  docks  (the  Sutherland 
being  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world);  the  Fitzny,  450  feet 
long,  59  feet  broad,  draught  21  feet  6  inches;  Sutherland. 
600  feet  long,  84  feet  broad,  draught  32  feet;  Mort-*  (private), 
640  feet  long,  60  feet  at  top,  54  feet  bottom,  draught  19  feet; 
five  floating  docks  to  take  vessels  up  to  1,500  tons;  two  patent 
ships  to  take  vessels  up  to  2,000  tons. 

Just  at  the  time  I  left  Sydney,  Morts  Dock  and  Engineer- 
ing Company  had  commenced  a  new  dock  rivaling  the  Suth- 
erland above  mentioned.  These  are  fitting  docks  for  a  per- 
fectly landlocked  and  deep  harbor  which  has  a  water  surface 
of  the  harbor  proper  of  no  less  than  fifteen  square  miles  and 
a  .shore  line  of  165  miles.  The  City  of  Sydney  and  its  suburbs 
occupy  141  square  miles  and  have  witlnn  their  boundaries 
about  410,000  people.  Teleplioncs  are  in  all  our  chief  cities 
and  towns,  and  there  is  communiciition  by  telephone  between 
Sydney  and  Newcastle  (about  70  miles).  The  telegraph  and 
railway  systems  of  the  colony  are  splendid  and  I  may  mention 
that  on  the  railways,  the  colony  has  spent  £37,719,402,  on 
which  they  return  a  net  interest  of  3.75  per  cent. 

As  a  shipping  port  Sydney  stands  an  easy  first  amongst 
the  Australian  C'olonies.  The  depth  of  water  at  low  tide  is 
between  28  and  30  feet,  with  a  wduirfage  frontage  of  nearly 
seven  miles.  Powerfid  and  modern  shipping  appliances  and 
extensive  storage  accommodations  are  provided  at  all  the 
important  wharves.  The  tonnage  both  inward  and  outward 
is  continually  on  the  increase.  According  to  our  govern- 
ment statistics  the  tonnage  of  the  vessels  entered  in  1897  was 
3,331,877  tons,  and  cleared  3,412,554  tons. 

The  comparative  importance  of  the  trade  of  Sydney  may 
be  realized  iiy  viewing  it  in  connection  witli  cbic'f  ports  of 


the  United  Kingdom.  The  absolute  Sydney  tonnage  is  sur- 
passed only  by  four  English  ports,  viz;  London,  Liverpool, 
Cardiff  and  Newcastle,  while  in  point  of  value  of  trade 
transactions,  it  is  exceeded  only  by  London,  Liverpool  and 
Hull. 

Now  in  connection  with  this  subject  of  shipping  1  would 
like  to  mention  an  interesting  matter  of  history.  More  than 
a  century  ago,  or  during  the  fifth  year  after  the  founding  of 
our  first  colony,  Sydney  being  tbe  only  port,  the  first  trad- 
ing vessel  not  British  was  from  your  country,  flying  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  and  bearing  the  name  of  the  "Philadelphia."  This 
was  on  the  first  of  November,  1792. 

■I  must  conclude)  and  I  own  it  has  ])uzzled  me  how  best 
to  do  so,  and  at  the  same  time  pay  a  deserved  compliment  to 
that  great  nation  of  which  we  are  to-day,  through  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum,  the  guests. 

We  have  received  their  hospitality.  How  has  New  South 
Wales  deserved  it?  Well,  I  will  tell  yon — by  conti?iuing  to 
use  their  ]iroducts. 

We  use  American  timber  and  slate  in  Imilding  our  houses. 
We  furnish  our  houses  with  Amerienn  furniture,  clocks, 
musical  instruments,  etc.  We  light  our  bouses  with  Ameri- 
can oil  and  lamps.  Our  women  u-c  .\nierican  .sewing  ma- 
chines. Our  children  use  American  toys.  Our  lads  and  lasses 
use  American  bicycles.  Our  sportsmen  use  American  arms 
and  ammunition.  Our  pressmen  use  American  paper.  Our 
travelers  use  American  buggies.  We  smoke  (in  preference) 
American  tobacco.  Our  merchants  use  American  tyjiewriters, 
and,  the  soul  of  business,  American  advertising  matter.  I 
wish  I  coiild  add  that  Americans  used  freely  Australian  wools. 

Revenue  for  year  1897-98  to  30th  June,  1898. 
Indirect  Taxation. — Customs,  excise,  licenses. . . .   £1.670,449 
Direct  Taxation. — Land,  income,  probate,  etc.  .  .  .         900,533 

Land  revenue  of  all  descrijitions 2,031,601 

Services. — Railways,  Post  and  Tel.,  water  supplies, 

etc.,    fees,    school,    mint,    pilots,    harbor    light, 

registrar  general   4,054,832 

Miscellaneous 224,681 

Temjjorary  advances 80,734 

Cross  revenue £9,562.830 

Sundry  refunds  liowever  niaih'  tbe  nrl  Hrvenne.  .      9,304.253 

The  net  ex])enditure 9,219,940 

In  1898  the  public  debt  was 03,112,720 

In  1898  the  interest  was 2,570.479 

Entailing  a  charge  on  the  populatinn  of  £1,189  j)er  head. 

Railways. — Opened  in  1895,  10  miles;  opened  by  1875,  435 
miles;  opened  by  1880,  848  miles;  opened  by  1898,  2,691 
miles;  capital,  £37,719,402;  interest  earned  thereon,  3.75  per 
cent. 

SHIPPING,  1897. 

ARRIVALS.  DEPARTURES.  TOTAL. 

No.  Tonnage.  So.  Tonnage.  No.  Tonnage. 

Steam  .2,659  2,635,929  2,389  3,672.000  5,048  5,307,935 
Sailers    .    086       09.5,948       731       740,548    1,417    1,430,496 

Total.. 3,345    3,331,877    :!.120    3,412.554    (i,405    0,744,431 

Commerce,  1898. — Imjiort^  (including  intercolonial  and 
overland)  £24,453,500;  exports  (including  intercolonial  and 
overland)  £27,048,117. 

CHIEF  SOURCES  OF  TRADE. 

IMPORTS.  EXPORTS. 

£12,407,059 Australasian  Colonies £8,075,199 

7,744,418 United  Kingdom 7,734,880 

131,902 Canada    . .  .". 80,904 

453,843.  .  .  .In(ha  an<l  Ceyldn 85,338 


40 


rR(>CKKI)I\(,'S  (IF  TIIK   IXTP:i{K.\'l'ln\AI.  ( 'OMMKIU'IAL  (:()X(;i}F.SS 


IMPORTS. 

£81,574.. 
106,43(5.. 

n98.or?. . 

151,341.. 

»14,530.. 

771,6^6.. 

1,002,954.. 


EXPORTS. 

.  .Hone;  Kdiisi £202,187 

..Fiji    ^ 138,076 

.  .  Belgium    887,273 

..China    l-t,745 

France    1,699,629 

.  .  Germany     1,158,814 

.  .  I'niied  States  of  xVmerica 5,951,387 


PRODUCTION. 

YIELD 
Pi:i;  ALKE. 

10.560,111  bush. 

10.6  bush. 

6,713,060     " 

32.0     " 

269,008  tons. 

30.8  tons. 

19.718  cwl. 

9.0  ewt. 

The  excessive  exports  were  occasioned  by  gold  sent  xia.  San 
l-'ranciseo. 

AGKICULTURE,  CROPS  YEAR  ENDING 
MARCH  31,  1898. 

AREA. 

Wheat 993,350  acres. 

Maize    209,588     " 

Sngar  cane  cut  .    12,935     " 
Tobacca    2,181     " 

Live  stock,  December  31,  1898:  Horses,  453,070;  cattle, 
1,892,316;  sheep,  41,099,038. 

The  colony  has  since  1891  passed  through  a  series  of 
draughts  causing  a  considerable  diminution  in  the  numbers 
of  live  stock.  As  an  instance,  the  returns  of  sheep  are  given, 
in  1891  we  .had  61,831,426  sheep;  1894,  56,977,270;  1895, 
47,617,687;  1897,  43,952,897;  1898,  41,099,038. 

Meat  export,  1897:  Frozen  meat,  504,372  cwts.;  tinned 
meat,  10,903,011  hs. 

Dairy  products,  1897:  Butter,  29,409,966  pounds;  cheese, 
3,937,168;  bacon,  0,544,781. 

Butter  shipments:  Values,  1886,  £3,862;  1890,  £35,936; 
1894,  £150,263;  1895,  £57,575;  1897,  £258,725. 


MINERALS  WON. 

MINERALS  WON 
1897. 

Gold    £1,088,413 


Silver 

Silver  and  lead  ores. 

Zinc    

Tin  and  tin  ore 


16,711 

.       081,528 

23,688 

49,900 

Copper  and  regulars 283,174 

Antimony  and  ore.  ...  " 

I'latinum    

Chrome  iron  ore 

(loul 

Kerosene  slate 


3,612 

2,949 

10,269 

1,330,041 

40,613 

Opals 95,000 


TOTAL  WON  IN 

N.  8.  W. 

£44,488,371 

1,336,067 

33,772,218 

34,731 

6,346,418 

4,351,343 

187,011 

6,428 

46,933 

33,049,372 

1,835,835 

161,599 


Director  W.  F.  Wilson: 

Gentlemen: — The  next  address  in  order  will  be  one  by  W. 
J.  Moxham,  Esq.,  Delegate  from  the  Sydney  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  Manufacturers,  the  subject — '"Manufactures 
and  Industries  of  New  South  Wales."    (i\pplause.) 

Manufactukes  and  jNDrsTiiiKs  OF  New  South  Wales. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Moxham: 

In  New  South  Wales,  the  mother  colony  of  the  great 
(Continent  of  Australia,  the  manufacturing  industries,  "as 
in  all  the  Australian  Colonies,"  are  only  in  their  infancy. 
How  can  it  be  othenvise  with  a  population  l)etween  four  and 
a  lialf  and  live  million  persons  all  told,  nevertheless  the  pro- 
gress made  denotes  that  enterprise  which  the  An.trlo-Saxon 
is  deservedly  popular  for,  viz:  his  indomitable  energy  and 
))luck.  I  now  propose  to  briefly  recajutidate  a  few  facts  in  the 
iiistory  of  the  colony  under  notice. 

Foundation  of  the  (^olonv.- — AltboULdi  .\uslralia  had  l)een 


previously  discovered,  it  was  not  until  the  3(5th  of  January, 
upwards  of  a  century  ago,  the  colony  was  formally  proclaimed 
a  dependency  of  the  British  Crown.  Where  the  gi-eat  city 
of  Sydney  now  stands,  with  its  population  of  437,928,  and 
in  the  -sdcinity  of  what  is  now  better  known  as  the  Circu- 
lar Quay,  the  Union  Jack  was  run  up,  as  a  signal  of  the 
British  occupancy  of  a  land  that  is  destined  to  become  a 
Greater  Britain. 

Our  Sta]>le  Industries. — The  young  colony  experienced  the 
trials  and  vicissitudes  pioneers  are  usually  subjected  to.  It  is 
not  my  purpose- to  deal  with  these,  but  rather  proceed  with  my 
paper,  dealing  with  those  subjects  which  are  more  likely  to 
interest  and  draw  attention  to  the  capabilities  of  a  land  for 
producing  and  manufacturing. 

Wool  is  the  staple  product  of  the  colony.  Its  value  in 
exports  exceed  more  than  one-half  of  the  total  exports  of 
the  whole  Colony.  The  fir.st  attempt  in  the  direction  of  this 
industry  was  made  in  the  year  1800.  It  was  no  failure;  on 
the  contrary,  the  quantities  and  value  exported  has  steadily 
increased.  For  the  year  1898,  the  wool  expoiied  in  weight 
am'ount  to  249,066,912  lbs.,  and  the  value  of  the  same  £8,339,- 
387  ($41,644,435).  Sheep  between  forty-three  and  forty- 
four  millions.  (Decreased  since  1891  about  eighteen  mil- 
lions.) 

With  the  discovery  of  gold  in  1851,  began  the  real  history 
of  what  subsequently  made  Australia  famous.  Hitherto  what 
was  kno\«i  as  some  remote  island  in  the  Antipodes,  suddenly 
sprung  into  fame.  Seekers  after  wealth  soon  invaded  our 
shores.  The  population  began  to  increase  by  leaps  and 
bounds.  For  a  short  time  a  mad  frenzy  existed,  several  indus- 
tries became  disturbed;  sheep  stations  were  kft  without 
hands  to  carry  on  the  wool  industry.  In  a  word,  people  had 
Init  one  thought, — "gold."  The  two  great  industries,  wool 
and  gold,  have  been  the  source  of  Australia's  greatness.  The 
export  value  of  gold  bullion  and  specie  for  1898  amounted 
to  £6,933,645  ($34,668,225). 

Coal  also  forms  one  the  staple  industries  of  the  colony.  It 
was  first  discovered  in  the  last  decade  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, and  has  reached  a  total  export  value  of  upward  of 
$5,000,000,  or  one  million  pounds  sterling.  This  is  an  indus- 
try which  is  less  liable  to  fluctuation  than  any  other  item 
of  export. 

Other  items  of  export,  silver,  tin,  copper,  skins,  tallow  and 
leather,  also  form  an  export  of  considerable  value.  The 
former  of  these  items,  silver  and  silver-lead  ore,  has  since 
1884  developed  into  a  leading  industry. 

The  new  process  of  extraction  has  brought  about  wonder- 
ful developments,  the  total  value  produced  in  1896  amount- 
ing to  $8,500,000,  or  £1,700,000.  In  fifteen  years  silver-lead 
ore  to  the  value  of  $25,000,000.  or  five  million  pounds  ster- 
ling, has  been  exported  from  the  one  colony.  New  South 
Wales. 

One  of  the  improving  industries  of  the  colony  is  the  manu- 
facture of  butter:  9,127,181  pounds  were  exported  during 
the  year  of  1898,  yielding  $1,935,150,  or  £365,030.  It  is 
onlyrecently  that  capital  has  been  employed  developing  what 
must  continue  and  remain  a  staple  industry.  Frozen  mutton 
and  preserved  meat  is  another  young  industry,  the  total  value 
of  exports  for  1896  being  $3,777,940,  or  £555,588.  The  total 
value  of  exiwrts  in  tallow  for  1898  amounted  to  $3,479,590, 
or  £495,916;  sugar,  $1,089,335,  or  £317,817;  leather,  $1,700,- 
000,  or  £340,000,  and  grain,  $3,095,000,  or  £619,000.  The 
total  exports  of  the  colonies  for  the  vear  1898  amounted  to 
$138,340,585,  or  .£27,048,117,  and  the  imports,  $122,207,800, 
or  .£24,513.560.  Total  trade  was.  therefore,  $260,508,385,  or 
£53,101,677. 

]\ianufactorics  and  Works. — I  have  endeavored  briefly  to 
deal  with  the  raw  producls  of  the  colonies.  I  will  now  pass 
on   lo  what  niore  imninli.-ili'lv  concerns  ilic  chnndn'r  1   have 


FOT'T^TTT  DAY'S  SESSION.  Of'TOBKE  IC,  1899 


41 


tlie  honor  to  represent,  viz.,  The  Manufactories  of  New  South 
Wales — which,  as  already  stated,  are  but  in  their  infancy. 

The  number  of  manufacturing  establishments  and  the  num- 
ber of  hands  employed  in  New  South  Wales,  during  the  year 
1898,  were  as  follows: 

Number  of  establisliments,  2,839;  number  of  hands  em- 
ployed, males  44,673,  females  7,84.5;  total,  .52,.518;  total  value 
of  machinery,  etc.,  £5,435,690. 

These  establishments  are  divided  into  the  following  classes 
of  industry,  viz.: 

1.  Treating  Eaw  Material,  the  Product  of  Pastoral  Pur- 
suits.— Number  of  establishments,  176;  number  employed, 
2,601;  total  value  of  machinery,  £188,250,  $941,250. 

2.  Connected  with  Food  and  Drink  or  the  Preparation 
thereof. — Number  of  establishments,  582;  number  employed, 
9,330;  total  value  of  machinery,  £1,856,611,  $9,283,055. 

3.  Clothing  and  Textile  Fabrics. — Number  of  establish- 
ments, 415;  number  employed,  10.668;  total  value  of  machin- 
ery, £119,020,  $595,100. 

4.  Building  Materials. — Number  of  establishments,  513; 
number  employed,  6,062;  total  value  of  machinery,  £450,264, 
$2,251,320. 

5.  Metal  Works,  Machinery,  etc. — Number  of  establish- 
ments, 270;  number  employed,  10,234;  total  value  of  machin- 
ery, £1,076,275,  $5,376,375. 

6.  Ship  Building. — Number  of  establishments,  27;  num- 
ber employed,  1,312;  total  value  of  machinery,  £188,603, 
$943,015. 

7.  Furniture,  Bedding,  Etc. — Number  of  establishments, 
99;  number  employed,  1.549:  total  value  of  machinerv,  £23,- 
347,  $116,735. 

8.  Book.s,  Paper,  Printing,  Etc. — Number  of  establish- 
ments, 275;  number  employed,  4,891;  value  of  machinery, 
£483,868,  $2,419,340. 

9.  Vehicles,  Saddlery  and  Harness. — Number  of  establish- 
ments, 187;  number  employed,  1,849;  value  of  machinery, 
£32,025,  $160,125. 

10.  Light,  Fuel  and  Heat. — Number  of  establishments,  81; 
number  emploved,  935;  total  value  of  machinery,  £801,375, 
$4,006,675. 

11.  Miscellaneous. — Number  of  establishments,  214;  num- 
ber employed,  3,087;  total  value  of  machinery,  £216,005, 
$1,0,84,025. 

The  foregoing  statistics  apply  only  to  the  Colony  of  New 
South  Wales.  In  the  past,  its  fiscal  policy  has  somewhat 
retarded  the  multiplicity  of  our  manufacturing  industries, 
but  with  the  advent  of  Federation,  and  a  uniform  tariff,  the 
immediate  prospect  of  a  large  increase  is  almost  certain. 
New  Soiith  Wales  is  destined  to  become  the  greatest  of  manu- 
facturing centres,  south  of  the  line.  Sydney,  its  capital,  has 
a  harbor  second  to  none  in  the  world,  with  unlimited  deposits 
of  coal,  almost  at  its  very  doors.  In  fact,  at  the  present  time, 
boring  for  coal  is  proceeding  within  a  mile  of  the  city,  and 
it  is  expected  ere  long  under  the  waters  of  Port  Jackson,  coal 
supplies  will  be  obtained  in  unlimited  quantities. 

New  South  Wales  offers  a  great  field  for  the  employment 
of  both  capital  and  labor  in  the  development  of  both  natural 
and  artificial  industries.  The  iron  industry,  for  example,  is 
awaiting  development.  Both  the  ore  and  coal  are  located  in 
districts  together,  and  it  has  been  shown  by  experts  that  it 
can  be  manufactured  to  compete  with  imported  iron.  An- 
other important  industry,  "paper  making,"  offers  great  in- 
ducements, only  two  establishments  employing  under  one 
hundred  hands,  are  at  present  in  operation  in  the  colony. 
There  are  innumerable  trades  that  the  colonists  have  not 
attempted  to  introduce,  but  will  do  so  as  the  colony  increases 
in  wealth  and  population. 

The  following  .'hows  the  value  of  a  few  articles  imported 


during  1898,  which  niiglii  have  been  produced  in  the  colony 
viz.: 

Agricultural  implements £360,335 

Arms  and  ammunition 95,810 

Bags  and  sacks 157,870 

Bedsteads    29,278 

Blankets    49,594 

Boots  and  shoes 316,650 

Brushware 30,790 

Candles    53,837 

Cheese   43,760 

Funiture  and  upholstery 143,358 

Plats  and  caps 176,980 

Jewelry    157,720 

Millinery 60,206 

Pickles  and  sauces 40,777 

Saddles  and  harness 24,238 

Soap 90,221 

Cement    83,710 

Confectionery   28,074 

Iron  and  steel 802,943 

Machinery 616,083 

Paper 200,000 

Preserves 17,577 

Varnish   27,701 


$1,801,775 

479,050 

789,350 

146,390 

242,970 

1,583,250 

153,950 

209,185 

213,800 

726,790 

884,900 

788,030 

301,030 

233,885 

121,190 

451,105 

419,580 

140,370 

4,014,715 

3,080,415 

1,000,000 

87,885 

138,505 


From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  easily  seen  that  there  is  a 
large  field  for  profitable  investment  of  capital  in  further 
developing  the  manufactories  of  New  South  Wales. 

The  pioneer  work  is  accomphshed,  and  as  in  the  proposed 
constitution  the  foundations  of  government  are  laid  on  the 
broad  principles  of  liberty  and  justice,  we  await  the  com- 
ing of  population  and  the  creation  of  capital,  for  with  these 
to  develop  our  native  resources  we  will  stand  forth  among 
the  favored  nations  of  the  earth. 

Before  concluding,  it  may  be  well  to  refer  to  the  fact  that 
a  board  of  experts  has  been  appointed  by  the  government 
of  New  South  Wales,  whose  duty  it  is  to  advise  and  aid  in 
the  disposal  of  our  surplus  products,  such  aid  has  already 
been  given  in  the  export  of  agricultural,  dairy,  horticultural 
and  forest  products;  even  the  rabbit,  fomierly  a  pest,  with 
enterprise,  promises  to  be  made  a  means  of  revenue  by  the 
joint  effort  of  government  and  people. 

On  the  following  phases  of  trade  the  board  has  been 
directed  by  a  well  digested  programme,  viz: 

"Increased  facilities  in  railway  and  steamship  carriage  for 
perishable  products,  more  careful  supervision  of  same  during 
transit,  and  adjustment  and  reduction  of  freight." 

"Eigid  and  impartial  inspection  of  all  export  food  sup- 
plies with  government  certificates  of  quality,  and,  where  neces- 
sary, prohibition  of  the  export  of  any  product  unfit  for  human 
food,  or  otherwise  likely  to  damage  the  reputation  of  colonial 
products." 

"'Establishments  at  ports  of  discharge  of  such  a  supervision 
as  may  conduce  to  greater  care  in  handling  and  better  systems 
of  marketing  produce." 

"Creating,  as  an  important  branch  of  the  board's  functions, 
a  bureau  of  information  on  all  nuitters  connected  with  British 
and  foreign  markets,  and  the  dissemination  of  useful  infor- 
mation to  merchants  and  producers  by  means  of  paragraphs, 
pamphlets,  etc.,  to  shippers." 

"Procuring  reliable  information  respecting  proper  methods 
of  preparing,  packing  and  shipping  produce  to  suit  the  various 
markets,  and  where  necessary  experimenting  on  a  commer- 
cial scale  with  the  shipment  of  various  products  to  such 
markets  as  may  be  available." 

x\nd  now,  in  conclusion,  I  may  mention  that  during  the 
vear  of  1898,  tonnage  amounting  "to  0.919,928  arrived  at  this 


42 


f'KOCEEDINGS  OF  TTTE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


port,  as  agninsl  (5.M4,'j;il  in  tlif  preccdiiig  year,  showing  an 
iiitrease  of  17.").i;»7  tohs. 

1  luive  endeavored  in  lliis  lirief  ]ia]iiT  to  ciuiiiiile  from 
figures  and  facts  a  fair  insight  into  the  progress  of  New  South 
Wales,  its  industries  and  manufactures.  If  I  liavc  succeeded 
iu  (list  riliuling  useful  infnnnation.  my  lalioi's  will  not  he  in 
vain. 

Now.  ^ir.  Cliairnian.  1  will  taki'  this  opportunity  publicly 
to  thank  you  on  lielialf  of  my  Chandler  for  the  boundless 
hospitalitv  and  the  stalwart  kindness  and  courtesy  which  you 
have  extended  to  the  didegates  and.  thanking  you  on  Ijehalf 
of  my  own  chamber  during  my  visit  here.  J  am  certain  they 
never  will  be  able  to  repay  yon  in  any  way  for  such  atten- 
tion.    (Applause.) 

Direrlor  ]V.  P.  Wilson: 

The  ne.xt  address  will  be  deliveicd  by  Cilimel  (J.  \V.  itell, 
the  United  States  (Jonsul  in  Sydney,  a  geutlenuin  who  has 
proven  himself  so  useful  to  our  commercial  classes  that  his 
services  have  been  retained  liy  the  present  administration, 
and  so  satisfactory  to  the  Australians,  that  he  has  been  com- 
nnssioned  by  the  (lovernment  of  New  South  Wales,  to  repre- 
sent that  great  colony  at  this  (^longress.     (A]iplause.) 

Cul  (lenrge  W.  Bell: 

Ml'.  Chairman,  Ijadies  and  Gentlemen:  Commercial  men 
fnnn  all  creation — and  i\Ianila — 1  greet  you.  (Ajiplause.)  I 
have  seen  very  little  of  you  since  reaching  Philadelphia,  be- 
cause I  am  a  working  niemljer.  and  I  have  had  to  deprive 
myself  of  your  association.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  active 
part  of  affairs,  1  am  with  you.  I  believe  thoroughly  in  com- 
merce. (Applause.)  I  believe  commerce  to  be  the  basis — 
the  vei7  l)asis,  of  civilization,  and  I  want  in  the  first  place  to 
pay  my  tribute  of  respect  to  the  tireless  man  who  bi-ought  us 
together,  from  the  renu)test  parts  of  the  earth.  T  liold  that 
he  who  does  niDst  for  commerce  does  most  for  our  struggling 
race,  and  when  Dr.  Wilson  has  laid  down  his  burden  forever, 
when  his  eyes  have  closed  to  the  mockery  of  light,  and  his 
heart  ceased  its  beating,  to  him,  who  has  led  this  grand  move- 
ment and  brought  together  in  harmony  so  many  representa- 
tives of  so  many  nations,  the  city  of  Philadelphia  will  raise 
a  monument.  (Applause.)  And  when  commercial  men  from 
afar,  meet  liere  in  counsel,  they  will  cast  a  flower  on  the 
mould  above  him,  in  token  of  gratitude.  We  can  hardly  a])- 
preciate  the  benefits  that  may  arise  from  this,  to  be.  historic 
meeting.  Why  have  we  come  tngether?  Why  but  to  study 
and  strive  to  devise  means  by  which  our  people  may  most 
readily  exchange  the  products  of  all  lands,  with  a  hope  of 
satisfying  all  wants  of  an  ever  hungry  and  thirsty  humanity. 
We  are  the  unsatisfied  animal,  and  yet  so  economical  in  our 
methods  are  we,  that  every  man  strives  to  secure  the  liest 
j)ossil)le  living  with  the  least  ])ossil)le  expenditure  and  physi- 
cal and  mental  force.  This  is  the  "object  of  the  meeting," 
and.  this  we  hope  to  do  by  means  of  "exchange."  What  a 
grand  conception,  this  meeting  was.  AVhat  a  noble  idea  lies 
in  the  devotion  of  a  man,  for  the  good  of  all  men.  As  indi- 
cated by  mir  worthy  chairman,  I  am  for  this  occasion,  an 
Australian.  Of  course  1  am  an  American,  very  much  of  one, 
and  if  I  have  won  the  respect  of  the  |)eo]de  with  whom  niv 
lot  for  the  last  six  years  has  been  so  pleasantly  cast,  it  has 
not  been  by  any  .sacrifice  of  my  coTiceptions  of  ti'ue  and  dig- 
nified Americanism.  (Apjdause.)  i  believe  I  have  demon- 
strated the  folly  of  a  gentleman,  in  hoping  to  win  the  respe<.'t 
of  strangers,  anywhere,  by  lowering  his  own  colors.  (A]i- 
plause.) 

As  a  re]]resenlative  of  a  foreign  country,  in  my  own  laiul. 
1  find  myself  not  nuhap])ily  surrounded.  It  seems  to  nu'  that 
the  real  importance,  yes,  the  real  grandeur,  of  this  occasion 


may  be  somewhat  measured  by  the  character  <ir  the  response 
made  to  the  invitations  issued  by  those  devoted  men  to  the 
commercial  world.  (Applause.)  Old  Britain,  is  commercial, 
and  from  all  parts  of  her  vast  empire  come  active  and  pro- 
gressive me7i,  t<i  join  in  the  discussion  of  the  civilizing  force  of 
commerce.  From  the  world's  ccnnmercial  centre,  London, 
came  gentlemen  holding  exalted  social,  business  and  official 
position,  to  represent  sections  of  "Greater  Britain,"  and  to 
join  with  the  manufacturers,  the  merchants,  the  modern  busi- 
ness men  and  the  tradesmen,  in  the  discussion  of  exchange,  of 
commerce  and  of  peat^eful  jirogress. 

Here  sits,  at  my  left,  ]\Iajor-(Jeneral  Sir  Andrew  Clarke, 
whose  long,  valuable  and  devoted  service  to  Ins  country  is  so 
highly  appreciated  that  his  name  is  a  household  word  through- 
out Her  Majesty's  vast  domains,  representing  the  beautiful 
colony  of  Victoria.  (Applause.)  Here  is  Sir  Horace  Tozer, 
whose  name  is  indelibly  connected  with  the  wisest  laws  of 
(Queensland,  representing  that  colony,  thirteen  times  greater 
in  area  than  our  Iowa.  Here  is  the  Honorable  W.  P.  Reeves, 
an  ex-Cal)inet  Minister,  loved  and  honored  by  the  whole 
citizenshiji  of  his  country,  representing  picturesque  New 
Zealand,  while  my  dear  friend  Dr.  CockbTirn,  who  carries 
jiatents  of  nobility  from  the  Ahuighty,  re])resents  South  Aus- 
tralia. (Applause.)  All  these  gentlemen  are  the  agents-gen- 
eral of  their  respective  colonies  at  London,  and  I  am  proud 
to  be  associated  with  these  eminent  men,  as  the  representative 
of  the  New  South  Wales,  for  my  selection  for  that  honorable 
duty,  was  the  highest  possible  compliment  to  my  country. 

But  here  a  few  general  remarks  about  Australia,  or  possibly 
1  might  lietter  say.  New  South  Wales.  I  have  prepared  a 
report  which  gives  in  brief  much  important  infonnation 
touching  many  phases  of  the  bu.siness,  social  and  commercial 
life  of  that  beautiful  land,  which  I  have  submitted  to  Dr. 
Wilson  and  his  co-workers  for  their  use.  It  will  probably 
be  published,  and  if  you  care  to  examine  it,  I  assure  you  the 
books  will  be  open.  I  will  not  consume  your  time  in  reading 
it.  for  statistics  are  "dry,"  and  I  will  merely  "chat"  to  you 
a  little  time  about  Australia.  Of  course,  you  know,  as  with 
other  countries,  most  of  the  best  people  stay  at  home,  so 
y  lu  cannot  be  sur<'  of  forming  a  true  conception  of  Aus- 
tralia's Worth  by  the  feAV  present  at  this  Congress.  (Laugh- 
ter.) Let  me  tell  you,  in  all  candor,  the  Australians  are  a 
splendid  sam]ilc  of  our  race.  They  are  a  commercial  people, 
and  that  means  that  they  are  an  intelligent  and  a  progressive 
])eo]ilc.  But  more:  tlu-y  are,  considering  population,  if  meas- 
ured by  the  same  rules,  the  most  commercial  people  on  the 
globe,  and  that  means  that  they  are  in  all  the  essentials  of 
civilization,  progress  and  lia])piness,  iu  the  front  rank  of 
human  progress.  (Applause.)  Commerce  means  progress, 
and  as  the  Australians  are  the  most  commercial  of  all  people, 
in  their  social  intercourse,  in  their  business  methods,  in  their 
hiinie  life  and  their  political  ideals,  they  are  people  worthy  of 
our  study,  of  our  res])ect,  and  in  numy  cases,  I  may  say,  of 
our  imitation.  (Ap]ilause.)  Commerce  is  the  mightiest  force 
of  civilization,  and  the  magic  wand  of  commerce  has  lashed 
the  Australians  into  a  form  woi'thy  of  dur  highest  admiration. 
As  a  people  trade,  so  are  they:  and  if  you  will  show  me  the 
open  books  revealing  any  nation's  dealing.s,  I  will  show  you 
the  true  condition  of  the  people  of  that  nation,  and  write  the 
history  of  her  jirogress  or  her  failure.  (Ap]ilause.)  Let  me 
tell  you,  the  Australians  are  not  only  jirogressive  and  com- 
mercial, but  per  ca|iita,  they  are  anumg  the  most  wealthy 
]ico])lc  on  I  he  globe.  I''urther,  let  me  tell  you,  they  are,  ])er 
ca])ita,  the  greatest  producei's  on  the  globe,  greater  than  we, 
though  that  may  hurt  our  pride.  Then  let  me  tell  you  farther, 
you  connnercial  men,  that  per  cajiila.  the  living  expenses  of 
the  .Xustralian  are  greatei-  llnin  that  of  any  nilier  people;  and, 
being  gi-eatei-  producers,  having  a  greater  buying  capacity, 
they-jiay  their  "l)ills"  according  to  contract.    As  a  fact,  there 


FOURTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  16,  1899 


4.3 


need  be  no  losses  in  business  in  Australin,  if  business  is  done 
by  business  methods.  As  a  fact,  as  a  people  with  whom  to  do 
business,  as  a  people  with  whom  to  trade,  these  four  and  n 
half  million  Axistralians  are  as  valuable,  yes  mire  valualde, 
than  twenty  million  average  Europeans.  Think  of  that! 
Sydney  has  an  in  and  out  tonnage  greater  than  Lond(Ui  had 
when  I  came  to  this  country,  (laughter)  greater  than  New 
York  had  a  little  while  before  our  "late  unpleasantness."  The 
change. has  come  through  the  expansion  of  the  commercial 
idea,  through  the  shop-keeping  instincts  of  our  race,  and  the 
condition  of  the  people  has  improved  with  the  commercial  ad- 
vancement of  the  times. 

Genius  has  annihilated  time  and  space,  and  Australia,  but 
a  few  brief  years  ago  the  most  distant  and  least  known  of  all 
lands  under  the  sun,  is  now  "very  much  in  evidence,"  and 
as  commerce  has  begun  her  work  of  unifying  and  humanizing 
the  race,  Australia  shines  forth  as  a  beacon  light  for  the 
struggling  millions  whose  souls  are  but  just  touched  with  the 
tire  of  liberty.  As  the  commercial  ideal  has  been  the  motive 
force  back  of  every  civilizing  movement  in  the  world's  pro- 
gressive history,  so  has  commerce  gradually  emancipated  man 
from  his  ancient  superstition,  and  his  love  of  form  and  fet- 
ters. (Applause.)  x\s  Australia  stands  foremo.st  in  oom- 
merce,  so  stands  she  among  the  foremost  in  the  social  regen- 
eration of  the  masses  of  the  people.  In  legislation  she  is 
called  "advanced,"  but  just  laws  can  only  express  the  noblest 
yearnings  of  tho.se  who  must  obey  and  live  by  them.  The 
heart  of  a  nation  is  seen  through  its  laws,  so  a  people  having 
high  ideals  usually  express  their  conscious  force  through  leg- 
islative enactments. 

Americans  know  well  the  strength  and  the  vigor  of  the 
British  Empire,  as  a  political  entity,  but  few  of  them  realize 
that  the  real  strength  of  this  grand  empire  rests  in  the 
loyalty,  the  vigor,  and  the  virtue  of  the  individual  units  of 
which  the  empire  is  constructed,  or  that  the  strength  of  that 
unit  developed  fnom  a  lilierty  as  well  defined  by  law  and  as 
well  acknowledged  by  authority,  as  that  enjoyed  by  the  people 
of  our  grand  republic!  Now  as  the  Australians  are  the  most 
commercial,  so  arc  they  among  the  most  free,  and  being  the 
most  commercial  and  the  most  free,  they  assert  their  superior 
man  and  womanhood  in  the  most  advanced  social  and  politi- 
cal policy  known  among  men.  Tliey  not  only  hold  that 
government  should  consist  of  the  people,  in  their  organized 
capacity,  but  that  the  functions  of  government  should  be 
exerted  in  the  promlotion  of  the  interests  of  the  units  of 
society,  composing  the  government.  With  them,  the  gov- 
ernment is  not  a  l)oss,  but  a  handmaid.  It  is  not  a  signboard 
for  the  direction  of  the  individiial  in  his  journey,  but  a  motive 
force  to  which  he  may  attach  his  industrial  machine,  relying, 
however,  upon  his  own  effort  and  ability  for  success. 

In  Australia,  the  people,  in  their  organized  capacity,  con- 
struct, own  and  operate  the  many  great  utilities,  necessary 
to  the  industrial  prosperity  of  the  people,  in  their  individual 
capacity.  In  Australia,  the  railways,  the  tramways — street 
cars — the  telegraphs,  telephones,  and  many  other  modern 
devices  for  social  betterment,  are  owned  and  operated  by  the 
people  in  their  organized  capacity,  for  the  betterment  of  the 
people  in  their  individual  capacity,  and  though  these  public 
utilities  are  condiicted  with  a  view  of  self-support,  the  charges 
are  satisfactory,  there  are  few  abuses  and  no  scandals.  The 
lands,  are  chiefly  owned  by  the  whole  people,  and  leased  to 
some  of  the  people,  but  in  their  management,  there  are  few 
complaints,  few  aliuses,  and  no  scandals.  The  government, 
or  the  people  in  their  organized  capacity,  build  school  houses, 
run  the  schools,  the  highways,  and  exercise  the  chief  authority 
in  munioipal  management,  but  the  public  conscience,  being 
but  the  reflex  of  the  individual  conscience,  honesty  prevails, 
and  there  are  few  cases  of  injustice,  few  abuses  and  no 
scandals. 


Now,  you  people  who  desire  to  trade  with  the  Australians, 
who  desire  to  enter  that  market  for  health,  for  pleasure  or 
for  profit,  must  remember  that  they  know  what  they  want. 
(Applause.)  If  they  ask  for  a  spool  of  silk,  don't  oifer  them 
kerosene  (laughter).  You  cannot  secure  Australian  confi- 
dence by  smiling  pleasantly  and  looking  wise,  you  cannot  con- 
vince them  by  fair  promises  nor  by  boasting  of  your  goods, 
but  if  you  will  patiently  persevere,  keep  your  wares  up  to 
sample,  pack  properly,  deliver  promptly,  not  change  your 
fashions  too  often,  you  may  build  a  trade,  and  then  if  yoii 
"play  fair,"  the  trade  will  stay  with  you. 

Remember,  Australia  is  the  strongest  competitive  point  on 
the  globe,  but  with  a  people  intelligent  enough  to  choose  and 
wealthy  enough  to  pay  for  what  they  want,  among  competi- 
tors, it  must  be  "the  survival  of  the  fittest."  (Applause.) 
Among  competitors,  I  mean  it  must  l>e  the  survival  of  the 
fightest.    (Laughter.) 

Now,  my  friends,  you  may  have  noticed  that  I  have  spoken 
in  a  general  sense  more  of  Australia  than  of  New  South 
Wales,  but  you  see  the  grandeur  and  greatness  of  New  South 
Wales,  yes  the  grandeur  and  greatness  of  the  people  of  Now 
South  AVales,  goes  without  saying,  (applause)  while  I  feared 
that  these  titled  gentlemen  would  jje  too  modest  to  claim  the 
attention  due  this  happy,  sunny  southern  land.  (Laughter 
and  aijplause.) 

But  a  word  more  about  this  interesting  and  unicjue  gath- 
ering. It  has  no  precedent.  It  stands  alone  in  history  the 
first  of  all  the  ages  of  its  kind.  Think  of  that.  The  tireless 
men  who  shape  the  progressive  miovements  of  the  race,  men 
of  all  colors,  all  races,  speaking  all  langauiges  and  believing 
in  many  religions,  men  from  more  than  twenty  different  na- 
tions, meeting  in  this  staid  city  of  Philadelphia,  to  cat  Buz- 
zard Bay  oysters,  to  get  acquainted  with  one  another  and  to 
discuss  questions  of  business,  business,  the  success  of  which 
must  secure  the  peace  and  happiness  of  the  world.  If  the 
ultimate  aim  of  this  meeting  is  accomplished,  wars  and  con- 
quests will  vanish,  for  each  needs  the  other,  or  modern  civili- 
zation is  a  failure. 

Think  of  the  grand  future,  if  the  hope  of  this  meeting  shall 
be  realized;  when  the  well-lteing  of  each  shall  be  the  care  of 
all;  when  we  shall  nurture  the  interests  of  all  men  that  we 
may  make  money  more  easily  by  doing  bu.siness  with  them, 
(laughter)  when  we  realize  that  we  can  o'nly  be  prosperous  and 
happy,  with  the  world  sharing  our  general  joy.  (Applause.) 
To  me  this  seems  like  the  dawn  of  a  new  era,  in  which  the 
business  sense  of  the  world  shall  dominate,  when  the  product.s 
of  man's  patient  toil  shall  no  longer  be  wasted  by  war,  but 
distributed  amlong  the  homes  of  the  earth.  Then  each  desire 
shidl  be  respected  and  each  shall  render  a  just  equivalent  for 
what  he  or  she  receives  from  other  hands.  I  thank  you. 
(Applause.) 

(Col.  Bell's  paper,  "Glimpses  of  New  South  Wales,"  fol- 
lows.) 

A  Glimpse  of  New  South  Wales. 

The  self-governing  colony  of  New  Soutli  Wales  is  situated 
in  Eastern  Au.stralia  in  latitude  from  about  141  to  153  E., 
and  longitude  from  about  27  to  37  S.  It  has  an  area  of 
olO,700  square  miles,  or  al)out  198,848,000  acres. 

Of  this  total  there  have  been  47,700,000  acres  alienated, 
or  in  process  of  alienation,  for  which  the  government  has 
received  the  total  sum  of  £43, 831. 000,  the  balance  of  the 
land  being  still  owned  and  controlled  by  the  government 
through  a  caljinet  minister. 

The  government  has  leased,  of  the  unalienated  land.s,  a 
total  of  124,184,000  acres  under  different  fomis  of  contracts; 
.-)2, 700, 000  acres  being  pa.sture  leases,  37,000,000  acres  occu- 
pation leases,  13,000,000  conditioned  leases,  and  other  mil- 


44 


PEOC'EEnTNr.S  OF  THE  INTERNA TTONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


lioii.s  luiiK'r  six  utlu-i'  ]'.)nns  of  U-mirc.  Frdiu  tlmsu  luascil 
lauils  iliere  comes  an  annual  revenue  of  about  £"^,000, 000,  or 
nearly  $10,000,000,  or  about  $8  per  cajjita  for  the  population 
of  the  colony. 

The  climate  of  New  South  Wales  is  very  eqnalde,  in  some 
jiortions  semi-tropical  fruits  and  vegetation  are  not  uncom- 
mon. The  mean  temperature  in  Sydney  for  forty  years  has 
been  65  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

Owing  to  t-opogi'aphical  conditions  the  rainfall  in  a  large 
poi-tion  of  New  South  Wales  is  rather  slight,  while  a  con- 
siderai)le  country  in  Central  Austi'alia  is  well  nigh  rainless. 
This  arid  tract  laps  somewhat  over  the  territory  of  New 
S.iuth  Wah's.  The  cause  for  this  slight  waterfall  is  obvious, 
;is  ihe  mountains  run  in  an  nidjroken  chain  parallel  to  the 
coast  and  only  from  60  to  100  miles  from  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
'I'his  mountain  chain  is  sufficiently  elevated  to  cause  the 
chief  precij)itation  to  be  along  the  coast  and  "outside"  the 
range. 

I  woubl  think  about  one-eighth  of  the  colony  from  this 
i-ause  has  a  rainfall  of  from  thirty  to  forty  inches  unequally 
distributed,  a  rather  larger  area  of  what  iijight  be  called 
I  iblc  lands  lying  inside  and  parallel  to  this  mountain  chain 
has  from  twenty  to  thirty  inches  annually,  while  approxi- 
mately one-half  of  the  total  area  has  not  more  than  from  ten 
to  twenty  inches.  This  slight  and  rather  irregular  rainfall 
renders  many  industries  rather  precarious. 

The  productions  of  New  South  Wales  are  varied.  The 
chief  cereal  is  w"heat,  but  there  is  considerable  corn,  some 
barley,  rye  and  oats  gi-own.  Only  in  wheat  is  there  sufficient 
production  for  home  consumption.  Most  of  root  crops  grow 
well  in  the  colony,  but  their  cultivation  is  somewhat  neglected, 
-0  there  are  considerable  importations  in  onions,  potatoes 
snd  the  like.  The  country  is  well  adapted  to  the  production 
if  many  kinds  of  fruits,  especially  oranges,  lemons,  grapes, 
I'mes,  prunes  and  the  like,  and  a  considerable  industry  in 
these  productions  will  sometime  be  developed,  but  the  people 
who  should  raise,  or  would  be  expected  to  give  their  atten- 
tion to  these  products,  are  inclined  to  ignore  their  importance. 

Sugar  in  some  of  the  northern  districts  does  fairly  well, 
but  it  is  occasionally  injured  by  frost,  and  has  to  be  planted 
too  often  to  enable  the  cultivators  to  successfully  compete 
with  more  favored  countries. 

Agriculture. — In  1898  there  was  a  total  area  under  crops 
of  1,821,800  acres,  the  value  of  the  product  being  £6,305,900, 
or  about  $50,000,000.  Of  this  there  was  995,300,000  under 
wheat,  sown  for  Train,  which  yielded  10,560,000  bushels; 
213,720  sow-n  for  hay,  yielding  181,645  tons.  To  Americans 
it  seems  strange  to  cultivate  wheat  for  hay,  but  here  the 
practice  is  common.  There  was  for  the  same  year  220,000 
acres  planted  to  corn,  175,000  to  oats  and  about  25,000  to 
sugar-cane.  This  last  produced  but  269,000  tons  of  cane, 
as  about  half  of  it  for  some  reason  was  uncut. 

The  value  of  the  wheat  crop  is  £2,200,000,  or  about  $10,- 
(100,1100.  Of  the  corn  £923,000,  of  sugar  £127,000,  of  potatoes 
t'302,500,  of  other  jiroducts  than  those  above  enumerated, 
£1,621,000.  There  are  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  agriculture 
about  68,000  persons  as  toilers.  There  is  relatively  little  good 
agricultural  land  in  New  South  Wales  under  present  condi- 
tions, and  such  lands  arc  mostly  coidined  to  the  alluvial  val- 
leys in  the  coastal  districts.  However,  with  some  system  of 
irrigation,  there  are  vast  fertile  districts  in  the  interior  that 
may  be  in  the  future  utilized  by  agriculfure.  Then,  as  most 
of  the  richer  lands  are  covered  with  dense  scrub  or  forest, 
the  cost  of  subduing  them  or  placing  them  under  cultiva- 
tion in  the  first  instance  is  vei^  considerable.  The  price  of 
land  heretofore  has  also  tended  to  retard  agricultural  growth, 
wbilc  the  profits  in  other  imrsuits  have  left  the  lands  rather 
liarr  of  inbaliitants.  However,  as  recent  land  laws  have  been 
more  liberal,  Ihe  agricultural  holdings  have  been  increasini; 


(juiic  rajiidly  during  the  last  year  or  two;  the  number  of 
holdings  was  in  1897,  65,278;  under  cultivation,  33,518,000; 
while  in  1898  the  holdings  were  66,236,  and  under  cultiva- 
tion 43,935,115  acres.  Farming  in  New  South  AVales,  as  a 
rule,  is  carried  on,  like  other  bu.siness  and  industries,  on  a 
large  scale  and  the  most  improved  machinery,  largely  of 
American  make,  is  generally  used. 

Live  Sftock.- — New  South  Wales  is  essentially  a  stock-raising 
country,  for  the  year  1897  there  were  in  the  colony  43,952,- 
000  head  of  she«p;  2,085,000  head  of  cattle;  495,034  head  of 
horses;  207,738  head  of  swine. 

The  number  of  sheep  varies  greatly  during  comparatively 
short  intervals.  For  instance,  in  1891,  there  were  nearly 
62,000,000  sheep  in  the  colony,  while  at  the  present  time, 
September,  '99,  there  are  hardly  more  than  43,000,000.  How- 
ever, as  the  flocks  will  almost  double  in  a  single  good  season, 
the  recuperative  powers  of  New  Soiith  Wales,  and  of  Aus- 
tralia is  marvelously  great.  This  possibility  of  rapid  increase 
has  a  tendency  to  over-stocking  in  good  seasons. 

The  small  number  of  swine  in  the  list  will  surprise  Ameri- 
cans, as  would  also  the  low  price  of  horses. 

Pastoral  Products. — Wool  is  not  only  the  chief  product  of 
New  South  Whales,  but  a  chief  product  of  all  the  Australian 
colonies.  The  wool  clip  for  '97  was  258,514,280  pounds,  or 
722,427  bales,  valued  at  £7,224,270;  while  owing  to  an  in- 
crease in  price,  the  clip  of  1888  of  713,610  bales  was  valued 
at  £8,227,876.  Great  pains  are  being  taken  by  all  the  chief 
breeders,  here  called  "sotters,"  to  improve  the  fineness  and 
the  value  of  the  fleece,  the  Vermont  merino  rapidly  gaining 
in  favor  and  taking  most  of  the  prizes  at  the  sheep  show  of 
the  colany.  About  sixty-nine  per  cent,  of  the  New  South 
Wales  clip  is  now  being  sold  in  the  Sydney  markets. 

Meat.  Frozen,  Etc. — The  exjiort  of  frozen  meat  by  this 
colony  has  become,  or  is  becoming,  a  rather  important  in- 
dustry, and  during  1897  a  total  of  1,372,373  carcases  of 
mutton  and  28,528  quarters  of  beef  were  exported,  at  a  value 
of  £275,647;  while  for  the  same  year  there  was  exported  over 
3,000,000  pounds  of  meat  in  other  forms,  valued  at  £636,000. 

Dairy. — As  a  branch  of  agriculture,  the  dairy  industry  of 
New  South  Wales  is  also  becoming  an  important  one.  The 
present  number  of  dairy  cows  as  reported  by  Coghlin,  is 
411,498,  and  there  was  for  that  year  23,717,500  pounds  of 
factory  butter  and  5,676,457  pounds  of  "farm  butter,"  or  a 
total  of  29,409,906  pounds  produced.  This  industry  em- 
ploys 25,443  persons,  about  e^qually  divided  as  to  sex.  The 
production  of  cheese  is  not  increasing,  the  output  for  1897 
l3eing  3,937,168  poimds,  or  187,339  pounds  below  the  con- 
sumption. The  dairy  plants  are  fitted  up  with  the  most  im- 
proved machinery,  a  fair  portion  of  it  coming  from  America. 
The  dairy  stock  is  usually  of  superior  breeds  and  is  handled 
with  great  care.  The  total  exportation  of  pastnral  and  dairy 
products  for  1898  was  £11,430,975,  or  about  $57,000,000. 

Fruit. — This  country  is  naturally  well  adapted  to  horti- 
culture and  viniculture,  though  there  is  no  scientific  attention 
given  to  both  branches  of  this  splendid  industry. 

In  1S9S  there  were  8,083  acres  in  grape  vines,  4,490  acres 
of  wliicb  were  for  wine  making  exclusively.  This  branch 
of  indnstrv  is  not  in  a  very  flourishing  condition.  It  requires 
nuire  skill  and  a  more  projjcr  ap]ireciation  of  the  nu'rit-;  of 
the  ]iroducts  by  the  ])eo]ile  themselves.  In  the  same  year 
there  M'ere  13,943  acres  of  oranges,  but  results  in  this  line  arc 
not  reassuring,  unless  more  skill  is  applied  to  the  cultiva- 
tion. The  possil)ilities,  howevei-,  are  beyond  question.  In 
"fruit  garden,*"  tlxere  were  31,019  acres,  yielding  a  product 
valued  at  £155,521.  I'or  (lu>  year  under  consideration  the 
colonv  ex])orted  fruits.  umliT  varimis  classificatipns,  to  the 
value'of  ZIS8.000:  bill  imported  1  be  same  year  about  £31  1.000 
worth.     For  the  vear  1S98  there  was  a  total  of  12(1,01  I   per- 


FOriiTJl  DAY'S  SESSION,  UCTUBEK  16,  1899 


45 


sons  engaged  in  the  various  branches  of  agriculture,  pastoral, 
fruit  and  dairy  production. 

Mining. — In  1897 — last  completed  statistics — there  were 
-11.208  persons  eniploved  in  various  mining  operations  in 
New  South  Wales,  with  a  value  of  plant  of  £1,698,230  iu 
silver  and  silver  lead,  and  £1,230,041  was  in  coal.  This 
industry  is  gradually  growing.  Sluicing  and  river  bottom 
dredging  promises  to  materially  increase  the  gold  output  for 
the  immediate  future.  The  exports  from  the  mining  indus- 
tries of  New  South  Wales  for  1898  were  £3,482,000,  or  about 
$11,000,000. 

JIanufactures. — In  1897  there  were  of  all  classes  of  nuuiu- 
facturing  enterprises,  in  the  colony,  3,826  establishments,_ 
employing  51,439  persons,  all  of  whom  but  7.106  were  males, 
The  horse  power  employed  in  these  establishments  is  esti- 
mated at  33,252,  and  there  was  invested  in  plants  a  total  of 
£5,535,905. 

In  these  2,826  establishments  there  was  employed  a  "fixed 
capital"  of  £17,538,979.  The  total  amount  of  wages  paid  was 
£4,458,836,  the  material  cost  £7,874,682,  the  fuel  £425.1(il, 
and  the  total  value  of  the  output  was  £16,095,629.  The 
term  "Manufactory"'  in  the  statistics,  used  in  the  last  cal- 
culation, is  rather  loosely  applied,  especially  does  the  amount 
specified  as  "fixed  capital,"'  seem  to  be  out  of  joint  with  the 
former  calculations  of  an  investment  in  "plant"  of  £5,535,905. 
The  manufacturing  industries  inchide  a  varied  class  of  works, 
such  as  treating  raw  materials  of  the  pastoral  kind,  those  in 
connection  with  food  and  drink,  of  clothing,  of  building,  of 
furniture,  of  vehicles,  of  lioots  and  shoes,  of  light,  etc.,  of 
books  and  paper,  of  leather,  iron  and  many  others  of  the 
nature.  Most  of  the  machinery  and  many  of  the  appliances 
are  well  np  to  date. 

Total  Production. — The  total  value  of  the  products  of  the 
colony,  the  value  of  wdiich  constitutes  the  purchasing  capacity 
of  the  people,  foots  up  as  follows: 

Manufactures i8,872,800 

Agriculture  6.206,000 

Dairv  and  poultry 2,653,300 

Pastoral— total   ." 11,823.400 

:\Iining— total  4,853,300 

Forestry  and  Fisheries 750,000 

Aggregating 35,158.800 

Deducting  raw  material 215.300 

Total  net  value   £34,943,500 

This  constitutes  the  Iniying  capacity  of  the  people  of  New 
South  Wales,  a  per  capita  buying  capacity  greater,  much 
greater,  than  any  other  people  on  the  globe.  The  per  capita 
])rflduction  of  Australia  exceeds  that  of  the  United  States  as 
20  is  to  14.  and  ]iroduetion  is  the  measure  of  her  purchasing 
power. 

The  po])ulation  of  this  colony  of  310,700  square  miles  is 
about  1,250,000,  nearly  all  being  of  English,  Irish,  Scotch 
and  AVelsh  blood.  The  population  of  the  colony,  and  I  under- 
stand the  wealth  also,  has  doubled  during  the  last  twenty 
years,  and  notwithstanding  unfavoralile  seasons,  the  industrial 
progress  of  the  country  is  most  promising. 

The  productions,  as  above  noted,  give  the  people  of  New 
South  Wales  a  greater  per  capita  buying  cajiacity,  from 
substantial  incomes,  than  enjoyed  by  any  other  people  on 
the  globe,  possibly  excepting  those  of  some  of  the  other 
Australian  Colonies. 

Social  Conditions. — New  South  Wales  has  a  fairly  good 
public  school  system.  T  might  -ay  an  excellent  one  from 
almost  any  standpoint.    Judging  by  results  T  think  it  would 


bear  favorable  comparison  with  the  systems  of  the  most  ad- 
vanced nations.  (_»ne  feature,  however,  does  not  strike  Ameri- 
cans agreeably,  as  there  is  here  a  law  and  a  custom  that 
parents  who  are  able,  pay  for  the  instruction  of  their  children, 
while  those  who  are  not,  send  them  free.  I  fear  there  is  an 
underlying  danger  in  thus  creating  a  class  distinction.  The 
whole  public  educational  system  here  is  under  and  controlled 
by  the  government  through  a  cabinet  minister.  The 
"Mini.ster  of  Education"  is  the  sole  director  and  responsible 
head  of  the  school  system,  aided  by  a  pernuinont  staff  now 
under  a  broad,  liberal,  non-jjartisan  civil  service  board. 
There  were  2,577  State  schools  with  4,626  teachers  and  arf 
average  daily  attendance  of  148,381  pupils  in  1897.  Besides 
the  many  schools,  ranking  with  our  "district  schools"  there 
are  a  large  number  of  high  schools,  some  furnishing  careful 
technical  training  besides  several  colleges  and  the  great' 
Sydney  University.  Well-informed  educators  from  our" 
country  speak  approvingly  of  the  practical  workings  of  the 
colonial  schools.  For  1897,  this  colony  expended  in  the 
administration  of  her  primarv  schools  £692,395,  or  about 
$3,450,000,  £73,684  of  which 'was  paid  in  fees  l)y  the  belter- 
to-do  parents. 

There  are  some  excellent  reformatory  and  industrial 
schools  in  the  colony,  and  there  are  many  well  patronized 
libraries  in  every  city,  town,  suburb  and  village  in  the  countrv. 
The  per  cent,  of  illiteracy  is  very  small;  the  people  are  con- 
siderable readers  and  among  the  "well-to-do"'  they  are  usiuilly 
very  well  infornu'd.  As  a  fact  the  "well-to-do""  classes  are 
exceptionally  "well  read," 

The  country  has  several  very  able  and  very  well  managed 
newspapers  besides  many  periodical  publications  having  fair 
merit.  As  in  other  countries  there  is  an  enormous  amount 
of  "trash"  read,  though  the  leading  journals  are  exceptionally 
pure  in  tone  and  elevated  in  controversal  discussion.  There 
is  a  plentiful  supply  of  poets  and  authors  of  light  literature 
in  Australia,  but  as  yet  there  have  been  few  attcm]its  at 
serious  literary  labor. 

Charities. — I  have  never  seen  so  charital)lc  a  [leople  as 
those  in  New  South  Wales,  and  never  so  strong  a  tendency 
to  avoid  a  feeling  of  humiliation  from  the  unfortunates  who 
are  compelled  to  receive  "assistance."  As  there  is  a  greater 
concentration  of  property  in  few  hands  here  than  there  is  in 
our  country,  there  is  considerable  poverty  here,  espeeiallv 
considering  the  newness  of  the  community  and  the  vastness 
of  the  country.  But  the  efl'orts  made  on  every  hand  to 
alleviate  the  suffering  of  the  poor,  but  excite  the  surprise 
and  the  admiration  of  all  observing  visitors  from  other  lands. 
What  we  in  America  call  "Poor  Houses"  they  of  Au.stralia 
call  "Asylums,"  and  theirs  like  ours  are  abundantly 
"patronized."  These  asvlums  are  models  of  cleanliness  and 
comfort,  and  few  indeed  are  the  scandals  connected  with 
their  management.  In  asylums  for  the  unfortunate  and 
hospitals  and  kindred  institutions,  our  own  country  might 
learn  some  valuable  lessons  from  these  young  commonwealths. 
During  1897  the  Government  of  New  South  Wales  expended 
in  charities  £405,000,  while  private  subscriptions  for  the  same 
purpose  run  the  total  amount  for  the  year  up  to  £525.000.  or 
nearly  $2,500,000.  This  means  for  charity  alone,  a  cost  of 
nearly  $2.00  per  capita  for  the  whole  population  of  the  colony. 

Tendency  of  Legislation. — The  tendency  of  legislation  in 
all  the  Australian  Colonies  is  decidedly  democratic.  Many 
acts  of  these  Colonial  Parliaments,  under  a  sturdy  monarchial 
system,  would  surprise  the  great  democracy  of  our  country. 
The  tendency  is' almost  more  socialistic  than  democratic,  for 
democracy  to  my  mind  means  a  sturdy  individualism.  Here 
I  fear,  while  the  greatest  liberty  is  enjoyed,  there  is  a  growing 
inc]inati(ni  among  a  large  class,  of  young  men  at  least,  to  lean 
on  the  government  for  guidance  and  support.  In  the  colonies 
where  the  gaveniment  owns,  controls  and  manages  so  many 


46 


PR()CKEDlX(iS  Ol'  Till-:   IXTKliXATIOXAL  ('OM.MKIICIAL  CONGKESS 


of  tlic  common  iitilities  to  operate  wliioh  it  employs  so  many 
persons,  a  great  and  ever  increasing  luimher  of  young  men 
are  inclined  to  strive  for  positions  in  the  Civil  Service,  and 
iiiis.  to  my  miud,  checks  the  growth  of  sturdy  self-reliance. 
However,  there  are  no  dangers  from  cdinmunism,  or  any  other 
deterioratingism  among  the  people  so  purely  Anglo-Saxon. 
The  op])orUinities  for  self  employment  are  not  as  great  as 
they  have  heretofore  heen  in  the  United  States,  but  1  sec  no 
more  deteriorating  effects  from  public  employment  in  Aus- 
tralia, than  from  public  employment  in  the  United  States. 
The  honesty,  the  im|)artiality  and  the  capability  with  which 
the  government-owned  jjublic  utilities  are  managed  must  be 
a  surprise  to  all  impartial  observers.  In  the  borrowing  and 
the  investment  of  say  $2.")0,000,000,  in  the  creation  of  these 
pulilic  utilities  and  in  their  management,  there  have  been  no 
scandals.  Many  Americans  view  with  disdain  this  species  of 
legislation,  but  my  own  observation  is  that  for  Australia  it 
has  the  wisest  ])ossible  policy  as  it  has  vastly  accelerated  the 
industrial  develo])nient  and  progress  of  the  country.  I  have 
thus  briefly  referred  to  the  tendency  of  legislation  in  New- 
South  Wales  and  Australia  because  I  know  of  no  other 
country  in  which  business  life  is  so  intimately  connected  with 
and  influenced  by  legislative  enactnu'uts.  Here  political, 
social  and  business  life,  are  closely  allied. 

Public  I'tilities. — In  nothing  does  the  intelligence,  pati'i- 
(vtisni  and  integrity  of  ]ieople  shine  forth  with  more  hope- 
ful lustre,  or  in  which  the  untramelcd  authority  of  a  peo]ile  to 
manage  its  own  affairs  demonstrates  the  quickening  powers 
of  responsibility,  than  may  be  found  in  the  fidelity  with 
which  the  public  iilililics  nt  all  the  Ausli-alian  colonies  are 
controlled  and  nuinaged.  Xearly  all  the  public  utilities  of 
New  South  Wales,  such  as  railways,  telegraphs,  telephones, 
street  raihvays,  scliool  buildings,  highways,  wharfs  and 
sewers,  four-fifths  of  tlie  land  in  the  colony,  are  owned  and 
operated  by  tlic  guvcrnment  of  the  colony.  In  the  colony 
of  New  Siiutli  Wales  there  are  2,()91  nules  of  railway,  having 
cost,  willi  wiii-kshops,  nuichinerv,  buildings,  apjjliances  and 
rolling  stock,  /:;:,?19.4(»2,  or  about  $lcS8,.5()(),()()(i.  On  these 
government  railways  there  are  em])loyed  10..");  I  men.  receiv- 
ing £l,n;!,l!H),  or  about  $.•>.. ^C-t.Oo'o  annually  in  w.iges. 
These  roads  are  under  the  absolute  jnanagemcnt  of  a  non- 
partisan commission,  the  employes  are  under  a  semi-civil 
.service  system.  1'hey  carried  for  1899,  ending  June  'M). 
23,233,20(;  persons,  ■l,4(i;5,728  tons  of  goods  (freight)  and 
]fifi,820  tons  of  livestock,  while  the  gro.^s  earnings  were 
£.'i,02G,T  18.  or  nearly  $l.").(iii().ii(i(i,  the  working  expenses  were 
$l^()14,(i()r).  or  a  lu't  revenue  of  $1 . 1  1 2.1  |-.'.  or  fully  tliree 
p(^i'  cent,  on  "'inveslmenl."" 

These  railways  being  liuill.  dwncil  ami  p.iid  I'oi'  hy  the 
people,  are  operated  in  the  interest  (if  the  peo|ile.  ihe  charges 
adjusting  themselves  to  the  ]iulilic  requirements — of  course 
always  being  nuinaged  with  a  view  of  self-su])pnrt. 

Tiiere  are  ;i.'i,00<)  miles  of  telegraph  mid   l.-MM)  tele|il es 

in  New  South  Wales,  all  owiu'd  by  the  goveniinciii.  and  all 
well  and  cbea|)ly  managed  by  a  non-partisan  euiii|inny  and 
operated  by  civil-service  employes.  The  nundier  of  govern- 
ment "servants" — em|il(iycs — on  the  public  ]iav-roll  in  New 
South  Wales  is  enormous,  consideiing  jiopulal  ion;  vet  then' 
is  little  of  the  laxity,  inc-ompetency,  or  jiolitical  evil  jiicturi'd 
by  those  unaccustomed  to  the  system.  The  government — 
which  means  an  elected  parlianu'ut  "stipreine"  in  all  its  legis- 
lative enactments — while  it  has  borrowed  eiKinnous  sums  of 
nuiney,  has  created  these  public  utilities,  owned  :iiid  opei-ated 
them,  ein|)loying  thousands  of  persons,  owneil  ,iiii|  managed 
four-fifths  of  the  lands  of  the  (•ommonwealth.  and  retained 
a  veT7  large  aidlujrity  over  all  municipal  alfairs.  there  has 
ni;ver  been  a  scandal,  a  proven  case  «f  favoritism,  or  a  states- 
man known  to  have  used  his  position  for  ]icrsonal  gain  in  the 
liistory  of  the  counti-y.     One  of  the  credited  railway  experts 


of  America,  a  gentleman  wdio  has  seen  more  of  the  various 
railway  systems  of  the  world  than  almost  any  other  liring 
man,  told  me  that  he  regarded  the  New  South  Wales  railways 
as  among  the  ))est  and  most  efficiently  managed  of  any  on  the 
globe.  There  is  another  feature  of  these  AiLstraliau  railways 
worthy  of  our  praise.  There  is  none  of  the  careless,  I  will  say 
almost  wilful,  destruction  of  baggage  on  these  roads  such  as 
all  travelers  in  America  must  submit  to.     In  Australia  anv 


baggage  mav  be  safelv  checked,  wlule  in  the 


'nited  States 


none  should  be  but  dynamite. 

Australian  lianks. — There  are  thirteen  banks  of  issue 
ojieratiug  in  New  South  Wales.  These  are  vast  financial  cor- 
porations, vrith  branches  in  all  the  colonies  and  in  the  suburbs 
of  the  cities  in  which  the  head  quarters  are  located.  Some 
of  them  have  a  few  hundred  branches,  all  being  managed  by 
a  board  holding  its  sittings  at  the  main  office.  As  most  of 
these  concerns  advance  on  quite  a  variety  of  .securities,  numy 
of  our  people  are  inclined  to  regard  them  more  as  general  loan 
offices  than  as  banks.  The  assets  of  these  Itanks,  operating 
within  the  colony  in  the  year  1898,  were  £42,638,224,  while 
the  liabilities  were  but  £31,311,293,  leaving  a  surplus  of 
£11,326,931.  The  metallic  reserve  for  tli,e  same  years  was 
£3,765,180,  or  about  $28,000,000.  The  advance  (loans)  made 
in  this  colony  for  1898,  mostly  secured  by  real  estate, 
amounted  to  £34,403,700,  and  the  deposits  with  these  banks 
for  the  same  year  amounted  to  i22,309,723,  £19,040,896  of 
which  bears  interest,  usttally  at  3  per  cent. 

All  of  those  thirteen  banks  of  Australia  are  banks  of  is.sue, 
and  four  of  them  have  their  chief  headquarters  in  Sydney. 
The  note  circulation  is  not  limited  by  law,  but  in  Nen^  South 
Wales  there  is  a  note  tax  of  2  per  cent.,  from  which  the  gov- 
ernment receives  about  £25.000  per  annum.  This  indicates 
the  value  or  amount  of  the  paper  money  in  circulation  in  the 
colony.  The  rate  of  exchange  in  Sydney  is  established  by 
London,  and  it  has  been  found  that  on  some  occasions  money 
could  be  tclegra])hcd  to  San  Francisco  cheaper  than  it  could 
be  sent  through  the  process  of  exchange.  However,  as  a 
rule,  banking  facilities  are  not  un,satisfactory.  There  are  two 
remarkably  well  nuinaged  government  savings  banks  in  Syd- 
ney, which  ai'e  in\ahiable  to  the  '■connnon  pcNiple"'  in  the 
community. 

Public  belit.— The  public  debt  of  New  South  Wales  is 
on  a  po[)ulation  basis,  enormouslv  heavv,  aggregating  £63.- 
112,720.  being  about  $250  per  capita.  Of  this  indebtednes.s 
£54.431,800  is  held  in  London  and  but  £8,680,000  in  Sydney. 
The  interest  will  average  aljout  4  per  cent.  This  seems  a  heavy 
burden  for  1.250.000  peojde.  Init  this  only  "seems,"  as  from 
fuither  inquiry  it  will  appear.  It  must  be  remembered  tiuit 
the  colony  has  constructed  all  it  railways,  its  tramways  and 
other  utilities,  that  it  owns  very  valuable  wharf  improvements 
lelcphones,  telegraphs  and  ofher  reproductive  works.  To 
construct  these  utilities,  to  stock  and  furnish  them,  nearly  all 
this  vast  debt  was  incurred.  The  2,639  miles  of  railway,  up 
t(i  ilate.  have  rc(|uircd  £.'i7,3(i9,205  in  their  construction  and 
ci|inpmcnt.  !!ui  this  is  a  valuable  a.-^set,  and  I  am  iuformtd 
that  the  railways  ami  tramways  could  be  sold  at  (he  ]U'esent 
tinu'  for  a  sum  c(|ualing  their  |U'esent  cost  to  the  community. 
I'Vnm  llicse  re|.)rodiict  i\c  woi-ks  and  utilities,  crealed  b\  the 
mnne\  tor  which  the  debt  was  made,  there  is  a  revenue  of 
fully — I  am  informed — 3  per  cent,  net,  on  present  standing 
cost,  and  as  the  £1,976.81  (;  annual  rents  from  lea.sed  lands 
C'ome  almost  exclusively  Irnm  \alues  created  by  their  incroa.sed 
accessihilifv.  owing  tn  ihe  constructiiui  of  the  railways' into 
the  interior  (d'  the  cnldiiy.  the  bui-dens  are  greatly  decrea.sed. 
'I'he  net  revenue  from  these  i-eprodnctive  luitional  works, 
was,  in  1898.  e4.610,546.  Then,  as  a  fact.  New  South  Wales 
has  re])rodiicti\e  assets,  equal  in  value  tn  every  shilling  of  her 
indebtecbu'ss.  and  she  actually  i'eci'i\es  an  annual  revenue 
from  the  values  created  bv  tlu'  moiu'\   Inr  which  the  debt  was 


FOUETII  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  16,  1899 


4T 


incurred.  Then,  further,  as  a  fact,  I  know  of  no  country  on 
the  globe  whose  public  finances  are  in  so  favorable  a  condition 
as  those  of  this  colony.  It  is  not  the  size  of  the  debt,  but  the 
burden  of  interest  that  weighs  on  a  people,  as  a  debt,  for 
whicli  there  may  be  credited  an  asset,  reproductive  to  the 
extent  of  the  interest  on  the  debt,  is  no  burden. 

Business  Methods. — The  business  methods  of  New  South 
Wales  are  peculiar  to  Australia.  It  is  a  country  of  "big 
tilings."  As  I  have  shown  in  the  case  of  the  banks,  so  other 
business  operations  may  be  estimated.  The  better  lands  are 
mostly  held  in  large  tracts,  and  too  many  of  the  farmers  are 
really  but  tenants.  From  fifty  to  one  hundred  thousand  acre 
tracts  are  not  uncommon  in  any  of  the  Australian  colonies, 
and  in  the  purely  pastoral  districts,  there  are  stations — called 
in  America  ranches — containing  as  high  as  a  million  acres. 
One  person,  a  nolile  man — ])ut  not  a  noljleman — owns  over 
1,000,000  sheep,  and  over  1,000,000  acres  of  land  upon  which 
to  pasture  them.  Several  millions  of  the  forty  million  sheep 
now  ownexl  in  New  South  Wales,  are  held  in  flocks  of  over 
50,000.  But  to  make  this  industiy  profitable,  large  expenses 
in  improving  the  breed,  in  fencing  "paddocks,"  in  providing 
water,  sheds,  and  machinery  for  shearing  are  necessary.  As 
the  upper  thought  guides  the  world,  so  does  the  most  con- 
spicuous business  method  set  the  pace  of  the  business  of  the 
community.  The  mercantile  establishments  of  the  colony 
are  on  like  scale  with  the  "sheep  runs;"  the  stores,  as  we 
would  call  them,  or  the  business  houses  that  do  $2,000,000 
worth  of  business  or  over  per  year,  and  keep  from  500  to 
1 ,000  employes,  are  not  very  uncommon  in  Australia.  As  the 
government  parcel  post  comes  also  to  the  assistance  of  these 
great  merchants,  by  enabling  them  to  extend  their  retail 
operations  throughout  the  colony,  I  am  not  sure  these  vast 
concerns  are  an  unmixed  blessing,  but  they  evolved  from  the 
environing  conditions. 

But  business  here  is  stable.  The  people  are  rather  con- 
servative and  so  are  their  business  methods.  It  is  not  as  easy 
to  secure  or  to  "step"  into  a  thriving  business  here  as  in  our 
country,  but  once  l)uild  a  l)usiness,  by  securing  the  confidence 
of  the  trade,  and  it  will  stay  by  you.  "Flirtations"  with  trade 
are  as  unsafe  as  tlu'y  are  in  social  life.  People  here  are  not 
usually  in  a  hurry.  An  illustration  of  how  they  regard  haste 
may  be  interesting.  Eecently  at  a  banquet  I  was  seated  by 
one  of  the  most  noted  personages  in  Australia,  when  the  con- 
versation turned  on  the  "bustle  of  American  life."  "What," 
said  he,  "is  the  use  of  hurrying  through  life  at  ninety  miles 
an  hour?"  He  was  aiuused  when  I  observed  that  "it  would 
be  very  foolish  certainly,  if  wo  could  go  one  lumdred  miles  an 
hour."  But  tbere  are  many  admirable  features  in  Australian 
business  methods.  The  people  know  what  they  want  and 
they  pay  their  bills  promptly  when  due.  There  need  be  no 
losses  in  this  country  if  business  is  conducted  on  business 
j^rinciples. 

Commercial  S^'dney. — There  are  a  few  things  to  Ije  ke])t 
in  mind  by  manufacturers  and  business  firms  desiring  to 
enter  the  Australian  market.  Kemember,  Sydney,  from  a 
commercial  point  of  view,  is  practically  New  South  Wales. 
Sydney  is  one  of  the  strongest  competitive  points  on  the 
glol)e,  where  one  mu.st  meet  the  world's  competitors  on  terms 
of  perfect  equality.  This  is  one  point.  Another  is,  that  the 
people  are  unprejudiced  and  they  buy  goods  on  their  merits, 
or  at  least  on  their  own  judgment  of  what  they  want. 
Another  is,  that  the  people  are  not  carried  away  with  "new- 
fangled"' notions,  but  want  what  experience  has  shown  them 
to  be  reliable  and  worth  the  money  paid.  Still  another  point 
is,  and  this  is  an  important  matter,  they  are  the  most  aide  to 
buy  of  any  people  of  like  numbers  anywhere,  and  as  there 
need  be  no  loss  in  business  transactions — this  may  be  an 
interesting  point.  There  is  still  another  phase  of  this  q\ies- 
tion  to  be  observed,  and  that  is,  that  manufacturers  or  dealers 


in  sijecial  articles  should  send  special  agents,  to  introduce 
them,  and  when  once  brought  before  the  public  and  popular- 
ized, they  should  either  keep  the  special  agents  employed  in 
special  work,  or  deal  through  well-established  houses,  whose 
staff  know  tlie  demands  of  the  trad€,  the  vicissitudes  of  the 
seasons,  the  responsibility  and  reliability  of  the  would-be 
2)urcha.sers,  and  all  the  ins  and  outs  of  the  export  trade. 

I  will  conclude  l)y  a  brief  review  of  last  year's  trade  of  New 
South  Wales,  with  esjiecial  reference  to  the  part  the  Ameri- 
cans played  in  such  transactions. 

The  last  has  been  the  fourth  of  a  series  of  discouraging 
years  for  New  South  Wales,  as  scarcely  has  the  drought  been 
broken  during  this  period,  yet  the  resources  of  the  colony  are 
so  great  and  the  enterprise  of  the  people  so  untiring  that 
liusiness  has  shown  some  encouraging  developments. 

Total  tonnage. — The  books  show  the  total  in  and  out  ton- 
nage of  the  ports  of  New  South  Wales  to  have  been:  1897, 
0.744,431  tons;  1898,  0,919,928  tons.  Of  steamers  entering 
and  clearing  the  i>orts  of  New  South  Wales  for  the  year:  1897, 
5,048  vessels,  with  5,307,935  tons;  1898,  5,198  vessels,  with 
5,585,233  tons.  Sailers:  1897,  1,417  vessels,  with  1,436,490 
tons;  1898,  1,383  vessels,  with  1,334,695  tons. 

Of  the  total  foreign  vessels  of  all  kinds  entering  and  clear- 
ing, there  were  for: 

1897. 

Steam — I'nited  Slates  17  with  32,73.S  tons. 

Sailers— United  States 123     "  123,323    " 

Totaling   140     "  155,961    " 

Steam— German  09     "  211.001    " 

Sailers— German    85     "  110,096    " 

Totaling   154     "  321,097    " 

1898. 

Steam— United  States   18     "     34,902    " 

Sailers— United  States 117     "  109,257    " 

Totaling   135     "  144,159    " 

Steam— German   56     "   191,123    " 

Sailers— German   59     "     72,593    " 

Totaling 115     "  263,716    " 

Tile  French  have  a  uKuithiy  service  between  Marseilles  and 
Sydney,  Ijut  the  frequent  trips  of  French  steamers  between 
Sydney  and  the  island  i^ossessious  render  the  statistics  very 
confusing. 

The  lesser  total  tonnage  for  United  States  for  1898  does 
not  mean  a  smaller  trade  with  the  colony,  but  a  variation  in 
the  number  and  tonnage  of  vessels  coaling  at  Newcastle. 

Commerce. — The  total  trade  of  New  South  AVales  with  all 
the  world  for  the  last  five  years  has  been  as  follows,  in  sterling 
monev:  for  1894,  £36,379,614;  for  1895,  £37,927,200;  for 
1896,  £43,571,819:  for  1897,  £45,495,422,  and  for  1898, 
£52,101,677. 

This  shows  an  increase  of  the  total  trade  of  40  per  cent. 

As  the  chief  interest  of  every  nation  in  foreign  trade  is  as 
a  seller,  I  submit  the  following  facts  as  to  the  importations, 
or  buying  power  of  New  South  Wales.  Her  importations 
from  all  sources  for  the  five  years  from  1894  to  1898  inclusive 
were,  in  steriing  money:  £1-5,801,941;  £15,992,415;  £20,561,- 
510;  £21,744,350;  £29,453,560;  an  encouraging  increase. 

The  total  imports  from  "foreign"  countries — other  than 
British— increased  from  il.414,000  or  about  $7,000,000 
worth  in  1894  to  £3,377,635  or  $16,315,306  in  1898,  while  the 


48 


I'HOCKKDING.S  OF  TllK  INTKH.N A'J'lO.N Al-  CO.M.MKi;!  lAL  (  O.XUIJKSS 


followins  allows  the  iini)ortatioii.s  from  the  United  States,  for 
cncli  t»f  d;o  L-r.Ieiiflar  years  rcferretl  to,  in  manufactures  and 
:i(.iienil  lucrcliandise,  eliminating  the  abnormal  importations 
i;  '.vlical  and  flour,  to  wit: 

For  the  ealendar  year  1804    £543,427  or  $3,93f.,196 

.'     '••         «  ■"     181)5    624,308  or    3,033,943 

"     «         "  "    is9(i 1.019.987  or    4,957.113 

«     «         «  "     1897    1.35G.328  or    0.591,755 

«     «         "  '■     1898   1,546,007  or    7,516,511 

The  last,  year's  sales  of  Tnited  States  to  New  South  AVales 
almost  equal  iier  entire  purehasc  from  all  the  other  -'foreign" 
countries  on  the  globe. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  United  States  market,  for  staple 
merchandise  in  the  colony,  has  steadily  increased  at  a  most 
unprecedented  rate  during  the  years  under  consideration, 
nearly  the  whole  period  of  which  has  been  marked  by  dis- 
couraging seasons. 

This  market  of  staple  merchandise  and  manufactured  prod- 
ucts, the  chief  value  of  which  is  labor,  from  £543.427  or 
$2. 636. 196  worth  in  1894.  increasing  in  this  short  period  to 
£1,546.607  or  $7,516,511  worth  in  1898  means  an  increase  in 
the  five  years  of  over  184  per  cent,  or  a  trade  almost  three 
times  as"  great  as  it  was  but  five  years  ago.  The  United 
States  now  su])plies  about  47  per  cent,  of  the  total  merchan- 
dise bought  by  this  colony  from  "foreign  countries." 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

We  have  now  concluded  the  addresses  which  were  espe- 
cially arranged  for  New  South  Wales,  and  will  take  up  those 
which  are  directed  especially  in  the  interest  of  Victoria. 
The  next  address  will  be  on  "Victoria  and  Its  Eesources," 
and  I  have  gi'cat  pleasure  in  introducing  Lieutenant-Gencral 
the  Honorable  Sir  Andrew  Clarke,  the  Agent-General  for 
Victoria. 

TAeuknant-Gevcral  Sir  Andrew  Clarl-e: 

I  feel  myself  on  this  occasion,  after  the  very  brilliant 
sjieeeh  we  have  had  from  your  counti-yman,  your  Consul  in 
Australia,  Colonel  Bell — I  feel  terribly  handicapped  with 
what  1  have  to  say.  for  I  must  bring  you  down  from  the 
cerulean  blue,  through  which  he  has  taken  us,  to  matter  of 
facts,  so  that  I  will  only  have  to  give  you  a  very  short  resume 
of  what  you  will  find  enlarged  upon  in  very  many  documents, 
books  and  papers  which  we  hope,  from  time  to  time,  to  send 
you  from  Australia,  merely  to  fix  in  your  minds  certain  facts 
that  yon  can  carry  away  with  you  with  regard  to  the  country 
which  I  represent.  T  was  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  Vic- 
toria, aided  in  rocking  its  cradle,  at  least  in  weaning  its  child- 
hood and  hc]])ing  to  lay  wide  and  broad  the  foundations  upon 
which  the  institutions  are  now  built.  So,  therefore,  I  ho])C 
you  will  bear  with  me  if  I  touch  on  one  or  two  ])oitits  of 
interest  connected  with  that  colony. 

Our  population  is  one  uiillioii  two  hundred  thou.sand  in 
round  numbers;  our  revenue  is  III, 500, 000,  Our  total  ex- 
penditure naturally  is  about  the  same.  The  ratable  value  of 
property  on  which  mimicipal  taxes  are  raised  is  £67,000,000; 
in  the  counties  and  shires,  f1 03.000,000.  Our  imports  are 
£15,000,000  and  our  exports  are  £17,000.000. 

Victoria,  which  has  about  the  same  area  as  Great  Britain,  is 
the  smallest  of  the  five  provinces  into  wliicb  the  great  ccuiti- 
nent  of  Australia  is  at  present  divided.  -Mtliough  the  small- 
est I  am  not  going  to  tnudde  you  with  figures  comparing  their 
respective  areas.  In  pojiulation  and  material  resoni'ces  it 
com])ares  favornlily,  if  it  does  not  take  an  e(|nal  position,  with 
tliat.  of  the  mother  colony  from  which  it  was  scparateil  in  the 
earlier  [jarl  of  this  last  jialf  century.     Us   limited   area   has 


been  no  drawback  to  its  progress  and  prosperity,  in  fact 
rather  othen\ise,  as  iu  its  civil  admiuistratiou  and  means  of 
transport  it  lends  itself  to  concentration  and  economic  effi- 
ciency. It  is  not  perhaps  within  the  province  of  these  re- 
marks to  dwell  at  length  upon  its  physical  character  and 
features.  One  general  observation  covers  the  whole  question: 
that  is,  that  with  the  advance  of  science  the  whole  of  the 
colony  promises  to  become  productive  to  the  general  benefit 
of  its  population. 

Nor  will  I  now  tax  your  i)atience  with  every  detail  of  its 
State  and  municipal  institutions.  Its  executive  and  legisla- 
ture have  maintained  individual  freedom  and  social  order 
whilst  its  municipal  institutions  have  done  their  part  in 
securing  the  education  and  health  of  the  people.  The  de- 
liberations and  procedure  of  all  these  public  bodies  are  open 
to  the  light  of  day,  and  consequently  have  commanded  the 
universal  confidence  and  trust  of  their  constituents.  One 
passing  renuirk  which  every  business  man  will  appreciate  is: 
Althougli  its  liabilities — that  is  to  say  its  interest-paying  ex- 
penditures— as  compared  with  its  population  appears  large, 
yet  the  intrinsic  value  of  this  expenditure,  if  offered  in  an 
open  market,  would  probably  exceed  the  original  total  capital 
raised,  for  this  expenditure  has  been  devoted  to  reproductive 
and  dividend-earning  railway  works,  condensing  of  water, 
irrigation  works,  that  in  the  near  future,  as  the  colony  pro- 
gresses, will  render  it  still  more  valuable  and  solvent. 

Having  just  touched  briefly  on  the  general  framework  of 
the  institutions  on  which  the  colony  is  administered.  I  will 
pass  at  once  to  considering  more  in  detail  the  subject  which 
has  brought  us  together  in  this  interesting  and  historic  city. 

My  task  in  offering  yon  a  few  observations  on  our  com- 
merce is  very  much  lightened  by  my  being  able  to  fall  Ijack 
on  information  very  recently  supplied  by  the  Hon.  Mr. 
Taverner.  the  Minister  in  Victoria,  who  is  responsible  to  the 
colony  for  looking  after  its  trade  interests. 

Victoria  was  first  occupied  by  English  settlers  in  1837,  In 
1851  its  present  territory  was  more  or  less  occupied  by  some 
800  tenants  on  its  Crown  Lands  devoted  to  pastoral  pursuits 
and  providing  its  staple  e.xports  of  wool,  horses,  live  cattle 
and  sheep.  In  this  year  the  great  discovery  of  gold  was  made 
and  gave  fresh  impetus  to  the  development  of  Victoria  and 
its  resources.  The  importance  of  the  industry  can  be  fully 
realized  when  I  tell  you  that  the  total  output  of  c:old  up  to 
1898  amounted  to  62".6S4,700  ozs.,  of  a  value  of  £350,733,724. 
The  gold  yield  of  last  year  totaled  837,258  ounces,  valued  at 
£3,349.023,  being  a  substantial  increase  over  1897,  and  the 
largest  yield  since  1882.  The  dividends  paid  by  mining  com- 
panies during  the  year  1898  reached  a  total  of  £615,634.  Its 
mining  authorities  estimate  that  there  are  over  500  miles  of 
deejt  lodes  (channels  or  lieds  of  ancient  rivers)  known  yet 
to  be  worked,  so  that  it  will  be  seen  that  our  mining  industry 
is  prosperous,  and  that  prospects  are  bright  for  future  devel- 
opments. Most  of  these  lodes  have  been  proved  by  diamond 
drill  boring  at  government  expense.  In  all,  gold  to  the  value 
of  £411,000,000  has  been  produced  in  the  Australian 
colonies,  and  of  this  Victoria  has  produced  over  60  per  cent. 
In  passing  I  should  just  like  to  mention  one  of  our  new  in- 
dustries; I  refer  to  coal.  Considerable  areas  have  been  lately 
found  in  Victoria  that  produce  coal.  The  out])ut  in  1898 
amounted  to  213,860  tons,  valued  at  the  pit's  mouth  at  £103,- 
099,  that  is  8s.  6d.  per  ton,  this  being  the  largest  quantity 
raised  in  any  one  year.  Largo  dividemls  have  been  paid  by 
coal  com]ianies,  and  as  the  industry  is  practically  in  its  in- 
fancy tliei-e  are  prospects  for  great  developments.  The 
dairying  iiuluslry  plays  an  important  part  in  connection  with 
our  ex]iort  trade  witji  this  co\intry,  the  butter  ex])ort.  being 
larger  by  far  than  that  of  any  other  agricidtural  ])roduet.  with 
the  exce|iii(Ui  of  wool.  The  annual  value  of  the  agricultural, 
grazing,  and   ilairying   iiidu-try   in   Victoria  is  estimated  at 


5  i^ 


o 

V- 

o 
O 


I- 


I    K 


o 
o 


o     < 


FOURTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  16,  1899 


49 


£13,500,000.  Tliere  are  325  creameries  and  195  factories,  the 
value  of  tlic  plant  and  buildings  being  £390,000.  This  in- 
dustry employs  about  27,000  people,  the  cows  producing  97,- 
000,000  gallons  of  milk  annually.  The  industry  is  carried  on 
under  the  most  favorable  conditions,  inasmuch  as  our  cows  are 
fed  on  natural  grasses,  our  climate  enables  lis  to  dispense 
with  stall  feeding,  and  our  percentage  of  disease  is  lower  than 
any  other  country  in  the  world.  The  figures  I  am  about  to 
quote  will  give  some  idea  of  the  development  of  our  butter 
trade,  most  of  which  is  with  Great  Britain.  In  1889  we  ex- 
ported butter  to  the  value  of  £37,447;  in  1897  to  the  value  of 
£884,976;  while  during  the  season  of  1898-99  our  export 
amounted  to  about  10,000  tons,  valued  at  nearly  £1,000,000. 
It  will  be  seen  that  during  the  last  few  years  we  have  secured 
a  position  of  real  importance  in  this  industry.  It  is  only 
fair  that  I  should  mention  the  name  of  the  Hon.  J.  L.  Dow, 
who  was  Minister  of  Agriculture  in  the  Gillies  Government, 
as  being  the  founder  of  the  butter  export  trade. 

On  the  Victorian  side  the  butter  is  received  at  the  freezing 
chambers  by  an  expert  of  the  Agricultural  Department,  who 
stamps  all  sound  and  good  butter  with  the  brand  "Approved 
for  Export."  The  same  supervision  applies  to  the  products, 
consequently  the  consumer  can  rest  assured  that  our  pro- 
ducts are  sound  and  free  from  disease.  One  of  the  great 
advantages  of  our  butter  trade  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  Vic- 
toria, being  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  and  therefore  en- 
joying summer  when  the  northern  hemisphere  is  in  winter, 
she  can  supply  the  northern  countries  grass-fed  butter  at  a 
time  when  the  article  can  only  be  manufactured  in  those 
countries  from  milk  obtained  from  stall  fed  cattle. 

One  of  the  industries  about  which  we  are  most  hopeful  is 
the  exportation  of  fruit.  We  export  fresh,  pulp,  dried  and 
canned,  and  in  each  case  we  treat  only  with  the  very  finest 
raw  material.  It  may  be  of  interest  to  the  Americans  pres- 
ent if  I  mention  one  of  the  peculiar  anomalies  of  legislature 
in  Great  Britain.  Our  dried  apricots  are  scheduled  in  the 
customs  tariff  as  plums  and  are  therefore  liable  to  a  duty  of 
7  shillings  per  cwt.,  whilst  canned  apricots  from  California, 
of  which  large  quantities  are  imported  into  Great  Britain, 
are  admitted  free.  However,  it  is  only  right  that  I  should 
mention  that  I  am  doing  all  in  my  power  to  persuade  the 
Imperial  Government  to  remove  this  strange  anomaly.  Aus- 
tralia is  prepared  to  compete  with  America  on  an  equal  foot- 
ing, but  I  do  not  think  it  right  that  our  joint  mother  should 
treat  her  prodigal  child  in  a  manner  unfair  to  other  children. 

I  now  come  to  one  of  our  most  important  and  promising 
industries — ^the  wine.  When  you  hear  that  our  wine  carried 
off  prizes  at  the  Vienna,  Paris,  Philadelphia,  Amsterdam  and 
Bordeaux  exhibitions,  you  will  realize  the  capabilities  of  our 
soil  and  climate  for  wine  production.  Speaking  approxi- 
mately, the  area  of  vines  is  28,000  acres,  and  the  number  of 
growers  is  2,900,  giving  healthy  employment  to  15,000.  We 
produce  2,800,000  gallons  of  wine  yearly.  Our  exports  in 
1894  amounted  to  230,300  gallons,  "and  in  1896  it  rose  to 
354,300  gallons;  but  I  regret  there  was  a  falling  off  in  the 
following  year  to  the  value  of  about  £10,000.  When  I  ob- 
serve that  the  imports  into  this  country  amount  to  more  than 
£5,000,000  worth  of  wine  per  annum,  it  certainly  appears 
that  our  wine  growers  .should  strain  every  nerve  to  improve 
their  position  on  this  market.  Australian  wine  has  distinc- 
tive features  which  entitle  it  to  the  consideration  of  wine- 
drinkers  in  this  country,  and  I  think  that  it  is  an  industry 
to  which  our  chairman — the  director  of  the  great  Commer- 
cial Museum  of  Philadelphia — might  devote  a  little  of  his 
great  energy  with  a  view  to  introducing  it  into  this  country. 

Another  gi-eat  Victorian  industry  is  that  of  our  frozen 
meat.  We  export  large  quantities  to  England,  where  it  is 
considered  of  such  good  qualitv  tliat  it  is  frequently  sold 
as  "Best  Welsh"  or  "Best  Home  Killed"  meat.    In  Victoria, 


outside  the  Government  depot,  we  have  three  companies  who 
have  the  most  approved  methods  of  dealing  with  this  trade, 
and  these  obtained  from  the  Government  healtli  officer  a 
certificate  that  all  the  meat  they  export  is  sound  and  free 
from  disease. 

Another  article  we  export  is  the  Australian  "bunny." 
Prior  to  1895,  a  rabbit  in  Victoria  was  regarded  as  a  nui- 
sance, inasmuch  as  it  devoured  the  grass  that  was  required 
for  stock  feeding.  So  serious  was  it  considered  by  the  State 
that  afl  amount  approaching  £30,000  per  annum  was  ex- 
pended in  digging  out  and  destroying  the  rabbits.  You  can 
quite  underetand  how  pleased  we  are  to  be  able  to  utilize 
the  rabbit  as  a  market  comraoditv,  which  returned  to  the 
colony  in  1895,  £10,300,  in  1896,  £34,000,  and  in  1897, 
£51,000,  while  in  1898  the  exports  amounted  to  about 
£70,000.  We  claim  for  the  Victorian  rabbit  that  our  sunny 
and  healthy  climate  produces  and  places  before  the  consu- 
mer, a  cheap  article  of  diet,  within  the  reach  of  all  classes. 
In  connection  with  this  trade,  the  rabbits  are  received  at 
the  cool  stores,  are  graded  by  experts  and  after  examination 
by  the  health  authorities,  if  approved,  receive  the  Govern- 
ment stamp  "Approved  for  Export." 

The  Victorian  leather  export  trade  amounts  to  £300,000 
yearly,  and  as  we  have  undoubtedly  the  finest  raw  material, 
I  feel  confident  that  the  enterprise  of  our  tanners  will  be 
equal  in  the  near  future,  to  the  supplying  much  of  the  wants, 
not  only  of  Great  Britain,  but  also  of  those  countries  in  which 
leather  is  an  important  factor.  It  is  important  and  interest- 
ing to  note  Mr.  Chamberlain's  remark  with  reference  to  the 
British  Colonies'  trade  with  Great  Britain.  Mr.  Chamberlain 
said:  "Three  groups  of  British  Colonies,  comprising  Canada, 
Australia  and  South  Africa,  with  a  population  of  13,000,000, 
are  taking  from  us  every  year  nearly  as  much  as  the  three 
greatest  European  States,  I?ussia,  Germany  and  France  with 
a  population  told  of  220,000,000."  It  was  recently  stated 
in  France  that  agriculture  and  commerce  and  industry  would 
in  future  be  the  arena  in  which  victories  and  defeats  would 
be  decided.  Every  well-wtsher  of  his  country  can  accept 
these  terms  of  battle,  and  speaking  for  Victoria,  and  I  may 
say  Australasia,  you  can  rest  assured  that  our  best  energies 
will  be  devoted  to  utilizing  our  natural  resources  with  the 
object  not  only  of  maintaining  our  present  position,  but  with 
a  view  to  largely  increasing  our  trade  ^vith  the  mother  country 
and  all  nations. 

Our  stajrle  products  of  wool  and  wheat  are  too  world-wide 
known  for  me  to  take  up  the  valuable  time  of  this  meeting 
by  making  any  remarks  on  them.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Vic- 
toria is  yet  in  her  infancy,  and  as  time  progresses,  so  will  her 
trade,  and  I  feel  confident  that  an  establishment  like  that 
of  the  Commercial  Museum,  Tinder  whose  auspices  we  are 
gathered  together,  will  greatly  assist  in  bringing  our  products 
before  buyers  of  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  at  the  same  time 
will  enable  manufacturers  to  know  our  requirements  and  so 
permit  them  to  take  their  share  in  the  import  trade  of  the 
Colony.  We  are  buyers  as  well  as  sellers.  To  sell,  to  Imy, 
and  how  best  to  do  both,  is  why  we  are  all  here  to-day.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  next  address  will  be  given  on  the  subject,  "How  to 
Introduce  Manufactured  Products  in  the  Australian  Mar- 
kets," by  H.  Rotherham,  Esq.,  Delegate  from  Melbourne,  Vic- 
toria. 

H.  Rotherham,  Esq.: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Delegates:  I  desire  to  add  my  quota 
of  thanks  extended  to  the  officials  of  the  Museums  for  their 
very  hearty  and  sincere  welcome.  I  am  sure  we  shall  all 
carry  back  with  us  memories  of  your  kindness. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Mv  ])apei-  is,  "How  to  Introduce  Manufactured  Products 
ou  liic  Australian  Markets."     (Paper  read  as  follows): 

How    r>KST    TO    IXTKOUICK      M ANUFAC'TUKKU      PRODUCTS    IN 

Atstraman  Markets. 

Before  placing  my  views  on  tlie  above  subject  before  you, 
1  desire  to  tender  iny  sincere  appreciation  to  the  Philadelphia 
Conuiiercial  Museum  for  the  honor  conferred  upon?  me  in 
inviting  me  to  read  a  paper  before  this  distinguished  dele- 
gation. 

1  recognize  that  commerce  is  the  one  great  and  importaiit 
factor  in  the  forward  march  of  nations.  A  country  whose 
products  do  not  expand  cannot  be  termed  progressive.  Stag- 
nation in  output  must  sooner  or  later  end  in  disaster  and 
national  loss,  if  not  in  degeneration.  I  take  it  for  granted, 
therefore,  that  there  are  many  manufacturers  in  this  great 
Republic  who  desire  to  reach  out  and  beyond  the  limits  of 
their  own  territory,  and  it  is  to  these  that  my  remarks  are 
])articularly  addressed.  I  also  believe  that  in  assisting  to  place 
tlie  products  of  the  British  and  American  manufacturers  in 
a  foremost  position  in  the  markets  of  the  world,  I  am  ren- 
dering some  little  service  in  the  glorious  effort  to  -weld  closer 
together  those  bonds,  which  I  trust  will  ultimately  bind  them 
in  an  indissoluble  brotherhood.  When  the  trade  of  these  en- 
terprising nations  is  bound  together — ^vvhen  a  spirit  of  gen- 
erous emulation  displaces  keen,  cutting,  and  in  some  instances 
dishonorable  competition,  then  their  flags  will  float  proudly 
in  the  breeze,  side  by  .side,  fearing  no  foe  and  no  outside 
opposition. 

As  commerce  is  the  soul  or  life  of  a  nation,  so,  gentlemen, 
in  my  opinion,  will  commercial  and  trade  interests  be  the 
arl)iter  of  any  great  European  conflict.  The  two  greatest 
niiinufacturing  nations  cannot,  and,  in  my  opinion,  will  not, 
allow  any  war  to  impede  or  seriously  injure  their  commercial 
interests.  If  England  and  America  join  hands,  then  indeed 
ciiii  such  a  combination  regulate  and  control  its  own  coni- 
nirrce,  without  fear  of  any  injurious  interruption  from  out- 
side iniluence. 

Rxport. — 1  presume,  as  a  basis  for  niy  remarks,  that  the 
necessity  for  exportation  has  arisen  in  this  country,  ami  that 
many  manufacturers  are  looking  for  opportunities  to  exploit 
new  fields.  There  are  in  my  oj)inion  three  ways  of  introduc- 
ing mauuracturccl  |i7'od\icts  to  foreign  buvers  in  distant  mar- 
kets. 

First.  Througli  exi)oi-t  merchants. 

Second.  Occasional  visits  from  a  representative  of  the 
manufactory. 

Tiiird.   Direct,  and  resident  representation. 

[  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  that  the  la-t-nanud  i-  hy 
■far  tlie  best  and  most,  effective  means,  if  ethciently  rarrud 
out. 

In  (lie  first  phice,  export  mercluuits  have  iiiiiitifarinu<  in- 
terests to  attend  to — some  coniiieting  with  other.s — and  thi'V 
generally  attem|)t,  tor  it  is  only  an  attempt,  lo  rc|]ivscii't 
a  whole  host  of  manufacturers,  mercliants,  and  failors.  Tlicii 
again,  they  do  not  work  from  piirrly  philanthni])ic  motives — 
they  require  payment  other  than  the  ordinary  huving  com- 
mission, and  in  many  instances  .secure  iiKuidaiv  concessions 
and  quotations  from  manufacturers  which  are  nof.  on  all  oc- 
casion.s,  in  the  original,  handed   over  to  the  Imyer. 

In  the  second  place,  they  do  not  always  knowthe  real  re- 
quirements of  foreign  markets  as  tliey  develop  -neither  do 
they  come  into  direct  and  personal  contact  with  the  liuvers. 
conseiiucntly  they  cannot  secure  the  latter's  friendship,  or 
any  very  close  intimacy,  nor  can  export  merchants  plac'c  be- 
fore their  clients,  on  colonial  markets,  a  full  and  comiilete 
range  of  samples. 


Export  merchants  are,  in  many  cases,  direct  competitors, 
and,  lastly,  buyers  do  not  relish  the  fact  that  in  negotiating 
their  business  through  this  channel  they  must  necessarily 
give  them  the  measure  of  their  output. 

I  would  here  digress  for  a  moment  to  point  out  that  dealers 
or  distributors  cannot  successfully  or  favorably  act  in  the 
dual  capacity  as  distributors  anfl  agents.  Some  manufac- 
turers place  their  representation  with  a  distributing  house, 
but  I  maintain  that  this  is  a  suicidal  policy.  In  the  case 
of  a  wholesale  house  a('ting  as  agents,  their  possiliilities  are 
local  and  confined,  whilst  an  agent,  acting  as  merchant  or 
trader,  does  not  take  u]i  any  hostile  or  antagonistic  position 
to  any  house,  but  all  are  treated  alike — no  one  house  receiv- 
ing an  advantage.  The  operations  of  a  .sole  agent,  acting  only 
as  such,  must  of  necessity  be  equitable  and  sound.  The  more 
distributing  houses  he  has  stocking  his  goods  the  better,  as 
every  house  has  an  equal  chance  in  an  open  and  competitive 
market.  Whil.'?t,  on  the  other  hand,  a  wholesale  competitor, 
buying  from  a  distrilniting  agent  or  firm,  must  purchase  at 
a  disadvantage,  as  such  a  distributing  agent  does  not  generally 
quote  lowest  rates,  nor  act  as  a  philantliropist  to,  or  with, 
his  competitoi-s. 

The  Australian  InmmuHijn-,  referring  to  this  question  in 
last  August's  issue,  says: 

"In  order  to  avoid  friction  with  importing  houses,  and  also 
to  obviate  the  necessity  of  tracing  orders,  the  representative 
sliould  have  a  commission  on  all  Australian  business,  whether 
advised  by  him  or  not.  By  this  system,  all  concerned  re- 
ceive equitalile  treatment,  and  the  agent  is  stimulated  to  ex- 
tend the  Australian  demand  as  much  as  possible.  The  manu- 
facturer will  soon  know  if  the  agent  is  honestly  earning  his 
salary. 

"There  is  no  douhf  that  the  American  manufacturer  has, 
to  a  great  measure,  been  exploited  by  adventurers  in  his  own 
country,  wlm,  making  false  representations,  either  wilfully 
or  in  ignorance,  as  to  the  amount  of  business  they  are  able  to 
do,  liave  been  induced  to  part  with  a  good  many  hundred 
dollars,  only  subsequently  to  find  that  they  have  been  duped, 
and  tlieir  money  al)solutely  gone.  There  has  been  a  class. 
t<M),  wlio.  liaving  secured  the  representation  of  manufacturers 
in  the  States,  liave  come  out  to  this  counti-y  with  no  intention 
of  woi'king  the  agencies  themselves,  but  simply  with  a  view  to 
sell  them  to  some  merchant  or  agent  who  would  be  likely  to 
buy  them  out,  and  in  this  case  also  the  manufacturer  has 
suffered.  Again,  really  competent  men  have,  in  the  i','nor- 
aiice  (if  the  expense  of  working  such  a  business,  undertaken 
to  sell  goods  on  commission  here,  only  to  iiml  tliai  the  ground 
has  been  cut  from  under  their  feet  by  the  huge  commission 
houses,  and  tlii'y  have  tliio\\n  up  the  agencies  in  disgust. 

"AH  these  tilings  have  tended  to  create  a  feeling  of  distrust 
in  the  minds  of  manufacturers  in  the  States  as  to  the  busi- 
ness to  lie  done  in  Australia,  and  as  to  tlie  agents  who  have 
oU'ei'eil  to  do  it.  Tills  has  ojieiied  a  new  field  for  the  spolia- 
tion of  manufacturers  in  the  Stales,  hy  people  who  undertake, 
for  a  certain  number  of  dollars  per  annum,  to  influence  busi- 
ness for  Iheni.  ilislribiile  their  catalogues  through  their  agents 
in  the  lirilish  colonies,  India  and  the  Straits  Settlements. 
\'ery  frecjuently  these  arrangements  are  unsatisfactory.  But 
that  it  is  neces.sary  for  the  .\nierieaii  manul'aeliirer  to  bring 
his  goods  directly  under  the  iioiiee  of  ]iurcha<ei's  on  this  side 
goes  without  saying,  and  it  appears  to  us  that  by  far  and 
away  (he  best  method  of  doing  business  is  by  engaging  the 
services  of  a  really  competent,  energetic  rejiresentative,  on 
a  salary  basis,  who  will  undertake  to  .^^how  the  samples  of  the 
manufaet  urers  to  all  the  iivteresteil  jiuiehasers  on  this  side 
of  the  wdrld,  distribute  catalogues,  quote  latest  dis'-ounts, 
and  give  vxrvy  in  format  ion  which  the  possible  customer  may 
dc-ire,  and  leaving  the  (U'ders  to  find  their  way  through  the 
usual  indenting  channels  in  New  York  and  London. 


FOURTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  16,  1899 


51 


"Wherever  this  plan  has  been  adopted,  and  the  representa- 
tive been  honest  and  hard  working,  the  results  have  been 
evidently  satisfactory.  This  plan  does  not  antagonize  the 
New  York  commission  houses;  and  they,  finding  their  efforts 
warmly  seconded  by  the  man  who  is  strengthening  their  hands 
by  showing  their  samples  and  talking  up  the  goods,  for  which 
Ihe  commission  houses  ultimafely  receive  an  order,  work  with 
him  cun  umore." 

Occasional  Visitation. — This  mode  does  not  commend  itself 
to  me  for  many  reasons.  The  gentleman  selected  for  such 
;i  task  would  undoubtedly  be  a  tried  man.  It  would  be  his 
duty  to  proceed  to  a  new  country,  and  there  make  known, 
advertise  and  sell  the  goods  of  his  firm,  and  then  return. 
This  is  an  excellent  plan  where  no  better  is  known  or  availa- 
ble; but  it  is,  first,  very  expensive,  second,  very  slow,  and. 
third,  only  temporary.  As  first,  passages  to,  and  traveling 
in  all  new  regions  are  costly  in  the  extreme;  second,  the  man, 
however  good,  arrives  there  a  stranger — unknowing  and  un- 
known— he  is  looked  upon  as  a  foreigner  seeking  to  obtain 
all  he  can  get  without  having  any  permanent  stake  in  the 
country  he  is  exploiting — that  is,  he  takes  as  much  as  possible 
out,  and  spends  as  little  as  possible  in  so  doing.  He  is  not 
one  of  them — he  is  virtually  a  stranger.  He  may  spend 
enough  time  in  the  country  to  win  a  slight  appreciation  of 
his  goods,  which,  however,  dies  away  as  soon  as  he  leaves;  and 
this  method,  though  still  folloT\'ed  by  .some  conservative 
houses,  is  reckoned  obsolete  by  more  enterprising  firms.  The 
cost  of  such  a  visit  would  pay  the  salary  of  a  resident  agent 
for  some  years. 

I  have  known  a  principal — a  partner — arrive  in  a  capital 
city,  with  the  finest  range  of  goods,  in  his  particular  line,  ever 
seen  there,  work  hard  for  six  weeks,  never  book  an  order, 
and  then  leave  the  place  disgusted.  I  have  also  known  a 
]iartner  make  a  costly  and  fairly  successful  trip  and  then  the 
imsiness,  so  expensively  established,  gradually  die  away  until 
his  return  three  or  five  years  afterwards. 

Again,  well  established  brands,  only  represented  by  similar 
visits,  have,  to  my  knowledge,  been  almost  obliterated  by  a 
new  line  run  by  a  live  resident  agent. 

Direct  Rejjresentation. — The  plan  which  from  experience 
is  recommended  by  the  writer  is: 

(A)  For  the  manufacturer  to  select  some  well-known,  en- 
ergetic man  or  firm,  resident  on  the  field  of  operation-s — such 
a  man,  or  firm,  in  no  way  to  compete  with  his  customers, 
the  distributors,  but  be  solely  an  agent  or  representative. 

(B)  To  equip  the  same  with  full  range  of  samples — pre- 
pared in  the  most  careful  and  attractive  manner. 

(C)  To  give  such  a  man  or  firm  a  fair  annual  allowance 
toward  expenses,  and  a  fair  commission  on  all  business  done. 

(D)  To  constantly  extend  to  him  hearty  co-operation,  and 
liberal  assistance  in  exploiting  the  territorj'  chosen. 

I  recommend  the  foregoing  for  the  following  reasons: 

First.  A  direct  and  resident  agent  is  one  of  the  peo|>le, 
spending  his  earnings  among  them,  securing  their  friendship 
Ijy  honest  endeavors  to  please,  cultivating  their  acquaintance, 
visiting  their  homes,  associating  with  them  as  a  citizen,  hav- 
ing common  interests,  thus  securing  by  legitimate  means  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  all  his  clients.  He  knows  their 
wants  and  earnestly  sets  himself  to  the  task  of  satisfying  them. 
He  can  be  easily  and  quickly  reached  in  cases  of  urgency,  is 
always  ready  to  listen  to  their  complaints,  and,  by  judicious 
actions,  and  conciliatory  measures,  to  remedy  them. 

Second.  He  is  fully  cognizant  of  the  needs  and  require- 
ments of  that  ])articular  territory. 

One  vital  and  most  imjrortant  element  in  the-;e  competitive 
days  is  the  necessity  of  having  an  a^ent  able  to  advise  just 
the  particular  make,  pattern,  style,  weight,  quality,  etc.  most 
appreciated  by  his  distributors.  It  is  in  adapting  merchan- 
dise to  the  real  needs  and  requirements  of  a  distinctive  de- 


mand that  manufacturers  can  hope  to  extend  their  commerce 
on  foreign  markets. 

Third.  He  has  already  the  connection  necessary  to  secure 
proper  attention  to,  and  consideration  of  new  lines;  is  so  well 
furnished  as  to  prices,  weights,  sizes,  etc.,  that  he  will  from 
his  samples  select  some  that  he  well  knows  will  act  as  a  lead- 
ing line,  and  which  must  book  orders.  These  he  pushes,  with 
all  the  assurauce  such  knowledge,  gives  him,  obtains  indent-;, 
and  in  selling  these  leading,  or  tempting  lines,  also  secures 
others,  which,  while  fair  trade  lines,  do  not  command  atten- 
tion by  themselves. 

Fourth.  A  direct  and  sole  agent  is  never  a  competitor  in 
the  sense  of  placing  one  distributor  against  another;  but  if 
he  acts  fairly  and  honestly,  he  supplies  to  all  at  the  same 
price,  under  ecpial  conditions  and  terms. 

Fifth.  A  resident  agent  should  have  the  most  complete 
equipment  of  samples  possible.  A  capital  plan  is  to  send  out 
a  catalogue,  and  get  the  agent  or  representative  to  mark  all 
goods  therein  required  for  his  particular  market.  In  showing 
a  new  line  it  is  most  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  in  Australia, 
to  sell  from  a  catalogue,  and  it  not  infrequently  happens 
that  the  order,  possibly  a  substantial  one,  represents  only 
the  goods  actually  exhibited,  and  that  the  buyer  will  not  take 
a  single  line  from  the  catalogue.  Buyers  desire  to  inspect 
samples — to  see  the  actual  article  they  are  purchasing,  so  as 
to  estimate  its  value  as  an  equivalent  for  their  cash.  Illus- 
tration is  one  thing — the  manufactured  product  another.  A 
full  range  of  samples  usually  costs  the  manufacturer  a  little, 
but  it  exhibits  to  the  buyer  the  capability  and  output  of  the 
maker;  and  while  a  poor  range  often  disgusts  the  buyer,  a 
complete  exhibit  lends  importance  and  dignity  to  manufac- 
turer and  agent,  commanding  not  only  respect  but  business, 
as  the  man  who  will  not  buy  one  line  will  buy  some  other. 

Sixth.  A  reasonable  annual  allowance  and  a  fair  commis- 
sion should  be  the  remuneration  offered  to  a  reliable  agent. 
A  liadly  paid  man  is  generally  a  poor  servant.  Cheap  labor 
is  always  the  dearest.  Efficient  and  capable  service  is  worthy 
of  adequate  recognition,  and  invariably  gives  the  best  com- 
pensation for  the  capital  outlay.  Liberal  treatment  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  if  success  is  de.sired.  It  is  worth  while  doing 
this,  for  the  agent  must  travel  thousands  of  miles  in  many 
cases,  where  every  move  is  costly;  he  must  rent  a  suitable 
and  well-lighted  sample  or  show  room,  in  every  great  centre 
he  visits;  he  must  observe  the  thousand  and  one  little  courte- 
sies of  the  district  and  conform  to  social  customs  wherever 
it  is  right  for  him  to  do  so.  He  must,  indeed,  by  every 
honorable  process,  seek  to  win  the  good  will  and  friendship 
of  departmental  buyers  as  well  as  the  proprietors,  and  in  every 
way  be  willing  to  give  niTich  time  for  very  little  result — • 
especially  so  during  his  first  yearis  handling  of  any  line.  He 
may  work  for  months  with  very  little  encouragement  indeed, 
but  if  the  line  be  good  and  the  man  capable,  he  will  by 
honest  effort  win  a  firm  footing  and  secure  an  ever-increasing 
business.  He  constantly  hammers  the  nail  on  the  head — ■ 
knocking  the  point  home — visits  firms  over  and  over  again, 
until  by  conversation,  friendship,  and  general  good-fellow- 
ship the  ice  is  broken,  never  to  freeze  again.  I  could  men- 
tion the  one  line  almost  totally  unknow^n,  which  it  was  my 
pleasure  to  handle.  Weeks  of  work  preceded  the  first  order, 
but  in  fifteen  months  every  wholesale  house  in  a  city  having 
a  population  of  350,000  had  the  line  on  their  shelves  or  an 
order.  A  generous  remuneration  goes  a  long  way  to  ener- 
gize a  man  during  this  trying  first  year,  as  he  realizes  that, 
though  his  efforts  seem  thrown  away,  he  is  at  any  rate  reap- 
ing some  slight  return  fiu'  his  pains.  A  fair  and  equitable 
.commission  is  never  lost.  Make  it  worth  a  man's  while  to 
do  your  work  thoroughly,  and  if  he  has  a  grain  of  manliness 
pnd  integrity  in  his  co)n|)osition  he  will  reciprocate  yoitr  kiiid- 
ju'ss  in  a  manner  most  acceptable  to  the  manufacturer. 


52 


PIlOUEEDINaS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


S('veiii]i.  Hearty  co-operation.  If  this  is  extended  to  an 
iiijeiit  he  will  go  a  long  way  to  make  your  business  the  success 
vou  desire.  The  gentlemanly  courteous  letter,  wishing  him 
good  business  and  assuring  him  he  has  only  to  advise  you  that 
his  equipment  is  not  perfect — not  quite  up-to-date — giving 
you  in  detail  what  he  requires  to  insure  your  attention  there- 
to, makes  an  agent  buzz  around  and  endeavor  to  demonstrate 
that  he  is  not  guilty  of  what  Shakespeare  calls  '"that  base 
sin — ingratitude."'  I  know  from  experience  what  it  is,  when 
hard  brain  work  and  constant  zeal  had  not  won  what  I  had 
expected,  and  had  a  right  to  expect,  to  receive  a  letter  worded 
something  like  this:  "The  orders  are  few  and  small,  but  we 
are  confident  you  are  doing  your  best,  and  we  think  tliat 
soon  our  goods  will  assert  themselves,  and  both  you  and  we 
will  gradually  win  a  satisfactory  trade."  And  permit  me 
here  to  state  that,  provided  the  lines  and  prices  were  able  to 
stand  against  others,  the  result  has  always  been  good. 

Eighth.  .\  qualified  agent  is  able  to  advise  the  best  and 
most  economic  modes  of  shipment,  the  quickest  routes,  cheaj)- 
est  freights,  and  all  the  necessary  details  connected  with  his 
profession  ought  ever  to  be  at  his  command. 

Ninth.  Latest  ideas,  patterns  and  prices. — The  resident 
agent  is  constantly  finding  some  other  house  cutting  him  out 
by  a  new  line.  He  immediately  secures  a  sample  of  each 
line,  forwards  it  to  his  principal,  and  the  latter  at  once  makes 
the  alteration — going  one  better,  if  possible,  in  some  direc- 
tion— dispatches  this  product  to  the  agent;  and  they  thus 
stand  on  the  defensive  and  offensive,  retaining  their  trade — 
always  up-to-date,  never  far  behind  in  the  march  of  progress 
towards  something  cheaper,  better  and  more  attractive  than 
their  opponents. 

Tenth.  Between  manufacturer  and  agent  a  complete  con- 
fidence in  the  uprightness  and  commercial  integrity  of  each 
must  exist,  if  pleasant  and  successful  issues  are  to  be  com- 
passed. 

Having  given  you  sutficient  reasons  why  I  think  a  resident 
agent  is  the  best  and  surest  means  of  establishing  a  new  line 
on  a  foreign  market,  permit  me  to  dwell  briefly  on  one  or  two 
of  the  aids  which  an  enterprising.  Just  and  generous  manu- 
facturer can  use  to  further  the  efforts  of  his  representative. 

(A)  He  must  faithfully  and  promptly  fill  all  orders,  giv- 
ing careful  attention  to  any  special  instructions  in  relation 
to  details  advised  by  his  agent,  the  bulk  goods  in  all  in- 
stances being  equal  to  samples.  As  to  this  last  feature,  I 
regret  to  have  to  state  that  some  American  manufacturers 
have  not  always  followed  this  most  necessary  rule.  The  re- 
sult of  such  a  line  of  action  injures  the  agent's  credit  and 
reputation,  and  is  a  lasting  disgrace  to  the  manufacturer. 
Such  deceit  only  serves  once. 

(B)  He  should  give  his  agent  the  very  lowest  prices  and 
best  trade  discounts,  extending  to  him  a  discretionary  power 
to  give  a  slight  increase  in  discounts  or  other  small  conces- 
sion, rather  than  ])ermit  business  to  pass  him.  It  is  always 
an  inspiration  and  a  great  advantage  for  an  agent  to  realize 
that  the  prices  (juoted  are  the  lowest  given  toanv  buyer  by 
the  manufacturer.  'I'he  princi])al  sliould  also  aim  tn  give 
his  agent  some  special  inducement  to  offer  to  buyers  on  ci^r- 
tain  leading  lines  when  introducing  new  goods.  ' 

((')  A  mannfacturer  can  render  further  assistance  by  ad- 
vertising. Catalogues  are  indispensable  in  almost  all  eases. 
A  capable  rei)resentative  will  have  a  good  supply  of  these 
sent  direct  to  him  and  will  (listribnte.  A  successful  plan  is 
to  post  all  in  one  city  at  a  given  time.  Then,  two  days  or 
so  afterwards,  call  at  every  house  and  draw  the  attention  of 
buyers  to  it,  by  all  means  getting  them  to  see  the  samples, 
and,  if  possible,  secure  a  sample  order,  however  small.  Per- 
haps two  or  three  calls  will  be  necessary,  but  by  this  ])er- 
sistent  cour.«c  every  buyer  receives  a  catalogue,  in's|)ecls  sani- 
])les,  and  is  personally  and  directly  posted  in  regard  to  the 


special  attraction  of  the  line.  By  this  method  something 
definite  is  done,  and  the  manufacturer's  efforts  are  ably  sup- 
ported by  his  agent.  Catalogues  without  personal  applica- 
tion are  but  very  poor  representatives.  For  first-class  lines 
an  inspection  of  actual  samples  is  better  than  the  picture, 
and  in  reverse  ratio  poor  ones  disappoint  the  buyer. 

(D)  Advertising  in  Trade  Journals. — A  liberal  assistance 
should  always  be  extended  to  an  agent  in  this  direction. 
Here  again  the  resident  agent  is  greatly  advantaged  over  th« 
non-resident.  He  knows,  how,  when,  where  and  what  to 
advertise  to  meet  certain  buying  dates.  He  judiciously  in- 
serts special  notes  of  new  lines  and  attractive  goods  in  the 
best  papers  and  journals.  It  is  not  the  advertiser  only  that 
grows  rich,  but  the  man  who  knows  best  what,  where  and 
when  to  advertise.  In  Australia,  the  best  journal  for  hard- 
ware, engineering  and  kindred  trades,  is  the  Australasian 
Inmmongn:  Immediately  after  the  manufacture  of  any  new 
product  the  manufacturer  should  despatch  an  electro  for 
insertion  in  the  last  named  or  other  journals. 

(E)  The  manufacturer  should  from  time  to  time  refresh 
his  agent's  samples  by  new  designs,  always  keeping  him  well 
posted  as  to  any  new  production  by  immediately  despatching 
samples,  so  that  he  may  be  the  first  to  introduce  it  to  the 
buyers.     This  is  a  great  help,  at  times,  to  new  business. 

Consignments. — In  certain  lines  it  is  sometimes  advisable 
for  the  manufacturers  to  forward  a  small  shipment  for  free 
distribution — or  for  disposal  by  the  agent  as  he  may  direct. 
This  mode  may  be  used  in  some  instances  with  pronounced 
success,  especially  so  when  the  need  for  popularizing,  or  creat- 
ing a  demand  for  a  comparatively  unknown  product  exists. 
It  is  scarcely  equitable  for  a  manufacturer  to  expect  an  agent 
to  risk  his  capital — give  his  labor  and  connection — pay  agency 
and  traveling  expeuses-nwhilst  the  former  takes  little  or  no 
risk,  except,  perhaps  the  despatch  of  a  few  samples. 

Invoices. — These  should  be  made  out  in  triplicate  and 
clearly  set  forth  the  contents  of  each  case,  its  measurement 
and  weight. 

Packing  and  Labelling.— All  goods  should  be  carefully 
packed,  no  space  being  lost.  Each  distinct  class  of  goods, 
sliould,  as  far  as  possible,  be  packed  together,  not  broken,  or 
distributed  indiscriminately.  This  want  of  proper  classifica- 
tion is  a  source  of  great  annoyance  to  the  Australian  mer- 
chant. Shelf  goods  should  also  be  plainly  labelled,  the  cjuan- 
tity,  size  and  name  of  the  article  being  distinctly  placed. 
Too  much  detailed  printed  matter  on  a  label  is  a  mistake. 
Short  and  distinct  is  preferable. 

Payment  for  Goods. — The  manufacturer,  having  confidence 
in  his  agent,  should  at  all  times  fall  in  with  any  special  ar- 
I'angements  the  latter  may  find  it  necessary  to  make  in  regard 
to  mode  of  payment.  In  many  cases  buyers  have  facilities 
to  pay  at  New  York,  but  where  such  do  not  exist,  then 
either  of  the  following  can  be  safely  adopted. 

Drawing  on  buyers  against  documents — ^the  manufacturer 
discounting  the  bills  if  so  desired — or  by  drawing  at  sight, 
90  days,  or  30  days  after  sight,  or  any  other  term  agreeable 
to  the  contracting  parties,  the  buyer  in  all  ca.ses  paying  bank 
charges  and  other  expenses  connected  with  these  modes  of 
jiaynient.  Except  under  unusual  and  extraordinary  circum- 
stances the  ])-L,  invoice  and  documents  should  not  be  handed 
over  to  the  buyei'  until  goods  ai'o  i)aid  for.  It  is  on  the  other 
liaiid  scarcely  fair  for  the  manufacturer  to  expect  a  distrib- 
utor to  pay  for  goods  before  arrival — that  is,  allow  the  former 
two  or  three  months  use  of  the  buyer's  cash — -while  goods 
are  in  transit — ^without  receiving  some  substantial  compei\- 
sation  as  a  quid  pro  quo. 

Ill  these  days  of  keen  coinpctition,  lines  not  represented 
are  comparatively  unl<no\\ii,  whilst  those  lines  largely  hold- 
ing the  ciilnnial  markets  owe  their  pre-eminence  to  the  elVorts 
of  a  (lualilied  agent.     Ia'I  me  ask  you  a  question,  "Who  can 


FOURTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  16,  1899 


53 


measure  the  needs  of  a  distinctive  market,  or  a  buyer  best, — 
the  manufacturer  residing  some  tive  thousand  to  ten  thou- 
sand miles  distant,  or  the  agent  on  the  spot,  being  in  almost 
daily  contact  with  his  buyers — 'whose  chief  end  and  aim  it  is 
to  meet  the  special  requirements  and  technical  demands  of 
his  customers  and  market?"  There  is  only  one  answer  to  this 
question.  What  may  suit  one  market  does  not  suit  another. 
Therefore  a  manufacturer  having  a  resident,  honorable,  ener- 
getic and  sober  agent,  continually  calling  on  all  the  best 
houses — intelligently  displaying  the  advantages  of  his  wares 
■ — offering  a  complete  set  of  samples  to  select  from,  must  in 
the  natural  order  of  things  increase  his  output  materially, 
and  the  invariable  result  is  that  such  a  maker's  goods  occupy 
the  best  and  most  prominent  place  both  in  the  wholesale  and 
retail  establishments,  largely  monopolizing  the  attention  of 
the  general  public,  and  consequently  commanding  the  bulk  of 
the  trade.  However  good  a  name  a  manufacturer's  lines  may 
have,  another  line  about  equal  in  price  and  finish  will  run 
the  former  almost  out  of  the  market  if  pushed  by  an  energetic 
and  capable  man  on  the  spot.  I  could  quote  instances  if 
time  permitted.  I  do  not  say  that  unrepresented  firms  cannot 
secure  some  trade,  as  in  a  few  isolated  cases,  the  quality  of 
their  manufactures  always  ensures  a  small  constituency  of 
customers — ^bxit  what  I  do  assert  is  that  their  business  is  in  a 
state  of  stagnation  compared  with  the  tremendous  increase 
in  the  turn-over  of  firms  having  a  real  live  agent  on  the  spot, 
working  with  well  directed  energy  their  particular  lines.  It 
is  also  a  remarkable  fact,  but  one  well  known  to  the  observant 
agent,  that  some  pattern  or  style,  which  to  the  manufacturer 
may  appear  to  be  a  non-essential  and  merely  a  matter  of 
minor  detail,  will  prove  the  very  greatest  factor  in  relation 
to  the  public  demand. 

There  are,  of  course,  many  other  points  which  could  be 
dwelt  upon  did  time  permit.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  if  you  de- 
sire to  expand  your  commerce  abroad;  to  e.xploit  new  fields; 
to  secure  a  firm  footing  on  foreign  markets,  you  must  manu- 
facture a  first-class  article,  both  as  regards  quality,  price  and 
finish;  you  must  ever  maintain  a  high  standard  of  excellence; 
you  must  be  faithful  and  exact  in  the  filling  of  all  orders, 
prompt  in  despatching  same;  you  must  be  fair  in  the  treat- 
ment of  your  representative — extend  to  him  your  hearty  co- 
operation, and  doing  this,  depend  upon  it,  a  properly  qualified 
agent  will  faithfully  serve  you — your  interests  thus  being 
identical  with  his  own,  he  will  always  conserve  the  efforts  and 
exertions  of  both  to  the  advantage  and  profit  of  each.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Director  TF.  P.  Wilson: 

We  will  consider  our  session  adjourned  until  8.30. 

Philadelphia,  Monday,  October  16,  1899. 

Aftehnoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  2.30  p.  m.,  by  Dr.  W. 
r.  Wilson. 

Director  \Y.  P.  ^Yilson: 

The  first  address  this  afternon  will  be  on  the  Colony  of 
New  Zealand,  by  Hon.  W.  Pember  Reeves,  Agent-General  for 
New  Zealand  and  official  representative  of  the  government 
of  that  Colony. 

Hon.  W.  Pemher  Beeves: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  cannot  hope  to  give  you  the 
fluency,  the  humor  and  vigor  which    flowed    this  morning 


from  my  friend  Colonel  Bell,  nor  of  course  can  I  give  you 
anything  like  what  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  servant  of  the 
British  Empire  through  Sir  Andrew  Clarke.  I  cannot  ad- 
dress you  as  brotlier  merchants,  or  as  brother  producers,  or 
as  a  captain  of  industry,  but  only  as  the  Agent  of  the  New 
Zealand  Government  in  London.  Having  regard  for  this, 
gentlemen,  I  feel  a  little  cheered  in  remembering  that  there 
have  been  men  who  have  occupied  the  position  that  we  occu- 
pied for  many  years  and  I  refer  now  to  the  most  famous  of 
the  colonies'  agents,  a  very  renewed  citizen  of  Philadelphia, 
Benjamin  Franklin.     (Cries  of  "hear,  hear!") 

Now  I  say,  Dr.  Franklin,  in  a  situation  of  unusual  diffi- 
culty was  occupying  a  position  in  London  when  an  English 
sea  captain  discovered  far  away  in  the  South  Seas  two  long 
narrow  mountainous  islands.  The  first  struck  him  a.-^  being 
fertile,  beautiful  and  good.  He  sailed  around  it  several 
times,  examined  it,  majyped  out  the  coast,  studied  the  in- 
habitants, and  while  doing  so  he  hoisted  the  Union  Jack  over 
these  islands  and  took  possession  in  the  name  of  George  III. 

Fifty  years  passed  away  and  the  English  Government  was 
not  then  as  anxious  for  colonies  as  .she  is  supposed  to  be  now, 
and  they  declined  to  ratify  the  annexation,  and  had  it  not 
been  for  the  traitors,  who  went  to  New  Zealand — the  adven- 
turers who  went  to  New  Zealand — the  annexation  never  would 
have  been  ratified. 

At  last  the  great  statesman  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word, 
one  of  the  builders  of  the  Empire,  Edward  Wakefield,  a  man 
who  helped  to  build  up  Canada,  who  helped  to  build  uj) 
Australia,  and  was  the  founder  of  New  Zealand,  determined, 
as  his  Government  would  not  take  the  island,  that  he  would 
found  a  colony  on  the  island  for  himself.  That  worked  up 
the  colonial  authorities,  and  rather  than  have  an  independ- 
ent Government,  they  hoisted  the  British  flag  over  this  is- 
land. That  was  how  it  was  sixty  years  ago  the  English 
Government  became  our  rulers.  This  history  is  both  inter- 
esting and  romantic.  I  should  like  to  say  this,  if  you  will 
allow  me  to  make  one  or  two  observations  upon  the  indus- 
tries and  products  of  the  country  by  a  very  brief  sketch  of 
New  Zealand  and  its  people,  because  I  think  we  may  claim 
that  this  land  upon  which  Providence  has  conferred  almost 
every  advantage  except  one — that  is  one  of  the  great  disad- 
vantages,— that  is,  that  it  is  such  a  long  way  off.  It  has 
been  supposed  in  this  part  of  the  world  even  to  be  a  portion 
of  Australia,  but  that  is  not  the  case.  The  colony  of  New 
Zealand  consists  of  .two  main  islands,  with  several  groups 
of  smaller  islands  lying  at  some  distance  from  the  principal 
group.  The  main  islands  known  as  the  North,  the  Middle, 
and  Stewart.  Islands,  have  a  coast  line  of  4.330  miles  in 
length— North  Island,  2,200  miles;  Middle  Island,  2,000 
miles;  Stewart  Island,  130  miles.  A  protectorate  over  the 
Cook  Island  (Harvey  Group)  is  exercised  by  the  Imperial 
Government,  the  Governor  of  New  Zealand  acting  as  respon- 
sible advisor. 

New  Zealand  is  mountainous  in  many  parts,  but  has,  nev- 
ertlieless,  large  plains  in  both  the  North  and  Middle  Islands. 
In  the  North  Island,  which  is  highly  volcanic,  is  situated 
the  famous  Thermal-Springs  district.  Middle  Island  is  re- 
markable for  its  lofty  mountains,  with  their  magnificent 
glaciers,  and  for  the  deep  sounds  or  fiords  on  the  western 
coast. 

New  Zealand  has  a  variety  of  climates.  It  possesses  a 
very  charming  and  pleasant  climate.  I  have  heard  in  pre- 
vious addresses  to-day  of  several  colonies  which  possess  one 
of  the  best  climates  in  the  world,  each  of  them,  but  I  think 
I  am  going  to  go  one  better  than  they,  for  I  am  going  to 
claim  that  New  Zealand  has  the  best  climate  in  the  world. 
Wellington  averages  in  temperature  from  78  degrees  Fahr. 
to  33  degrees;  Montreal  from  88  degrees  to  13  degrees  below 
zero  (46  degrees  colder    than  Wellington).     Western    Aus- 


>\ 


PROCKEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERXATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


tralia  from  107  to  37.  Now,  you  will  see  that  Montreal, 
Ciinada.  is  10  defjrees  hotter  than  Wellington,  and  that 
Western  Australia  is  4f!  degres  colder.  I  do  not  need  to 
say  ihat  the  climate  is  the  same  all  over  New  Zealand.  It 
isiiot.  The  climate  varies  in  different  parts  of  the  island. 
The  climate  of  New  Zealand  is  somewhat  feminine,  variable 
and  mutable  in  turn;  like  many  a  fair  woman,  she  passes 
quickly  from  smiles  to  frowns  and  from  frowns  to  tears. 
(.Vpplau.sc.) 

At  the  end  of  North  Island  will  be  found  the  groves  of 
palm  trees  and  great  fiords,  there  are  also  plantations  of 
oranges  and  lemons.  Then  on  another  part  of  the  Island 
in  the  soutii  they  get  the  cold  winds  from  the  Antarctic. 
Those  mountains  are  covered  with  glaciers  that  are  harder 
to  clind)  tban  those  of  Switzerland.  Fitzgerald  told  me  that 
he  regarded  the  climbing  of  those  mountains  moi-e  difficult 
than  the  Alps. 

It  is  the  contrast  of  climate  which  makes  the  country  so 
interesting.  When  you  are  high  up  amongst  the  ranges  of 
the  southern  Alps  you  reach  a  part  of  the  earth  where  there 
is  the  silence  of  the  dead.  Going  to  the  centre  of  one  of  the 
islands,  you  will  find  yourself  in  a  volcanic  district  all  alive 
with  fire  and  heat,  the  volcanoes  capped  with  snow  above 
and  geysers  of  greater  magnitude  than  those  of  Iceland  and 
grander  than  those  of  the  Yellowstone.  Also  hot  pools, 
boihng  lakes  and  thermnl  s]irin'4s  of  every  variety.  When 
it  gets  to  be  better  known  it  will  compete  with  the  famous 
spas  "of  Europe.  If  you  want  to  be  cured  of  nny  disease  you 
cannot  do  better  than  go  to  New  Zealand. 

Now,  I  will  .say  a  few  words  aliout  the  people  of  the  colo- 
nies and  the  institutions,  so  as  to  show  you  what  kind  nf  n 
country  we  have,  that  you  may  consider  that  both  in  our 
present  and  in  our  future  we  are  worth  trying  to  establish 
trade  with  North  and  South  America. 

New  Zealand  is  supposed  to  be  peopled  by  men  purely 
British,  the  most  ))urely  P.riiish  race  on  the  face  of  this 
earth.  I  do  not  clnim  that  our  i-ace  is  nimc  iiccurately  enti- 
tled to  the  term  British  than  the  inhabitants  of  the  United 
Kingibim.  But  the  people  in  the  United  Kingdom  are  one 
part  irisli.  niu)fher  ])art  Scotch,  a  third  part  Welsh,  and  a 
fourlh  pai't  l-'ugli>li:  but  the  ]ieople  of  New  Zealand  are 
]nirely  iiritish,  and  \\r  bavc  no  Scotch,  frish  or  Wel-ih.  They 
are  l>rilish  iind  are  likely  to  remain   Kritish.     (Applause.) 

'i'lie  pi-ivafe  wealth  of  the  peo]>le  is  at  least  £230,000,000, 
and  tlie  average  about  £300  to  the  head.  Public  property, 
about  £45,000,000;  the  Maori  land  is  equal  to  9.000.000 
acres. 

There  are  ■^."iS.oiio  clrcbu-s  rei-ordcil  ns  votei-s  out  of  a 
population  of  "aO.OOO.  and  '*  iiinst  be  I'cincinbercd  that  the 
women  vote  there  as  Mcll  as  I  be  men. 

Nearly  all  (he  public  works  in  New  Zealand  are  in  the 
hands  of  the  govcrnnunl  of  the  cdlnny.  and  in  the  early 
days  Ihey  sinq)ly  kept  pace  with  -piiad  nf  settlement.  In 
1870,  however,  a  great  impel  iis  was  given  to  the  ju'ogress  of 
the  whole  country  by  the  inauguaratinn  of  the  "Public 
Works  and  Immigration  Policy,"  which  ])rovided  for  carry- 
ing out  work  in  advance  of  seftlenu'iits.  Railways,  roads, 
water  races  were  constructed,  and  ininiigralion  was  cdii- 
ductcd  on  a  large  scale.  .'\s  a  c'onseipicnce  the  |)opulation 
increa.scd  from  a(i7,000  in  ls:i  i,,  .Mil.ono  in  ISSl,  and  to 
743,4f)3  at  the  close  of  I  be  year  ls:)S.  exclusive  iif  tbf 
Maoris. 

New  Zealaiui  is  a  ))asloral,  lirstly,  and,  secondly,  an  agi-i- 
cidtural  country.  Sown  grasses  are  grown  almost  cveiv- 
where,  the  extent  of  land  laid  down  being  about  ten  milli(}ns 
of  acres.  'I'he  soil  is  admirably  adapted  for  i-eeeiving  these 
grasses,  and,  afler  Ihe  bush  has  \wvu  burni  olf.  i-  nm-tiv 
sown  over  wifboui  previous  plowing.  In  ]\ri(ldle  Islaml  a 
largo  area    is  covered   with    native   grasses   used    for  grazinu' 


purposes.  The  large  extent  of  good  grazing  land  has  made 
the  colony  a  great  wool  and  meat  producing  country,  and 
its  agricultural  capabilities  are,  speaking  generally,  great. 
The  abundance  of  water  and  the  cpiantity  of  valuable  tim- 
lii'r  are  other  natural  advantages. 

New  Zealand  is  free  from  any  of  the  diseases  so  disastrous 
to  horned  stock  in  other  countries.  It  is  said  that  Iceland 
is  the  only  other  spot  on  the  earth  which  enjoys  the  same 
immunity. 

New  Zealand  is  the  largest  land  owner,  and  always  will 
be  a  large  land  owner,  and  it  is  the  largest  employer  of  labor 
and  the  largest  collector  of  rent.  It  owns  all  the  railways, 
all  the  telgraphs,  all  the  telephones,  and  it  owns  and  man- 
ages all  the  hospitals  and  charitable  aid  of  the  colonies. 
There  is  no  private  benevolence.  It  owns  and  manages  the 
lunatic  asylums.  We  do  not  consider  the  care  of  the  insane 
to  be  a  matter  for  private  profit. 

In  addition  to  that  it  owns  and  manages,  and  profitably 
manages,  too,  a  life-insurance  institution,  and  it  does  nearly 
half  of  all  the  life-insurance  busine,ss  of  the  colony.  It 
owns  and  manages,  I  suppose,  one  of  the  most  successful 
beneficial  institutions  of  the  world — the  New  Zealand  Trust 
Office,  under  which  the  industries,  the  assets,  and  the  prop- 
erty of  the  people  who  wish  to  leave  their  prpperty  in  safe 
custody  is  taken  charge  of,  and  taken  charge  of  safely,  by  a 
department  of  tlie  government  service. 

Now  we  have  money  to  lend  in  New  Zealand  and  it  is 
loaned  by  the  Trust  Office,  that  is,  it  is  managed  by  the  gov- 
ernment. We  have  gone  far  beyond  that;  because,  although 
we  do  not  endeavor  to  go  into  new  fields  of  industry  our- 
selves as  competitor.s — we  prefer  the  merchant  and  the  manu- 
facturer to  do  that — still  we  have  carried  the  regulation  and 
supervision  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  is  carried  in  any  other 
country  that  I  know  of.  We  have  done  this  voluntarily  and 
some  people  think  rashly.  For  example,  we  have  more  closely 
control  of  the  ownership  of  land.  We  have  done  our  best 
by  the  system  of  progressive  graduated  taxation  to  break  up 
a  land  monopoly  and  to  prevent  too  much  land  being  held 
i)y  a  few  hands. 

Again  we  are  forbidden  to  legislate  on  the  question  of 
currency.  It  is  one  of  those  heads  under  which  our  autonomy 
is  limited,  and  since  there  has  been  no  chartered  company  to 
come  to  the  rescue  our  statesmen  have  stepped  in  and  the. 
State  has  become  one  of  the  largest  money-lending  institu- 
tions of  the  colony. 

In  addition  to  that  we  have  regulated  the  relation  of  the 
employer  and  the  employe,  thus  regulating  matters  and 
disputes  between  them.  Every  case  of  that  kind  is  arbitrarily 
refeiTed  to  a  State  tribtnial.  Strikes  and  lock-outs  are  for- 
bidden by  law.  IVfore  than  fifty  disputes  have  been  settled 
in  that  way. 

Now,  one  word  more,  u])on  what  is  doubtless  the  main 
object  for  the  invitation  extended  to  us.  It  is  a  question  of 
the  possible  extent  of  the  trade  between  North  America  and 
Australasia.  Now.  as  far  as  we  are  concerned  on  our  .side  of 
the  ocean  we  have  always  lieen  ready  to  hold  up  oui-  end  of 
the  line. 

We  have  taken  the  lead  in  Ibis  great  Hepublic- — in  our 
little  colony — taken  the  lead  in  establi.shing  a  steam  service 
lictween  the  .\ntipodes  and  San  Francisco,  and  we  have  borne 
ihe  largest  share  of  the  expense  for  a  greater  part  of  the  time 
iliiring  which  the  steatn  service  has  bwn  kept  going.  We  have 
actually  gone  far  bi-yund  thai.  A  few  yt'ars  ago  we  woidd 
have  been  glail  fur  I  be  help  of  ilu'  American  Government  in 
llir  way  of  cslabiishing  a  lable  service  lietween  New  Zealand 
ami  I  lie  Stales.  Ibil  I  lie  lime  for  the  cable  service  has  gone 
by.  .\nother  c(iniih'\  lias  stepped  in  and  lakcn  pn-stssiou  of 
the  cable  -!er\ic('.  The  I'nited  Slairs  might  have  liail  M  ju-t 
as  tlicv  can   ha\c  luir  Irade  now   bv  e>tablisbinu'  cbisei-  1  i-adc 


FOURTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  16,  1899 


55 


relations.  This  will  be  done  when  this  great  Republic  ceases 
to  treat  Australia  and  New  Zealand  as  a  negligible  quantity. 
(Apj^lause.) 

We  shall  be  very  glad  to  trade  with  America.  We  have 
always  welcomed  Americans  there.  We  have  always  been 
glad  to  come  here,  where  we  can  get  a  special  advantage  to 
ourselves  in  buying  American  machines  and  American  goods. 
When  we  cannot  get  what  we  want  in  this  country  or  can  get 
a  better  article  in  England,  we  go  there  for  it.  We  are  always 
glad  to  see  you,  but  if  you  pursue  the  policy  of  doing  the 
selling  without  doing  any  buying,  you  will  find  that  the 
countries  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  can  play  the  same 
game.  (Cries  of  "Hear!  hear!")  Still  so  far  this  great  Re- 
public has  not  thought  it  worth  while  to  make  any  special 
exertion  to  get  our  trade,  but  there  is  another  country  on  the 
north  of  you  that  has  had  the  farsightedness  to  look  a  little 
in  our  direction.    (C'ries  of  "Hear!  Hear!") 

I  take  the  opportunity  here  to  welcome  on  the  part  of  New 
Zealand  that  great  country  on  the  north  that  is  endeavoring 
to  meet  us  half  way. 

Now  I  hold  in  my  possession  the  public  opillioll^r  cif  seven- 
eighths  of  the  leading  statesmen  of  Australia  upon  the  future 
relations  of  New  Zealand  and  Australia.  All  these  gentlemen 
are  good  enough  to  say  that  while  they  welcome  New  Zealand 
into  the  Federation,  they  will  decline  to  consider  entering 
into  reciprocal  trade  relations  with  New  Zealand  so  long  as 
she  insists  on  stating  that  it  is  a  Federation. 

Now  I  do  not  for  a  moment  presume  to  suggest  to  the 
-Australian  colonial  politicians,  but  I  do  say  in  the  most 
friendly  way  that,  while  it  may  be  possible  to  argue  New 
'Zealand  into  a  federation,  it  will  not  be  easy  to  coerce  her  into 
.a  union. 

I  do  not  believe  that  we  shall  lose  our  trade  with  Austra- 
lia, or  the  greater  part  of  it,  if  Australia  federates  with  us. 
'I  go  so  far  as  to  say  even  if  we  do  federate,  as  I  do  not  believe 
we  shall,  there  is  not  much  danger  of  our  losing  the  greater 
part  of  that  trade.  While  I  do  not  think  for  a  moment  that 
•on  that  account  we  could  be  dragooned  into  a  union  wliicli 
we  do  not  want  to  enter. 

The  policy  of  Australia  should  be  toward  New  Zealand 
what  the  policy  of  the  United  States  is  to  Canada,  anrl  I 
venture  to  say  the  political  results  will  be  much  the  same. 

I  take  this  opportunity  of  saying  that  if  we  are  cut  out  by 
Australia  just  as  the  Canadians  are  cut  out  by  the  United 
States,  it  would  be  only  natural  for  New  Zealand  and  Canada 
■  to  come  together  in  the  closest  possible  union.    (Applause.) 

You  will  allow  me  to  remark,  my  friends,  that  what  I  have 
said  has  not  been  said  in  any  unfriendly  spirit.  I  decline 
to  believe  there  has  been  any  attempt  to  exercise  any  unfair 
pressure,  political  or  otherwise,  upon  us  or  with  regard  to  our 
relations  with  you — such  relations  must  be  amicable  in  the 
future  as  they  have  lieen  in  the  past.    (Applaiise.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  The  next  paper  will  be  on 
the  "Commerce  of  New  Zealand."  I  have  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  Mr.  Peter  Barr,  Delegate  from  the  Dunedin 
'Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Mr.  Peter  Barr: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  If  Mr.  Reeves 
Tiad  reason  to  fear  that  his  address  wotdd  prove  tame  and 
uninteresting  after  the  vigorous  discussion  that  preceded  it, 
I  have  much  more  reason  to  fear  that  a  written  and  read 
paper,  dealing  to  a  large  extent  with  details,  will  prove  more 
Tminteresting  still.  I  noticed,  however,  that  you  did  not  find 
Mr.  Reeves'  address  uninteresting  ("Hear,  hear"),  judgiuir 
by  the  attention  which  you  gave.    T  am  not  suprised  at  that, 


for  no  man  possibly,  or  few  men,  are  better  qualified  to  speak 
on  the  subject  of  New  Zealand.  I  am  only  sorry  that  Mr. 
Reeves  did  not  go  on  and  fill  up  the  whole  time  which  was 
devoted  to  New  Zealand  in  the  interesting  chatty  way  in 
which  he  has  spoken  to  you  in  the  last  half  hour,  but  duty 
calls  me  to  read  to  you  my  paper  and  I  will  proceed — entitled 
"Commerce  of  New  Zealand." 

Traue  and  Commerce  of  New  Zealand. 

I  have  the  honor  at  this  Congress  to  represent  the  Cham- 
liers  of  Commerce  of  Dunedin,  Christchurch,  Napier  and 
Auckland,  in  the  distant  British  Colony  of  New  Zealand.  As 
a  public  accountant  and  not  trading  either  as  a  merchant  or 
manufacturer,  I  cannot  speak  from  personal  experience  of 
the  handling  of  goods  and  merchandise.  I  hope,  however, 
to  give  a  fair  and  general  idea  of  the  trade  and  commerce  of 
the  colony  and  will  be  pleased  later  to  place  fuller  descriptive 
and  statistical  information,  as  to  its  various  branches,  at  the 
disposal  of  any  who  are  sufficiently  interested  to  desire  it. 

The  presence  and  speech  of  the  Hon.  W.  P.  Reeves,  Agent 
(leneral,  have  rendered  it  quite  unnecessary  for  me  to  spend 
any  time  in  describing  the  position  and  natural  advantages 
of  the  colony.  I  am  glad  that  Mr.  Reeves  has  given  this 
general  description,  as  I  fear  that  not  a  few  citizens  even  of 
this  English-speaking  country,  are  rather  doubtful  whether 
New  Zealand  is  a  British  or  a  Dutch  colony,  and  have  a  vague 
idea  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  continent  of  Australia,  or  possibly 
connected  with  New  Guinea,  and  "guess"  that  the  delegates 
from  there  should  be  colored.  These  interesting  misappre- 
hensions, however,  will  now  be  removed  from  the  minds  of 
all  here  and  gradually  as  the  influence  is  felt  of  the  colonial 
experiences  of  the  republic,  more  attention  will  be  given  by 
even  the  mass  of  the  people  to  those  who  inhabit  "the  ends 
of  the  earth."  At  present  the  ordinary  Philaileliihian  is  not 
blameworthy  if  he  scarcely  knows  of  the  existence  of  New 
Zealand,  much  less  if  he  knew  little  of  its  trade.  New  Zea- 
land, as  has  already  been  shown,  is  a  little  country;  how  little, 
both  in  size  and  population,  one  only  begins  to  realize  after 
traveling  day  following  day  through  this  great  continent. 
lUit  the  Scotchmen  of  Dunedin,  as  well  as  of  Edinburgh, 
remind  themseTves  that  "gude  gear  is  pit  up  in  wee  buke," 
and  remembering  the  career  of  that  other  little  land,  far  off, 
but  always  even  yet  known  on  their  tongues  and  in  their 
hearts  as  "home,''  New  Zealanders  jiroudlv  claim  the  title  of 
the  "Britain  of  the  South." 

I  must  hasten,  however,  to  draw  attention  to  a  few  details 
as  to  the  trade  of  the  colony,  and  no  apology  for  figures  on 
account  of  their  being  dry  and  iminteresting  is  needed  in 
this  congress.  For  the  statistics  quoted  I  have  depended 
mainly  upon  the  New  Zealand  Year  Bonk  for  1899,  a  publi- 
cation which  contains  a  marvelous  amount  of  information 
most  admirably  compiled  by  the  Registrar-General  (Mr.  E.  J. 
von  Dadelszen),  and  the  Neu>  Zealand  Trade  Revien\  pub- 
lished in  Wellington. 

The  lands  of  the  colony,  their  occupation  and  prnduetive- 
ness,  have  already  been  described,  and  I  pass  on  to  confirm 
and  support  this  by  some  little  further  reference  to  the 
export  trade. 

The  total  exports  of  New  Zealand,  produce  and  manufac- 
tures, for  the  year  1898,  were  valued  at  £10,.334,988.  being 
an  increase  from  the  trifling  total  of  £43:3,9-1:9  of  forty  years 
ago,  and  nearly  doid^ling  in  twenty  3'ears  the  export  values 
of  1878.  Of  this  total,  about  three-fourths  come  under  the 
heading  of  animals  and  produce,  and  in  that  sub-division 
wool  and  frozen  meat  are  in  the  first  place.  This  is  to  be  ex- 
])ected  in  a  country  with  the  grazing  ca])abilities  of  New  Zea- 
land— where  the  acreage  in  sown  grasses  last  year  was 
9,866,549  acres,  nearly  fourteen  times  as  much    as    in    all 


56 


PROOEEDINnS  OF  THE  INTERNA TIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Australia  and  Tasmania,  although  with  only  at)()ut  one- 
thirlioth  of  the  total  area  of  these  colonies. 

Wool  is  shipped  almost  exclusively  to  London,  and  the 
total  export  in  1898  (omitting  odd  figures)  was  149,385,000 
pounds  weight,  valued  at  £4,045,804.  The  value  of  this 
product  to  the  colony  is,  of  course,  immense,  and  a  rise  of 
one  penny  per  pound,  means  an  addition  of  al)out  half  a 
million  pounds  sterling  to  the  producers.  The  increase  in  the 
production  has  been  very  satisfactory,  rising  from  over 
ninety-three  juillion  pounds  weight  in  1888  to  about  150 
million  pounds  in  1898,  or  65  per  cent,  in  ten  yesirs. 

I'Vozeu  meat  comes  next  in  the  list  of  exports,  iinving 
developed  enornunisly  during  the  past  few  years.  The  in- 
dustry commenced  in  1893,  and  has  assumed  such  proportions 
that  i'or  the  year  ending  June  30th  last,  169,097.000  pounds 
weight  were  exported,  comprising  111,544,000  pounds  of 
mutton,  45,175,000  pounds  of  lamb,  and  12,377,000  pounds 
of  beef.  The  exports  of  lamb  and  beef  are  both  now  increas- 
ing very  rapidly.  Reckoned  by  carcasses  the  frozen  meats 
exported  last  year,  practically  all  to  Great  Britain,  included 
1,719,000  sheep,  1,168,000  lambs  and  4,251,000  rabbits,  be- 
sides considerable  quantities  of  beef,  kidneys,  mutton  joints, 
veal,  etc. 

There  is  only  time  to  mention  that  in  addition  to  wool  and 
meat,  the  colony  exports  animal  produce  in  the  shape  of 
butter  and  cheese,  sheepskins  and  tallow,  rabbit  skins,  pre- 
served meats,  sausage  skins,  bacon  and  hams,  and  salted  beef. 
Of  the  principal  of  these  the  quantities  last  year  were  over 
96,000  ewt.  of  butter  and  68,000  cwt.,  of  cheese,  55,000  cwt.. 
of  preserved  meats,  347.000  cwt.  of  tallow,  6,600,000  rabbit 
skins,  and  nearly  5,000,000  sheep  skins.  As  in  Victoria  the 
one  time  pest,  and  nothing  but  pest,  the  rabbit,  ha.s  become 
l)oth  body  and  skin,  a  valuable  source  of  income. 

Agricultural  products  naturally  come  next.  The  export 
of  grain  in  the  form  of  oats,  wheat,  malt,  maize,  etc.,  last 
year  (1898)  was  valued  at  £136,120,  being  a  considerable 
decline  since  1890.  Oats  come  largely  first,  viz.,  816,210 
bushels,  maize  91,079  bushels,  and  wheat  only  10,090  l)ushels. 
The  reduction  in  prices  no  doubt  partly  accounts  for  this,  as 
the  area  imder  cultivation  lias  been  increasing.  The  land  in 
grain  and  sown  grasses  in  1898  comprised  over  eleven  million 
acres  as  compared  with  eight  million  acres  in  1890. 

Last  harvest,  however,  was  most  satisfactory  and  returns 
recently  published  show  a  substantial  increase  both  in  area 
and  yield,  of  all  crops.  The  yields  for  the  1899  harvest  are 
reported  bv  the  Trade  Review  as  follows,  viz.: 

Wheat  from  399,034  acres,  13,073,416  bushels,  an  average 
of  32.76  bushels;  oats  from  417,320  acres,  16,511,388  busliels, 
an  average  of  39.56  bushels;  barley,  from  45,671  acres,  1,677,- 
908  bushels,  an  average  of  36.73  bushels. 

The  present  prices  of  grain  owing  to  the  large  yield  are 
very  low,  but  tlie  average  prices  throughout  the  colony  last 
year  were  4s.  per  bushel  for  whciit,  2s.  9d.  for  oats  and  2s.  9d. 
for  barley.  One  result  of  the  large  yield  will  be  that  instead 
of  importing  some  60,000  bushels  of  wheat  to  supplement  the 
yield  of  about  five  and  one-half  million  bushels  as  was  done 
in  1898,  it  is  estimated  that  there  will  be  a  surplus  for  export 
this  year  of  about  7,800,000  bushels.  About  one-half  the 
expected  yield,  or  nearly  seven  million  bushels,  is  required 
for  consumption  and  seed. 

Of  other  agiicultural  products  the  ])rincipal  exports  are 
grass  and  clover  seeds  and  potatoes,  of  which,  in  1898.  the 
totiils  were  274,557  bushels  and  22,507  tons  respectively. 
Want  of  time  and  space  necessitates  a  mere  summary  of  the 
other  exports,  to  one  of  which,  however  (gold),  reference 
will  be  made  later.  For  1898  the  quantities  and  values  of 
the  more  important  were  as  follows,  viz.: 

Gold,  280,175  ounces,  valued  at  £1,080,691;  coal,  56.332 
tons,   valued   iit    i;50,381;  kauri   gum,   9,905   tons,   valued   at 


£586,767;  timber,  40,721,632  feel,  valued  at  £164,723;  leather, 
19,992  cwt.,  valued  at  £103,838;  phormium  (N.  Z.  hemp), 
4,850  tons,  valued  at  £74,556,  and  woollen  and  other  manu- 
factures, valued  at  £75,411. 

Turning  now  to  the  imports,  the  total  declared  values  for 
the  year  1898,  amounted  to  £8,211,409  (exclusive  of  specie), 
or  £11  3s.  Id.  per  head  of  the  population.  These  imports  are 
so  varied  that  it  is  impossible  to  go  closely  into  detail. 
Grouped  under  general  headings  they  are  as  follows: 

Soft  goods,  including  apparel,  boots  and  shoes,  drapery, 
hosiery,  millinery,  silks  and  woollens,  £1,935,009. 

Hardware  and  ironmongery,  including  agricultural  imple- 
ments, iron  rails  and  bolts,  pig  and  wrought  iron,  machinery, 
cutlery  and  tools.  £1,502.794. 

Sugar  and  tea,  £608,987. 

Beer,  spirits  and  wine,  £273,378. 

Tobacco,  £161,836. 

Paper,  books  and  stationery,  £342,331. 

These  divisions  leave  still  under  the  heading  of  other  or 
"general  imports"  over  £8,000,000,  as  to  which  details  would 
he  tedious  here,  and  would  in  any  case,  simply  enumerate  the 
ordinary  requirements  of  any  British  community,  such  a-s 
fancy  goods,  bicycles  (which  are  now  a  necessity  even  in  New 
Zealand),  drugs,  manures,  musical  instruments,  furniture, 
ceiftent,  etc. 

In  the  statistical  returns  goods  are  entered  as  imported 
from  the  eoimtry  from  which  they  are  shipped  without  refer- 
ence to  transhipments  at  foreign  ports,  so  that  they  are  to 
some  extent  unreliable  as  indicating  the  original  producers  or 
manufacturers.  By  far  the  largest  proportion,  however,  of 
New  Zealand  imports  come  from  Great  Britain.  Last  year 
of  the  eight  million  odd  jDOunds,  over  £5,100,000  came  from 
the  mother  country,  over  £1,150,000  from  the  Australian 
Colonies,  £249,000  from  Europe,' £800,000  from  the  United 
States,  over  £300,000  from  India,  £33,000  from  China  and 
£39,000  from  Japan. 

With  reference  to  the  duties  to  which  these  imports  are 
liable,  New  Zealand  has  a  tariff  for  which  no  apology  need  be 
made  here.  The  average  on  all  merchandise  for  the  past  two 
years  has  been  just  under  24  per  cent.,  or  on  dutiable  imports 
30  per  cent.  Last  year  £2,800,000  worth  of  goods  were  im- 
ported duty  free,  about  £2,100,000  were  subject  to  specific 
duties  and  the  balance  of  over  £3,250,000  to  ad  valorem 
duties,  varying  from  40  to  5  per  cent.,  the  larger  half  being 
at  20  per  cent. 

In  bringing  this  series  of  figures  to  a  close  it  is  sufficient  to 
mention  that  the  imports  and  exports  of  the  colony  ior  last 
year  together  show  a  total  trade  of  £18,748,555  (including 
specie),  an  increase  of  £676,339  over  the  previous  year,  and 
the  largest  trade  the  colony  has  ever  done. 

As  regards  the  balance  of  trade,  the  excess  of  exports  over 
imports  is  also  considerably  larger  than  in  the  previous  year. 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  note  that  the  imjiorts  were  in  excess 
of  exports  from  1873  to  1885  (with  one  exception)  and  for 
four  years  of  that  peiiod  to  over  £2,000,000  per  annum.  In 
1886,  however,  the  balance  turned  with  an  excess  of  exports 
of  £215,290.  In  1889-90  and  '91  the  excess  was  each  year 
over  three  millions  with  a  reduction  in  the  following  ycare, 
but  the  upgrade  is  again  commenced  with  an  excess  of  £2,238,- 
429  for  last  year.  Most  economists  will  agree  that  this  is 
satisfactory. 

A  number  of  subjects  call  fur  iiltenliou  l)efore  (■losing,  hut 
must  be  omitted.  Brief  refereiU'C,  however,  must  ])e  made 
to  manufactures  and  kindred  works  and  mining. 

The  nuniufacturing  and  other  industries  of  the  colony  are 
steadily  jirogressing.  In  1896  the  total  value  of  all  man\ifac- 
tures  or  produce  was  £9,549,360,  including  the  output  ol' 
uieat-free/ing  works,  tanneries,  fellmongeries,  saw  mills,  grnin 
mills,  clotliiuir  and  liooi  factories,  bidter  and  cheese  factories, 


FOURTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  16,  1899 


57 


i'ouudries,  woolen-mills,  soap  works,  coach  and  carriage  lac- 
tones, chemical  works,  iiax-mills,  and  many  others.  The 
number  of  manufactories  and  works  of  various  descriptions 
in  tliat  year  was  2,459,  an  increase  of  513  establishments  in 
ten  years,  and  the  number  of  hands  employed  27,389.  Seven 
different  forms  of  industry  employ  over  1,000  hands  each,  of 
which  the  Year-Book  shows  that  in  1896  the  numbers  were:  In 
clothing  and  boot  factories,  4,407;  saw-mills,  4,059;  printing 
establishments,  2,351;  freezing  works,  2,037;  foundries,  1,642; 
tanneries  and  i'ellmongers,  1,629;  woolen  mills,  1,416. 

These  industries,  of  course,  supply  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent the  requirements  of  the  people,  and  I  can  only  illustrate 
the  extent  by  noting  that  clothing,  boots  and  shoes  in  1895 
were  imported  to  the  value  of  £438,000,  and  manufactured 
to  the  value  of  £616,000.  Woolens  were  imported  il70,000, 
and  manufactured  £302,000.  As  to  the  latter,  Mr.  Green,  of 
this  Museum,  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting  a  woolen  mill 
neaji'  Duuedin  recently,  and  can  testify  to  the  quality  of  the 
clothing,  rugs,  blankets,  hose,  etc.,  there  turned  out, — as  well 
iis  to  the  up-to-date  nature  of  the  machinery  and  the  pro- 
gressive policy  of  the  proprietors.  The  same  could  be  said 
of  another  mill  a  few  miles  distant,  and  of  others  in  the  Otago, 
Canterbury  and  Wellington  provinces.  In  addition  to  sup- 
plying the  local  markets  our  woolen  mills  export  to  the  value 
of  about  £10,000  per  annum,  which  is  a  testimony  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  their  productions,  considering  the  heavy  handicap 
in  the  miles  of  ocean  and  other  "fences"  to  be  crossed. 

Iron  and  brass  foundries  turned  out  over  £300,000  in  1895, 
and  since  these  last  available  figures  were  compiled,  their 
business  has  enormously  increased. 

Mining  machinery,  and  especially  dredging  machinery  in  the 
south  has  made  a  much  greater  demand  upon  the  foundries 
than  they  can  keep  pace  with,  working  at  their  utmost.  Agri- 
cultural implement  factories  also  supply  farmers  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  with  ploughs,  liaiTOws,  and  other  machinery, 
though  in  this  direction  as  well  as  in  many  others,  the  supply 
has  largely  to  be  obtained  from  outside.  Machinery  was  im- 
ported last  year  to  the  value  of  nearly  £450,000  and  probably 
the  output  of  the  foundries  and  implement  factories  was 
somewhere  about  the  same  figure. 

Wages. — The  average  wages  paid  factory  employes  is  about 
£78  per  annum  for  males,  and  £30  per  annum  for  females.  As 
to  wages  generally  the  president  of  the  Canterbury  Chamber 
last  year  showed  that  "our  male  workers  each  year  earn  all 
round  £103  and  female  workers  £34,  giving  for  the  whole  of 
the  population  the  highest  average  in  the  world,  and  enabling 
our  colonists  to  spend  more  money  than  any  other  people." 

A  very  brief  paragraph  only  can  be  devoted  to  the  mining 
industry,  although  it  is  one  of  gi-eat  importance  to  the  col- 
ony, and  at  present  shows  signs  of  great  activity.  From  1861 
for  about  twenty  years  the  Colony's  gold  export  was  about 
£2,000,000  per  annum,  and  for  the  next  fourteen  years  it 
seldom  exceeded  a  million,  but  during  the  last  four  years 
there  has  been  a  considerable  revival.  The  export  for  1898 
was  280,175  ounces,  valued  at  £1,080,091,  the  largest  with 
one  exception  for  seventeen  years.  Of  this  Auckland  con- 
tributed over  one-half,  142,383  oimces,  the  west  coast  (of  the 
South  Island)  79,948  and  Otago  55,343  ounces.  By  the  31st 
of  March,  1899,  however,  Otago  had  taken  second  place,  and 
for  the  half  year  ended  June  30th  that  province  exported 
66,403  ounces,  valued  at  £44,813,  more  than  the  whole  export 
for  the  year  1898.  It  is  evident  that  the  present  year  will 
show  a  largely  increased  output. 

The  gold  mining  on  the  Auckland  fields  is  almost  ex 
clusively  quartz  crushing  by  the  usual  methods.  In  this  dis- 
trict the  cyanide  process  is  now  somewhat  extensively  used 
for  the  refractory  ores.  On  the  west  coast  the  precious  metal 
is  won  both  from  reefs  and  alluvial  claims  by  crushing,  by 
sluicing  and  hydraulic  elevating,  and  latterly  very  largely  by 


river  dredging.  Otago  being  my  j^roviuce,  I  may  just  add  a 
few  lines  as  to  the  development  of  the  dredging  industry 
there,  for  at  present  it  is  the  subject  of  interest  in  Dunediu 
and  the  South. 

About  one  hundred  companies  have  been  formed  in  Otago 
during  the  past  year,  with  a  total  capital  of  about  £700,000. 
The  average  capital  is,  therefore,  £7,000,  the  largest  being 
£20,000.  Almost  the  whole  of  this  capital  has  been  locally 
obtained,  and  as  far  as  I  know  absolutely  the  whole  of  it  in 
the  colony.  The  success  of  the  industry  and  the  large  profits 
yielded  so  far  are  largely  due  to  the  sound  basis  upon  which 
it  is  carried  out.  The  capital  required  is  small,  with  a  small 
loading  of  usually  about  one-fifth  in  paid  up  shares.  Cash 
payments  to  vendors  of  claims  are  almost  unknown.  The 
dredges  cost  from  £3,500  to  £12,000,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  ground  to  be  worked.  The  cost  of  working  averages 
about  12  ounces  or  £50  a  week,  only  six  or  seven  hands  being 
required.  As  illustrating  the  fact  that  these  companies  are 
not  beginning  work  on  a  mere  surmise  as  to  problematical 
yields,  I  find  that  eight  companies  with  a  capital  of  £51,700 
won  6,040  ounces  of  gold  or  £24,000  in  tliree  months  this 
year.  In  the  month  of  July  one  dredge  returned  no  less  than 
1826  ounces,  yielding  in  that  month  more  than  the  £7,000 
capital  to  the  company. 

Only  about  one-fourth  of  the  companies  formed  are  yet  at 
work,  and  machines  for  the  others  are  being  rapidly  con- 
structed. In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  a 
Dunedin  firm  recently  built  three  dredges  to  the  order  of 
Russian  capitalists  for  use  in  Siberia.  The  industry,  we 
believe,  is  just  in  its  infancy,  and  as  the  companies  formed  get 
to  work  and  outside  capital  is  attracted,  as  it  inevitably  must 
be,  the  proportions  of  the  yield  must  be  immensely  increased. 
Nearly  all  the  rivers  are  gold-bearing,  and  the  recent  dredges 
can  work  far  into  the  adjacent  flats,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to 
limit  the  possible  outcome. 

The  principal  other  minerals  produced  in  the  colony  are 
silver,  of  which  293,851  ounces  last  year  returned  £33,107 
the  coal  yielding,  from  907,033  tons,  £453,517.  The  coal 
measures  are  extensive  and  yielded  about  nine-tenths  of  the 
total  consumption  in  the  colony  last  year.  On  the  West 
coast  the  bituminous  coal  is  equal  to  any  in  the  world.  This 
was  proved  when  the  British  warship  "Calliope"  steamed 
out  of  Apia  harbor,  Samoa,  in  the  face  of  a  gale  which  strewed 
the  beach  with  the  other  vessels  in  harbor.'  She  was  coaled 
from  Westport.  The  Westport  Coal  Company  alone  last  year, 
put  out  281,000  tons  of  which  43,000  went  to  ocean  steamers, 
and  74,000  to  local  steamers,  and  sold  locally  85,000  tons  for 
household  use,  43,000  to  gas  companies  and  21,000  for  steam 
purposes.  This  coal  is  sold  at  Westport  at  15  shillings  per 
ton  f.  o.  b.  Coal  mines  are  scattered  from  the  north  to  tlie 
south  of  the  colony,  and  of  the  total  output  last  year  the 
classes  of  coal  were  proportionately,  bituminous  538,000, 
brown  coal  298,000  and  lignite  33,000  tons. 

New  Zealand,  although  in  a  smaller  way  than  this  great 
coimtry,  also  bids  for  a  share  of  the  world's  trade,  and  it  is 
capable  of  giving  an  answer  to  the  special  requirements  of 
many  countries,  if  allowed  to  do  so.  She  is  now  reaching  out 
in  various  directions.  A  strong  effort  is  being  made,  for 
instance,  to  get  steamers  to  bear  our  produce  to  South  Africa, 
and  in  this  the  government  is  assisting,  while  private  firms 
have  also  recently  sent  representatives  to  that  country  to 
endeavor  to  de\'elop  trade.  May  the  trouble  there  soon  cease 
and  allow  peaceful  trade  to  prosper. 

With  Australian  colonies  we  already  do  a  large  trade, 
totaling  over  £2,500,000  per  annum.  Of  this  New  South 
Wales  received  £1,550,000;  and  Victoria  £733,000  last  year. 
In  Australia,  under  whatever  conditions  the  policy  of  the 
federated  continent  may  be  framed,  we  look  forward  confi- 
dently to  finding  an  increasingly  large  market.     The  whole 


58 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


spirit  of  the  day  seems  to  be  tending  toward  ojjen  doors  for 
conuneree.  It  is  outside  of  my  pro\ince  to  say  more  tlian  tliis 
at  present.  But  we  also  looli  further  abroad  to  this  and  other 
countries.,  We  have  borne  a  harge  share  of  the  burden  of 
the  San  Francisco  service,  and  the  whole  feeling  in  the  col- 
ony is  in  favor  of  extending  and  improving  the  means  of  com- 
munication and  transport.  At  present  New  Zealand  exports 
to  the  United  States  katiri  gitm,  sausages,  rabbit  skins,  hides, 
flax,  etc.,  to  the  extent  of  over  £360,000  per  annum  and  re- 
ceives over  £800,000  of  goods  in  return.  We  are  assured  here, 
however,  that  the  States  take  as  much  from  the  colony  as  it 
buys  from  them,  and  it  may  be  so,  for  owing  to  the  fact  that 
you  buy  largely  second-hand,  we  cannot  trace  the  goods  and 
give  you  credit. 

I  wotdd  like,  before  closing,  to  suggest  to  our  statisticians 
that  some  uniform  system  of  publishing  statistics  should  be 
adopted,  so  that  comparisons  between  different  countries, 
which  are  now  very  diffictilt  to  make  on  account  of  the  dif- 
ferent methods  of  classification,  could  be  readily  compiled; 
and  also  that  an  effort  should  be  made,  if  possible,  to  trace 
hack  goods  to  their  original  port  or  to  their  final  destination. 
Better  than  this  would  it  be  if  we  could  send  ottr  goods  direct, 
without  let  or  hindrance,  to  those  who  will  buy,  and  receive 
in  return  such  things  as  we  need  and  cannot  produce.  I 
believe  New  Zealand  desires  to  do  this  with  the  United 
States,  and  her  jjeople  are  anxious  to  reciprocate  in  trade 
wherever  possible. 

In  this  connection  the  absence  of  a  parcels  jjost  by  the 
Frisco  service,  by  which  an  exchange  of  samples  could  be 
made,  is  especially  felt  in  the  colony,  and  either  by  subsidy 
to  the  mail  steamers  or  in  some  other  way  it  would  do  much 
good  if  this  cotild  be  arranged. 

Tills  Museum  and  Congress  will.  dou1)tless,  go  far  toward 
assisting  in  these  directions. 

One  institution  of  the  States  which,  among  others,  I 
should  like  to  import  to  New  Zealand  is  the  decimal  system 
of  coinage.  Having  begun  to  find  my  way  so  easily  among 
dollars  and  cents,  it  will  not  he  pleasant  to  go  back  to  £  s.  d. 
and  half-pence.  One  objection  which  might  be  raised,  how- 
ever, would  be  that  to  express  otir  money  in  dollars  instead 
of  pounds,  might  destroy  our  boast  that  we  have  no  million- 
aires, by  multiplying  each  man's  total  by  five. 

Tn  conchisiun  I  desire  to  express  the  high  and  grateful  ap- 
[ireciation  with  which  I,  and  I  am  sure  all  delegates,  receive 
the  splendid  hospitality  of  this  city  and  this  institution.  It 
will  not  be  forgotten  in  New  Zealand,  and  the  usefulness  and 
value  of  the  Museum  will  be  made  widely  known. 

The  cliambers  I  rejiresent  are  all  on  the  advisory  board  of 
tlie  Museum,  and  the  fact  that  there  are  four  New  Zealanders 
here  to-day  is  suihcient  evidence  that  the  doings  of  this  Con- 
gress are  being  watched  with  interest  by  the  peo|)le  who  live 
in  tliat  far-off  little  land — the  Ijest  clothed,  best  fed,  healthiest 
and  happiest  people  in  tlie  world — New  Zealand! 

(Applause.) 

Diredin-  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  ne.xt  address  before  the  Congress  is  entitled  "New 
Zealand  Trade— Shipping  and  Transport,"  by  W.  T.  Todd, 
Esq.,  delegate  from  the  Invercargill  Cbambcr  of  Conitni  rcc. 
I  have  the  honor  of  presenting  Mr.  Todd.     (Applause.) 

.1//-.  11'.  7'.  Tmld: 

ilr.  I'rcsidciit,  Delegates,  Ijadies  and  (icnlli'mru:  I  beg 
to  convey  to  you  on  behalf  of  the  Invercargill  Chainbci-  nf 
Commerce,  whicli  I  have  the  honor  of  representing,  ihcir 
heartiest  thanks  for  the  unbounded  hospitality  and  kindness 
extended  to  me  in  your  City  of  Brotherly  liove,  and  al>o  to 
express  gratitude  to  tlie  officials  of  the  Museum  for  their  uni- 


form courtesy  and  attention  shown  me  in  all  my  dealings  with 
them.  The  paper  that  I  have  to  present  to  you  this  afternoon 
is  on  a  special  subject,  viz:  "New  Zealand  Trade — Shipping 
and  Transport,"  and  as  it  is  somewhat  restricted  in  its  bear- 
ings, it  will  probably  be  of  interest  only  to  those  who  have 
direct  business  dealings  with  the  colony. 

New  Zealand  Trade,  Shipping  and  Transport. — Sepaiated 
as  our  colony  is  by  a  stretch  of  1200  miles  of  ocean  from  our 
nearest  market,  and  with  a  large  extent  of  seaboard,  an  effi- 
cient transportation  system  is  at  once  a  necessity  for  the 
furtherance  of  our  trade  relations  with  other  lands,  and  also 
an  important  factor  in  the  prosperity  of  our  people. 

Shipping  Statistics. — The  shipping  returns  for  1898  show 
a  total  of  620  vessels  entered  inwards  of  765,25.5  tons,  while 
entered  outwards  were  622  vessels  of  765,793  tons,  being  an 
increase  of  162,021  and  172,241  tons  respectively  in  the  last 
tlecade.  These  figures  apply  only  to  the  foreign  trade,  but  in 
a  new  country  such  as  New  Zealand,  as  yet  deficient  in  roads, 
Ijut  having  an  extensive  seaboard  and  numerous  good  harbors, 
the  coastal  trade  is  relatively  very  large,  as  evidenced  by  the 
figures  next  given:  Entered  19,894  vessels  of  5,598,449  tons 
and  cleared  19,757  vessels  of  5,901,434  tons.  The  total  num- 
ber of  sailing  and  steam  vessels  on  our  Colonial  Register  is 
517  with  a  gross  tonnage  of  118,113  tons. 

Ports. — The  much  indented  coast  line  has  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  settlements  on  both  sides  of  the  island  at 
points  wherever  bays  or  harbors  aff'orded  a  shelter  for  ship- 
ping, the  best  being  situated  on  the  eastern  side.  "We  have 
five  principal  ports,  two  being  in  the  north  and  three  in  the 
south  island.  Of  the  former,  Auckland  harbor  is  considered 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  world,  being  completely  land-locked 
and  affording  ample  accommodation  for  shipping.  Its  im- 
portance has  just  lately  been  amply  demonstrated  by  an  a.gi-ee- 
ment  entered  into  with  the  British  Government,  whereby  it 
has  been  appointed  a  naval  station  for  the  Australian  squad- 
ron, and  its  large  dock,  the  CalUope,  525  feet  long  and  80  feet 
broad,  will  be  available  for  any  of  the  fleet  requiring  repairs 
or  overhauls.  The  Admiralty  is  to  have  the  first  call  on  the 
dock  and  machinery,  ]iaying  the  Harl:>or  Board  an  annual  suh- 
si<ly  for  the  same,  and  when  all  the  necessary  machinery  and 
ai)i)liaiices  have  been  erected  it  will  become  one  of  the  most 
complete  establishments  of  the  kind  in  the  southern  hemi- 
sphere. Wellington,  owing  to  its  central  position,  first-class 
shed  accommodation  and  up-to-date  hydraulic  machinery  for 
luiudling  large  cargoes  in  the  most  expeditious  manner,  is 
ciur  chief  distributing  port,  and  possessing  a  deep-water 
harbor  covering  20,000  acres,  is  cajiable  of  holding  w'ithin  its 
bounds  a  very  large  volume  of  shi])ping.  It  is  the  first  port  of 
call  of  the  mail  steamers  from  London.  Cargoes  for  both 
these  ports  are  delivered  right  alongside  the  citv  warehouses, 
and  landing  charges  are  consequently  small.  In  the  South 
Island,  however,  these  favorable  conditions  are  not  to  be 
found  at  the  three  principal  ports,  the  cities  to  which  they 
owe  their  existence  being  distant  from  them  from  eight  to 
fourteen  miles  inland.  Lyttleton,  Port  Chalmers  and  Bluff, 
the  ports  of  Christchurch,  Dunedin  and  Invercargill  resjiec- 
tively,  are  all  natural  harbors,  but  the  depth  of  water  not 
being  sufficient  for  the  due  expansion  of  the  shipping  busi- 
ness, dredging  operation  and  reclamation  have  been  carried 
on  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  increasing  trade.  The 
first  named,  Lyttelton,  is  the  chief  port  for  the  export  of  our 
wheat  crops,  extensive  warehouses  for  its  receipt  before  ship- 
nieut  have  been  erected  on  the  foreshore,  and  vessels  drawing 
up  to  twenty-five  feet  can  easily  be  berthed  at  the  loading 
wbarves  alongside.  Port  Chalmers,  besides  being  connected 
by  rail  with  Duncdin,  has  a  water  way  between  the  two  jdaces 
used  by  all  the  coastal  and  intercolonial  steamers  and  all  .sail- 
ing vessels  visiting  the  jKU't.  twenty  feet  of  water  being  avail- 
able in  the  channel,     i'.liiir  Harbor,  with  a  deptli  ol'  twenty- 


FOUBTH  DAY'S  SESSION.  OCTOBER  16,  1899 


59 


seven  feet,  has  increased  in  importance  during  the  last  tliree 
years,  and  the  bulk  of  the  oats  crop  is  sent  out  of  tlie  country 
irom  this  centre.  Good  docks  have  been  built  at  all  of  these 
ports  except  Bluff. 

In  connection  with  the  deliver}-  of  goods  at  Dunediii,  there 
is  a  matter  of  considerable  importance  to  shippers  whose  at- 
tention thereto  would  remove  a  cause  of  friction  between  the 
shipping  companies  and  consignees  at  that  port.  As  has  al- 
ready been  stated,  Dunedin  is  situated  eight  miles  from  Port 
Chalmers,  and  bills  of  lading  for  goods  to  be  delivered  in 
Dunedin  are  frequently  made  out  for  the  "Port  of  Dunedin" 
or  "Port  Chalmers,"  so  that  it  may  happen  if  a  steamer  is 
unable  to  negotiate  the  upper  harbor  and  land  her  cargo  at 
the  Dunedin  wharf,  owing  to  her  draught  being  too  great, 
consignees  have  to  pay  an  extra  railway  charge  of  .3s.  7d.  per 
ton  to  get  their  goods  delivered  into  their  warehouse.  As 
the  terms  "Port  of  Dunedin"  and  "Port  Chalmers"  have  been 
decided  in  our  law  courts  to  be  synonymous,  bills  of  lading  for 
this  port  should  be,  therefore,  made  out  for  Dunedin  wharf; 
deliveiy  being  then  made  by  the  steamers  accordingly,  and  all 
unnecessary  friction  on  this  point  will  thus  be  removed. 

Besides  the  above  named  ports,  there  are  a  number  of 
smaller  ones  usually  made  safe  by  breakwaters  and  protective 
works,  if  the  natural  configuration  of  the  country  has  not  al- 
ready made  them  so,  a  local  harbor  board  fLxes  the  charges  to 
be  levied  on  all  vessels  and  goods  entering  their  respective 
ports,  the  same  being  determined  by  the  amount  of  revenue  to 
be  raised  to  meet  the  current  expenses  incurred  in  dredging 
and  other  works  of  improvement,  so  that  there  is  a  great  diver- 
sity over  the  colony. 

Local  Transportation. — With  so  many  ports  to  be  served, 
the  trade  on  our  coast  is  considerable,  and  although  a  few 
sailing  vessels  are  engaged  in  the  carrying  of  coal,  timber 
and  produce,  the  bulk  of  the  transportation  is  carried  on  by 
steamers;  a  fleet  of  fifty-three  steamers,  with  a  gross  register 
of  71,250  tons,  o^\-ned  by  the  well-known  Union  Steamship 
Company,  of  New  Zealand,  taking  the  most  of  our  carry- 
ing trade.  This  company's  operations  have  advanced  with 
the  progress  of  the  colony,  and  they  are  constantly  adding 
to  their  fleet  boats  that  are  required  to  meet  an  ever  increas- 
ing trade.  Besides  the  coastal  traffic,  their  steamers,  in  con- 
junction with  the  two  fine  boats  of  Messrs.  Huddart,  Parker 
&  Co.'s  line,  keep  us  in  touch  with  the  Australian  markets, 
and  also  bring  to  ours  the  jute  goods  and  other  Indian  pi-o- 
ducts  that  are  required  by  our  people;  and  on  the  return 
trips,  now  and  again  taking  to  India  shipments  of  horses  for 
disposal  there.  One  of  the  mail  steamers  running  between 
Frisco,  Nw  Zealand  and  Australia  also  flies  their  flag,  and 
by  this  route  a  largo  number  of  passengers  flnd  their  way 
from  London  to  the  Colonies  and  vice  versa.  Of  late  years, 
owing  to  keen  competition  of  the  well  appointed  lines  of 
steamers  going  via  Suez,  this  route  has  been  losing  its  hold 
on  the  traveling  public;  one  factor,  which,  to  a  large  extent, 
is  causing  dissatisfaction,  being  the  unsatisfactory  train  ar- 
rangements across  the  continent.  Through  pa.ssengers,  when 
booking,  secure  tickets  which  they  presume  will  cover  all 
cost  of  transfer  across  the  States,  but  on  board  the  trains 
they  find  so  many  "extras,"  such  as  sleeping  cars,  etc.,  which 
are  not  included  in  their  tickets,  that  the  journey  is  fraught 
with  a  good  deal  of  annoyance  at  various  points.  If  an  ar- 
rangement could  be  entered  into  by  the  contracting  lines  to 
include  all  such  charges  in  the  general  cost  of  the  through 
ticket,  the  comfort  of  passengers  would  be  greatly  increased, 
and  more  would  be  induced  to  travel  through  the  States  who 
at  present  prefer  to  patronize  the  other  routes  where  such 
extras  are  not  met  with.  In  a  country  so  well  known  for 
its  scenic  beauties,  there  is  an  ever-increasing  stream  of  tour- 
ists reaching  our  shores  in  search  of  the  beautiful  and  won- 
derful in  nature,  and  to  cater  for  their  enjoyment,  three  or 


four  special  excursions  are  made  every  summer  to  our  west 
coast  sounds  in  the  South  Islands,  which  rival  in  magnitude 
and  grandeur  the  Norwegian  fiords,  while  winter  excursions 
to  the  South  Sea  Islands  have  been  successfully  carried  out 
for  the  past  two  years.  Three  weeks'  sail  from  'Frisco  lands 
the  tourist  at  Auckland,  from  which  point  he  can  reach  the 
most  southerly  part  of  the  colony  in  a  week  or  ten  days. 
With  our  Hot  Springs  in  the  north,  round  which  the  strange 
manners  and  customs  of  the  native  Maori  can  be  studied  and 
the  extensive  lakes  and  sounds,  surrovmded  with  magnificent 
mountain  scenery  in  the  south,  our  colony  offers  to  all  who 
seek  relaxation  and  rest  a  splendid  opportunity  for  a  most 
delightful  and  enjoyable  holiday- 
In  addition  to  this  coastal  service,  the  principal  towns  and 
cities  in  each  island  are  connected  by  railroads  whose  total 
length  now  figures  2,090  miles.  Wlien  the  building  of  these 
lines  was  first  inaugurated  under  the  public  works  policy  of 
the  Government  in  1870,  it  seems  that  unfortunately  political 
influence  bulked  more  largely  in  the  minds  of  the  leaders 
than  the  opening  up  and  development  of  the  country's  re- 
sources, so  that  the  lines  were,  in  most  cases,  run  along  the 
coast,  connecting  the  seaport  towms,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
running  in  opposition  to  the  coastal  steamers.  This  mistaken 
I)olicy,  however,  is  now  being  rectified.  Most  lines  at  present 
under  construction  are  running  inland  and  across  the  island, 
opening  up  large. tracts  of  good  agricultural  and  pastoral 
lands,  together  -with  country  full  of  mineral  wealth,  and 
close  connection  with  the  local  markets  and  shipping  ports 
will  thus  be  secured.  The  whole  of  our  lines,  with  the 
exception  of  167  miles  belonging  to  private  companies,  are 
owned  by  the  State,  thus  giving  the  people  a  uniform  tariff 
throughout  the  colony,  and  enabling  the  Government  in  ad- 
justing rates  to  foster  the  expansion  of  local  manufactures 
and  the  development  of  the  country's  agricultural  and  min- 
eral resources. 

It  is  impossible  in  a  short  paper  like  this  to  give  full  de- 
tails of  our  railroad  system,  but  a  few  figures  will  indicate 
the  extent  of  the  traffic.  Over  sixteen  million  pounds  sterl- 
ing have  been  expended  in  the  construction  of  the  lines, 
liesides  £78,700  on  the  unopened  lines,  the  average  cost  being 
£7,848. 

In  1898  the  gross  earnings  from  all  sources  were  nearly 
one  and  a  half  million  pounds  sterling,  and  cost  of  mainten- 
ance £930,000,  showing  a  net  return  of  3.29  per  cent,  on 
the  capital  cost.  The  peculiar  position  of  the  lines,  being 
divided  between  the  two  islands  and  having  no  central 
position  to  which  they  converge  and  from  which  they 
can  be  controlled,  renders  the  cost  of  maintenance  more 
costly  than  it  would  be  if  these  conditions  did  not  exist. 
The  passenger  traffic  is  increasing.  Nearly  five  million  pas- 
sengers have  traveled  during  last  year,  and  special  facilities 
and  cheap  rates,  now  made  available,  for  suburban  residents 
of  our  cities  and  excursion  parties,  have  increased  to  a  remark- 
able degree  during  the  past  few  years.  Nearly  three  million 
tons  of  goods  were  transported  during  1898,  and  to  provide 
rolling  stock  to  undertake  this  and  the  passenger  traffic,  there 
are  Government  workshops  which  turn  out  first-class  car- 
riages and  engines,  which  have  been  supplemented  by  the  im- 
portation of  a  number  of  the  latter  from  American  houses. 

The  v\'hole  system  is  at  present  in  a  sort  of  transition  state 
owing  to  the  length  of  unopened  lines,  not  yet  revenue  yield- 
ing, but  it  is  proposed  to  push  on  vigorously  the  completion 
of  these  during  the  next  few  years,  and  thus  open  up  large 
tracts  of  country  for  settlement  and  increase  of  the  volume 
of  our  internal  trade. 

Foreign  Trade. — Being  a  British  colony  it  is  but  natural 
that  our  closest  trade  relations  are  with  the  mother  country, 
but  it  is  hoped  that,  as  one  result  of  this  Congress,  our  trade 
connections  with  other  lands  will  be  increased.     To  bring 


60 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


tlie  hulk  1)1'  oiir  imports  fidiu  tlii'  (itlu-r  side  of  tiu'  world, 
thret-  steainsliip  companies  provide  the  necessary  tonnage, 
employing  nearly  forty  steamers,  two  lines  running  direct 
and  one  coming  via  Australian  ports.  This  means  the  ar- 
rival of  three  to  four  steamers  on  an  average  every  month, 
and  this  service  is  further  supplemented  by  a  regular  line  of 
sailing  vessels  from  Glasgow,  Liverpool,  London  and  Ham- 
burg. From  the  Stales  shipments  reach  us  by  steamer  from 
"Frisco,  but  the  bulk  of  American  manufactures  intended  for 
our  market  are  shijjpcd  at  New  York.  Up  till  recently  sail- 
ing vessels  were  exclusively  used  as  the  means  of  transit,  and 
are  still,  to  a  certain  extent,  but  steamers  are  rapidly  sup- 
planting them.  Three  lines  have  direct  communication  with 
the  colony,  landing  their  cargoes  at  the  principal  ports  at 
regular  intervals. 

Export  Trade. — As  already  stated,  our  principal  exports  are 
frozen  meat,  wool,  grain  and  dairy  produce.  The  first  named 
lias  been  one  of  tlie  chief  factors  in  making  our  colony  as 
prosperous  as  it  is  at  the  present  time.  Starting  in  a  very 
small  way  in  1882,  it  has  gone  forward  with  leaps  and  bounds, 
and  the  quantity  of  meat  that  leaves  our  shores  is  enormous. 
For  the  year  1898  the  total  shipments  amounted  to  72,000 
tons,  while  16  years  before  in  the  year  of  the  trade's  incep- 
tion, only  760  tons  were  frozen  for  export  during  that  period. 

The  development  of  this  industry  has  involved  the  erection 
of  a  number  of  refrigerating  works  at  the  various  ports,  where, 
besides  the  freezing  of  the  meat,  there  are  suitable  appliances 
for  working  up  all  the  by-products  from  the  sheep. 

To  place  this  large  output  on  the  London  market  we  have  a 
Heet  of  over  thirty  steamers,  fitted  with  special  machinery  and 
insulated  chambers,  for  the  carriage  of  the  meat  in  its  frozen 
state,  their  total  carrying  capacity,  together  with  two  sailing 
vessels  still  engaged  in  the  trade,  being  2,600,000  carcases. 
(Ml  an  average,  about  2-10,000  carcases  of  mutton  are  shipped 
every  month,  together  with  over  four  million  frozen  rabbits 
and  hares,  which  are  carried  in  crates  containing  from  24 
to  30  in  each  package.  These  are  frozen  in  their  furs,  which 
accounts  for  the  apparent  falling  off  in  the  returns  of  our 
export  of  raibbit  skins,  the  statistics  not  taking  into  account 
the  numbers  that  thus  leave  our  shores. 

The  rich  pasture  lands  of  our  colony  make  it  eminently 
suitable  for  the  carrying  on  of  the  daiiying  industry,  and  the 
government  has  by  every  means  in  its  power  encouraged 
the  farmers  to  devote  their  attention  to  it.  Cheese  and  butter 
factories  have  been  established  in  the  most  of  the  faniiing  dis- 
tricts. This  produce  is  very  carefully  examined  and  graded 
by  competent  experts  before  shipment,  thus  ensuring  that 
only  the  best  quality  is  placed  on  the  outside  markets.  Over 
four  thousand  tons  of  butter  and  two  thousand  tons  of 
cheese  were  exported  to  London  last  year,  over  and  above 
which  supplies  were  sent  to  Australia,  South  Sea  Islands  and 


some  South  American  ports.  The  increase  in  the  export 
oi  this  2>roduce  has  been  very  remarkable  during  the  last 
eleven  years,  that  of  cheese  being  87  per  cent.,  while  butter 
shipments  show  an  advance  of  222  per  cent.  With  a  total 
of  nearly  twenty  million  sheep,  our  wool  clip  necessarily  bulks 
very  largely  in  our  export  trade  and  we  have  four  lines  of 
steamers  (with  over  forty  craft),  which  are  engaged  in  its 
transfer  to  London.  There  are  still  a  number  of  sailing  ves- 
sels loading  each  season  with  this  staple.  Wool  sales  are 
held  regularly  at  the  large  centres,  being  attended  by  Eng- 
lish and  foreign  buyers,  whose  purchases  are  destined  for 
London,  Yorkshire  and  the  Continent.  Only  a  small  pro- 
portion comes  to  America,  the  protective  customs  tariff  mak- 
ing it  very  difficult  to  fill  orders  for  American  houses,  when 
the  competition  is  so  keen  with  buyers  from  countries  which 
place  no  such  restriction  on  this  article  of  commerce.  Our 
import  trade  with  the  States  is  yearly  increasing,  and  acting 
on  the  true  spirit  of  reciprocity,  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  if 
the  protective  barriere  that,  at  present,  are  erected  against 
our  raw  products  were,  to  a  certain  extent,  removed,  and  our 
wool  all  admitted  here,  without  having  to  pay  such  a  costly 
fee  for  the  privilege,  the  trade  between  the  two  countries 
would  be  considerably  augmented  and  results  flow  therefrom, 
which  would  prove  mutually  lieneficial.     (Applause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilsoti : 

I  want  to  call  your  attention,  especially  after  this  session, 
to  the  announcement  on  the  programme  which  .says  we  will 
meet  to-moiTow  at  the  Exposition;  we  will  change  that  to 
this  room.  The  session  will  meet  here.  Will  you  kindly 
give  notice  to  your  friends?  I  shall  take  especial  pains  that 
everyone  at  the  hotels  shall  be  notified. 

A  Voice: 

May  I  ask  if  the  other  sessions  will  be  held  here? 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

It  may  be  only  to-morrow.  To-morrow  evening  we  shall 
devote  to  an  explanation  here  to  all  the  delegates  and  others 
who  care  to  come,  of  the  Museum  and  workings  of  this  in- 
stitution. Every  department  will  be  thrown  open  during  the 
evening  from  eight  o'clock  until  as  late  as  you  choose  to 
come. 

I  want  to  say  that  the  entertainment,  to  which  all  of  the 
delegates,  and  many  others,  and  the  delegates  from  this  coun- 
try, are  invited,  will  take  place  at  the  Manufacturers'  Club 
this  evening. 

If  there  is  nothing  further  before  this  meeting,  we  will 
consider  ourselves  adjourned. 

(Meeting  adjourned  at  5.25  P.  M.) 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


FIFTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


PHiLADELniiA,  Tuesday,  October  17,  1899. 

Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  10.30  a.  m.,  in  the  As- 
sembly Eoom  of  the  Miisenm,  by  Director  W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  \Yilson: 

We  will  open  this  session  this  morning  with  an  address  on 
Queensland,  by  the  Honorable  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  K.  C.  M. 
G.,  Agent-General  for  Queensland  and  Official  Representative 
of  the  Colony.  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  him  to 
you. 

Honorable  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  K.  C.  M.  G.: 

Mr.  Director  and  Gentlemen:  Yesterday  1  purposed  that 
my  address  should  be  oral,  but  on  further  consideration,  see- 
ing the  nature  of  the  work  of  this  Museum,  I  decided  to 
put  my  views  on  paper,  and  for  that  purpose  1  will  read  the 
paper  I  prepared  since  the  meeting  yesterday. 

The  Ambassador  of  the  United  States  in  London,  when 
forwarding  your  invitation  expressed  the  hope  that  my  gov- 
ernment would  avail  themselves  of  it.  Though  limited  by 
you  to  one  delegate  (in  this  instance  myself)  they  were  so 
desirous  of  endorsing  the  laudable  objects  of  your  Museum 
and  of  evidencing  the  good  will  of  their  colony  to  the  United 
States  that  they  have  also  specially  accredited  to  this  Con- 
gress as  one  in  a  position  to  speak  witli  authority  concerning 
Northern  Queensland.  Mr.  J.  H.  Rogers,  United  States  Con- 
sular Agent  at  Townsville,  who  directly  represents  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  in  that  important  city.  You  will  also  have 
other  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  same  colony  represent- 
ing various  important  trade  organizations,  men  of  high  posi- 
tion, trust  and  character,  who  by  their  special  training  in 
mercantile  matters  can  better  diffuse  knowledge  of  the  trade 
of  Queensland  tending  to  the  general  advancement  of  inter- 
national commerce.  I  am  sure  I  only  express  their  thoughts, 
as  I  certainly  do  that  of  myself  and  the  Government  of 
Queensland,  when  I  gratefully  thank  this  magnificent  repub- 
lic, and  in  particular  your  Pliiladelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
for  the  generous  hospitality  shown  to  us  and  for  this  excellent 
opportunity  for  pleasant  and  instructive  interchange  of  ideas. 

We  are  all,  of  course,  aware  that  the  primary  object  of  this 
Congress  is  to  expand  the  export  trade  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  so  far  as  I  can  further  this  laudable  object  and  bene- 
fit the  colony  I  here  represent  I  shall  most  gladly  do  so.  I 
am  putting  my  contribution  to  this  end  in  the  form  of  a 
paper,  because  in  the  communication  sent  to  me  by  Mr. 
Wilson  last  April  there  was  an  express  instruction  that  it 
should  partake  of  this  form,  though  personally  I  should  have 
preferred  to  address  you  in  a  more  conversational  and  less 
ceremonious  manner.  My  brief  snjiurn  in  Xew  York  con- 
firmed my  previous  impression  that  tiie  very  busy  life  of  your 


citizens  prevented  them  from  acquiring  even  an  elementary 
knowledge  of  the  localities,  forms  of  government  and  insti- 
tutions of  the  remoter  extremities  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  I  had  contemplated  the  necessity  of  devoting  some  por- 
tion of  this  paper  to  a  statement  of  these  matters  defining 
the  area,  population,  revenue,  expenditure,  imports,  exports, 
tonnage,  railways,  and  other  material  facts  connected  with 
the  commerce  and  finance  of  Queensland,  but  when  I  reached 
your  enterprising,  intellectual  city  and  had  placed  in  my 
hand  that  veiy  excellent  publication  of  your  Treasury  De- 
partment at  Washington,  called  the  Bureau  of  Statistics,  I 
found  on  page  1,486,  No.  6,  series;  December,  1898,  all  the 
information  I  could  possibly  furnish,  made  up  to  the  end 
of  last  year,  and  was  thus  saved  the  necessity  of  inflicting 
on  your  good  nature  that  narration  of  statistics  with  which 
you  have  already  been  overwhelmed.  That  publication  is 
corrected  to  January  30th  of  this  year,  and  I  will  content 
myself  by  carrying  the  information  up  to  the  present  time. 
This  I  am  enabled  to  do  by  the  receipt  of  the  cabled  sum- 
mary this  week  of  the  Treasurer's  Budget  delivered  at  Bris- 
bane on  the  3d  inst.,  when  he  stated  the  year's  revenue  to 
.Tune  30th  last  (£4,174,000)  was  unprecedented;  that  the  large 
increase  thereby  shown  could  not  but  be  regarded  as  of  a 
fortuitous  nature,  and  there  was  every  indication  of  a  new 
era  of  unexampled  prosperity.  This  progno.stication  ha.s 
been  abundantly  confirmed  by  the  return  of  the  quarters' 
revenue  to  September  30th,  amounting  to  £1,2.53,000.  I  only 
mention  these  facts  to  satisfy  your  traders  that  they  are 
dealing  with  a  solvent  community,  and  one  whose  trade  is 
increasing  largely  and  therefore  worth  cultivating. 

You  are,  I  take  it,  all  aware  that  the  island  continent  of 
Australia  is  part  and  parcel  of  the  British  Empire,  and  that 
the  main  land  is  at  present  divided  into  five  colonies,  analo- 
gous in  many  respects  to  your  States,  all  possessing  respon- 
sible governments  and  having  a  variety  of  tariffs.  In  build- 
ing up  these  young  colonies  all  have  found  the  wisdom  and 
necessity  of  at  sometime  encouraging  native  industries,  and  at 
the  present  day  a  majority  possess  protective  tariffs  on  lines 
somewhat  similar  to  your  own.  Though  the  free  list  in 
Queensland  is  very  comprehensive,  the  tariff  is  intended  to 
be  protective  and  ranges  from  15  to  25  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 
This  is  not  the  place  nor  the  time  to  discuss  the  wisdom  or 
otherwise  of  such  a  policy,  all  I  need  say  now  is  that  though 
Queensland  has  not  yet  entered  upon  its  fortieth  year  of 
separate  existence,  and  though  its  population  is  still  short  of 
half  a  million,  the  volume  of  its  trade  already  reaches  about 
£15,000,000  sterling  per  annum,  and  that  the  exports  ap- 
proximate twelve  millions  sterling.  Almost  the  whole  of 
the  trade  is  with  Great  Britain.  Unquestionably  political 
causes  have  largely  contributed  to  this  result,  but  the  prin- 
cipal reason  is  that  British  capitalists,  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers, have  not  only  answered  all  the  demands  made  on 
them  for  manufactured  articles  at  reasonable  prices,  but  they 
have  provided  the  means  of  transportation,  and  have  largely 


61 


62 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


assisted  in  the  development  of  the  local  resources,  and  there- 
by secured  paramount  influence,  and  thus  paved  the  way  to 
])ermanently  retain  the  largest  share  of  Quecnshmd  trade  and 
cojnnierce.  "  ^Miilst  this  has  been  the  case  (and  I  hope  will 
long  continue  to  remain  so),  Queensland  has  always  shown 
j)ractieal  appreciation  of  American  work  and  methods,  and 
would  always  have  gladly  welcomed  closer  trade  relations' 
with  the  United  States.  In  proof  of  my  statement,  I  can 
give  the  assurance  of  myself  as  one  of  the  Cabinet  Ministers 
in  office  from  1890  to  1898,  and  since  then  can  state  my  work 
in  this  direction  as  Agent-General.  I  know  that  the  trading 
community  luive  been  customers  for  large  parcels  of  wheat, 
mineral  oils,  machinery  of  all  kinds,  preserved  fruits,  hard- 
ware, provisions,  tobacco,  naval  stores,  boots,  shoes,  furni- 
ture, etc.,  the  purchase  in  some  years  amounting  to  half  a 
million  pounds  .sterling,  but  my  more  intimate  connection 
has  been  in  the  transactions  of  the  government  and  in  their 
attempts  to  develop  a  trade  between  the  two  countries. 
Queensland  several  years  since  became,  and  is  still,  a  partner 
in  the  cable  to  Noumea,  the  design  of  which  was  a  continu- 
ance to  Honolulu,  thence  to  the  United  States.  This  exten- 
sion has  never  been  proceeded  with,  and  now  Queensland, 
whose  territory  is  the  nearest  part  of  Australia  to  the  United 
States,  has  given  vent  to  her  enterprise  by  accepting  more 
than  her  share  of  the  Pacific  Cable,  which  will  shortly  con- 
nect Australia  with  North  America  at  Vancouvers. 

In  1897  Queensland  sent  a  special  envoy  to  the  United 
States  in  the  person  of  a  Commercial  Agent  (Mr.  Russell) 
with  a  view  to  the  expansion  of  trade,  and  the  diffusion  of 
knowledge  in  regard  to  the  raw  materials  she  was  desirous 
of  exchanging.  The  liooks  of  your  local  iron  firms  will 
,«how  continuous  and  extensive  purchases  of  railway  material 
and  rolling  stock,  and  only  this  year  contracts  have  been 
placed,  some  through  myself  with  an  American  dredge  engi- 
neer, Mr.  Ijindon  Bates,  for  dredges  to  cost  a  quarter  of  a 
million  sterling.  I  have  also  placed  on  my  list  of  London 
tenderers  for  government  supplies  the  names  of  several  Amer- 
ican firms  who  expressed  a  desire  of  supplying  machinery 
and  iron  work  to  the  Queensland  (joverinnent,  and  before 
1  leave  1  hope  to  remove  the  difficulties  concerning  local 
inspection,  hitherto  the  principal  barrier  to  successful  busi- 
ness negotiations  in  the  United  States.  Those  facts  are 
abundant  e\'idence  of  the  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Queens- 
land Government  to  give  a  share  of  their  foreign  trade  to 
the  I'nited  States,  but  I  regret  to  notice  from  lli(>  same  au- 
thority I  have  already  quoted  that  from  a  (Miuntry  which  is 
almost,  peculiarly  and  exclusively  a  iiriidiirci-  of  raw  pro- 
ducts largely  used  and  often  purchased  by  llir  I'nihMl  States 
from  other  nations,  the  exports  were  almost  nil  and  the  share 
Queen.sland  received  of  these  purchases  was  last  year  £25. 
Understand  1  make  no  complaint  on  this  head,  iyid  certainly 
I  have  no  intention  of  asking  you  to  record  any  sympathetic 
resolution  condemnatory  of  the  present  or  any  past  admin- 
istration. It  may  be  that  there  are  difficulties  of  transporta- 
tion to  this  country.  T  am  content  to  simply  state  the  facts 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  will  lead  to  a  better  under- 
standing in  tlu>  future,  and  will  show  the  changes  necessary 
to  any  large  expansion  of  the  trade  between  the  UTiited  States 
and  Queensland,  viz.;  that  in  retuni  for  our  purchases  the 
Ignited  States  should  take  in  exchange  some  of  (uir  raw 
materials.  I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  tlud  sonu'  of  our 
|iroducts  are  now  being  a])preeiated  in  the  I'nited  Slatrs" 
newest  possession,  the  Philippines,  w!u>re  quantities  of  Ihh'T 
and  ice  ])roduced  in  Queensland  are  being  consumrd  by 
American  citizens.  I  hope  this  interchange  of  comnuidities 
will  expand  till  reciprocity  is  fully  established.  These  mat- 
ters, however,  instr\ictivo  as  they  may  be  as  to  past  trans- 
actions, do  not  satisfy  even  myself  that  T  have  doru'  all  in 
my  power  to  suggest   improvements  in    llie   trade   relations 


I  have  criticised.  Herein  is  my  difficulty.  With  the  knowl- 
edge I  possess,  begotten  of  an  almost  life-long  experience, 
I  could  suggest  many  avenues  for  advantageous  trade  rela- 
tions, based  on  the  existing  fiscal  policies  of  the  two  coun- 
tries, but  you  are  probably  awaj'c  that  almost  as  a  certainty 
next  year  the  federation  of  four  slates  of  the  Continent  of 
Australia  will  take  place.  This  action  will  not  be  altogether 
unfamiliar  to  j^ou  in  its  consequences  as  affecting  trade  and 
commerce,  which  will  then  be  controlled  or  influenced  by 
the  fiscal  policy  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia.  It  is 
claimed  for  this  constiution  that  it  is  the  most  democratic 
in  the  world,  and  though  I  do  not  for  one  moment  share 
in  Mr.  Reeves'  pessimistic  forebodings  that  it  will  be  uni- 
versally directed  in  any  hostile  spirit  to  the  sister  Island 
of  New  Zealand — ^Australia's  summer  holiday  resort — yet 
with  such  new  and  experimental  machinery  it  would  be  haz- 
ardous for  me  to  even  attempt  a  guess  at  the  precise  fiscal 
policy  of  a  new  power.  I  know  that  presently  the  only 
basis  for  the  finances  of  the  commonwealth  consists  in  cus- 
toms revenues,  and  that  to  provide  a  sufficient  sum  there 
certainly  must  be  some  policy  of  protection,  but  how  long 
such  may  continue  depends  entirely  on  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple expressed  by  the  new  system  thereby  provided.  It  seems 
probable  that  in  many  respects  it  will  resemble  the  present 
fiscal  policy  of  this  country,  in  which  event  a  large  expan- 
sion of  trade  will  be  unlikely.  Again,  as  some  responsible 
ministers  have  suggested,  there  may  be  in  force  a  British 
Zollvereiu,  under  wliich  Australia  may  consider  it  to  its  ad- 
vantage to  trade  even  more  closely  within  its  own  Empire, 
therefore  pending  these  changes  I  have  to  postpone  any  sug- 
gestions which  are  consequent  on  them. 

But  whether  in  or  out  of  the  new  Union  the  colony  must 
buy  and  sell  somewhere,  and  I  think  an  extension  of  business 
in  the  manufactured  articles  of  this  country  can  be  expected 
if  some  of  Queensland's  raw  products  are  taken  in  exchange. 
It  may  he  that  many  of  these  are  already  largely  produced 
in  the  United  States,  yet  the  cost  becomes  a  factor  in  the 
consideration  of  purchases,  and  also  the  difference  in  sea- 
sons. These  products  include  wool,  meat  (chilled  and 
frozen),  tallow,  hides,  sugar,  gold,  copper,  pearl,  shell  and 
many  other  tropical  products,  all  of  which  industries  are 
capable  of  development.  There  is  also  a  lucrative  industry 
in  the  neighboring  island  of  British  Guiana,  viz:  India  rub- 
ber. I  do  not  propose  in  detail  to  demonstrate  the  possi- 
liilities  of  advantageous  interchange  of  all  these  products 
but  I  must  candidly  state  that  in  beef,  sugar  and  copper, 
satisfactory  business  ought  to  be  done  between  the  two  coun- 
tries at  once.  Queensland  possesses  as  many  horned  cattle 
as  all  the  other  colonies  combined,  and  since  the  discovery 
of  artesian  water  and  closer  settlement  by  recent  liberal  land 
legislation  the  prospect  of  a  large  increase  is  probable.  This 
ineat  could  be  taken  alive  or  chilled  to  your  western  sea- 
board, but  it  cannot  be  taken  to  England  or  Europe  unless 
frozen,  where  it  often  realizes  prices  varying  from  If  to  3d. 
I  notice  the  prices  of  bullocks  now  average  about  £4,  i.  e.. 
Id.  a  pound,  and  I  know  the  last  contract  price  entered  into 
))y  me  nu  behalf  ot  tlie  government  last  year  was  Id.  per 
pound  fur  Mie  best  beef  dressed.  'I'lie  eane  sugar  produced 
there  has  no  superior  anywhere,  and  can  be  made  merchant- 
able at  an  a\crage  of  £7  Ms.  (hI.  a  ton  with  ahimdant  room 
for  expansion,  'i'heri'  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  new  dis- 
coveries of  eoppiT  al  Chillagoe  in  Northern  Queen.sland,  and 
r  cannot  but  think  judicious  investments  there  would  pay 
lucratively.  I  also  bazard  the  opinion  that  the  surest  way  for 
ibe  United  States  to  extend  their  foreign  trade  with  Queens- 
laud  is  to  .secure  an  entrance  on  the  ground  floor  of  tlu'.se 
industries  by  ex]iending  part  (if  the  surplus  wealth  and  scien- 
tific eiun-gy  of  their  peo])le  in  tlie  development  of  Queens- 
laiurs  many  resources.     There  is  mueh  presently  to  be  tlone 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION",  OCTOBER  17,  1899 


63 


in  this  way  and  judicious  enterprise  is  likely  to  meet  with 
a  rich  re^-ard.  I  cannot  guarantee  to  all  a  suitable  mountain 
of  gold  such  as  we  have  at  Mount  Morgan,  near  Rockhamp- 
ton,  but  as  our  mining  laws  are  equally  open  to  the  in- 
troduction of  American  capital  and  people,  I  can  certainly 
promise  a  most  hearty  welcome  to  every  citizen  of  the  United 
States  desirous  of  displaying  his  vigor  and  enterprise  in  the 
development  of  the  resources  of  Queensland,  and  I  only  hope 
that  many  mil  assist  to  make  this  locality  as  progressive 
as  they  have  done  in  Russia  and  in  many  other  foreign 
countries. 

In  conclusion,  I  can  only  say  I  have  endeavored  to  avoid 
the  introduction  of  any  descriptive  sketch  of  the  geography 
or  history  of  Queensland,  and  its  institutions,  further  than 
such  directly  relate  to  the  expansion  of  trade,  and  have  made 
no  effort  to  specially  prepare  this  paper;  others  will  more 
efficiently  perform  this  duty.  I  have  simply  endeavored  to 
show  the  possibilities,  as  well  as  the  obstacles  to  the  expan- 
sion of  trade,  and  I  hope  if  my  suggestions  bear  no  other 
fruit  they  will,  at  least,  induce  some  of  your  enterprising 
biisiness  men  to  send  to  Queensland  special  expert  knowledge 
with  a  view  to  an  active  participation  in  the  development 
of  the  virgin  resources  of  this  country,  and  by  establishing 
closer  trade  relations,  further  cement  those  friendly  ties 
which  common  race  and  common  language  have  destined 
to  bind  together  in  the  closest  bonds  of  friendship,  the  old- 
est and  the  youngest  of  the  colonies  of  the  one  great  Mother- 
land. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  the  great  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Honorable 
Sir  Roderick  Cameron,  who  will  preside  over  the  sessions 
to-day.    (Applause.) 

Sir  Roderick  Cameron: 

It  is  enough  for  me  to  say  that  I  appreciate  the  compli- 
ment that  has  been  paid  to  me,  and  I  will  call  upon  J.  H. 
Rogers,  Esq.,  of  Townsville,  Queensland,  United  States  Con- 
sular Agent  and  representative  of  the  colony,  who  will  read 
a  paper  on  the  "Wealth  of  North  Queensland." 

The  Wealth  of  North  Queensland. 
Mr.  J.  H.  Rogers: 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen. — North  Queensland,  with  its 
area  of  239,500  square  miles,  and  a  population  of  100,000, 
may  be  likened  to  a  very  large  prairie  in  which  a  very  small 
baby  is  trying  to  make  itself  heard.  On  the  immediate  spot 
upon  which  the  baby  rests  there  is  much  bustle,  commotion, 
and  noise,  but  there  is  room  for  a  very  large  number  of  other 
babies  before  that  prairie  can  be  considered  a  complete  nur- 
sery. The  magnitude  of  North  Queensland's  area,  and  the 
paucity  of  its  population,  is  at  once  made  apparent  by  com- 
parison. The  Republic  of  Switzerland,  with  a  population 
of  close  upon  3,000,000,  has  an  area  of  but  15,469  square 
miles,  a  country  fifteen  times  smaller  than  North  Queens- 
land, with  a  population  thirty  times  as  great.  Or  take  the 
more  sparsely  populated  South  African  Republic,  the  Trans- 
vaal, and  there  you  find  an  area  less  than  half  the  size  of  ours 
carrj'ing  seven  and  a  half  times  the  population.  Turn  to  your 
own  country,  and  you  see  New  York  with  49,000  square  miles, 
holding  a  population  of  over  6,000,000;  Kentucky,  with  its 
40,000  square  miles,  peopled  by  nearly  2,000,000;  Tennessee, 
nearly  the  same;  Ohio  and  Alabama,  with  their  teeming  mil- 
lions on  an  area  about  a  fifth  of  that  of  North  Queensland. 
And  recognizing  as  you  do  what  gi-eater  capabilities  these, 
your  own  states,  have,  it  is  easy  to  conceive  the  enormoiis 
possibilities  of  the  land  from  which  I  come.  Your  own  be- 
loved country  has  made  a  name  eternal  as  history  itself,  in 
the  councils  of  empires,  and  amid  the  clash  of  arms;  and 


her  fame  in  the  manufacturing  and  social  sciences  spreads 
through  all  lands.  As  with  the  United  States  of  America,  so 
with  North  Queensland.  Nature  has  been  a  veritable  Fairy 
Godmother  in  the  lavishness  of  her  gifts.  It  has  been  said 
of  North  Queensland  by  a  poet  of  the  soil,  one  to  whom  the 
roar  of  the  cities  and  the  weird  solitude  of  its  bush  lands  are 
alike  familiar,  that  she  is 

A  Goddess  crowned  with  a  crown  of  pearl, 
Girt  with  a  girdle  of  glittering  gem. 
Her  rich  dark  tresses  fall  and  curl 
O'er  breast  and  waist  to  garment  hem. 
With  fleecy  shoon  on  her  firm  young  feet, 
Bound  limbed,  majestic  in  her  pride, 
Yet  generous  of  her  own,  replete 
With  priceless  charms,  possessions  wide, 
Not  envious,  pitying  others'  youth  misspent. 
She  moves  serene  to  plenty,  peace,  content. 

From  the  depths  of  the  coral  seas  in  Torres'  Strait  come  the 
pearls  that  form  her  crown.  Stretching  far  and  wide  from 
Mackay  on  her  southern  boundary  to  Thursday  and  Friday 
Islands,  which  Cook  found  and  baptized,  lie  her  boundless 
stores  of  gold  and  gems.  The  "rich  dark  tresses"  of  her  forest 
land  and  virgin  scrub  fall  over  a  lake  and  river  watered 
country  unexcelled  the  world  over  for  its  wondrous  fertility, 
and  its  adaptability  to  products  of  every  description.  The 
fleeces  of  her  flocks  help  to  array  the  simple  savage  as  well 
as  the  not  always  simple  belle  of  society  in  many  countries 
and  many  climes.  In  the  midst  of  war's  alarms  her  herds 
have  fed  your  own  gallant  soldiers  while  they,  face  to  face 
with  death,  dauntlessly  upheld  the  glory  of  their  country, 
and  the  honor  of  its  flag.  Therefore,  deem  me  not  boastful 
when  I  claim  that  North  Queensland,  in  its  youth,  has  helped 
to  feed  and  clothe  its  older  cousin,  America.  With  supreme 
confidence  in  the  future  of  their  country,  our  people,  while 
not  fearing  friendly  rivalry,  say  that  in  the  plentitude  of 
wealth  which  they  possess  there  is  much  that  should  attract 
the  genius,  the  energy,  and  the  capital  of  the  trans-atlantic 
race.  They  think  that  the  American  people  could  well  afford 
to  pay  more  attention  to  the  products  of  the  vast  territory  of 
Northern  Queensland,  and  thereby  not  only  cement  our  com- 
mercial relations  closer,  but  also  strengthen  the  warm  feeling 
of  friendship  which  we  in  our  portion  of  Australia  hold  to- 
ward our  kindred  in  America. 

Since  my  arrival  on  \o\\v  shores  I  have  risen  m  the  morn- 
ing and  gone  to  rest  at  night,  with  compelled  recognition 
of  the  fact  that  I  was  not  away  from  home.  The  same  rest- 
less energy  that  marks  the  people  of  the  land  from  where  I 
come  is  apparent  in  every  movement  of  your  own  people. 
There  is  the  same  implied  determination  to  keep  ahead  of 
time;  the  same  surface  simplicity  that  covers  a  rich  lode  of 
shrewdness;  the  same  imstinted  hospitality.  And  though 
your  rivers  may  be  wider  than  ours,  your  mountains  nearer 
the  clouds, 'your  buildings  more  massive  and  palatial,  there 
is  one  dear  little  characteristic  of  my  own  home,  and  my  own 
people,  that  I  everywhere  meet — a  familiar,  sweetly  simple, 
inquisitiveness  into  the  business  of  your  neighbor.  To  my 
mind  it  is  flattery  of  the  most  charming  kind.  It  implies  an 
inoffensive  desire  to  know  more  of  you,  and  thus  increases 
your  self-esteem  by  the  belief  that,  after  all,  you  are  really 
worth  knowing.  So,  in  the  belief  that  a  better  knowledge  of 
North  Queensland  on  the  part  of  Americans  may  be  mutually 
beneficial,  I  will,  as  far  as  my  ability  and  the  time  at  my  dis- 
]iosal  permits,  tell  you  something  of  her. 

Originally  a  portion  of  the  parent  colony  of  New  South 
Wales,  Queensland  with  an  area  of  437,838,080  acres  was 
granted  self-government,  and  entered  iipon  its  separate  ex- 
istence in  December,   1859.     Tlie  colony  proper  comprises 


64 


PEOCEEDINaS  OF  THE  INTERNA TJ ON AL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  whole  northeastern  portion  of  the  Australian  continent, 
but  tlio  northern  division,  of  which  I  desire  more  particularly 
to  speak,  is  comprised  within  that  portion  extending  from  its 
Southern  boundary  at  Mackay  to  Cape  York  in  the  North. 
As  you  pass  along  the  800  miles  of  its  coast,  from  the  one 
point  to  the  other,  in  the  floating  hotels  formed  by  the  mag- 
nificent steamers  that  trade  from  port  to  port,  almost  every 
(hiy  brings  you  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  numerous  important 
towns  that  are  shipping  centres  for  the  products  of  the  rich 
lands  of  the  interior,  which  extend  from  East  to  West,  eleven 
deo-rees  of  longitude.  Not  many  decades  have  passed  since 
those  liuuls  were  the  hunting  ground  of  the  aborigines,  and 
their  silence  unbroken  except  for  the  voice  of  the  stonn,  the 
twitter  of  birds,  the  thud  of  the  kangaroo  in  its  passage  from 
one  pasture  land  to  another,  and  the  howl  of  the  dingo  in 
tlio  darkness  of  the  night.  To-day  those  spots  are  the  sites 
of  many  a  busy  industry,  and  the  progress  that  has  heen 
made  is  impressively  shown  by  the  fact  that  last  year  the 
supplies  consumed  and  the  products  obtained  by  the  whole 
colony  gave  a  grand  total  of  £16,863,393.  Of  our  exports, 
America  took,  directly  or  indirectly,  goods  to  the  value  of 
£490,151,  while  the  Value  of  the  goods  she  exported  to 
Queensland  amounted  to  £378,837.  To  provide  for  that 
trade  during  the  year  mentioned  there  were  entered  at  all 
Queensland  ports  7,203  ships,  with  a  total  tonnage  of 
4,126,910  tons,  giving  employment  to  193,735  seamen — not 
a  bad  record  for  a  colony  only  40  years  old.  It  is  almost 
impossible  to  separate  the  statistics  dealing  solely  with  the 
Northern  Division  of  the  colony  from  those  of  the  whole, 
and  yet,  by  taking  them  in  their  entirety,  the  South  gets 
more  than  its  proper  proportion.  Thus  many  of  the  imports 
which  supply  Northern  wants  pass  the  customs  at  Brisbane, 
and  are  credited  to  that  port,  while  many  of  the  exports  which 
are  the  product  of  the  North  are  passed  down  the  coast,  and 
as  they  are  shipped  from  other  points  than  Brisbane,  they  ap- 
pear in  the  official  returns  as  exports  from  that  portion  of  the 
colony.  Thus  in  my  quotation  of  statistics,  it  must  be  borne 
in  mind  that  though  I  am,  at  times,  compelled  to  use  those 
of  the  whole  colony  of  Queensland,  the  contributions  of  the 
Northern  division  to  the  compilation  of  the  figures  occasion- 
ally exceed  those  of  the  South.  My  meaning  may  be  made 
clearer  if  I  take,  for  example,  tlie  gold  yield  of  Queensland. 
For  the  year  1898  the  gold  olitaincd  from  Charters  Towers, 
the  principal  gold  field  in  North  Queensland,  was  457,850  oz., 
of  the  value  of  £1,156,944,  against  920,048  oz.  of  the  value 
of  £2,750,349,  the  output  of  the  whole  colony.  And  when  it 
is  considered  that  other  northern  gold  fields — the  Coen,  Cook- 
town,  the  Palmer,  Croydon,  the  Etheridge.  the  Hodgkinson, 
Ravenswood,  the  Russell,  and  other  smaller  gold-producing 
centres  contribute  an  additional  103,642  oz.  out  of  that  total 
of  920,048  oz.  (from  which  must  also  be  deducted  the  1898 
yield  of  the  worid-renowned  Mount  Morgan  mine,  equal  to 
172,527  oz.),  the  southern  output  is  found  to  be  only  186,029 
oz..  as  against  561,492  oz.  from  the  North.  Were.there  a  mint 
in  Brisbane,  which  turned  the  whole  of  that  gold  into  sover- 
eigns, it  would  be  C(iually  as  correct  to  credit  the  South  with 
producing  it  as  it  is  under  the  customs  returns  to  credit  her 
with  imports  and  exports  properly  belonging  to  the  North. 

And,  right  here,  I  may  mention  that  it  was  to  free  itself 
from  the  misrepresentation,  and  from  other  unavoidable  in- 
justice arising  out  of  the  attempt  to  govern  668,497  square 
miles  of  territory  from  its  extreme  southern  corner,  that,  on 
the  glorious  second  of  September,  the  people  of  North  Queens- 
land, by  a  majority  of  eight  to  one,  declared  in  favor  of  form- 
ing part  of  a  federated  Australia.  And  though  the  gold  out- 
put of  North  Quecn.>^land  to-day  is  great,  though  in  the  past 
twenty-two  years  10,632,605  oz".  of  gold  have  been  gained  in 
the  colony,  this  great  industry  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy,  and. 
with  but  few  exceptions,  the  surface  of  its  mineral  areas  has 


only,  comparatively  speaking,  been  scratched  with  ever  rest- 
less nature,  those  who  devote  themselves  to  mining,  flit  like 
bees  from  one  field  to  another,  not  wanting  to  exhaust  the 
treasure  from  any  one  store.  The  cry  of  "new  rush"  urges 
them  onward  like  soldiers  responding  to  the  call  of  the  bugle. 
Thus  when  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago  the  rich  alluvial 
deposits  on  the  Palmer  were  worked  out,  there  was  a  rapid 
exodus  of  miners  attracted  by  the  outbreak  of  the  Hodgkin- 
son, and  the  field,  that  in  a  few  months  from  its  shallow  allu- 
vial had  given  over  six  millions  sterling  worth  of  gold,  was 
abandoned.  Yet  a  man  whose  name  is  not  unknown  to  you, 
a  man  who  has  done  yeoman  service  in  the  mining  industry 
of  Queensland — I  speak  of  Mr.  Jack,  the  geologist — has  given 
as  his  official  opinion,  as  government  geologist  of  Queens- 
land, that  heavy  gold  deposits  underlie  the  desert  sand- 
stone, and  that  once  the  intervening  strata  has  been  pierced 
the  old  glories  of  the  field  will  return,  and  then  the  £6,000,000 
of  its  alluvial  past  will  be  but  a  more  twinkle  compared  to  the 
auriferous  splendor  of  its  rock-mining  future. 

But  as  all  those  who  have  had  any  experience  in  mining 
well  know  such  ventures  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the  working 
miner.  To  wrest  that  treasure  from  the  stronghold,  in 
which  past  ages  have  entrenched  it,  the  strength  of  capital, 
the  undoubted  commander  of  brain  and  muscle,  is  needed. 
And  I  say,  unhesitatingly,  that  in  no  part  of  the  world  does 
the  mining  industry  offer  fairer  promise  to  the  investment 
of  capital  than  do  the  gold  fields  of  North  Queensland.  It 
is  not  as  though  the  mineral  deposits  were  confined  to  the  one 
spot.  To  the  East  and  the  West  and  the  North  and  the 
South  of  almost  any  given  spot  within  its  enonnous  area  is 
rich  in  precious  metals.  They  have  been  found  in  its  nl'oun- 
tains  and  ravines,  in  its  jungles,  and  on  its  plains;  the  rush  of 
water  has  prevented  its  recovery,  and  in  dry  arid  places  there 
lies  to-day  paddock  upon  paddock  of  stone  glistening  with  the 
gold's  rich  yellow,  within  touch  of  the  battery  that  only 
awaits  the  liqadd  message  from  the  clouds  for  the  crash  of 
its  stampers  to  break  the  spell  that  holds  the  treasure,  and 
add  the  now  unobtainable  wealth  to  swell  the  gold  yield  of 
North  Queensland.  All  the  gold  centres  I  have  mentioned 
have  an  assured  future  before  them.  On  the  Hodglrinson. 
years  ago,  claims  were  abandoned  at  a  time  when  the  stone 
was  yielding  heavy  returns,  because  of  other  rushes  'TDreak- 
ing"  where  less  capital  was  required.  To  show  the  richness 
of  the  properties  so  abandoned  I  may  mention  the  fact  that 
in  one,  taken  up  after  lying  idle  for  several  years,  the  first 
crushing  of  30  tons  gave  a  return  of  88  oz.  8  dwt.  of  gold, 
wortli  £3,14s.  per  oz.  On  Croydon,  the  latest  large  auriferous 
field  discovered  on  the  North,  many  sensational  finds  have 
been  made,  and  despite  constantly  recurring  periods  of  flood 
and  drought  it  has  given  a  total  output  of  777,072  oz.  since 
its  discovery.  The  Etheridge  has  for  the  last  20  years  yielded 
an  average  of  20,000  oz.,  some  of  the  gold  being  as  high  in 
value  as  £4. 2s.  6d.  per  oz.  And  from  the  Etheridge  northwards 
to  the  gulf  country  you  can  travel  for  days  without  ever 
losing  sight  of  the  outcrops  of  reefs.  To-day,  attention  is 
also  being  turned  to  the  river  beds,  and  companies  are  being 
formed  for  dredging  purposes.  These  efforts  I  am  almost 
certain  will  result  successfully,  for  there  is  scarcely  a  river 
in  North  Queensland  but  what  at  some  time  in  past  ages 
enormous  quantities  of  gold  have  been  washed  down  into  it 
and  deposited  in  its  bed.  It  is  the  opinion  of  experts  that 
in  Miocene  times  many  of  the  valleys  of  these  rivers  were 
dammed  up  by  volcanic  outbreaks  and  formed  vast  lakes  in 
which  for  a  time  fine  silicious  sand  was  rapidly  deposited; 
that  the  barriers  being  at  length  brokrn  down  by  the  streams 
at  the  outlets  of  the  lakes,  numerous  torrents  removed  the 
greater  part  of  the  sands  and  brought  down  gravel  charged 
with  gold:  the  second  l)arriers  were  thrown  up  and  great 
layers  of  fine  silt  again  deposited,  and  that  over  the  nearly 


Hon.  DAVID  J.  HILL, 
Ass'T  Secretary  of  State. 


Hon. THOMAS  BRACKETT  REED, 
Ex-Speaker  U.  S.  House  of   Rep'S. 


Hon.  BOIES  PENROSE. 
U.  S.  Senator  from  Penna. 


SIR  RODERICK  CAMERON, 
New  York. 


Hon.  CORNELIUS  N.  BLISS, 
Ex.-Secretary  of  the  Interior. 


Hon.  EVERETT   FRAZAR, 

Consul-general  for  Korea. 


HON.  SETH    LOW, 

President  Columbia  College. 


Gen.  H.  H.  BINGHAM, 

Member  of  Congress  from  Phila. 


J.  C.  MONAGHAN, 
U.  S.  Consul  at  Chemnitz. 


:■:■.  ...I 
tr.-:i_:  y.j   ■ 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  17,  1899 


Vi 


65 


level  surfaces  thus  produced  immense  Hows  of  basalt  were 
fiually  poured  out  and  formed  beds  of  the  lakes  and  rivers. 
When  the  dredges  get  to  work  the  result  will  probably  be 
another  astounding  25i'oof  of  North  Queensland's  mineral 
resources.  To  properly  develop  these  resources  the  intro- 
duction of  capital  is  imperative,  and  I  say  again  that  never 
was  fairer  field  oll'ered  capital  for  profitable  investment,  for 
mining  in  North  (Queensland  is  something  surer  than  mere 
sjjeculation. 

To  capitalists  in  any  part  of  the  world  the  new  mining- 
regulations  of  the  colony  of  Queensland  are  worthy  of  atten- 
tion. They  are  the  outcome  of  the  suggestions  embodied  in 
the  report  of  a  recent  Eoyal  Commission  on  mining,  which 
commission  was  formed  of  some  of  the  most  practical  and  ex- 
perienced miners  in  the  legislature.  It  was  their  opinion 
that  the  figures  they  quoted  in  their  report  spoke  more  elo- 
quently than  words  of  the  almost  illimitable  mineral  wealth 
of  the  colony,  and  they  added:  "As  a  field  for  the  investment 
of  capital  it  can  scarcely  be  surpassed  by  any  country  that 
your  commissioners  are  aware  of;  but  at  the  same  time  due 
eaxe  should  be  taken  by  intending  speculators  before  launch- 
ing out  into  large  and  extravagant  expenditure.  It  is  the 
strictly  economical  yet  scientific  working  of  properties  which 
is  required  in  order  to  repay  investors,  and  unless  companies 
are  prepared  to  employ  the  most  skilled  management,  and  the 
most  up-to-date  machinery  and  labor  saving  appliances,  they 
are  likely  to  meet  with  the  same  fate  which  has  attended  ex- 
travagantly and  badly  conducted  mining  ventures  on  the 
Etheridge  and  elsewhere.  With  good  management,  sufficient 
capital,  and  the  most  highly  approved  appliances,  it  is  im- 
possible to  estimate  the  wealth  tliat  may  lie  won  from  mining 
properties  now  lying  idle  in  Queensland.  Surely  the  encour- 
agements of  experts,  jjlended  with  caution  b:)rn  by  experience, 
was  never  more  truthfully  or  succinctly  expressed.  Queensland 
within  the  j)ast  forty  years  has  produced  minerals  to  the  value 
of  over  £.51,000,000  sterling,  and  its  present  annual  output 
exceeds  £3,000,000.  As  an  industry,  mining  ranks  next  in 
importance  to  the  pastoral  industry.  Its  production  of  gold 
exceeds  that  of  New  Zealand,  New  South  Wales.  South  Aus- 
tralia and  Tasmania  put  togetlier;  its  area  of  proclaimed  gold 
fields  covers  18,6.38.010  acres,  and  in  its  thirteen  proclaimed 
mining  districts  there  are  68  proclaimed  gold  fields. 

Ami  it  is  not  alone  rich  in  gold.  Among  its  exports  may 
be  found  tin,  silver,  copper,  wolfram  and  bismuth,  and  among 
■  its  discovered  gems  are  'Opals,  diamonds,  rubies,  sapphires, 
garnets  and  other  precious  stones.  From  the  Herberton  tin 
district  alone  there  have  been  taken  27,300  tons  of  the  value 
of  £1,251,191  within  the  past  16  years,  and  with  the  high 
price  for  tin  ruling  when  1  left  the  colony  greater  attention 
was  being  paid  the  industry  than  it  had  received  tor  some 
years  previously.  At  Ohillagoe,  and  other  copper  countries, 
new  and  valuable  discoveries  are  being  made,  and  I  am  firmly 
of  opinion  that  at  no  time  in  the  history  of  North  Q.ueens- 
land  has  the  mining  industry  looked  as  prosperous  as  it  now 
looks;  at  no  time  has  it  ever  offered  better  inducement  for 
the  investment  of  capital.  A  man  well-known  to  many  of 
you,  Mr.  S.  B.  J.  Skertchly,  the  geologist,  but  recently  said, 
"I  can  and  do  state  confidently,  after  nearly  thirty  years  of 
professional  work  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa  and  America,  that 
I  never  saw  anything  more  promising  than  the  northern  area 
of  Queensland."  That  promise  will  reach  fruition  when  the 
mining  industry  of  North  (Queensland  commands  the  atten- 
tion it  deserves.  Then  will  follow  the  opening  up  of  the  now 
neglected  mineral  country,  which  will  provide  happy  homes 
for  large  and  prosperous  populations. 

Turning  from  the  mineral  to  tlie  pastoral  industry  the 
wealth  of  North  Queensland  is  again  made  apparent.  Out 
of  her  total  area  of  427,838,080  acres,  nearly  13,000,0(10 
have  been  disposed  of  by  the  government  under  a  system  of 


deferred  payment,  and  an  additional  2,000,000,  or  thereabouts, 
are  now  in  process  of  alienation,  while  over  two  and  a  half 
million  acres  are  held  by  Crown  lessees  engaged  in  pastoral 
and  grazing  pursuits.  During  1898  the  colony  exported  wool 
to  the  value  of  £3,018,098;  from  its  herds  in  meats  and  the 
extracts  thereof,  hides  and  skin.s,  leather,  bones  and  bone  dust, 
tallow  and  live  stock,  £2,.550,021;  while  in  the  colony  were 
left  about  18,000,000  sheep,  over  6,000,000  cattle,  and,  in 
addition  to  -1,231  exported  of  the  value  of  £31,903,  nearly 
•500,000  horses.  Of  these.  North  (Queensland  claims  a  large 
portion.  At  intervals  between  Burketown  to  Mackay  pasture 
these  flocks  and  herds.  The  history  of  the  early  pioneers  was 
made  up  of  dangers  and  difficulties  encountered  and  overcome. 
Away  in  the  far  north,  the  country  watered  by  the  Flinders, 
the  Cloncurry,  the  Lejchhardt,  the  Gregoi-y,  the  Nicholson, 
and  the  Albert  Rivers  is  adnurably  adapted  for  pastoral  pur- 
poses. Parts  of  the  gulf  country  are  better  suited  for  cattle 
than  sheep  raising,  still  to  whichever  branch  of  the  pastoral 
industry  it  is  best  adapted  there  is  a  grand  future  before  it, 
and  in  years  to  come  it  will  constitute  an  important  meat  and 
wool  producing  centre  of  North  Queensland.  And  so  with 
the  rich  pasture  lands  that  stretch  away  for  miles  and  miles 
over  the  blacksoiled  prairie  lands  to  the  west  of  Townsville, 
the  capital  of  the  Northern  division.  Undoubtedly  the  coun- 
try south  of  the  Jardine  Valley  down  the  Landsborough 
River,  and  westwards  on  both  sides  of  the  Flinders,  i.s  one  of 
the  best  grazing  lauds  of  the  whole  colony  of  (Queensland. 
On  them  were  built  the  homes  of  some  of  the  sheep  kings  of 
the  North,  who,  however,  will  soon  have  to  give  way  to  the 
20,000  acre  gi-azier  men  whom  the  treasurer  of  (Queensland 
has  described  as  "a  most  desirable  class  of  producers," — men 
who,  for  the  most  part,  have  had  a  practical  training  in  wool 
growing. 

Another  highly  important  industry  in  North  Queensland  is 
the  cultivation  of  sugar.  Originally  the  sugar  hands  in  the 
north  were  mostly  in  large  areas,  the  principal  plantations 
being  in  the  districts  of  Mackay,  the  Burdekin  Delta,  the 
valley  of  the  Johnstone  River,  Chairns,  and  the  Herbert 
River,  but  the  passing  of  the  Sugar  Works  Guarantee  Act 
lias  induced  small  holdings  to  be  put  under  cultivation  by 
authorizing  the  erection  of  central  mills  by  the  state,  which 
takes  a  first  mortgage  over  the  surrounding  lands  as  security 
for  the  advances.  Over  £500,000  has  been  thus  expended, 
their  output  equalling  50,000  tons  annually,  but  as  yet,  these 
mills  have  not  paid  interest  and  redemption.  However,  it  is 
|ii-ii]iiised  to  establish  experimental  farms  in  connection  with 
them  by  the  aid  of  which  the  exact  nature  of  the  different 
soils  can  be  ascertained  with  the  view  of  obtaining  from  them 
the  maximum  of  productiveness.  The  value  of  the  sugar 
manufactured  in  Queensland  IVir  the  season  of  1898-9  was 
£1,750,000,  the  industry  solely  maintaining  30,000  people, 
occupying  an  area  of  111,091  acres,  and  employing  500  miles 
of  private  railways  to  convey  the  cane  to  the  mills,  besides 
5,500  horses  and  2,227  drays.  The  manufacture  of  one  ton 
of  sugar  placed  on  the  wharf  ready  for  shipment  costs  about 
£8,  so  that  £1,304,000  of  the  value  of  the  output  goes,  to  the 
producer  and  the  labor  employed.  Under  a  federated  tarifi" 
it  is  hoped  that  the  colony  will  be  freed  from  the  present  com- 
])etition  by  the  bounty-fed  article,  and  that  then  the  sugar 
industry  in  North  Queensland,  like  other  of  its  industries,  will 
progress  with  a  marvelous  rapidity. 

And  so  as  you  travel  coastwise  or  through  the  interior  of 
this  land  you  will  find  yourself  confronted  with  the  evidence 
of  wondrous  wealth  and  ever  increasing  resources.  On  its  agri- 
cultural lands  the  sturdy  fanner  has  settled,  enjoying  a  life 
free  from  the  restrictions  of  an  older  civilization,  and  sor- 
rounded  l)y  a  family  of  young  Northerners  who  must  indeed 
be  far  away  in  the  solitude  of  the  bush  if  they  cannot  avail 
themselves  of  one  of  the  grandest  educational  systems  in  any 


66 


rJ{()('KHl)L\(iS  OF  Till-:  J.VTHi;XA'l'l(»\.\I,  COMMFIfCIAL  COXCItKSS 


|)iirt  of  the  world, — a  system  maintaiued  by  a  population  of 
000,000  people  at  an  annual  cost  of  more  than  ten  shillings 
])er  head,  the  sum  on  the  estimate  for  that  purpose  for  the 
linaueial  year  1899  being  £^72,346.  And  as  in  other  of  the 
Australian  colonies  the  mining  ajid  the  agricultural  industry 
walk  hand  in  hand  together.  The  mineral  wealth  attracts, 
the  richness  of  the  soil  detains. 

It  is  marvelous  to  luite  how,  during  the  few  decades  in 
which  North  (Queensland  has  been  wrested  from  its  ])rimitive 
state,  a  iiund)er  of  line,  haiulsome  towns  have  sprung  into 
existence.  Townsville,  the  capital  of  the  North,  the  outlet 
seawards  for  the  products  of  its  rich  back  country — the  com- 
mercial centre  of  the  whole  of  the  North — with  its  palatial 
buildings,  its  busy  streets,  its  magnificent  harbor:  C^barters 
Towers,  the  scene  of  activity  ever  presented  by  a  largo  and 
thriving  mining  community,  crowded  with  the  most  modern 
machiiu'ry  for  the  recovery  of  gold;  Jlackay,  with  its  broad 
streets  opening  out  to  the  picturesque  plantations  beyond; 
liowen,  with  oiu'  of  the  finest  harbors  on  the  Northern  coast; 
Cairns,  active  with  the  life  of  a  large  producing  and  commer- 
cial centre;  Cooktown.  full  of  historic  recollections;  Thurs- 
day Island,  with  its  mixed  population,  among  which  can  be 
found  a  representative  of  every  race  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
and  from  the  waters  surrounding  which  over  £12.3,000  is  an- 
nually recovered  by  the  pearl  shelling  industry;  Normanton, 
with  its  rich  jiastoral  lands  behind,  and  the  prosperous  gold 
field  of  Croydon  connected  with  it  by  rail:  Burketown,  with 
its  past  romantic  history,  its  present  prosperity  and  its  as- 
sured future. 

These  and  othci-  towns  can  all  be  reached  along  the  coast, 
the  traveller  ])assing  by  scenery  that  at  times  arouses  awe  by 
its  magnificence,  or  lulls  the  senses  by  its  peaceful  beauty. 
They  may  also  be  reached  by  a  trip  through  the  interior  across 
plains  that  stretch  as  far  as  the  eye  can  reach;  over  mountains 
whose  tops  touch  the  white  fleece  of  the  cbuuls;  through 
virgin  scrub  where  the  giants  of  the  forest  rear  tlieniselves 
heavenward  and  the  glories  of  the  tropical  growth  are  en- 
livened by  the  brilliant  plumage  of  the  birds,  the  song  of 
which  at  times  joins  in  the  music  of  the  running  stream. 

Such  is  North  Queensland  in  its  infanthood.  Would  that 
in  years  to  com'e  I  could  come  back,  but  for  the  Iniefest 
space  of  time,  to  look  upon  it  when  it  has  attained  the  full 
strength  of  its  maturity.  In  the  Fnion  tlag  of  your  own 
favored  land,  as  in  that,  of  ours,  tlie  azure  blue  of  its  field 
is  lightened  by  the  silver  sheen  of  its  stars  that  symbolize 
your  jjower.  As  the  United  States  of  America,  so  the  North 
of  Queensland  is  a  land  of  freedom  and  plenty.  It  is  a  land 
which  calls  forth  all  that  is  good  and  great  in  man  during 
his  struggle  with  the  forces  of  nature,  and  in  his  contest  for 
the  higher  civilization  of  the  world.  It  is  a  land  which  arouses 
like  an  eagle's  instinct,  backed  by  the  strength  of  the  lion, 
that  dauntless  determination  to  acliieve  success,  which  is  the 
glorious  heritage  of  tlie  descriidanls  of  the  great  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  whose  lilood  flows  alil<e  in  the  veins  of  America's  sons 
and  the  children  of  .\ustralia's  sunny  North.  It  is  a  land 
that  ofTers  a  home — the  floors  of  which  are  content,  and  the 
roof  ])rosj)erity — to  those  who  love  to  labor  for  labor's  sake; 
to  those  who  are  content  to  leave  l)ehind  them  old  world 
<dass  hatreds  and  creed  distinctions,  and  have  for  their  highest 
ambition  the  riiiht  to  share  in  the  liuiMing  of  a  country  whose 
peo]ile  shall  dwell  together  in  the  bonds  (d'a  common  brother- 
hood; a  couiili'y  whose  laws  ^nc  basi^l  upon  manhood's  equal- 
ity, resting  (Jii  the  etei'iial  ])ill;n\s  of  right  and  justice.  To 
such  as  those  North  Queensland  olfers  the  greeting  "come," 
with  the  pronnse  to  them  in  the  acceptance  <jf  her  web^ome, 
that  want  shall  be  ever  a  stranger  to  them. 

In  conclusion  I  desire  to  thank  the  I'biladclpliia  Coinjner- 
cial  Museum  for  its  invitation,  on  behalf  f)f  tlie  Townsvilb- 
Chainlier  of  ( 'oinmeree,  ami  to  I'.xpri'ss  a  part  icular  d(<ii-c  t  hat 


this  Congi-ess  shall  be  a  most  successful  one.  At  the  same 
time,  on  behalf  of  myself  and  the  other  delegates  of  Queens- 
land, I  have  to  thank  the  Museum  for  the  elegant  manner  in 
which  they  have  received  us.  and  the  way  in  wliich  we  have 
been  entertained.    (Ayiplause.) 

Sir  Rodericlc  ('(itiin-ini  : 

The  next  gentleman  to  address  you  will  be  Mr.  William 
Grant  Clark,  of  Charters  Towers,  North  Queensland,  who  will 
read  a  ])a])er,  entitled.  "The  Mining  Interest  of  (Queensland." 

Mr.  W'il/iinii  (hiiiil  ( 'larh: 

Air.  President  and  Fellow  Delegates.— The  mining  interest 
of  (Queensland  is  such  an  important  matter  that  the  time  at 
my  disposal  would  not  allow  me  to  do  it  justice. 

We  have  a  territory  of  thirteen  hundred  miles  from  the 
Tweed  River  in  the  south  to  Cape  York  in  the  north,  and 
nine  hundred  miles  from  east  to  west.  You  can  understand, 
gentlemen,  when  I  say  there  are  437,840,000  acres  of  land  in 
that  colony,  mining  of  every  kind  is  well  represented.  We 
have  in  the  south,  on  the  borders  of  New  South  Wales,  tin, 
and  near  to  Warwick,  gold,  and  further  north  in  the  com- 
munity with  which  our  worthy  Agent-General  was  at  one 
time  associated,  one  of  the  richest  gold  fields  in  our  colony. 
I  refer  to  Gympie.  During  a  sojourn  of  something  like 
twenty  years  in  this  ]iart  of  the  Em]iirc  known  as  Queen.s- 
land,  I  have  traveled  from  the  Tweed  in  the  south  to  Cape 
York  in  the  north,  and  to  the  Never-Never  Land  in  the  far 
west.  Therefore,  anything  said  by  me  in  regard  to  mining 
should  be  authoritative,  having  l)een  on  the  spot,  but  I  have 
no  intention  of  giving  you  figures.  For,  in  the  first  place,  to 
the  bu.siness  man  brevity,  is  a  point  that  counts.  Sir  Horace 
Tozer  and  Mr.  Rogers  have  already  given  you  plenty  of  figures. 

I  am  sure  you  would  not  wish  me  to  go  into  the  figures  of 
the  mining  of  our  colony,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  may 
be  uninterestino-  to  you.  All  I  say  is  this,  that  in  our  modest 
(_'hamber  of  f!ommerce  in  Charters  Towers,  we  have  an  able 
body  of  men  who  are  always  alert,  always  on  the  qui  vive 
to  do  anything  that  they  can  to  increase  the  popularity  of  the 
district  they  are  living  in. 

I  say  this  to  .show  you.  with  all  due  deference,  to  your 
worthy  Dr.  Wilson  and  his  able  officers,  that  our  Chamber 
of  Commerce  and  Mines  is  alive  and  enterprising,  as  is  also 
the  chamber  of  our  sister  town,  from  which  you  have  a  dele- 
gate here  who  has  recently  spoken,  Mr.  Rogers,  and  our  two 
Chambers  were  the  only  ones  that  had  appointed  their  dele- 
gates to  ibis  Congress  before  being  waited  upon  by  your 
commissioner,  Mr.  Green.  This  clearly  shows  that,  though 
living  in  a  tro]3ical  climate,  it  is  possible  for  men  to  be  active 
as  members  of  our  Chand>ers,  and  they  are  not  in  the  least 
upset  by  the  heat  that  we  have  to  endure. 

(Queensland  was  named  in  honor  of  our  chief  ruler.  She 
has  reason  to  be  pleased  with  the  name,  as  we  (^ucenslanders 
are  to  our  sovereign  what  you  citizens  of  the  United  States  arc 
to  your  President;  we  are  loyal  and  leal  and  true. 

Now,  gentlemen,  it  is  not  necessary  for  mo  to  go  into  par- 
ticulars, in  connection  with  the  mining  interest,  but  T  will 
.say  this:  that  we  have  a  ]iopulation,  as  stated  by  our  .\gent- 
General,  of  something  uwv  ball'  a  niilliiui.  In  our  colony 
\\r  have  the  dignity  of  ihr  luouiitains,  as  well  as  the  disjnity 
oT  trniperatui'e.  Tbr  ibn-ninuictcr  in  Ibi'  far  west  probably 
goes  lip  III  sometbing  like  120  degrees  in  the  shade.  At  a 
place  wliirli  I  visited  sixteen  years  ago,  which  is  considered 
the  leading  copper  field  of  the  colony,  the  temperature  was 
over  120  in  the  shade,  and  yet  white  labor  was  working  in  flie 
mines,  well  paid,  and  ihe  ownci's  wci'c  well  satisfied  nntli  the 
work  done.  That  shows  tbiil  oncu  though  we  live  in  a  very 
boi  rlimati'.  white  lalioi-  has  its  I'cward. 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OOTOliKE  17,  1899 


67 


In  connection  with  what  the  Agent-General  for  New  Zea- 
knd  mentioned  yesterday,  I  may  state  that  federation  is  an  ac- 
complished fact,  or  will  lie  within  the  next  two  years.  He 
said  that  in  all  probability  Australia  would  shut  out  his 
colony,  New  Zealand.  Now  that  I  do  not  think  will  take  place. 
New  Zealand  is  a  gold-producing  country,  as  well  as  our 
colonies,  and  the  exports  of  New  Zealand  will  be  received, 
I  should  think,  without  any  addition  to  the  original  cost, 
allowing  for  transport  charges.    ("Hear,  hear.") 

AVhen  I  traveled  toward  your  country  I  passed  through 
the  new  possessions  belonging  to  you  Americans,  the  Philip- 
pine Islands.  We  carried  something  like  five  thousand  cases 
of  potatoes  and  onions,  sent  in  transit,  via  Sydney,  to  supply 
the  American  troops.  So  long  as  the  Americans  are  fighting 
for  civilization  in  the  Far  East,  the  transport  of  supplies  will 
continue  to  pass  through  our  country,  or  along  our  coast 
without  any  additional  charge. 

Mr.  President,  in  the  name  of  the  Chamber  I  represent, 
I  thank  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  I  thank  the  United 
States  Government  for  the  very  welcome  reception  that  we 
have  received,  and  rest  assured,  it  will  never  be  forgotten  by 
the  speaker. 

Sir  Boderick  Cameron : 

Mr.  Herbert  Bowdcn,  delegate  from  Thursday  Island, 
Queensland,  will  give  }-ou  an  address  upon  "Pearl  Shelling." 
It  will  be  very  interesting,  no  doubt. 

Mr.  Herbert  Bowden  : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen.— As  I  am  a  delegate  from 
Torres  Straits,  I  wish  to  confine  my  remarks  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  industry  is  worked  there,  and  it  will  apply,  in 
the  main,  to  all  the  industries  where  pearl  shell  is  procured. 
This  island  is  nested  among  other  islands  and  is  a  haveu  for 
all  boats  engaged  in  this  industry.  It  is  here  that  all  the 
boats  are  licensed,  receive  their  provisions,  and  it  is  here 
that  all  the  boats  hand  up  the  catch  for  the  year  or  of  each 
trip.  The  island  is  a  small  one,  about  fovir  and  a  half  miles 
in  circumference,  and  was  seven  years  ago  fortified  by  the 
Imperial  Government.  The  population  consists  of  three 
hundred  Europeans  and  two  thousand  colored  people  of  all 
the  various  nationalities  under  the  sun.  We  have  found  it 
of  great  advantage  in  the  past,  and  at  the  present  time,  in 
having  so  many  nationalities.  Wlren  there  are  many  men  of 
different  nationalities  in  a  boat,  there  is  no  loafing  or  gamb- 
ling. The  modes  of  procuring  the  shell  are  by  swimming — 
naked  divers — and  by  the  air  pump,  etc.  As  the  latter  is  the 
most  improved  manner,  I  will  treat  with  that  first.  A  schooner 
will  have  a  fleet  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  pearling  luggers.  These 
luggers  will  run  from  8  to  15  tons  register  and  cost  £3.50. 
To  this  is  added  £150  for  diving  pump,  dress,  helmet,  etc. 
With  the  small  boats  working  with  the  fleets,  they  are  never 
allowed  to  work  at  any  very  great  distance  from  the  tender 
or  schooner.  It  has  been  found  by  men  who  work  in  the 
schooners  to  be  of  great  advantage  and  saving  of  time  to 
keep  their  vessels  out  from  periods  of  six  to  twelve  months. 
From  the  grounds  to  the  centre  there  will  sometimes  be  at 
least  two  hundred  miles. 

They  also,  by  this  manner  of  woriving,  secure  all  the  pearls, 
the  shells  being  collected  daily,  taken  aboard  the  schooners 
and  opened  and  the  owners  get  the  pearls,  whereas  when  they 
are  working  from  the  .shore,  these  are  simply  in  the  hands  of 
the  crew.  The  crew  of  a  boat  consists  of  a  diver,  who  is 
master,  liaving  a  diver's  license;  next  is  the  tender,  who 
looks  after  the  life-line  and  pipe,  and  then  a  crew  of  four 
or  five  men,  the  whole  comjirising  six  or  seven  men  of  all 
nationalities.  The  largest  shelling  area  is  what  is  known 
as  "old  grounds."  Those  are  shell-waters,  running  from  six 
to  eight  fathoms,  and  the  shell  procured  from  these  grounds 


is  known  as  "chicken,"  and  is  tlie  best  quality  of  shell.  The 
diver  works  from  seven  in  the  morning  to  six  or  seven  at 
night,  coming  up  for  the  purpose  of  refreshment  or  to  get 
air.  The  refreshment  is  very  light,  for  a  man  in  a  diving 
dress  does  not  have  his  meals  until  his  work  is  OTcr.  The 
diver,  when  he  finds  that  he  is  on  a  good  shelling  ground, 
shortens  the  sail  and  lets  go  the  anchor,  the  vessel  drifting 
with  the  tide,  and  as  the  man  who  is  diving  has  to  walk 
on  the  bottom,  there  muist  be  some  check  on  the  drifting 
boat.  This  is  done  by  means  of  letting  go  the  anchor.  When 
they  have  gotten  to  the  end  of  the  ground  they  hoist  up  sail 
and  start  operation  again.  In  the  deep  water  diving,  in 
which  there  have  been  over  one  hundred  fatalities  that  have 
taken  away  the  cream  of  the  divers,  the  manner  of  working 
is  slightly  different.  A  man  will  dive  in  slackwater  between 
the  turn  of  the  tide,  from  ebb  to  flood  or  flood  to  ebb.  He 
(lives  in  thirty-two,  and,  indeed,  he  has  been  known  to  go 
to  thirty-five  fathoms.  That  will  seem  a  little  bit  of  romance, 
but  I  assure  you  that  men  are  diving  200  feet  deep  at  the 
present  time.  The  older  divers  do  it  on  rather  a  scientific 
plan,  that  is  to  say,  the  tender  lowers  the  diver  down,  has  his 
watch  in  his  hand  and  allows  four  minutes  for  the  diver  to 
descend  to  the  bottom,  four  minutes  for  working  at  the 
bottom  and  four  minutes  for  getting  to  the  top.  Really  the 
man  is  twelve  minutes  in  dress  and  helmet.  The  diver  will 
not  descend  more  than  three  times  a  day,  and  although  the 
life  is  a  risky  one,  there  is  not  much  labor  attached  to  it.  The 
shell  is  to  thick  in  these  deep  waters  that  the  men  will 
probably  get  six,  seven,  eight  or  nine  tons  per  year,  whereas 
a  man  in  shallow  water  is  very  lucky  if  he  gets  three.  I 
have  found  from  statistics  that  the  average  last  year  was 
three  and  a  half  tons  per  boat  per  year.  I  might  remark, 
if  there  is  any  inventive  genius  here — I  know  that  America 
is  full  of  it — I  will  be  very  happy  to  join  with  any  one 
who  can  invent  a  diving  suit  in  which  a  man  can  work  in 
from  thirty  to  forty  fathoms  of  water  with  freedom.  I  assure 
you,  gentlemen,  that  there  is  a  huge  fortune  in  it  for  the 
man  who  can  invent  such  an  apparatus.  There  have  been 
drags  and  shells  and  all  sorts  of  things,  but  most  of  them 
have  been  left,  as  mementos,  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea.  In 
the  deep  waters  the  bottom  is  very  treacherous.  You  will  be 
in  eighteen  fathoms  of  water  and  then  drop  to  thirtj'-fivc. 
That  has  caused  much  loss  of  life.  When  a  man  sees  a  large 
cpiantity  of  shell,  he  is  very  much  inclined  to  risk  going  down, 
particularly  as  the  divers  alone  are  paid  on  the  lay,  getting  so 
much  per  ton  for  every  ton  of  shell — eighteen  and  twenty-two 
in  shallow  waters,  and  in  deep  waters  from  twenty  to  twenty- 
five.  A  diver  will  earn  two  hundred  pounds  a  year  in  deep 
water  if  he  is  an  excellent  diver. 

The  oyster  is  of  no  value  at  all,  although  the  grisly  part 
is  edible  and  made  into  curry  by  the  crew.  I  would  not  like 
to  recommend  it  to  you.  The  shell  is  then  cleaned  and  the 
outer  edge  chopped  off.  It  is  brought  into  Thursday  Island, 
where  it  is  packed  in  cases  ranging  from  2  to  2i  cwt.  It  is 
then  shipped  to  London,  which  is  the  market  for  this  product 
for  the  world.  It  is  sorted  in  piles,  one  to  five  and  six,  that 
is,  according  to  the  likes  of  the  buyer  or  the  manufacturers 
of  buttons,  cutlery,  etc.  Some  of  the  people  in  the  colonics 
had  started  to  sort  it  themselves.  That  is  known  as  colonial 
sorting.  Colonial  sorting  is  not  appeciated  in  London;  per- 
haps the  brokers  desire  to  have  the  sorting  in  their  own 
hands,  knowing  the  requirements  of  the  buyers.  The  prices 
Imve  rans-ed  from  about  £80  to  £200  per  ton.  Some  shells 
will  sell  for  £85,  the  very  grubby,  blister  .shell:  the  fine  .shell 
has  broiight  as  high  as  £200  per  ton.  We  can  work  the  in- 
dustry at  a  profit  at  that  price.  If  there  are  any  gentleinen  in- 
terested in  the  shell  business,  if  they  wish  to  procure  their 
shells  direct  from  the  shellers,  they  must  be  prepared  to  take 
the  shell  as  we  get  it.     T  would  like  it  to  he  understood  that 


68 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEENATTOXAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


wo  do  nut  iiiiinufactiire  the  shell;  only  take  it  as  Nature  gives 
it  to  us,  and  any  dealers  here  must  bo  prepared  to  take  it  as 
we  "-et  it.  I  have  been  asked  if  I  would  book  an  order  for 
ton  Ions  of  pile  oue.  1  could  not  possibly  do  it,  for  I  mi<:;lit 
have  to  get  seventy  or  eighty  tons  of  shell  l)efore  I  got  ton 
tons  of  pile  one.  Then  they  tell  me,  "I  want  the  flat  shell." 
In  each  pair  of  shell  the  bottom  is  Hat  and  the  top  is  the 
cup.  Jf  wo  are  going  to  send  all  the  flat  shells  to  America, 
who  will  take  the  cup?  If  there  are  any  gentlemen  here 
who  are  interested  in  biiying  shells,  they  must  thoroughly 
understand,  if  they  wish  to  do  business  direct,  that  they 
must  bo  ]iroparod  to  take  the  shell  in  all  kinds  and  quantities. 
I  miglit.  perhaps,  before  concluding,  make  partial  allu- 
sion to  ]ioarIs.  We  do  not  carry  on  the  industiT  for  pearls, 
although  wv  are  very  glad  to  get  them.  There  liavo  boon 
vorv  many  ideas  expressed  to  me  as  to  how  they  are  gotten; 
whotlier  the  divers  put  the  shells  in  their  mouths.  These 
divers  are  closed  in  a  suit.  It  is  very  difficult  to  get  out 
unless  you  have  the  aid  of  a  tender  and  one  crew.  The  hel- 
met and  corslet,  which  is  a  very  heavy  piece  of  gear,  is  very 
closely  sealed  up,  and  on  the  shoulder  is  put  two  twenty- 
eight  pound  loads;  the  boots  weight  fifty-six  pounds.  1 
have  opened  as  many  as  three  thousand  shells  and  have  not 
seen  a  single  pearl,  and  yet  on  another  occasion  the  very  first 
shell  I  opened  I  found  a  handsome  poarl.  So  you  see  that 
is  a  matter  of  luck.  The  price  ranges  from  one  "to  two  thou- 
sand ]iounds.  Queensland  pearls  have  been  sold  for  mon^ 
than  that.  It  is  a  matter  of  their  size,  color,  shap^e  and 
quality. 

I  presume  you  all  know  the  origin  of  pearls.  We  are  told 
!)y  scientists  that  when  the  .shell  is  feeding — it  feeds  with  its 
n'louth  open  to  the  tide,  so  as  to  get  all  the  animalculae  that 
is  edible  to  it — it  gets  a  very  little  sand  or  sea  weed,  and  it 
is  this  irritant,  which  it  is  unable  to  eject,  that  is  the  bed  of 
the  pearl.  The  oyster  coats  this  irritant  over  with  saliva  and 
thus  makes  the  poarl.  We  have  no  scientific  opinion  as  to 
how  long  it  takes  for  a  shell  to  form  the  pearl,  but  this  I 
can  state,  that  very  fine  pearls  have  been  found  in  five-inch 
shells.  The  life  of  the  shell  is  not  known,  hut  the  early 
growth  is  considered  pretty  rapid.  It  originally  attaches 
itself  to  any  obstacle  and  it  does  that  by  what  is  known  as 
byssis  or  small  anchor.  The  shell  attaches  itself  to  any  ob- 
stacle at  the  bottom  and  remains  attached  by  that  byssis 
until  it  is  heavy  enough  to  resist  the  force  of  the  tides. 
Some  experiments  were  carried  out  by  ilr.  Sayville  Kent. 
Ilis  idea  wa.s  that  he  could  produce  pearls  in  the  slicll. 
There  is  one  specimen  that  he  has  now.  That  is  a  fairly- 
sized  shell  in  which  he  bored  a  hole.  That  raised  a  lilisicr 
inside.  The  oyster  coated  that  ovor  and  so  formed  a  vci-v 
respoctablo  looking  blister.  Pearls  are  really  made  in  lay- 
ers and  an  ex]>ort  in  "pearl-faking,"  as  we  call  it,  can  re- 
duce a  ])earl  to  any  size  he  likes.  We  off  on  do  il,  as  wo  may 
get  an  exoellont  poarl  with  a  small  \h\\\ .  To  do  llial  wo 
have  got  to  take  ofl'  the  outer  coating,  Iml  wi.'  are  vory  oflrii 
disappointed. 

Tliere  is  anolbor  industry — the  lieche-do-mer — and  only 
one  market  in  the  world  for  the  13eche-de-nier,  and  that  is 
in  China.  To  give  you  an  wtiniate,  I  can  tell  you  that  Boche- 
de-nier  has  been  sold  up  to  two  hundred  pouiuls  a  ton. 

There  is  another  small  imlustry  tluit  we  have,  that  of  the 
tortoise.  The  tortoise  shell  industry  is  now  ean-ied  on  ex- 
clusively for  the  shell.  Large  quantities  of  tlio  green  liirllr 
ar<'  collected  for  food  for  the  crows  and  natives.  I  iliink 
tlio  day  will  conu'  when  that  will  bo  an  industry.  I  lia\e  imt 
gone  very  miu-h  into  statistics,  l)ooauso,  as  a  maltei'  of  laet, 
I  tliink  llioro  is  really  nothing  that  we  can  exi>eot  lu  lake 
from  yon.  Tiu'  |)resont  system  of  diving  gear  has  lieeii  in 
vogue  for  many  years,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  be  improved 


on.  Unless  someone  can  give  us  a  deep-diving  dress,  I  do 
not  think  there  is  very  much  to  take  from  America.  I  would 
like  to  put  my  spoke  in  the  large  wheel  and  thank  Dr.  Wil- 
son, the  Commercial  Mu.seum  and  the  City  of  Philadelphia, 
for  the  very  courteous  manner  in  which  we  have  been  re- 
ceived. 

The  following  are  the  official  returns  for  the  past  three 
years,  and  show  a  considerable  increase  in  the  number  of 
boats  employed  as  against  the  quantity  of  shell  procured: 

1896.                                        1897.  1898. 

(.iUANTITV.    VALUE.  QUANTITY.     VALUE.  QUAJJTITY.   VALUE. 

ions.    cwt.  gr.                     tons.  cwt.  gr.  tODS.  cwt.  gr. 

Pearl  shell       1089        9      3      £94836       1233      r,       2       £1260012  1061       7      2      £109401 

Bfche-de-nier    30       18      3        £2421           16      3       1             £1125  13      3      3          £1282 

Tortoise  shell      4934  Ihs.             £3101        4221  lljs.                   £2865  3886  lbs.               £2220. 

Sir  liiiilrrirk  Ciiiiicnin : 

We  will  now  have  a  pa]ior  read  by  the  Honorable  J.  A. 
Cockburn.  ^1.  D..  .\gent-(leiu'i-al  for  South  Australia. 

Jfdiiordlilr  J.   A.    Ciiclt-liiini    ( AL;'eiit-(ii'neral    for   Soutli    .Vus- 

tralia): 

South  Australia  is  the  middle  oolony  of  the  continent  and 
is  in  neighborhood  relations  with  all  the  colonies  in  the  group. 
Therefore  I  fool  that  my  task  has  been  rendered  very  easy 
by  the  valualile  ]iapor  to  which  you  have  already  listened, 
because  I  am  speaking  of  a  colony  which,  being  in  immediate 
relation  with  all  the  other  colonies,  is  colored  more  or  less 
by  its  relationship.     Its  features  are  in  many  respects  simi- 
lar and  in  some  abs<3lutely  identical.     For  example,  the  veiy 
interesting  paper  liy  Mr.  liowden  would  apply  to  the  northern 
territory  of  South  Australia,  because  in  that  portion  of  our 
colony  the  pearl-shell  industry  has  assumed  no  inconsideralile 
]>roportions.     I  would  like  to  see  a  map  of  Australia  divided 
into  eolonios  on  the  wall.      V.\rn  in  our  own  mother  country 
a  great  deal  of  niisappreheiision  exists  as  regards  the  topog- 
raphy of  Ansti'alia.      It   is  not   a  rare  thing  to  receive  from 
Lonilon  a  letter  addresscil  li>  .\delaide.  Victoria,  New  South 
Wales.     (Laughter.)     If  ymi  will  allow  me,  I  will  improvise 
a  very  rough  sketch  of  the  eolonios  of  Australia.     You  see 
here  on  the  eastern  coast — and   I  may  say    that,  strangely 
enough,   in   Australia   as   in    .\merica   and   as  in  the   history 
of  the  world  generally — \\v  have  a  population  that  seems  to 
i-oll  from  east  to  west.     (Referring  to  geographical  sketch.) 
Here  are  the  more  densely  ])opulatod  eastern  shores  of  Aus- 
tralia; Queensland,  Now   Soutli    Wales  and   \'ietiu-ia.     Occu- 
pying the  middle  strip  from   the  South   Sea  to  the  Indian 
(ioean  lies  the  colony    of    Soutli     Australia.     Our    western 
boundary  is  formed  by  Western  Australia.    So  we  are  touching 
hands  with  all  of  them,  and,  tlierefore,  our  prolilems  are  in 
many  respects  identical   with    those   of    our  sister  colonies.- 
Recognizing  the  ol)ligations  of  our  situation  and  the  claims, 
of  neighborhood,  we  buill   at   a   lime  wdicn  we  were  not  as'- 
wealthy  as  wo  are  now  a   telogi'a|)li   line  right  across  what 
was  then  regarded  as  an  unex]ylored  desert  of  two  thousand 
miles  at  a  groat  expense,  and  I  may  say  that  it  is  through  ibis 
lino  that  luisiiu'ss  men  of  America  can  C(UTespond  witli  the 
morcbanis  in  .\ustralia.     The  population  of  South  Australia,, 
as  you  mav  supjjo.se  from  this  small  sketch,  is  not  yet  ade- 
quate to  its  territory.     The  territory  is  900,000  square  miles; 
the  iiopulation  is  only  :ii;i.(l(ii)  poo]ilo.  so  that  we  have  much 
room  for  ilevolo|inieiit.  and   ue  are  glad  to  seize  any  oppor- 
funitv  we  can  of  informing  the  ])oo]ile  of  the  facililios  that 
exist  for  inoroasing  tlio  jjopnlation  and  for  forming  now  trade 
connections. 

The  climate  of   Soulh    .\ustralia  is  omiuenily   salubrious. 
1  know  of  no  more  healthv  climate  in  the  world.     The  death 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  17,  1899 


69 


rate,  in  common  with  almost  all  of  the  adjoining  colonies,  is 
extremely  low.  Our  chief  industry  is  wool  raising.  We  have 
in  the  last  ten  years  exported  some  four  himdred  and  fifty- 
six  millions  pounds  weitrht  of  wool,  and  this  wool  is  of  the 
very  finest  merino — ^it  is  just  the  wool  required  for  the  finest 
textiles  throughout  the  world.  We  woiild  he  very  glad  if 
a  portion  of  this,  our  largest  industry,  could  find  its  way  in 
this  direction.  Some  time  ago,  I  believe,  there  was  consid- 
ferable  expoi-t  of  wool  from  South  Australia  to  the  United 
States.  W^e  protect  our  industries.  We  say  to  those  who 
wish  to  trade  with  us,  "There  is  the  tariff;  you  can  lay  your 
business  out  to  surmount  an  obstacle."  But  I  am  very  much 
afraid,  in  some  countrie.«,  the  tarift'  is  like  a  brick  wall  which 
is  watched  with  the  trowel  in  the  hand,  wherever  there  is 
a  little  gap  through  which  traffic  is  passing,  an  extra  brick 
is  put  in.  In  any  case,  I  notice  that  there  is  comparatively 
little  export  of  wool  or  any  of  our  products  to  the  United 
States,  although  we  are  veiy  considerate  buyers  of  products 
from  the  United  States.  I  was  very  much  struck  by  the 
paper  read  by  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson,  in  which  he  pointed  out 
that  in  the  per  capita  purchasing  power  of  the  United  States 
products,  Australasia  stood  third  in  the  list.  We  are  doing 
everything  possible  to  assist  our  pastoral  industries.  Those 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  vicissitudes  of  the  wool  product 
are  aware  that,  in  common  with  the  whole  of  Australia.  South 
Australia  has  passed  through  seasons  of  abnormal  drought, 
and  considerable  losses  have  resulted  to  our  flocks  in  con- 
sequence. I  believe  that  time  has  passed  away:  I  believe 
the  industry  is  rapidly  recuperating.  The  government  has 
done  everything  in  its  power  to  assist  the  squatter.  We  have 
done  everything  in  our  power  to  assist  and  push  fonvnrd 
the  recovery  of  the  wool-raising  industry.  We  grant  liberal 
terms  to  our  pastoralists;  we  have  given  them  large  tracts 
of  country  at  a  nominal  rental.  I  expect  that  within  the 
next  few  years  the  product  of  the  wool  of  South  Australia 
and  Aiistralia  generally  will  not  only  assume  its  normal  pro- 
portions, but  will  far  outstretch  everything  that  it  has  at- 
tained to  in  the  past. 

Next  to  wool  is  wheat.  Tlie  wheat  of  South  Australia 
has  for  many  years  been  famous  throughout  the  world.  We 
have  taken  the  prize  at  the  world's  exhibits.  Our  climate 
is  suitable  for  a  fine,  dry  mill  sample  of  wheat.  The  straw 
is  sufficiently  brittle  to  allow  the  heads  to  be 
stripped  by  means  of  a  machine  with  a  comb  passed 
under  the  ears;  it  takes  the  ear  off  the  straw  and 
thrashes  it  out  at  the  same  time.  Consequently  large  areas 
of  wheat  can  be  harvested  in  a  short  time  and  at  a  small 
expense.  For  many  of  our  labor-sa\'ing  agricultural  ma- 
chines we  are  indebted  to  the  ingenuity  of  the  United  States. 
A  new  feature  has  developed  in  connection  with  our  agricul- 
ture, and  that  is  the  use  of  the  combined  drill  and  fertilizer. 
By  using  a  very  small  quantity  of  artificial  manure  sowed 
with  the  grains  of  wheat  tjie  productive  power  has  been  as- 
tonishingly increased.  Many  of  our  worn  out  wheat  lands 
have  l)een  restored  to  fertility  almost  equal  to  their  virgin 
condition. 

We  do  everything  to  encourage  the  formation  of  homes  in 
South  Australia.  Our  idea  is  that  an  agriculturist  should 
be  settled  on  his  own  land,  not  a  tenant  of  any  private  land- 
lord. The  farmer  can  take  his  land  from  the  State,  either 
by  right  of  purchase,  for  which  he  pays  his  purchase  money, 
by  small  instalments,  extending  over  a  period  of  years,  or 
he  can  hold  his  land  by  what  is  known  as  a  perpetual  lease. 
He  can  at  any  time  sell  to  any  purchaser,  and  at  the  same 
time  has  this  advantage,  that  he  has  not  to  pay  down  any 
amount  of  the  purchase  money  before  he  can  go  on  his  farm. 
He  can  take  his  available  capital  and,  instead  of  sinking  it 
in  his  land  as  purchase  money,  he  can  invest  it  in  machines 
and  buildings  in  order  to  develop  his  property. 


We  are  doing  everything  we  can  to  settle  labor.  We  have 
a  system  known  as  workingmen's  blocks.  The  farmers  at 
harvest  time  need  much  labor,  but  there  is  little  work  to 
do  during  other  portions  of  the  year.  Our  idea  is  that  the 
laborer  may  have  a  small  holding  of  his  own,  to  which  he 
can  put  his  spare  time  when  there  is  a  dearth  of  employment. 
So  that,  instead  of  being  idle,  he  can  put  in  liis  spare  time, 
when  not  employed,  in  building  his  cottage  and  improving  his 
property.  To  that  end  the  State  advances  sums  of  money  for 
the  building  of  cottages  and  making  of  improvements. 

Our  mild  climate  has  advantages  for  our  agriculturists. 
There  is  no  rigorous  winter.  It  is  not  necessary  to  provide 
winter  housing  for  stock.  The  horses  have  merely  a  shed 
erected  for  them,  under  which  they  can  shelter  themselves 
during  wet  weather,  and  1  will  say, 'that  they  are  very  much 
freer  from  disease  living  in  this  manner  than  when  they  are 
confined  in  closed  stables. 

South  Australia  is  a  great  fruit-raising  country,  and  I  think 
that,  in  the  course  of  time,  it  will  be  recognized  as  one  of 
the  chief  fruit-producing  countries  in  tlie  world.  On  the  hills, 
grow  apples,  pears  and  cherries  to  a  size  which  is  almost  un- 
known in  their  original  habitat.  On  the  plains,  peaches, 
apricots  and  grapes  grow  nnth  extreme  exuberance.  One  of 
our  chief  industries  is  that  of  wine.  We  already  make  two 
million  gallons  of  ivine  annually.  This  wine  is  finding  fa- 
vorable markets  in  many  parts  in  the  world,  especially  Lon- 
don. We  have  a  fine  climate,  a  matchless  soil,  and  glorious 
sunshine,  but  we  have  a  deficiency  of  rainfall  in  many  parts 
of  South  Australia.  However,  this  is  one  of  the  conditions 
of  plant  growth  that  can  be  supplied  liy  human  ingenuity, 
and  much  has  been  done  in  our  colony  in  the  way  of  water 
conser^-ation.  We  sink  artesian  wells,  make  dams,  and  in 
every  way  try  to  supplement  this  shortage  of  our  water 
supply. 

Fortunately  for  our  fruit  industry,  the  trees  are  not  so  dis- 
astrously affected  by  the  drought  as  are  cereals.  Very  little 
irrigation  is  needed  for  fruit.  Our  Murray  River  has  been 
taken  advantage  of  for  supplying  water  to  the  arid  districts. 
Some  time  ago  two  gentlemen  l)y  the  name  of  Chaffy  came 
from  America — Canadians  by  birth — versed  in  all  the'  recent 
methods  of  irrigation  in  use  in  the  United  States.  They 
established  an  irrigation  settlement  in  South  Australia  and 
another  irrigation  settlement  in  Victoria,  and  they  gave  us 
an  object  lesson  of  scientific  cultivation  of  fruit  trees  by  ir- 
rigation. Each  tree  being  supplied  with  water,  added  to  its 
height  every  year  a  certain  number  of  inches  or  feet,  which 
could  be  calculated  with  almost  mathematical  precision.  In 
our  irrigation  colonies,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  the 
harvest.  The  water  supply  is  constant,  the  ,sun  is  certain, 
the  soil  is  fertile  and  the  crop  is  sure.  The  government  has 
lately  made  some  interesting  experiments  in  establishing  what 
are  known  as  village  settlements,  when  there  was  a  dearth 
of  employment  in  the  colonies.  We  assisted  groups  of  work- 
ing men  to  settle  on  the  soil.  They  held  their  land  in  cum- 
raon,  held  all  their  irrigation  machinery,  pumping  plant  and 
means  of  production  in  common.  They  have  continued  to 
work  successfully  for  a  considerable  number  of  years,  but 
whether  they  will  continue  to  co-operate  in  respect  to  their 
tenure  of  land  or  ultimately  divide  their  land  into  indi\'idual 
holdings,  is  uncertain. 

Another  interesting  experiment  was  made  In'  the  Agricul- 
tural Department  a  few  years  ago.  A  large  portion  of  our 
farmers  are  not  able  to  undertake  the  expense  of  sending  their 
products  to  distant  markets;  the  charges  are  so  prohibitory 
as  to  preclude  them  from  the  great  markets  of  the  world. 
Only  the  big  men  who  could  forward  large  quantities  and 
secure  the  freight,  insurance  and  disposal  at  the  lowest  pos- 
sible prices  could  export  certain  lines  of  produce.  The  gov- 
ernment has  to  some  extent  taken  the  place  of  the  large 


70 


I'T^OCKKDlXdS  OF  'Pin-:   IXTKl?\\\TTOy.\T.  f'OMMT- TK'TAL  COXCIJESS 


dealer.     We  liave  grouped  tugellier  rroiii  the  various  I'aniir; 
their  little  rivulets'of  produce.     One  man  lia,s  boxes  of  fruit, 
anothei'  Mian  a  few  score  of  lambs,  another  man  has  so  many 
cwt.  of  butter.     Each  of    these  little  consignments  is  col- 
lected by  the  receiving  depot  in  a  large  parcel.     It  is  after- 
ward forwarded  at  a  minimum  of  expense.     The  most  favora- 
ble arrangement  is  made  for  the  shipment  of  the   parcels. 
In.suranee  and  freight  are  provided  at  the  lowest  cost  and 
the  small  lots  are  put  forward  as  a  whole  shipment  by  the 
department,  sent  to  the  hands  of  the  Manager  of  the  Depot 
in  London,  who  makes  arrangements  for  the  sale  of  the  pm- 
ducts  on  the  be.*t  conditions  to  the  producer.     So  that  all  a 
farmer  has  to  do  in  South  Australia,  if  he  has  a  small  con- 
signment and  wishes  to  try  a  chance  in  the  markets  of  the 
world,  is  to  write  to  the  Agricultural  Department  that  his 
goods  have  been  forwarded  to  the  depot;  sometimes  an  ad- 
vance of  sixty  per  cent,  is  made  to  him,  in  order  to  let  him 
abide  in  patience  the  receipt  of  his  chec<iue.     This  was  at- 
tacked as  an  interference  with  private  enterjirise.     The  con- 
ditions of  the  time  must  be  solved  according  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  case  and  so  we  think  that,  instead  of  interfering 
with     private     enterprise,     we     are    assisting     it     by     giv- 
ing to  small  farmers  and  producers  an  opportunity  to  receive 
proper  reward  for  their  labor — we  enable  them  to  earn  by 
honest  industry  the  highest  possible  amount.     The  criticisms 
of  the  Agricultural  Department  have  now  ceased.     Many  of 
our  most  adverse  critics  are    now  our  warmest    supporters. 
The  benefits  of  the  system  have  been  shown.     We  have  an- 
other way  of  assisting  the  producer.     Formerly  a  farmer  who 
wanted  to  raise  a  little  money  to  buy  machinery  or  inake  im- 
provements had  to  pay  very  high  rates  of  interest.     I  have 
known  as  much  as  fifty  per  cent,  charged  to  a  fanner  for  a 
little  temporary  accommodation.     The  State  has,  in  the  last 
few  years,  recognized  that  everything    that  will  assist  the 
producing  jiower  of  the  fanner  is  a  benefit  to  the  commu- 
nity, and  we  have  established  a  State  bank  through  which 
advances  are  made,  and  the  farmers  are  enaliled,  then,  in  con- 
tinue to   profitably   occupy    their    holdings.     As   you     have 
already  recognized  from  what  Mr.   Reeves  told  you  yester- 
day, in  Australian  Colonies  the  sphere  of  activity  of    the 
State  has  been    very  much    extended.     Many  will  hold  up 
their  hands  in  horror  at  what  the  Australian  Colonies  do  by 
means  of  the  government.     We  look  on  the  government  as 
not  anything  apart  from  the  people,  but  as  the  people  them- 
selves.    We  regard  the  government  merely  as  the  directory 
of  a  business  in  which  the  citizen  is  a  shareholder,  and  we 
beiieve  that  the  duty  of  the  State  is  to  do  what  is  necessary 
for  the  welfare  of  the  community.     Our  statesmen  have  been 
noted  in  years  past  for  their  fertility  in  bringing    forward 
measures  which  have  proved  useful,  not  only  within  our  own 
territory,  but  adopted  by  the  great  jjortion  of  the  civilized 
world.     1  need  not  do  any  more  than  allude  to  the  Torrens 
Act.     I  understand  it  has  been  adopted  in  the  United  States. 
I  have  heard  of  an  electoral  act,  which  is  honored  by  the 
name  of  the  Kangaroo  Act.     I  understand  that  some  twenty- 
five  of  the  States  in  the  United   States  have  adopted   our 
Australian  ballot  system. 

Then,  we  have  also  recently  adopted  a  melliod  of  solving 
vexed  questions  regarding  our  public  ])olicy.  We  have 
adopted  the  practice  of  referring  any  question  in  dispute  to 
the  people  themselves  for  their  decision.  This  causes  the 
electors  to  ])articii)ate  in  the  machinery  of  legislation,  and  we 
tind  this  to  be  of  great  benefit.  It  assures  a  speedy  and  easy 
mode  of  settling  difficult  questions,  and  it  has  this  fui'ther 
eifeet,  that  it  keeps  the  citizens  of  our  Colony  const<intly  in 
touch  with  public  questions,  and  gives  each  man  ami  wonum 
a  direct  responsibility  in  legislation.  Some  (iinc  in  1894  I 
had  the  honor  of  introducing  a  l)ill  whicli  conti'rrcd  the 
franchise'  upon  tlie  wonu'n  of  South  Australia  ("hear,  hear," 


aj)iilaiise).  and  vei-y  well  indeed  it  has  worked.     Let  me  tell. 
you.  ladies  and  gentlemen,  there  is  not  a  man  or  a  woman  in 
South  Australia  who  would  ever  venture  the  suggestion  to 
recur  to  the  former  state  of  franchise.     The  women  vote  just 
as  orderly  and  intelligently  as  the  men   (''hear,  hear,"  ap- 
plause.)    It  has  led  to  no  family  disputes.     The  husband  and 
wife  drive  to  the  polls  together;  they  generally  vote  together 
(laughter)  and  the  same  way,  but  it  does  not  necessarily  fol- 
low that  the  wife  votes  under  the  dictation  of  the  hu.sband. 
I  think  that  often  the  husband,  by  the  sweet  reasonableness 
of  the  better  half,  is  per.suaded  into  the  right  way  of  thinking 
and  viewing  public  questions   (applause).     All  that  I  have 
to  say  is  that  the  experiment  has  been  tried  and  proved  suc- 
cessful for  us,  as  in  New-  Zealand.     The  women  have  not  only 
a  vote,  but  are  entitled  to  sit  in  parliament.     There  is  noth- 
ing to  prevent  a  woman  sitting  in  South  Australian  Parlia- 
ment.    Hitherto  men  alone    have    been  chosen.     I  do  not 
think  that  women  wish  to  depart  from  this  custom,  but  should 
they  wi,sh  to  there  is  nothing  in  the  law  to  prevent  them 
from  giving  voice  in  franchise  to  their  own  sex.     We  received 
in  our  parliament  sujiport  in  reference  to  franchise  of  women 
from  a  direction  which  might  not  be  looked  for.     We  have 
in  both  houses  a  consideralile  nundjer  of  direct  representa- 
tives of  labor;  about  one-fourth  are  composed  of  actual  work- 
ingmen,  who  have  been  at  the  bench,  at  the  compositors 
desk,  or,  in  other  ways,  have  occupied  positions  in  actual 
manual  work.     Among  these  representatives  are  some  of  the 
most  eloquent  and  most  able  mendjers  of  our  house,  and  they 
voted  as  a  solid  plialanx  for  the  enfranchisement  of  women. 
I  will  very  rapidly  say  a  few  words  about  our  mining  in- 
dustries, and  I  have  papers  whicli  will  give  information  on 
the  subject  of  such  trade  statistics  as  you  may  require.  But  I 
must  say  that  I  find  such  an  admirable  supply  of  South  Aus- 
tralian statistics  in  the  Museum  that  it  is  almost  unnecessary 
for  nie  to  have  encumbered  myself  with  these  statistical  reg- 
isters.    Copper  is  the  chief  mineral  which  is  found  in  South 
Australia.     Some  gold  fields  have  been  worked  for  fifty  years, 
but  no  great  gold  discoveries,  such  as  have  enriched  the  neigh- 
boring colonies,  have  taken  place.     Chopper  has  been  a  great 
advantage  to  us.     The  export  of  copper  from  South  Australia 
is  larger    than    the    combined    exjiorts    from  the    group    of 
Colonies.     Oour  total  export  of  copper  has  amounted  to  the 
value  of  some  twenty-three  millions  of  pounds.     One  mine 
alone  has  paid  one  million  seven  hundred  thousand  pounds 
in  dividends. 

^lay  I  say  a  word  or  two  about  education,  of  course  the 
national  prosperity  of  South  Australia  must  rest  upon  a 
sound  system  of  education.  We  have  ever  been  solicitous 
of  the  education  of  our  citizen.s,  and  I  must  express  my  in- 
debtedness to  the  admirable  system  of  information  supplied 
by  the  United  States  bureaus.  For  the  last  fourteen  years 
I  have  been  in  the  habit  of  receiving  from  the  Bureau  of 
Education  in  Washington,  circulars  of  information  which 
are  sent  out  far  and  wide  over  the  world.  They  were  so 
useful  and  did  so  much  in  South  Australia  towards  adapt- 
ing our  education  to  the  requirements  of  the  State,  that  I 
took  the  liberty  of  writing  to  the  chief  of  the  Educational 
Bureau  on  one  occasion,  to  express  my  debt  of  gratitude,  for 
the  assistance  we  had  derived  from  these  publications.  We 
have  taken  many  of  our  improvements  from  the  T^nited  States. 
We  have  introduced  drawing  as  a  coni]nilsory  study  in  all 
our  schools.  In  that  I  think  we  have  followed  the  good  old 
State  of  Massachusetts.  We  have  adopted  manual  training 
and  practical  education  id"  every  character.  Another  little 
American  exani])]e  whic-li  we  have  followed  with  the  happiest 
results  in  Arbor  Day.  We  have  expanses  of  treeless  lands  in 
the  country,  and  we  have  a  day  set  apart  for  the  planting  of 
trees.  The  childi'en  ar(>  encouraged  to  plant  trees  on  tlu^so 
davs.     The  leadiers  aive  tlu'ni  a  liltle  lesson  on  forestry  lol- 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SFSSION.  OCTOBER  17,  1899 


71 


lowud  by  a.  short  address  Ijy  the  mayor  of  the  town,  or  some 
other  public  official,  and  then  the  rest  of  the  day  is  a  holi- 
day. Arbor  Day  has  resulted  in  clothing  the  monotony  of 
our  plains  with  foliage,  and  there  is  nothing  that  mitigates 
tlie  asperity  of  a  dry  climate  more  than  the  planting  of  trees. 
This  was  first  introduced  from  the  United  States  into  South 
Australia. 

We  have  our  technical  schools  as  well  as  our  university. 
As  regards  education  in  agriculture,  we  have  done  everything 
we  can  do  to  advance  it.  We  have  isrimaxy  sehools,in  the 
country  in  which  practical  agriculture  is  taught.  We  have 
secondary  agricultural  schools,  and  then  we  have  a  high  tech- 
nical school  in  which  a  complete  scientific  education  in  agri- 
culture can  be  obtained. 

I  cannot  say  what  infinite  jdeasure,  as  well  as  profit,  it 
has  been  to  me  to  come  and  visit  the  United  States  on  this 
occasion.  I  have  taken  so  many  valuable  hints  from  the 
ingenious  citizens  of  the  United  States  that  it  is  a  real  pleas- 
ure to  meet  them  in  their  own  home.  (Applause.)  We  in 
Australia  regard  very  highly  the  ties  that  bind  us  as  com- 
mon offshoots  from  the  jiarent  country.  On  the  Fourth  of 
July  we  go  down  to  the  office  of  the  American  consul  and 
drink  the  health  of  the  President.  We  are  indebted  to  Amer- 
ica for  many  of  the  facilities  for  occupying  our  vast  coun- 
try. You  see  all  around  in  the  farms  your  labor-saving  ma- 
chinery. You  come  into  the  workshop  and  there  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  advanced  type  is  American.  We  are  indebted 
for  lessons  given  to  us.  It  is  strange  if  it  were  not  so,  for 
the  problems  of  the  United  States  and  Australia  are  similar. 
You  are  in  advance  of  us;  we  are  following  as  fast  as  we  can 
in  your  footsteps.  After  all,  we  are  all  scions  from  the  same 
old  stock,  planted  out  under  freer  and  more  favorable  con- 
ditions for  development.  We  had  the  good  fortune  to  be 
formed  as  colonies,  when  the  traditions  of  the  mother  coun- 
try toward  her  colonies  had  fortunately  altered  from  what 
they  were,  when  the  American  colonies  w"ere  planted.  We 
have  remained  as  a  sister  in  our  mother's  house,  but  we  look 
to  our  elder  sister  for  many  of  the  means  of  solving  our  prob- 
lems. When  the  proposition  of  this  Congres  was  made  to 
the  government,  we  accepted  the  opportunity  of  sending  a 
representative.  I  thank  Dr.  Wilson  and  all  those  connected 
with  the  Museum  very  heartily  for  the  information  placed 
at  our  disposal.  We  shall  all  go  away  recognizing  that  if 
we  would  keep  near  the  van  of  progress  we  must  adopt  the 
method  of  collecting  and  disseminating  information  with 
regard  to  commerce  and  trade  which  have  been  so  success- 
fully carried  out  by  the  authorities  of  this  exhibition. 


stitution  has  been  developed  during  the  last  three  years 
into  the  condition  in  which  you  see  it,  and  1  want  to  ask 
the  favor  that  the  delegates  before  leaving  shall  seek  some 
opportunity— and  we  can  all  find  it— to  study  the  Philadel- 
phia Commercial  Museum  fully,  so  that  you  will  understand 
its  work. 

Now  I  have  another  favor  to  ask.  This  Congress — and 
no  one  knows  what  important  results  may  come  from  it  in 
one  way  or  another — is  the  first  one  of  its  kind,  composed 
of  men  who  are  interested  in  the  widest  and  grandest  ques- 
tions that  can  interest  human  beings.  It  would  give  me 
great  pleasure  to  see  the  photograph  of  every  delegate  who 
has  attended  the  Congress  placed  in  the  lioard  Room  of 
this  Institution.  I  have  to  announce  that  arrangements 
have  Ijeen  made  whereby  two  of  our  best  photographers  will 
be  glad  to  photograph  the  delegates  without  expense  to  them. 
They  are:  F.  Gutekunst,  of  712  Arch  street,  and  the  Gili)ert 
Photo  Company,  of  926  Chestnut  street. 

I  have  also  to  announce  that  arrangements  have  been  made 
for  such  of  the  foreign  delegates  as  care  to  attend  the  theatre 
on  Wednesday  evening,  to  see  the  play  called  "Sister  Mary,'" 
the  star  on  that  occasion  being  May  Invin.  The  tickets  will 
be  given  out  by  Mr.  C.  A.  Green." 

Sir  Roderick  Cameron  .• 

I  would  suggest,  in  reply  to  the  very  modest  request  made 
by  Dr.  Wilson,  that  he  and  the  members  of  the  jMuifeum  have 
their  photographs  taken  and  that  a  copy  be  presented  to  each 
delegate  in  attendance. 

(Adjourned  12.30  P.  M.) 


PiiiLADELPntA,  Tuesday,  October  17,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  2.34  p.  m.,  bv  Director 
W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  first  address  at  this  afternoon's  meeting  will  be  given 
on  Western  Australia  by  H.  K.  Calder,  Esq.,  delegate  from 
the  Fremantle  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Calder. 


Sir  Roderick  Cameron : 

The  next  paper  is  by  Mr.  H.  K.  Calder,  delegate  from  the 
Fremantle  Chamlier  of  Commerce. 

I  propose  an  adjournment  from  now  until  half-past  two. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

May  I  give  one  or  two  notices  before  the  gentlemen  of  the 
delegation  disperse? 

In  the  first  place,  the  Philadelphia  Bourse,  an  institution 
on  this  same  street,  above,  combining  nearly  all  of  the  ex- 
changes in  the  city  and  bringing  together  general  business 
— not  a  bourse  such  as  we  understand  in  Paris  or  Europe, 
but  for  the  general  business  of  the  city — ^has  sent  an  invi- 
tation to  all  of  the  delegates  to  visit  the  floor  and  exchange 
at  any  time  they  may  please.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  build- 
ings of  its  kind  in  the  world.  The  button  of  the  delegate 
will  admit  to  the  floor  or  any  other  part  of  the  house. 

There  is  one  other  point  I  wish  to  mention.  I  am  ex- 
tremely desirous  that  a  favor  should  be  granted  to  me. 
("Hear,  hear,"  and  applause  from  the  delegates.)     This  in- 


Westekn  Australia. 
H.  E.  Calder: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  In  com- 
mencing this  paper  on  Western  Australia  I  should  in  the 
first  place  like  to  mention  that  it  was  the  intention  of  the 
government  of  Western  Au.-^tralia  to  depute  the  official  repre- 
sentative for  the  Colony  in  London,  to  attend  this  Congress 
and  to  give  the  delegates  official  information  respecting  the 
colony,  its  resources  and  industries. 

But  unfortunately,  Mr.  Wittenoom,  who  I  may  mention 
has  been  connected  with  the  Colony  for  many  years  and  has 
held  high  positions  in  the  government,  was  prevented  at  the 
last  moment,  through  important  business  in  London,  from 
attending  this  Congress. 

I  was  only  advised  of  this  three  days  ago,  when  I  was 
asked  to  give  an  address  on  the  colony.  Although  quite  im- 
prepared  to  do  this — and  without  document  of  any  kind  to 
which  I  could  refer — I  was  so  strongly  of  opinion  that 
Western  Australia  has  so  many  advantages  for  manufac- 
turers and  traders,  that  I  ultimately  consented  to  lay  before 


•) 


PROCKEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEENATIOXAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


till'  (Icli'j^ates  of  this  (.Congress  a  few  facts  and  figures  con- 
lU'ctei]  therewith. 

1  make  tliis  statement  in  exlcnuation  of  the  shortness  of 
tliis  ]vd\m-  and  for  the  meageniess  of  its  information. 

J  lad  r  only  more  time  and  data  to  work  ujjon.  I  feel  very 
conlideiit  ilial  1  could  have  impressed  you,  gentlemen,  not 
only  with  the  o]>jwrtunilies  you  liave  for  trade  iu  your  manu- 
I'actureil  article?,  hut. also  with  the  natural  products  we  have 
for  disposal,  and  which  would  he  advantageous  to  you. 

Wostei'u  Australia  has  been  called  somewhat  appropriately 
the  "Cinderella"  of  the  group.  Though  founded  as  far  back 
as  1827  and  in  spite  of  a  vast  area  approximately  one  millitm 
s([uare  miles  (about  a  third  of  the  continent),  the  population 
in  181)0  was  under  fifty  thousand.  With  tiie  advent  of  re- 
siionsible  government  in  1890,  and  the  discovery  of  gold  in 
payable  quantities  about  the  same  time,  the  long  period  of 
inertia  passed  away,  and  since  that  time  the  Colony  has  pro- 
gressed liy  leaps  and  bounds. 

I  do  not  propose  to  weary  ymi  with  many  statistics,  but  the 
fact  that  tlie  revenue  which'  in  1890  was  but  four  hundred 
thousand  pounds,  in  1898  was  little  short,  of  three  million 
sterling,  ami  IIimI  the  population  in  this  period  has  increased 
from  fiftv  111  our  Iniudred  and  seventy  th(nisand,  will  give  you 
a  fair  idea  ol  the  magic  wliicb  a  gi'eat  gold-producing  country 
yields. 

The  temperature  in  the  northern  districts,  where  the  sea 
breeze  does  not  penetrate,  is  high,  and  for  one  or  two  months 
in  the  year  the  heat  is  oppressive.  Imt  the  extreme  dryness  of 
the  atmosphere  renders  it  more  endurable  than  most  tropical 
climates.  In  the  southern  juirtion  of  the  Colony,  especially 
between  Perth  and  Albany,  the  climate  is  delightful. 

I  merely  mention  these  facts  because  representatives  of  the 
other  colonies  have  praised  their  special  conditions  of  tem- 
perature so  much,  that  were  I  to  omit  it,  the  impression  might 
be  ci-eated  that  Western  Australia  has  no  climate  whatever. 

The  noi'thern  districts  are  admirably  adapted  to  cattle 
raising,  but  owing  to  the  expense ^of  transportation  this  has 
not  received  the  attention  which  more  favorably  situated 
colonies  attract.  In  the  south  most  kinds  of  cereals,  fruits 
and  vegetables  may  be  ciillivated.  and  in  the  ojiiiiioii  of 
French  experts  the  soil  is  especially  lavoi-alile  for  the  pro- 
duction of  wine  and  table  grapes. 

Pearling  is  carried  on  to  a  consideralile  extent  in  the  north- 
west, and  this  pursuit  increases  yearly  in  imjiortance.  Cop- 
])er.  lead  and  tin  have  heen  found  in  paying  quantities,  and 
within  the  last  year  diamond  washing  has  been  carried  on. 
the  stones  found  so  far  being  ^mall  but  of  line  lustre.  Coal 
mines  are  also  lieing  opene(l  up  at  Collie  in  the  south,  with 
excellent  prospects  of  ultimate  success. 

The  wonderful  progress  imulc  hy  the  Western  Austi'alia 
gold  fields  has  astonished  e\i'ii  ihc  uinsl  saiiguiuc  I'lir  ai'ra 
of  declai'ed  fields  i^  atxiut  two  iinllinii  nci'es.  one  hundred 
thousand  of  which  ha\'e  l)eeii  taken  in  mining  leases.  It  is 
oljvioiis  that  with  so  large  an  aicu.  nuuh  of  it  stretching 
through  waterless  districts  of  tlic  inlciioi-.  the  ground  yet  to 
be  thoroughly  jirospected  is  immcn.-c 

Three  hundred  and  lifly  miles  inland  fi'om  Perth  is  the 
gi'caf  mining  camp  of  Kalgooilic.  Im  v<'ai's  ago  a  desert,  now 
a  liiistling  town  of  (Ifleeii  thousand  inhabitants,  lit  by  electih- 
light,  with  broad  sticels  and  nuiny  line  buildings.  In  Ibis 
district  one  mine  alone  produced  in  the  month  of  .Innc.  this 
year,  twenty  thousand  ounces  of  gold. 

The  great  drawliack  to  cheap  exiraction  of  gold  in  these 
districts  is  the  one  of  fresh  wafi'r.  all  of  wlii(h  for  domeslic 
p\n'poses,  boilers,  etc.,  has  to  lie  cimdi'iised.  To  meet  this 
,  lack,  the  government  has  nnderlaki'U  to  sujiply  watei'  from 
near  the  coast,  by  means  of  a  gigantic  engineering  work 
which  is  to  pump  it  three  h\indre(l  and  twenty-eight  miles 
through  |]i|ies.  to  a  final  elevation  of  1  .IJOO  feel  above  the  olV- 


take  level.  The  estimated  cost  of  this  is  two  and  one-half 
million  pounds. 

The  contract  for  34,000  tons  of  steel  plates  for  these  pipes 
was  taken  by  the  great  American  firm  of  Carnegie  &  Co., 
ami  aliout  (Uie-half  of  the  plates  have  already  been  shipped 
fi'om  \ew  York.  When  this  scheme  is  carried  through 
an  enormous  area  of  low  grade  gold-producing  country  will 
he  made  payable.  The  figures  for  gold  won  in  Western 
Australia  for  189(1  were  280,000  ounces,  for  1898  1,300,000 
ounces  and  the  estimate  for  1899  is  1,500,000  ounces. 

The  qualities  of  our  hard  wood,  jarrah  and  karri,  have  been 
attracting  gi-eat  attention.  The  estimated  area  of  available 
timber  forests  is  30,000  s((uare  miles,  and  they  are  rapidly 
coming  into  demand  in  various  jiarts  of  the  world  for  all  pur- 
poses where  toughness  and  durnhility  are  essential. 

For  general  constructive  works  in  necessary  contact  with 
soil,  water,  and  especially  pier  building  and  street  pavement, 
the  unrottable  jarrah  is  in  great  request.  In  countries  where 
the  white  ant,  the  enemy  of  all  soft  woods,  pursues  his  way 
through  thick  and  thin,  the  jarrah  is  invaluable,  and  on  this 
account  shipments  are  now  made  to  India,  where  that  insect 
is  well  and  unfavorably  known.  As  piles  for  sea  water  piers 
it  has  no  equal,  and  in  repeated  tests,  extending  over  a  num- 
ber of  years  on  our  northern  coast,  where  the  dreaded  toredo 
(an  animated  marine  auger  bit)  gets  in  its  deadly  work,  this 
timber  has  proved  its  value  again  and  again. 

When  used  for  wood  blocking  this  timber  has  a  life  of 
fifteen  years  under  the  heaviest  traific,  and  although  the 
initial  cost  is  somewhat  heavier  than  soft  woods,  the  cost  of 
relaying  the  latter  two  or  three  times  adds  up,  in  this  period, 
to  a  considerably  greater  price.  It  has  this  advantage  also 
over  soft  woods,  that  it  does  not  absorb  the  contaminated 
liquids  of  the  streets,  and  therefore  is  free  from  the  charge  of 
harboring  microbes  deleterious  to  public  health. 

The  karri,  the  king  tree  of  the  continent  in  size,  is  used  for 
much  the  same  pm-pose,  being  not  quite  so  good  for  piers, 
but  perhaps  better  for  wood  jiaving.  These  trees,  with  their 
straight,  clean  stems,  attaining  a  height  of  200  to  250  feet 
and  running  up  straight  as  a  gun  barrel  for  150  feet  clear  of 
branches,  are  an  impressive  sight.  It  is  estimated  that  there 
is  over  one  hundred  milli(m  pounds'  worth  of  these  timbers 
at  present  available,  so  there  is  no  fear  that  the  supply  will 
run  short  for  some  time. 

To  the  stranger  passing  through  the  fine  cities  of  the 
United  States  the  fact  that  the  streets  are  so  rudely,  or  rather 
so  roughly,  laid  with  cobble  stones  is  a  surprise,  seeing  that  in 
so  many  other  things  this  count  ly.  even  in  the  Western  towns, 
is  in  advance  of  our  cities,  ami  I  am  confident  that,  having 
once  had  your  streets  paved  with  these  blocks,  you  would 
never  be  content  to  lie  rattled  about  again. 

Another  thing  wliieli  it  would  lead  to  wiuild  lie  an  oppor- 
tunity to  get  cheap  tonnage  to  Australia,  as  at  present  vessels 
coming  from  United  States  ports  to  Australia  and  wishing 
to  come  liaek  again  to  reload,  have  to  ai)]iroach  by  a  circular 
ti'eatmeut  via  various  ports  in  Europe,  and  then  come  over 
often  in  ballast,  all  this  tending  to  put  your  products  at  a 
disadvantage  with  countries  M'liich  buy  as  well  as  sell  in  our 
]iorts. 

Contracts  [or  this  timliei'  in  sizes  of  9  \  3  Utr  block  ])aving 

are    being    carried    out     at    li'om    l.'is.   od.  to  £5   10s.,  c.  f,  i.. 

Ijonilon.  and  no  doubt  equally  favorable  rates  coidd  be  ]>ro- 

enred    I'oi-  ilie   leading  eastern   ports  of  America.     Any  one 

desiring  to  ed  info  definite  figures  uuiv  al  anv  time  get  reli- 

...  *  ■  ^ 

alile  infoi'inat  ion   I'nim  ^lessrs.  1?.  W.  ('ami'i'on  i*^'  Co.,  or  any 

oilier  leading   lii'iii^   in    NCw     ^'mk    who  are  eloselv   eonneited 

with  t  he  .\ust  I'aliaii  li'ade. 

It    may   he  said   of  Weslern    .\uslralia   that   there  is  pi-acti- 

cally  no  manufacturing    carried    on    there,    the    import    of 

£(1,000,000  worth  of  merchandise   for  a   pojiulation  of  170,- 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  17,  1899 


73 


000  people  showing  what  a  fine  market  it  presents  for  its  size 
to  tlie  outside  world. 

To  a  great  extent  the  portiDn  of  these  figures  which  refers 
to  food  products  is  being  decreased  yearly  in  proportion  as 
the  land  is  lieing  placed  under  cultivation,  and  in  a  few  years 
it  is  estimated  that  enough  wheat  and  other  farm  produce 
raised  locally  will  he  available  for  domestic  consumption. 

At  the  same  time  the  demand  for  manufactured  goods  is 
on  the  increase,  agricultural,  electrical,  mining  and  other 
machinery  being  imported  on  a  much  larger  scale  than  here- 
tofore. And  we  must  come  to  your  market  for  a  long  time 
yet  for  most  of  our  finished  and  light  lines  which  freight 
rates  do  not  affect  to  any  ajipreciable  extent. 

I  feel  that  I  cannot  conclude  my  paper  without  thanking 
the  organizers  of  this  gathering,  on  behalf  of  myself  and 
the  Colony  of  Western  Australia,  for  their  most  generous 
hospitality;  to  thank  them  for  the  opportunities  which  they 
have  provided  for  studying  the  wonderful  organization  under 
the  auspices  of  which  we  are  gathered  together,  and  also  for 
the  means  which  they  have  afforded  for  discussion  of  tho.se 
commercial  interests  which  are  of  vital  impoi'tanee  to  the 
welfare  and  advancement  of  all  nations. 

Diredor  IT'.  P.  Wilson  : 

These  papers  have  been  of  especial  interest  and  value. 
The  next  thing  is  the  discussion  on  the  topics  relating  to 
New  Zealand  and  Australia.  I  have  the  pleasure  of  calling 
upon  Jfr.  A.  Asher  Smith,  from  Sydney  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce.   (Applause.) 

^•1.  Asher  Smith: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  To  look  at  the 
map  of  Australia,  one  is  not  impressed  with  the  idea  that  it 
is  densely  populated,  but  from  the  number  of  papers  that 
have  been  read  during  the  last  two  days,  we  are  bound  to 
think  that  very  little  of  that  land  remains  undiscovered. 

You  have  been  told  that  our  principal  products  are  wool 
and  gold.  Still  I  believe  there  is  a  very  heavy  duty  on  wool. 
But  I  have  not  yet  learned  that  there  is  any  embargo  upon 
Australian  gold  in  this  market.  I  take  it  that  is  what  you 
would  be  glad  to  obtain  from  Australia,  and  that  is  the 
object  for  which  this  Exposition  has  been  arranged.     Now 

1  am  pleased  to  be  able  to  assure  the  American  manufac- 
turer that  there  is  absolutely  no  prejudice  in  the  Australian 
market  against  his  goods.  In  the  past  we  have  found  the 
American  manufacturer  liberal  to  the  utmost,  and  in  regard 
to  his  facilities,  we  have  found  the  packages  in  which  he  does 
up  his  goods  satisfactory  and  attractive,  and  just  the  sort 
of  thing  we  like  to  see  on  our  shelves.  Then  in  the  matter 
of  packing,  he  also  excels  the  German  and  the  English  manu- 
facturers, but  I  think  I  may  say,  in  justice  to  the  American 
manufacturer,  that  he  has  something  to  learn  in  regard  to  the 
Australian  trade.  He  ha.s  not  been  sufficiently  represented 
in  the  past,  but  I  am  not  going  to  discuss  the  method  of  repre- 
sentation; suffice  it  to  say  that  it  is  the  only  way  in  which 
the  Aiuerican  manufacturer  can  get  our  orders  and  our  busi- 
ness. 

Another  feature  which  strikes  the  Australian  importer  is 
the  rather  crude  ideas  in  regard  to  shipping  which  exist  here. 
AVe  find  that  the  American  manufacturer,  or  at  least  his  repre- 
sentative, has  been  leaning  almost  entirely  upon  some  one  else 
instead  of  looking  out  for  the  shipping  himself. 

I  think  it  is  absolutely  necessary,  if  America  is  to  do  the 
full  extent  of  business  in  Australia,  that  the  American  manu- 
facturer should  l)e  able  to  ship  to  Australia  direct. 

In  that  connection  it  would  be  just  as  well  if  the  American 
manufacturer  cordd  be  induced  to  say  something  about  the 
condition  of  things  existing  in  the  Australian  trade,  that  is. 


in  the  transport  of  goods  from  America  to  Australia.  I  feel 
assirred  that  the  more  these  hints  are  given  and  thought  out 
and  acted  upon,  the  greater  it  will  be  to  their  advangtage. 

And,  in  connection  with  the  hardware  trade,  I  do  not  know 
that  the  .statistics,  wdiich  have  been  very  voluminously  given, 
include  all  the  hardware  of  New  South  Wales,  or  are  an  ac- 
curate description  of  the  hardware  trade  in  its  complete  form. 

Now,  when  I  tell  you  that  New  South  Wales  has  a  trade  of 
something  like  seventeen  million  dollars,  it  will  at  once  be 
seen  that  it  is  a  trade  worth  cultivating,  and  there  is  a  dis- 
position on  the  part  of  the  Australian  people  to  give  more 
business  to  the  United  States  manufacturers.  But  if  that  is 
to  be  accomplished,  the  American  manufacturer  must  keep 
pace  with  them,  that  is  to  say,  he  must  be  in  a  position  to 
supply  the  trade  wants  at  all  times.  It  is  sometimes  the  case 
that  when  the  American  manufacturer  gets  very  busy  he  pre- 
fers to  look  out  for  his  own  trade  rather  than  for  the  export 
trade,  and  I  was  glad  to  see  in  my  examinations  made  in  the 
Museum,  that  in  some  forms  the  manufacturer  is  looking 
for  trade  when  times  are  good. 

On  behalf  of  New  South  Wales,  I  should  like  to  support  the 
idea  of  reciprocity  wliich  has  been  suggested  at  this  Congress. 
We  import  from  America  pig  iron,  which  is  raw  material 
for  manufacturing  purposes.  Now,  I  should  hope,  sir,  that 
the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  you  will  be  calling  for  Aus- 
tralian wool  for  the  manufacturer  in  this  market.  It  seems  to 
me  str-ange  that  such  a  large  manufacturing  country  as 
America  should  have  continued  to  import  any  portion  of 
woolen  goods  from  other  markets.  I  hope  the  time  is  not  far 
distant  when  Australian  wool  will  be  admitted  free  into 
America,  so  that  the  American  manufacturers  can  buy  in  the 
cheapest  market  material  for  the  comfort  and  well  being  of 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States.     (Applause.) 

In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  say,  on  behalf  of  the  Sydney 
Chamber  of  ("ommerce,  that  we  tender  our  thanks  for  your 
entertainment  and  for  the  interesting  evidences  of  American 
enteri>rise.  which  we  have  been  able  to  enjoy.  I  can  assure 
you  on  behalf  of  our  Chamber  of  Commerce,  that  the 
American  manufacturers  will  always  be  welcome  in  the  city 
which  claims  to  have  the  finest  harlna-  in  the  world — the  City 
of  Sydney.    (Applause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  next  gentleman  who  ^vill  take  part  in  the  discussion 
will  be  J.  Milne,  Esq. 

Mr.  Milne  not  being  present,  I  will  ask  if  any  one  in  the 
audience  cares  to  say  a  word  on  this  subject?  We  will  be 
glad  to  hear  from  any  manufacturer  of  the  United  States,  if 
he  desires  to  ask  a  few  questions  concerning  any  point  for 
which  there  was  not  time  in  the  numerous  papers  that  you 
have  heard. 
Fred.  F.  Smilh  (Burlington,  New  Jersey): 

The  only  cjuestion  which  I  woidd  suggest  is  in  reference 
to  a  line  of  wooden  blocks  that  are  used  for  paving.  I  would 
like  to  know  w"hether  they  could  be  shipped  from  Australia 
and  whether  they  coidd  be  received  in  exchange  for  Amer- 
ican goods? 

It  is  possible  that  many  othei-  things  might  be  brought  as 
well  as  these  paving  blocks,  and  that  a  good  trade  might  be 
worked  up  which  would  be  more  to  our  advantage  than 
other  lines.  I  cannot  now  think  but  undoubtedly  the  right 
idea  of  commerce  is  to  find  some  article  in  some  country 
wdiich  you  are  trying  to  deal  with  that  will  be  given  in  equal 
exchange  for  goods  that  can  be  sent  from  that  country.  That 
plan  might  be  adopted  for  the  sale  of  machinery,  a  great  deal 
of  which  is  used  in  South  Australia,  and  not  manufactured 
there.  It  seems  to  lie  an  easy  trade  to  send  a  vessel  load  of 
machinery  to  South  Australia  and  to  bring  back  wool,  paving 
blocks,  and  frozen  ralibits.    Perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  have- 


74 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  idea  of  soiuu  oi  the  yentleiiieii  |ii('>eiit  I'imiii  that  eniiiiliy 
on  this  siihjcct. 

Mr.  A.  Ashkr  .'^milh.- 
llow  would  you  like  to  luivc  a  little  of  our  gold? 

.¥/•.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

We  would  be  glad  to  have  a  good  deal  of  it.  I  l)elieve  if 
we  could  discuss  these  questions  between  the  Americans  and 
Australians  jiresent,  we  would  get  a  lietter  idea,  and  do  jnueh 
better  than  wo  coidd  by  weeks  of  corresjiondence.  We  kjiow 
wvy  little  abmii  the  wooden  paving  blocks. 

^fr.  II.  K.  ('alder: 

As  a  I'ejiresentative  here  from  Western  Australia,  I  do  not 
know  a  great  deal  about  the  actual  handling  of  the  blocks 
because  1  am  not  in  that  line.  I  understand  that  tliese  bk)cks 
can  l)e  furnished  on  ships  at  a  price  of  £.5  and  ilO  a  thousand 
feet.  I  do  not  know  what  the  imee  would  be  to  the  United 
States  because  we  have  no  trade  with  the  United  States  to 
guide  me.  I  should  say  it  would  be  very  mucli  tlie  same 
because  we  cannot  always  get  outward  freight  ti)  Australia, 
but  to  New  York  it  can  be  cjuite  easily  obtained.  Eut,  of 
course,  these  l)locks  can  only  l)e  shipped  by  tlicmselves.  You 
must  understand  that.  You  cannot  bring  a  cargo  of  Ijlocks 
and  general  merchandise.  I  can  give  pri(;es  of  good  piles 
and  tindjer  if  any  of  yon  would  like  to  try  it,  but  I  really  know 
\ery  little  about  it.  ]f  you  were  once  to  use  the  blocks  you 
would  use  nothing  else.  They  are  actually  the  hardest  bfo'cks 
that  can  be  got  for  that  purpose.    (Applause.) 

Dimlnr  ir.  r.   Wihon: 

I  ouglit  to  say  right  here  that  the  Museum  will  illustrate 
fully  all  the  different  kinds  of  hard  wood  which  were  jnade 
uj)  for  us  in  Australia,  and  we  have  the  paving  blocks  and 
the  wood  in  Cjuite  a  number  of  different  forms.  The 
blocks  were  cut  out  and  sawed  up  into  six  blocks  and 
they  have  been  cut  into  different  forms  to  illustrate  different 
modes  of  shipment.  We  have  all  the  details  in  the  Museum, 
gathered  several  years  ago  when  the  City  of  Philadelphia 
asked  us  to  investigate  the  matter  of  w^ood  paving.  We  wrote 
at  that  time  to  150  engineers  in  all  the  States  and  all  over 
the  world,  asking  for  their  complete  experience  in  wood  pav- 
ing, and  we  received  many  elaborate  reports. 

We  also  were  favored,  through  the  kindness  of  the  repre- 
sentatives in  Sydney  and  elsewhere,  with  samples  of  a  pave- 
ment that  had  been  laid  and  used,  and  thoroughly  tried, 
and  which  was  taken  up  by  the  square,  and  sent  to  us!  I  beg 
also  to  say  in  regard  to  these  pavements  that  they  are  here  and 
can  be  seen,  as  also  the  reports  that  were  made  at  that  time  on 
wood  paving.  It  would  take  an  ordinary  person  a  montli 
lo  go  over  the  reports.  We  made  out  a  short  report,  wliich 
gave  the  substance  of  the  matter,  and  it  was  passed  over  to 
the  City  of  Philadelphia.  We  i)ublished  over  a  thousand  of 
tlie.se  reports,  sending  them  to  the  ]irincipal  cities  of  the 
Tuited  States.  That  illustrates,  gentlemen,  here,  a  little 
.something  of  the  work  this  institution  is  doing  just  in  one 
particular.  We  invited,  of  course,  all  tlio.se  States  and  cities 
iufercsted  in  wood  paving  to  send  reports  from  their  engineers 
or  to  ,^end  their  engineers  here  to  exaiuiuc  and  go  over  com- 
pletely the  ])a])ers  on  the  sul)ject.  If  there  are  anv  others  who 
desire  to  speak,  we  shall  be  glad  to  hoar  fmui  tli'em. 

Mr.  Jr.  Bolhrrhaiii  (Melbourne): 

This  Jarrah  timber  is  a, very  valualtle  produ(-t  and  is  shi])ped 
largely  to  England  for  street  paving.  T  believe  it  has  given 
every  satisfaction,  and  if  used  here,  would  l)e  a  decided  im- 
liroyement.  Your  i}resent  jjaving  is  most  crude  and  the  ever- 
lasting noise  of  vehicles  ]ia.«sing  over  the    granite    or    stone 


iiihble  is  very  annoying  to  the  pedestrian.  If  your  city  coun- 
cil would  give  this  wood-paving  a  trial  I  can  assure  you  that 
the  timber  lilocks  would  be  supplied  free  of  cost!  Once 
honestly  tried,  I  feel  convinced  you  would  use  it  largelv  in 
this  beautiful  city.  I  should  at  any  time  be  pleased  to  hear 
from  the  authorities  in  the  direction  I  liave  indicated. 

Col.  George  W.  Bell  (representing  New  South  Wales): 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  am  not  an  xVustralian,  but  I  have  given 
some  attention  to  the  matter  on  behalf  of  my  own  cormtry, 
and  I  can  say  something  about  it  after  residing  there  a  year 
and  a  half.  I  know  a  report  was  made  on  this  matter,  "and 
it  was  read  before  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  London. 
Some  of  our  Western  cities  are  laying  street  pavements  of  wood 
cut  in  the  same  manner  as  our.s,  except  that  w^e  are  not  jmtting 
the  wooden  blocks  so  far  apart,  we  put  them  nearer  together^ 
partienlariy  in  New  South  Wales.  I  know  nothing  about  the 
industries  of  the  other  sections.  I  can  a-ssure  you  the  wood 
can  be  had,  but  the  price  was  not  quoted.  I  think  my  little 
pamphlet  is  without  doubt  on  file  in  this  Museum.  'But  I 
assure  you  that  these  timbers  or  blocks  cannot  be  shipped 
with  general  merchandise  from  New  South  Wales.  It  was 
concluded  the  best  way  not  to  ship  in  blocks,  but  in  scantling, 
as  they  have  machinery  to  make  the  blocks  in  the  American 
mills,  ajqiliances  by  wliich  they  secure  exact  measurement, 
more  so  than  in  the  mills  in  our  country.  They  put  them 
under  an  apron  and  saw  them  perfectly 'true,  aiid  they  can 
handle  the  timber  much  more  cheaply  in  that  form. 

I  am  satisfied  that  if  any  one  in  your  American  cities  is 
willing  to  correspond  with  me  when  I  return,  I  shall  take 
great  pleasure  in  placing  the  correspondence  in  the  proper 
hands.  There  is  no  trouble,  although  I  must  say  there  is  no 
great  amount  of  timber  in  Australia  for  manufacture  or  ex- 
]iortation.  In  my  opinion  it  is  the  best  wood  for  paving. 
There  is  not  a  city  in  the  world  so  well  paved  as  Svdnev,  in 
New  South  Wales.  I  sent  a  block  of  the  wood  to  this  Mus- 
eum, one  side  of  which  was  polished  and  the  other  side  split. 
Blocks  of  this  kind,  I  have  been  told  by  a  friend  of  mine,  a 
gentleman  in  wdiom  I  have  perfect  confidence,  have  been  used 
on  a  street  which  was  one  of  the  most  used  streets  in  the 
world  for  twelve  years.  Such  is  the  hardness  of  these  blocks 
that  after  they  have  been  in  use  for  twelve  years,  they  were 
hauled  up  to  the  works,  cleaned,  cut  by  a  machine  andrelaidat 
the  moderate  expense  of  sixty  cents  per  square  yard.  Re- 
member that  these  blocks  were  in  use  twelve  year's,  and  had 
only  worn  seven-eighths  of  an  inch,  if  I  am  right.  They  have 
been  laid  one-half  inch  apart;,  but  it  was  discovered  that  it 
makes  a  better  street  to  lay  them  clos«  together.  That  is  the 
reason  these  blocks  are  taken  up  and  sawed  off  and  relaid — 
that  is,  they  put  the  same  block  down  again.  The  analytical 
chemist  who  examined  tlie  blocks  declared  there  was  no  evi- 
dence of  deleterious  matter  or  bacteria  or  anything  of  that 
kind.  This  wood,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  best  that  can  be  put 
to  the  purpo.se  of  paving.    (Applause.) 

T  would  like  to  add  one  word  on  the  subject  of  Australian 
lumber.  Its  great  value  lies  in  \\\n  directions.  First,  its 
hardness,  and  second,  it  contains  a  gummy  oil  which  prevents 
the  al)sor])tion  of  moisture,  and  that  is  tlie  great  secret  of  its 
siiecessful  use.  f  believe  hard  woods  of  .\uslralia  are  the  best 
for  paving,  for  that  reason,  liecause  they  are  filled  with  oil 
wliich  prevents  the  absorption  of  moisture.  The  timbers  that 
were  sent  here.  I  observed,  were  absolutelv  drv  after  vou  had 
jienetratcd  hall'  an  inch. 

Dhrrhir  IT.   /'.   Wilson: 

May  i  have  the  ])lea.sure  of  asking  you.  Honorable  Sir 
.Andrew  Clarke,  to  jireside  at  the  rcaib'ng  of  lln'  next  p.iper. 
(A])l)lause.) 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  17,  1899 


75 


Lieulcnant-Cleiicral,  the  llvii.  Sir  Andrew  Clarke,  G.  G.  M.  (i., 
C.  B.,  C.  I.  E.: 

On  the  subject  of  federation  1  have  been  asked  to  take  tlie 
chair.  M}-  only  qualification  in  all  probability,  or  my  chief 
qualification,  being  that  I  was  there  when  the  idea  of  feder- 
alism was  started,  wliich  was  shortly  after  we  obtained  a 
constitution  under  which  we  are  now  being  governed.  Fed- 
eration was  brought  forward  in  the  assembly  of  which  I  wa.s 
a  member.  In  those  days  each  of  the  colonies  had  quite 
enough  employment  to  look  after  the  interests  of  the  com- 
munity, and  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  oppose  federation,  and  it 
was  through  my  action,  to  a  certain  extent,  that  federation 
disajjpeared  from  the  public  jilatform.  I  do  not  at  all  regret 
this  action,  and  I  now  feel  a  satisfaction  that  the  time  has  at 
last  come  when  federation  as  a  practical  measure  could  be 
a.dopted.  My  honorable  friend  and  colleague,  who  is  going  to 
offer  this  papier  to  you,  has  a  special  cause  for  your  respect 
and  esteem.  From  the  time  I  mention,  down  to  "89  or  '90, 
the  matter  had  been  taken  up  and  dropped,  and  taken  up  and 
dropped.  In  1889  the  subject  was  again  considered,  and  it  is 
due  to  the  initiative  of  my  friend  Dr.  J.  A.  Cockburn,  in 
conjunction  with  the  late  Sir  Plenry  Parkes,  my  friend,  the 
Prime  Minister  of  Victoria,  and  Mr.  Gillies.  The  conventions 
having  tliis  matter  in  charge  have  followed  the  business  up 
until  it  has  now  culminated  in  the  establishment  of  a  com- 
monwealth which  will  live  for  the  future.  I  cannot  sit  down 
without  .saying  a  word  about  the  matter  as  an  old  Tasmanian. 
That  little  island  that  you  see  here  representing  a  very  small 
portion  of  Australasia,  was  still  one  to  which  my  eye  was  at- 
tached in  every  possible  way,  and  one  about  which  I  would 
have  been  glad  if  somebody  had  spoken,  especially  of  its  many 
good  qualities,  so  that  they  would  have  been  presented  at  this 
Congress.  Let  me  add  these  few  words,  because  Tasmania 
goes  into  this  federation,  and  its  present  Prime  Minister,  a 
dear  friend.  Sir  Edward  Braddon,  is  a  far-seeing  and  a  clever 
statesman,  one  who  has  also  been  a  ver}'  active  promoter  of 
this  movement.  Still,  I  say,  I  should  have  been  glad  if  some 
one  could  have  been  present  from  Tasmania,  to  represent 
that  island,  which  is  not  the  least  in  the  whole  Australasian 
group.  I  will  with  these  few  remarks  ask  Honorable  Dr. 
Cockburn  to  address  this  meeting  on  "Australian  Feder- 
ation." 

Hon.  Dr.  J.  A.  Cockhurn: 

First  of  all.  Sir  Andrew,  allow  me  to  thank  you  for  the 
honor  you  have  done  me  in  taking  the  chair  on  this  occasion, 
as  I  regard  it  a  great  privilege  to  1)6  able  to  address  as  chair- 
man, one  who  has  been  so  long  and  so  honorably  associated 
with  political  work  in  our  colony. 

Let  me  say  also,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  I  feel  it  is  an 
act  of  much  temerity  on  my  behalf  to  dare  to  appear  in  this 
city,  in  this  vicinity,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Independence 
Hall,  that  Mecca  toward  which  all  eyes  are  turned  whenever 
the  question  of  federation  is  discussed,  in  which  federation 
was  adopted  ultimately. 

Allow  me  to  say  it  is  an  act  of  temerity  to  venture  on  such 
an  undertaking.  Sir  Andrew  Clarke  is  a  man  who  has  won 
the  claim  to  great  regard.  It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to 
be  present  with  federation  from  its  inception  in  1889  and 
1890,  when  the  conference  was  called  by  Sir  Henry  Parkes. 
and  I  think  it  was  called — the  invitations  were  issued  actu- 
ally in  the  name  of  Mr.  Gillies — and  a  conference  was  held 
in  Melbourne  Legislative  Council  Chamber,  in  1890.  That 
was  the  commencement  of  the  present  movement,  which  has 
led,  as  you  all  know,  to  a  final  consummation  which  is  just 
now  being  had. 

But  I  will  not  in  this  utilitarian  Museum,  where  antiqui- 
ties are  out  of  place,  where  everything  is  carefully  discussed. 


go  into  the  history  of  federation;  1  will  not  discuss  the 
archa?ological  curiosities  which  obtain  in  remote  ages;  I  will 
not  refer  to  the  wonderful  federation  of  mediaeval  times,  a 
federation  of  one  language,  one  government,  one  religion, 
which  took  place  under  the  Catholic  Church.  1  wall  confine 
myself,  as  befits  one  who  speaks  in  the  shadows  of  Indepen- 
dence Hall,  to  the  utilitarian  present  day  aspects  of  federa- 
tion. You  all  know  that  there  is  a  time  in  the  affairs  of  civili- 
zation, when  there  are  movements  constantly  at  work,  to  quote 
an  expression,  centrifugal  and  centripetal  movements  some- 
times prevalent,  but  at  the-  present  time  there  is  no  question 
as  to  what  is  the  characteristic  of  our  day,  and  there  can  be 
seen  in  this  close  communion  a  desire  to  draw  together  closer; 
it  is  that  very  centripetal  tendency  which  has  caused  the  Aus- 
tralian federation  to  be  an  accomplished  fact.    (Applause.) 

All  the  tendencies  of  the  day  are  towards  a  closer  union 
of  the  Australian  colonies.  They  felt  this — they  felt  it  be- 
fore the  colonies  were  formed.  Sir  Andrew  Clarke  has  told 
you,  that  in  the  old  times,  without  being  settled,  the  question 
of  federation  was  often  discussed.  I  cannot  follow  that  out, 
but  you  all  know  that  there  is  a  certain  time  in  the  tide  of  the 
affairs  of  men,  which,  taken  at  the  flood,  leads  on  to  fortune. 
The  time  then  was  not  suitable;  things  were  not  ripe.  The 
time  is  ripe  now.  If  the  subject  had  then  been  forced  to  a  con- 
clusion, it  would  have  led  To  greater  antagonism  between  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country  than  ever. 

Now,  in  the  first  place,  our  problem  is  a  little  difEerent  from 
that  of  other  countries  which  have  adopted  a  federal  form  of 
government.  Look  as  you  will  to  the  United  States  Feder- 
ation, the  Canadian  Federation  and  tlie  Swiss  Federation,  and 
you  will  find  that  there  were  external  causes  w-hich  tended 
to  bring  the  elements  together.  Common  dangers — there  is 
nothing  to  make  a  bond  of  union  so  much  as  a  common 
danger,  a  hostile  environment — it  makes  all  the  prodigals 
come  together,  just  like  globules  of  oil  dropped  into  a  hostile 
environment,  a  glass  of  water.  We  have  had  none  of  them  to 
drive  us  together.  We  have  had  no  war  and  no  hostile  en- 
vironment. It  is  all  pleasant  and  there  is  no  bad  prospect  of 
the  atmosphere  being  disturbed.  We  have  been  drawn  to- 
gether by  a  force  of  internal  attractions,  and  I  think  we  have 
shown  that  it  is  possible  to  form  federations  with  no  com- 
pulsion whatever.  Tliis  is  an  example  of  the  people  acting 
their  free  will  at  the  instigation  of  their  own  necessity,  with- 
out being  driven  to  it  by  any  outside  force  whatever. 

Now,  first  of  all,  let  me  say  to  you  here,  that  I  hold  in  mj' 
hands  a  parchment  copy  of  the  territorial  bill  signed  by  the 
president  and  the  clerk.  This  will  go  down  in  my  family  as ' 
one  of  the  most  precious  heirlooms.  It  is  a  measure  which 
was  drawn  up  with  so  much  care  and  which  is  now  about  to 
be  put  in  force  and  become  law.  Let  me  show  you  the  title. 
"Draft  of  a  bill  to  constitute  the  Commonwealth  of  Aus- 
tralia." We  chose  the  name  of  Commonwealth  because  we 
found  that  word  more  than  any  other  well  served  to  describe 
Australian  unity;  to  minister  to  the  commonwealth  and  to 
sujiply  the  needs  of  the  whole  community.  Now,  as  a  practical 
matter,  the  chief  gain  we  are  striving  for  in  this  common- 
wealth is  a  union  of  the  colonies — to  have  inter-colonial  free 
trade.  That  is  the  chief  object  in  view-,  and  that  is  the  chief 
giiin  of  this  measure.  Many  of  the  other  parts  of  the  bill  are 
concessions,  made  in  order  to  obtain  this  great  boon.  They 
were  confronted  at  the  border  with  a  hostile  custom  house, 
and  they  determined  to  do  away  with  it.  We  found  it  prac- 
tically impossible  to  shape  the  general  customs  union  with- 
out an  instrument  of  federation.  I  think  the  same  was  the 
case  with  the  ITnited  States.  I  don't  think  there  was  a 
general  solid  line  of  custom  houses  between  the  States  until 
there  was  a  general  legislative  federal  imion.  We  have 
adopted  this  measure  of  union  as  an  entering  wedge  from  the 
date  of  the  removal  of  our  hostile  custom    houses    on    the 


76 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


borders.  For  our  chief  object  in  view  we  have  surrendered 
some  of  oxir  autonomy.  The  matter  was  discussed  Ijy  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  were  asked  whether  thi'V  wnidd  make  the  sur- 
render. The  reason  that  appealed  to  them  was  that  we  are 
not  making  it  to  another  power,  we  are  making  it  to  ourselves. 
It  is  o)dy  the  surrender  of  some  of  those  jiowers  which  we 
autonoiuously  enjoyed,  changed  to  a  power  whicli  is  Aus- 
traliaJi,  .seaied  in  Australia  or  some  of  its  territories.  Now 
we  have  taken  as  our  model  the  framing  federal  act.  Three 
of  the  great  federations  of  the  world  were  consulted.  First 
of  all  the  United  States,  that  has  been  our  chief  model, 
secondly,  the  (.!anadian  federation,  and,  thirdly,  the  Swiss 
federatidu.  1  can  assure  you,  sir,  that  the  United  States  con- 
stitution for  the  lasl;  ten  years  has  been  one  of  the  most  well- 
thumbed  and  well  read  instruments  in  (uir  Australian  col- 
onies.   (Ajiplause.) 

Our  problem  has  been  almost  identical  with  yours.  We, 
however,  could  see  what  was  coming.  AVe  could  hear  in  this 
part  of  the  globe,  comprehend  where  the  complication  began. 
And  we  knew  that  the  conflict  was  between  the  large  and 
small  states,  and  arose  from  their  mode  of  looking  at  the 
subject. 

I  well  remember  the  Convention  in  18i)().  I  remember  we 
had  then  bickering  all  the  time,  and  thei'c  oame  first  the 
surrender  of  one  power,  and  then'  anothei',  and  this  in  turn 
I'lillowed  bv  the  surrender  of  another  power  for  the  benefit 
of  all. 

There  was  a  rei^resentative,  a  ilr.  j\lichael  Scott,  from 
Ouecnsland.  a  man  who  was  filled  with  a  burning  fire  of 
j)atriotism  ami  a  desire  for  union.  lie  was  a  man  who  was 
.^o  eager  that  it  had  almost  worn  out  his  bodily  frame.  I 
remember  although  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  Conven- 
tion of  that  year,  that  after  the  next  Convention  in  1891, 
when  the  question  was  again  the  subject  of  discussion,  we 
were  reverently  bending  over  his  remains.  Time  after  time 
during  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention  quarrels  would 
arise,  and  when  we  were  about  to  go  to  our  homes,  having 
al)andoned  the  resolution,  something  took  place  in  the  hall 
which  reminded  me  of  the  time  when  George  Washington 
rose  and  used  words  which  are  memoralile.  I  cannot  ex- 
actly repeat  them,  and  I  did  not  bring  them  with  me,  as  I 
thought  every  rhiladeljibian  would  know  them  by  heart. 
-And  this  is  what  (ieiu'ge  Washington  said  to  his  people:  "If 
we  ourselves  adopt  what  we  do  not  ourselves  approve,  then 
we  cannot  succeed  in  our  task  and  will  not  raise  a  standard 
to  which  the  wise  and  the  honored  can  resort.  The  result  is 
in  the  hands  of  tiod."     (Applause.) 

At  this  time  an  impressive  scene  took  place.  Mv.  ilc- 
Crosson  sjioke  with  such  burning  earnestness  that  it  arrested 
the  attention  of  every  one  present.  You  could  have  heard 
a  )iin  dro])  in  the  hall  about  two  minutes  after  he  ceased. 
His  words  drew  tears  to  the  eyes  of  many,  and  there  were 
tears  in  his  eyes  and  every  one  .sat  there  silent  and  uiuilile  to 
make  any  physical  exertion,  they  were  under  the  biscinaliim 
of  this  sj)ell,  the  spell  of  a  great  deed  whidi  had  conic  dnwn 
through  a  hundred  years  to  us  in  Australia.  We  sat  tbere 
for  about  two  minutes  without  a  word,  and  then  we  (piietly 
adjourjicd  to  meet  the  next  morning  in  a  bctirr  frame  nf 
mind.     (Applause.) 

Now  the  present  movejnent  originated  about  ten  years  ago. 
There  was  then  a  convention  in  Mellxnirne,  which  Mr.  fiillies 
helped  to  conduct  with  others  whose  names  will  be  hundred 
iis  the  names  are  honored  in  the  United  Stales  of  those  who 
fdunded  the  Union.  The  convention  was  held  and  delegates 
were  sent  and  at  that  time  I  was  one  of  the  del(>gates  from 
South  Australia.  We  passed  a  resolution  in  1S!)()  that  the 
time  had  come  for  a  union.  We  appealed  to  various  parlia- 
ments and  a  conference  was  held  the  next  year,  to  which 
seven  delegates  from  each  colony  were  sent.     The  ne.xt  vear 


the  question  came  up  again.  There  were  seven  delegated 
from  most  of  the  colonies.  I  think  some  of  the  colonies  did 
not  send  their  full  t|uota.  A  bill  was  drawn  up  in  1891  which 
was  refeiTed  to  a  conference — a  parliament — -for  considera- 
tian,  but  I  suppose  the  time  was  not  ripe,  the  fruit  was  not 
ripe  yet  to  fall  into  onr  hands,  and  the  measure  dropped  and 
was  only  resuscitated  at  a  convention  held  in  '97.  On  that 
occasion,  Mr.  Kingston,  the  Premier  of  South  Australia,  was 
president.  The  measure  was  lost  then,  and  there  was  another 
convention  in  the  same  year  in  Sydney.  Finally,  when  this 
bill  was  actually  brought  up  and  accepted,  the  convention  was 
held  in  Melbourne  in  '98.  The  provisions  of  the  measure 
were  that  it  should  have  no  force  until  it  had  been  referred 
to  the  people  for  their  direct  assent  or  rejection.  Last  year  a 
referendum  took  place  and  a  conference,  and  it  was  carried 
by  a  majority  elsewhere,  Init  unfortunately  in  New  South 
Wales  the  constitution  (irovided  a  certain  number  of  affirma- 
tive votes.  That  is,  there  should  be  eighty  thousand  affirma- 
tive votes  obtained  in  favor  of  federation.  There  was  a  refer- 
endum, but  it  did  not  have  any  force,  although  a  majority 
decided  in  favor  of  the  bill  by  about  five  thousand  votes — it 
was  that  much  short  of  the  eighty  thousand  votes  required. 
The  resolution  in  consequence  of  the  condition  of  things  came 
to  a  stand-still  for  a  short  space.  The  matter  was  pressed, 
amendments  were  made  in  the  measure  which  were  thought 
would  reconcile  the  people  in  New  South  Wales  to  the  bill. 
The  result  was  that  early  in  this  year  a  referendum  was  again 
taken  by  the  colonies,  and  at  this  time  there  was  no  necessity 
for  the  statutory  number  of  affirmative  votes  in  New  South 
Wales. 

The  next  step  was  to  allow  the  people  to  have  an  opportu- 
nity to  approve  the  federal  in.strument;  it  passed  in  the  var- 
ious legislatures  of  the  colonies;  addresses  to  the  Queen  were 
made  praying  that  an  im])erial  act  might  be  introduced  giving 
effect  to  this  majority.  That  is  the  position  in  which  affairs 
are  now.  These  addresses  have  arrived  in  London  and  are  in 
the  hands  of  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain.  I  am  glad  that 
South  Australia  was  the  first  to  take  effectual  steps  in  this 
matter.  These  were  also  taken  in  Victoria,  and  then  in  Tas- 
mania and  New  South  Wales,  and  the  addresses  have  by  this 
time,  as  I  have  said  before,  arrived  in  London.  At  the  Im- 
perial Parliament  next  year  this  federal  bill  in  its  entirety, 
with  small  amendments  which  we  agree  to,  will  be  passed  by 
the  Parliament,  will  receive  the  lm]ierial  sanction,  and  become 
the  law  of  Australia. 

Now  the  first  point  to  which  1  think  I  should  direct  your 
attention  is  the  fact  that  we  have  clearly  enumerated  the 
]iowers  of  the  Federal  government.  I  suppose  1  am  speaking 
of  a  matter  that  is  thoroughly  understood  here.  I  may  say 
that  I  refer  to  the  dirt'erences  between  the  constitution  of  the 
United  States  and  that  of  Canada.  In  the  United  States, 
only  certain  enumerated  powers  are  placed  in  the  hands  of 
the  Federal  authorities. 

You  see  this  is  a  cardinal  condition.  We  have  followed 
the  example  of  the  United  States  and  delegated  to  our  Federal 
authority  only  enumerated  ]iowers.  This  is  the  case  with 
the  whole  group  of  colonies.  All  j)owers  that  could  possibly 
be  effectually  preserved  in  the  hands  of  the  State  were  kept 
in  the  hands  of  the  State.  The  greatest  pride  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race,  and  the  thing  which  they  most  dearly  prize,  is 
autonomv.  T  think  that  is  what  made  our  colonization 
so  successful.  I  say  the  lirst  point  is  that  only  enumerated 
powers  ai-e  plact'd  in  the  hands  of  Federal  authority.  We  are 
constantly  adding  in  Australia  new  powers  undertaken  by  the 
government,  but  they  will  not  in  any  event  countervene  the 
l*"ederal  authority  because  not  enumerated. 

I  will  refer  now  to  I  he  important  ])owers  vested  in  the  Fed- 
ei-al  aulliorify.  'I'hc  government,  of  course,  is  absolutely  and 
necessarilv  foi-  fi-cc  ti-ndc.  and  it  is  the  universal  opinion  that 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEK  17,  1899 


77 


taxation  should  be  uniform,  especially  so  in  regard  to  the 
tariff.  Among  the  powers  vested  in  the  Federal  Parliament 
are  the  control  of  postal,  telegraph  and  telephone  depart- 
ments; also  light-houses,  quarantine  and  defense  departments. 
It  is  hoped  that  the  marriage  and  divorce,  naturalization, 
bankruptcy  and  copyright  laws  will  be  uniform  and  that  the 
solution  of  trade  disputes  extending  beyond  the  limits  of  any 
individual  State  may  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  federal 
authorities. 

In  South  Australia  we  have  a  law  by  which  a  solution 
can  be  reached  in  cases  of  federal  dispute.  This  law  gives 
the  federal  authority  the  power  to  appoint  a  board  in  cases 
where  the  solution  extends  beyond  the  limit  of  any  State  into 
another  State. 

Mr.  Reeves,  the  pioneer  of  the  l>ill  in  New  Zealand,  con- 
nected with  this  matter,  had  it  incorporated  in  the  constitu- 
tion, so  that  in  the  case  of  a  dispute  in  any  other  State 
'embracing  more  than  one  State  in  its  area,  such  disputes 
could  be  settled  as  being  outside  of  the  enumerated  federal 
powicr.  We  find  that  New  Zealand  has  taken  the  step  ahead 
of  Australia  in  the  matter  of  invalid  old-age  pensions.  The 
commonwealth  does  not  interfere  with  this  in  any  way,  as 
it  is  not  one  of  the  powers  of  the  commonwealth. 

Then  there  are  some  powers  such  as  the  acquisition  of 
railways  with  the  consent  of  the  State.  Legislation  is  done 
by  a  Senate  and  a  House  of  Representatives.  We  have, 
therefore,  two  houses,  as  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
We  call  our  two  houses  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives. As  is  the  case  in  the  United  States  under  the 
Constitution  each  State  is  to  enjoy  certain  equal,  inalienable 
rights  of  rej)resentation  in  the  Senate,  no  matter  whether  its 
population  is  large  or  small,  and  no  matter  whetlier  its  area 
is  extensive  or  limited.  We  consider  that  this  is  absolutely 
neeessarj',  and  I  believe  it  has  been  found  here  too,  owing 
to  the  possibility  of  the  rights  of  the  smaller  elements  of 
the  Commonwealth  being  overlooked  by  the  larger  popula- 
tion. At  the  same  time  the  House  of  Representatives  repre- 
sents a  wide  pojiulaticni.  and  extra  representatives  are  chosen 
in  an  exact  proportion,  and  on  a  population  liasis — exactly  in 
proportion  to  the  population  of  the  individual  State.  There 
are  two  houses  so  as  to  maintain  a  balance  of  power  accord- 
ing to  the  population — the  power  of  the  people.  The  mode 
■of  election  I  may  say  also  is  this,  in  both  houses,  both  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives  are  elected  by  a  direct  vote  of  the 
people  on  an  absolutely  popular  franchise.  I  believe  I  am 
correct  in  saying  that  in  the  United  States  the  members  of 
the  Senate  are  elected  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
States.  We  found  that  was  impossible  with  us,  with  small 
legislative  houses.  We  have,  therefore,  both  a  Senate  and  a 
House  of  Representatives  elected  by  the  people  on  the  basis 
of  popular  franchise. 

We  are  to  have  six  senators  for  each  of  the  original  States, 
that  is  to  say,  the  States  that  come  in  at  the  formation  of  the 
new  Commonwealth.  We  have  not  so  many  States  as  you 
have  in  the  United  States,  therefore  we  could  not  select,  as 
you  do,  only  two  Senators  from  each  State.  That  would  not 
make  the  House  of  a  practical  size.  We  have  six  colonies  out 
of  which  to  make  States,  and  we  give  the  right  to  each  colony 
joining  the  Commonwealth  to  send  a  certain  number  to  the 
House  of  Representatives,  which  would  make  a  House  of  pro- 
portionate size  and  magnitude  to  the  interests  which  are 
presented  to  it  for  consideration.  Thus  far  four  colonies  have 
given  their  adhesion,  and  the  fifth  one,  Queensland,  has 
adopted  the  measure  by  popular  vote,  but  will  have  to  pass  it 
also  in  its  Parliament.  Each  of  the  States  will  have  six  sena- 
tors as  indicated,  and  this  number  will  not  be  diminished 
without  a  change  in  the  constitution  itself. 

Our  representatives,  as  near  as  possible,  are  double  in 
number  to  those  of  the  Senate.     The  senators  take  their 


seats  in  groups,  three  for  three  years  and  three  for  a  longer 
time.  The  House  and  Senate  ai'e  subject  to  dissolution  if 
it  is  necessary.  We  do  not  think  any  Legislature  should  have 
any  fear  of  their  constituents.  So  the  legislators  do  not  fear 
going  back  to  their  constituents  and  asking  for  a  fresh  man- 
date. When  it  was  proposed  to  make  the  Senate  subject  to 
dissolution  it  was  thought  it  would  weaken  the  Senate.  I 
was  not  in  favor  of  it  myself,  and  I  took  that  view  of  it. 
It  was  afterward  thought  that  it  would  strengthen  the  Senate. 
It  does  really  keep  the  senators  in  touch  with  their  consti- 
tuency. I  do  not  see  that  the  dissolution  of  the  Senate  will 
in  any  way  have  any  influence  on  its  strength. 

Our  representatives  are  chosen  for  three  years,  and  the 
House  is  liable  to  be  dissolved.  The  qualifications  of  both 
houses  are  identical.  A  representative  must  be  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  and  either  an  Australian  subject  or  five  years 
naturalized. 

Now  there  is  the  difference  between  the  powers  and  uses 
in  that  country  and  in  the  United  States.  No  executive 
powers  in  the  first  instance  are  vested  in  the  Senate.  The 
Senate  has  no  power  to  originate  bills  for  raising  revenue 
or  imposing  taxation.  Such  bills  must  be  brought  forward 
in  the  House.  The  Senate  may  suggest  an  amendment. 
Each  bill  relating  to  taxation  must  contain  one  subject.  No 
coercion  is  exercised  in  that  respect.  There  might  be  a  case 
where  even  dissolution  would  not  be  a  conclusion,  or  a  satis- 
factory solution  of  a  dilemma,  because  the  members  of  each 
Ijodj-  might  be  upheld  by  their  constituents.  Each  would  be 
of  the  same  mind  after  dissolution,  so  that  it  would  not  be  a 
perfect  remedy,  and  we  have  provided  that  in  case  a  bill  is 
passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives  and  is  twice  reported 
liy  the  Senate  to  the  Governor-General,  he  dissolving  both 
houses,  then  under  the  constitution,  if  the  same  bill  is 
passed  by  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  can  be  rejected  by 
the  Senate,  and  then  a  joint  meeting  of  the  two  houses  will 
take  place.  This,  of  course,  is  a  very  serious  matter,  if  the 
Senate  gives  consent,  or  is  of  only  half  the  normal  strength 
of  the  House  of  Representatives.  That  is  one  of  the  altera- 
tions that  has  been  made  in  the  bill,  as  actually  drafted  in 
Sydney. 

As  it  stood  then,  it  required  two-thirds  or  a  majority  of 
those  sitting  in  the  two  joint  houses  to  carry  the  bill  which 
tlie  Senate  had  rejected.  It  is  now  decided  that  an  absolute 
majority  of  the  joint  houses  in  session  shall  carry  the  bill. 

No  doubt  this  weakens  the  Senate.  There  is  no  doubt  then 
about  the  earnestness  of  the  laws  made  for  the  people,  or 
the  earnestness  of  a  certain  class  of  people  who  may  stand 
up  like  a  solid  wall  of  resistance  against  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives. Personally,  I  always  supposed  that  this  amend- 
ment was  a  good  one,  and  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt 
the  instrument  will  work  out  its  own  destruction  if  it  is 
not  a  good  one  by  making  the  people  live  up  to  the  require- 
ments of  it.  Of  course,  it  must  be  remembered  I  am  one 
who  comes  from  the  smaller  colonies.  We  do  not  hold  as 
much  power  as  those  coming  from  a  greater  number  of  con- 
stituents. Therefore,  we  are  not  as  strong.  We  should  be  as 
strong  as  possible.  We  do  not  have  any  great  number — it 
is  always  on  the  basis  of  population,  that  is,  the  number  of 
representatives  in  the  House.  That  number  is  selected  on 
the  basis  of  population.  Many  men  hold  precisely  views  like 
m}'  own.  They  think  that  this  is  a  great  measure.  I  think 
that  we  have  more  smaller  colonies  and  it  may  be  a  protec- 
tion to  them. 

Now  the  executi\e  ])ower  is  vested  in  the  Governor-Gen- 
eral. This  is  what  is  called  a  constitutional  government. 
All  his  acts  are  undertaken  in  his  own  name,  but  of  course, 
he  acts  on  consultation  with  his  ministers.  It  is  then  really 
tlie  cabinet  which  decides  the  action  of  the  Governor-Gen- 
eral.    Then  there  is  this  precaution  taken  against  any  usur- 


78 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


pation  of  authority  or  any  undue  exercise  of  it  by  the  ex- 
ecutive power.  For  instance,  all  appropriations  of  revenue 
must  be  made  by  law.  Of  course,  that  places  the  executive 
practically  in  the  control  of  the  Parliament. 

They  c-aunot  carry  ou  business  without  money,  and  money 
they  cannot  fi;et  without  the  Houses  of  Parliament  voting  it. 

Then  we  have  a  provision  which  may  seem  strange  to 
American  ears.  The  executive  officers  must  be  members  of 
the  Senate.  Each  minister  must  be  a  member  of  the  Senate 
or  the  House  of  Representatives.  Here,  of  course,  the  actual 
minister  does  not  .sit  in  the  Legislature.  We  have  found  it 
best  to  have  the  ministers  sitting  in  the  Legislature.  We 
have  an  administration  more  in  accordance  with  the  popular 
will.  If  the  ministers  are  members  of  the  Senate  they  will 
take  their  scats  and  take  })art  in  the  discussion  of  the  two 
brandies  of  the  Legislature;  therefore,  as  you  have  in  the 
T^nited  States,  we  have  a  High  Court  of  Appeal.  This  High 
Court  of  Appeal  will  exercise  its  jurisdiction  in  case  of  ap- 
])eal.  and  will  also  in  eases  where  there  is  a  call  for  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  constitution.  These  are  functions  of  our 
Supreme  Court,  the  same  as  they  are  the  functions  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States.  I  must  say  that  during 
the  discussion  on  the  federation  movement  we  have  always 
entertained  the  highest  respect  for  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States.  From  Chief  Justice  Marshall 
downward  we  look  upon  them  as  a  numlicr  of  men  whose 
nanu's  have  been  jdaced  on  the  roll  of  honor.  In  numy  re- 
spects we  have  imitated  the  Fnited  States  High  Court.  Of 
course,  under  some  situations  there  is  no  appeal.  There  is 
no  appeal  from  the  interpretation  of  the  power  of  the  con- 
stitution. We  thought  it  proper  to  give  that  power  to  the 
Au.=itralian  judges,  so  that  they  .shduld  interpret  the  laws 
which  referred  to  the  constitution. 

Then  there  is  an  Interstate  Commission,  which  is  to  decide 
all  (jucstions  affecting  trade,  navigation  and  commerce.  The 
n\embers  of  the  Interstate  Commission  are  mcmliers  for  cer- 
tain years,  and  can  only  be  removed  by  the  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  in  some  form  of  proceeding. 

I  will  not  trouble  you  with  ([uestions  of  purely  individual 
experience. 

>'/'/■  .  I  Hihrir  ( 'huir : 

That   remains  wilhoiit  alleratiim. 

Hull.  I)r.  Jdliii  A.  (Jiiii-huni: 

The  cDustitution  remains  the  same  in  this  direction.  I 
think  it  docs  m>t  say  very  much  abont  it.  At  one  time  the 
Governors  liail  more  power  than  tln-y  liavc  now. 

This  is  a  crucial  point  that  not  only  concerns  the  pro- 
ducers of  the  United  States,  but  of  the  world.  The  moment 
the  federation  is  formed,  the  customs  duties  are  collected  by 
the  federal  authority,  and  within  two  years  of  the  formation 
of  the  eointrumwealtli  a  iinifoiiii  customs  tariff  must  be 
framed.  That  is  the  point  to  whirb  the  commercial  world 
is  looking.  Here  we  have  such  a  nrndition  that  a  merchant 
or  manufacturer  looks  over  a  number  of  tariffs,  in  order  to 
find  what  tarilf  he  is  to  use  to  send  g0(}ds  to  Australia.  Fed- 
eration simplifies  that.  After  two  years  tliei'e  will  1)0  one 
taiTif  for  all  the  Stales  included  in  the  l''e(h'ial  union.  The 
only  exce|)tion  is  regarding  Western  .Australia.  It  is  doubt- 
ful whether  Western  Australia  will  come  into  the  eommou- 
wealth,  but  just  at  I  be  pi-esent  they  do  not  seem  free  to  agree 
to  joining.  Jkit  we  lia\'e  met  as  far  as  ])ossible  the  comli- 
tions  of  every  one  of  the  States.  We  have  nu't  the  eomli- 
tioiis  of  Western  .\ustralia,  with  a  little  exccjition  with  re- 
gard to  customs  duties.  Their  tariff  was  luit  to  lie  a<>imi- 
latcd;  they  were  to  do  it  by  degrees;  they  were  to  have  Hie 
right  to  impose  for  some  time  on  a  declining  scale  and  special 
.series  of  customs  duties. 


The  attitude  toward  the  neighboring  states  is  most  friendly. 
Queensland  was  not  represented  at  the  last  convention.  We 
were  anxious  to  get  Queensland  in  the  commonwealth  and 
glad  she  decided  to  come  in.  Had  she  remained  in  or  out, 
our  relations  would  have  been  friendly.  The  same  is  true  as 
regards  New  Zealand.  She  sent  representatives  to  the  con- 
vention in  1890  and  1891.  In  1890  she  sent  Captain  Russell; 
in  1891  she  sent  three  delegates — that  grand  old  man.  Sir 
George  Gray,  Mr.  Atkinson  and  Captain  Russell.  I  have  not 
considered  New  Zealand  coming  into  the  commonwealth 
as  within  the  reach  of  practical  politics,  but  if  she  comes 
in,  she  will  be  hailed  with  acclamation;  if  .she  remains  out, 
our  feelings  will  always  be  most  friendly  toward  her.  We 
look,  of  course,  to  this  unification  of  our  cu.stoms  duty  not 
only  as  a  boon  to  the  commercial  world,  but  also  to  the  very 
great  expansion  of  our  own  trade  and  production.  What  the 
whole  commercial  world  longs  for  is  some  fixity  in  these  mat- 
ters. Once  the  federal  tariff  is  fixed  you  \vill  know  where  you 
are.  What  that  tariff  will  be  I  will  not  prophesy,  but  you 
will  lie  fair  in  taking  for  granted  that  it  will  be  between  the 
highest  and  lowest  of  Australian  tarilf.  You  may  make  a  fair 
estimate  that  it  will  be  somewhat  of  a  moderate  tarilf,  a 
revenue-producing  tariff,  but  at  the  same  time,  a  fairly  pro- 
tective tariff. 

May  I  occupy  your  indulgence  for  a  few  minutes  longer 
when  I  say  to  you  that  this  movement  of  federation  in  Aus- 
tralia has  been  forming  on  an  ever-broadening  basis.  We 
have  found  that  to  get  the  people  into  the  movement  was  a 
necessity  for  the  interest  which  is  essential  to  sustain  the 
movement  and  to  bring  it  to  a  successful  issue.  The  con- 
ventions that  have  been  held  within  the  last  ten  years  have 
failed,  because  they  were  not  formed  on  a  sufficiently  broad 
basis.  In  1890  the  delegates  to  the  convention  were  nomi- 
nated by  the  government.  That  was  a  narrow  franchise, 
and,  as  a  result,  the  people  didn't  take  a  sufficient  amount 
of  interest  in  it  to  make  it  a  success.  In  1891  they  were 
sent  with  a  higher  mandate,  on  a  wider  basis.  They  were 
elected  by  the  votes  of  the  various  colonies.  Still,  even  that 
did  not  bring  the  people  into  the  movement  and  did  not  give 
it  the  ]Kipular  interest  which  the  last  convention  endeavored 
to  arouse,  and  that  convention  is  going  to  be  successful. 

Delegates  to  that  convention  were  elected  by  the  people; 
the  people  felt  that  they  had  an  interest  in  the  movement; 
they  felt  that  they  had  a  personal  interest  in  the  matter  and 
were  able  to  make  a  basis  upon  which  to  form  a  federal  struc- 
ture with  every  aspect  of  stability.  Now  there  is  an  inter- 
esting innovation  in  this  last  instrument  of  federation,  which 
was  ab.sent  in  the  bill  framed  in  1891.  That  is,  a  consti- 
tutional change  can  only  be  made  in  the  commonwealth  after 
a  referendum  has  been  taken  by  the  people  on  the  subject. 
To  change  the  constitution  the  first  step  is  to  get  the  first 
alteration  passed  by  an  absolute  majority  of  both  houses  of 
the  federal  parlianu^nt.  After  that,  it  is  referred  to  the  people 
of  the  several  states  and  the  total  majority  is  necessary  in 
order  that  alteration  of  the  constitution  may  be  ratified. 

I  thiid'C  we  have  provided  for  a  fairly  rigid  constitution, 
and  yet  not  an  extremely  rigid  one.  Anything  so  difficult  to 
amend,  for  example,  as  the  Ignited  States  Constitution,  would 
not  have  proved  very  suitable  to  the  exceedingly  democratic 
people  of  the  Australian  colonies. 

The  measure  is,  I  think,  one  of  the  most  ilemocratie.  That 
has  been  said  so  frecineiitly  lliat  it  is  almost  ti'ite,  but  I  think 
that  it  is  instinctive  with  the  deni  )cralic  spirit.  It  breatlics 
of  tiusf  in  the  people  and  faith  in  the  future.  We  look  to 
ibis  as  an  instrumeni  in  whieli  wi'  can  cndiark  our  precious 
freight  and  oiw  national  hopes  without  fear  or  misgivings, 
f'veipient  ly  those  wlio  liave  spoki  ii  in  faxor  of  tliis  federal 
mo\ement  have  I.Immw  ii  a  suspicion  oii  llii--  ^le.ii  eoniin(Mit. 
When   WI'  liavc   placed   our   ])reeious   freight    in    the  const  itu- 


FIFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  17,  1899 


79 


tion  which  lias  been  framed,  after  iiiaiiy  patient  years  of  work, 
we  can  exclaim  with  tlie  i^oet  in  those  most  truly  patriotic 
expressions: 

"Thou  too,  sail  on,  0  ship  of  state! 
Sail  on,  0  Union,  strong  and  great! 
Humanity  witli  all  its  fears, 
Witli  all  the  liopes  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breatliless  on  tliy  fate! 

''Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea! 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee; 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears. 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears. 
Are  all  witli  thee — are  all  witli  thee!"' 

Sir  Andrew  Clarke- 
Mr.  Reeves,  of  New  Zealand.     (Applause.) 

Ffiin.  W.  Pemhcr  Rceres: 

I^adies  and  Gentlemen. — 1  think  that  it  will  not  be  inap- 
propriate that  one  who  is  a  colonist — not  an  Australian — 
one  who  has  studied  the  federation  of  the  Australian  move- 
ment very  closely,  but  not  yet  from  a  point  of  view  of  a 
sharer  in  it,  should  arise  on  this  occasion  to  move  a  hearty 
vote  of  thanks  to  our  friend.  Dr.  Cockburn.  (Applause.) 
And  I  take  the  greatest  pleasure  also  in  embracing  this  op- 
portunity to  thank  him  personally  for  his  friendly  reference 
to  New  Zealand.  (Applause.)  It  is  not  the  only  friendly 
reference  to  my  colony  that  has  been  made  by  Australian 
speakers,  either  on  the  platform  here  or  privately  to  myself, 
and  I  shall  take  great  care  to  be  sure  that  my  government 
knows  the  feeling,  and  I  trust  that  it  may  not  altogether  fall 
to  the  ground.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  as  you  listened  to  the 
eloquence  and  sincerity  of  the  earlier  part  of  Dr.  Cockl)urn"s 
address,  I  think  it  must  have  been  borne  in  mind  that  to  a 
considerable  extent  the  federation  movement  in  Australia 
was  based  on  the  feeling  of  heartfelt  patriotism  ("hear"), 
and  as  you  listen  to  the  clear  and  plainly-worded  exposition 
of  that  very  complicated  thing,  the  Australian  federal  con- 
stitution, tlie  exposition  that  occupied  the  latter  part  of  my 
friend's  address,  I  think  that  you  must  have  been  favorably  im- 
pressed with  the  business-like  capacity  evidenced  by  the  Aus- 
tralian Commonwealth.  ("Hear."")  But  had  you  known  what 
a  difficult  and  complicated  task  it  has  been  to  work  out  that 
constitution,  had  you  known  the  number  of  knots  which  in- 
telligent people  have  managed  to  tie  in  trying  to  comprehend 
that  constitution  during  the  last  ten  years,  then  your  grati- 
tude to  Dr.  Cockburn  would  have  been  greater  still.  (Ap- 
plause.) I  frankly  admit  that  if  I  were  to  speak  to  you  about 
federation  in  general  and  the  Australian  federation,  snme 
of  my  views  would  not  be  those  of  my  honorable  friend.  But 
this  is  not  an  occasion  for  criticism.  I  propose  to  confine 
my  remarks  to  his  speech,  and  on  that  I  have  no  criticism  to 
offer. 

I  ask  you.  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  pass  a  hearty  vote  of 
thanks  for  my  friend"s  most  able  and  instructive  address. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Gentlemen  of  the  Convention. — 1  desire  to  have  the  honor 
of  seconding  this  vote  of  thanks.     (Applause.) 

<S'(/"  A  lid  re  ir  Clarice : 

And  it  becomes  my  duty  to  put  the  resolution  that  you  have 
heard,  that  a  vote  of  tliaiiks  be  given  to  Dr.  Cockburn.    (Ap- 


plause.)   I  wish  you  would  do  so  by  acclamation.    (Applause.) 
\'ote  carried  by  acclamation. 

Dr.  Cockburn: 

Mr.  Reeves  and  Dr.  \\'ilsou  and  Sir  Andrew  Clarke:  I 
thank  you  very  heartily  for  this  expression,  and.  Sir  Andrew 
Clarke,  for  the  very  liearty  expression  to  which  you  have 
just  given  effect.  I  can  only  say  that  although  I  occasion- 
ally may  have  been  obscure,  it  is  an  instrument  which  re- 
quires one  to  keep  his  wits  about  him — thinking  about  it. 
Every  word  of  this  constitution  may  frjmi  a  basis  for  in- 
viting lawsuits  in  the  future,  and  one  feels  almost  as  if  he 
were  in  a  witness-box  when  speaking  on  this  subject.  How- 
ever, I  believe  that  the  measure  is  simplicity  itself,  and  I 
thank  you  very  much  for  your  generous  overlooking  of  any 
obscurity.  I  deeply  appreciate  the  vote  of  thanks  of  Mr. 
Reeves  and  Dr.  Wilson.  Mr.  Reeves  and  I  are  friends.  We 
have  the  honor  of  occupying  the  very  same  positions  in  the- 
colonies.  We  have  taken  part  in  forward  movements  and  we 
have  traveled  in  the  United  States.  I  deeply  appreciate  his 
kind  remarks,  and  also  those  of  Dr.  Wilson. 

May  I  move  a  vote  of  thanks  to  Sir  .\ndrew  Clarke?  (Ap- 
plause.) 

(Vote  sustained  by  acclamation.) 

Sir  A  lid  re  ir  Clarke : 

Thank  you  very  much,  brother  delegates,  for  the  lunior  tliaf 
you  have  shown  me. 

I  hardly  ever  hoped  I  would  see — I  do  hope  still  that  I  may 
see — the  accomplishment  of  this  federation.  I  told  you  in  the 
beginning  of  my  remarks  that  more  than  fifty  years  ago  I 
was  called — I  do  not  regret  it — I  was  called  to  speak  in  be- 
half of  those  who  wanted  federation  at  that  time.  I  think 
I  may  use  this  occasion  by  drawing  your  attention  to  one  more 
significant  fact  given  by  Dr.  Cockburn  with  reference  to  the 
reason  why  this  federation  is  necessary  for  the  establishment 
of  a  uniform  tariff.  I  dwelt  upon  this,  because  it  is  a  matter 
connected  with  the  object  of  our  being  here  in  Philadelphia. 
Remember  when  I  opposed  the  establishment  of  the  federa- 
tion in  1855-56,  we  had  free  trade,  a  uniform  tariff  on  taxa- 
ble articles,  in  the  hope  that  five  colonies  of  Australia  were 
to  be  limited  to  certain  revenue  taxation.  It  was  a  departure. 
I  don't  say  it  was  justified.  It  was  a  departure  from  that 
cmnmon  system  of  customs  that  held  over  the  Australian 
colonies.  It  was  a  de])arture  from  that  which  has  now  given 
birth  to  the  reason  why  we  should  go  back  on  that  line,  in 
order  to  re-establish  what  we  enjoyed  in  those  days.  For- 
give me  for  alluding  to  a  fact  of  this  kind,  but  it  is  still 
worth  mentioning.  I  thank  you  very  much.  ('"Hear,  hear," 
applause.) 

Director  IV.  P.  Wihon: 

Before  I  start  I  have  two  or  three  announcements  to  make. 
First,  that  the  mail  for  the  delegates  to-morrow  will  be  found 
in  the  little  room,  at  the  left  of  the  platform,  in  the  Conven- 
tion Hall  on  the  Exposition  Grounds.  That  means  that  our 
to-morrow's  meeting  will  take  place  in  the  Exposition — the 
Congress  Hall — and  that  the  mail  will  be  carried  there  for 
the  delegates.  Also  that  I  am  requested  to  ask  the  delegates 
from  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  from  the  United  Kingdom, 
to  meet  in  conference  on  Tuesday  (this  evening),  at  eight 
o'clock  at  the  Hotel  Walton.  I  am  also  asked  to  announce 
that  all  those  who  wish  to  attend  the  theatre  to-morrow 
evening  will  find  Mr.  C.  A.  Green  at  the  Hotel  Walton,  be- 
tween six  and  eight  o'clock. 

Adjourned  at  5. OS  p.  m. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


SIXTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


riULAUHLPUiA,  AVeduesdiiy,  October  18,  1899. 

MoH.\i.\(;  Sewsion. 

The  foUowiug  delegates  from  the  Aiiierieau  Asiatie  Astiu- 
ciation  were  present  at  this  session  of  the  Congress: 

Kverett  Frazar,  Presiih'iit  nf  Frazar  &  Co. 

Saniuel  D.  Brewster,  Vice-President  of  Deering,  Millil-cen  &  Co. 

Josejjh  E.  Patterson,  Treasurer  of  Fearon,  lianiel  &  Co. 

John  Foord,  Secretary. 

Silas  D.  Webh  and  Howard  Ayres,  of  China-Japan  Trading 

Company. 
A.  M.  Townsend,  New  York  Agent  Hong  Kong  and  Shanghai 

Banking  Corporation. 
(Jeneral  William  Barclay  Parsons. 
James  S.  Fearon,  of  Fearon,  Daniels  &  Co. 
H.  Norden,  of  A.  Norden  &  Co. 
]•].  P.  Cronkhite,  of  Smith,  Hogg  &  Gardner. 

E.  H.  Sampson. 

Capt.  A.  E.  Piorkowski,  L  G.  N. 

Thomas  E.  Jevons,  of  I'usk  &  Jevons. 

Albert  Cordes,  of  E.  D.  Cordes  &  Co. 

R.  P.  Messiter  and  J.  F.C'owperthwait,  of  J\Iinot,  Hooper  &  Co. 

Thomas  A.  Plielan,  of  (icorge  W.  Lane  &  Co. 

William  Thomson,  of  the  John  Thomson  Press  Company. 

Ralph  N.  Thomson,  of  the  Neptune  Water  Meter  Co. 

R.  N.  Fairbanks  of  the  Fairbanks  Company. 

C.  A.  Schieren,  Jr.,  of  (Charles  A.  Sehieren  &  Co. 

W.  P.  Frothinghani,  of  the  American  Ih'adinn'  Ciiiii|ianv. 

Alfred  H.  Post. 

F.  B.  Thurber,  I'nited  States  Export  Association. 
James  1).  I^'oot,  of  Kearney  &  Foot  Co. 

(ieorge  C.  C'larke. 

George  M.   Tsniglit. 

J.  Alnion.  of  the   Diairioiid   State  ('ar  Spi'lng  Co. 

Tlie  iiii^cting  was  called  to  oidci'  in  the  ( 'oiivi'nt ion  Hall, 
E.xposilion  r.iiilding.  at  J().."i.'>  a.  in.,  by  Director  W.  P. 
Wilson. 

Din-dor  \V.  J'.    Wilson: 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  tins  uioriiiug  to  have  llir  (i|i|ior- 
tunity  of  introducing,  as  ('liainuau  ot  this  session,  llu'  Hon. 
Cornelius  N.  Bliss,  of  New  York.     (Api)lause.) 

J  foil.  Cornel  ins  N.   HIIss: 

Gentlemen:  I  thank  vmi  I'oi-  the  |irivilege  to  express  uiv 
appreciation  of  your  kindness  in  inviting  me  to  ])resi(le  over 
the  deliberations  of  this  China  Day,  as  I  understand  it  to  be 
by  the  program.  After  a  few  brief  observations  I  shall  gi\c 
way  to  the  regular  business  of  the  day. 

Of  the  many   exposition-    that    lia\r    I'ollowcil    the   Ceuleu- 


nial  Exhibition,  organized  in  this  good  City  of  Philadelphia, 
culminating  in  the  White  City  of  Chicago,  none  has  been, 
it  seems  to  me,  of  greater  practical  importance,  or  is  likely 
to  have  larger  influence  on  the  commerce  of  the  world  than 
this  Exposition  and  Congress,  instituted  by  the  Philadelphia 
Commercial  Museum.  Here  we  have  gathered  the  official 
representatives  of  commercial  bodies  of  the  chief  business 
centres  of  the  world  for  consideration,  face  to  face,  of  the 
complicated  questions  that  may  lead  to  the  perpetuation  of 
present  relations  and  the  fornung  of  such  others  as  may  be 
found  mutually  advantageous. 

Commerce  cannot  be  conducted  on  sentimental  lines;  it 
depends  upon  reciprocation  of  interests  that  will  make  it 
fairly  remunerative  to  those  who  engage  in  it.  If  prices  of 
our  mercliandiso  are  not  competitive  with  those  of  other 
countries,  if  the  exchanges  favor  other  capitals,  yoti,  gentle- 
men of  the  Orient,  will  not  trade  with  this  part  of  the  Occi- 
dent. It  must  be  our  joint  etfort  here  to  establish  a  basis 
for  conducting  the  vast  business  which  awaits  the  enterprise 
of  the  commercial  men  of  the  east  and  west.  We,  of  Amer- 
ica, are  not  entering  upon  a  new  and  untried  field  in  pro- 
posing business  relations  with  China  and  the  Indies.  In 
the  early  days  of  the  Repulvlic,  and  up  to  recent  times,  when 
the  telegraph,  lailroad  and  steamship  changed  the  current 
of  trade,  our  shi|)s  went  out  to  the  I-Cast  loaded  with  Amer- 
ican products,  returning  two  years  later,  if  they  escaped  the 
dangers  of  navigation  and  Malay  proas,  bearing  the  teas, 
spices  and  silks  of  the  Orient.  The  aroma  of  those  cargoes 
still  floats  about  the  old  warehouses  of  Central  Wharf  in 
Boston  and  in  the  old  counting  rooms  lingers  an  occasional 
venerable  white-haired  mariner  who  loves  to  tell  of  the 
dangers  and  triumphs  of  his  career.  He  occasionally  writes 
to  the  papers  lamenting  the  decadence  of  our  shipping,  and 
decline  of  our  foreign  commerce,  not  realizing  that,  although 
our  commerce  is  not  of  the  magnitude  that  it  should  be,  it 
is  still  a  thousand  times  greater  than  it  was  under  the  old 
condition.s,  when  he  sailed  his  beautiful  ship  of  five  or  six 
hundred  tons  for  the  Straits  and  a  market. 

Possibly  the  merchants  of  the  United  States  have  not  been 
so  aggre.ssive  as  they  might  have  been  in  seeking  new  fields 
of  activity,  but  we  have  nol  been  an  idle  |)eople.  The 
coming  census  will  show  a  population  of  o\cr  seventy  mil- 
lions: our  resources  have  been  developed  to  a  marvelous 
extent  in  agriculture,  in  manufactures  and  in  mining,  and 
our  \ast  lerfifory  has  been  covered  with  telegraph  and  rail- 
i-oad  lines.  Westward  and  still  westward  has  been  the 
niiii-eh  of  the  people,  from  the  .\tlantic  to  the  Pacific,  until 
lo-ilay  ii  gi'cat  population  rests  on  the  border  of  that  once 
lonelv  lookinn'  ocean,  looking  siJH  wcslwafil.  and  willi  true 
c-ommerciai  instinct  they  .say  to  you,  to  China,  Japan  aiul  the 
islands  of  the  seas,  "Let  us  take  counsel  (ogefher,  and,  act- 
ing for  our  muliuil  advantage,  lei  us  cover  Ibis  silent  ocean 
with  lleets  of  swift  laden  steamships  that  shall  bear  in  inter- 
change the    products    of    the    people    of  the  Orient   ami   the 


80 


HON.  ROBERT  ADAMS.  JR., 
Member  of  Congress  from   Phila 


GEORGE  H.  ANDERSON,  HON.  W.  W.   ROCKHILL, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.  Director,  Bureau  of  Am.  Republics. 


HON.  IRVING  P.  WANGER,  CHARLES  H.  DUELL,  HON.  GEORGE  F.  EDM  U  NDS, 

Member  of  Congress  from  Penn'a.       U.S.  Commissioner  of  Patents.       Ex-United  States  Senator. 


EDWARD  ATKINSON, 
Boston,  Mass. 


J.  H.  STERNBERGH, 
Reading,  Pa. 


A.  M.  WOOLSON, 
Toledo,  O. 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


81 


Occident,  that  may  rival  the  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  on 
our  eastern  border."  Then  will  come,  after  400  years,  the 
realization  of  the  dream  of  Columbus,  and  the  western  route 
to  Cathay  will  be  open  to  the  commerce  of  the  world.  The 
events  of  the  past  two  years  have  given  to  us  a  community 
of  neighborhoods.  As  you  merchants  of  China  sail  towards 
the  Continent  of  North  America  you  will  find  your  first 
greeting  under  our  flag  at  Manila  and  again  at  Guam  and  at 
Hawaii.  That  we  hold  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  United 
States  these  convenient  stations  in  the  Pacific  is  ascribed  by 
timid  citizens,  who  are  afraid  of  commerce  and  expansion  of 
American  commerce,  to  a  desire  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment and  people  for  imperial  power.  No  such  word  as 
imperialism  exists  in  the  American  vocabulary.  I  prefer  to 
believe  that  it  is  the  old-time  Providence  of  the  God  in  whom 
the  fathers  believed,  that  has  not  only  permitted,  but  com- 
manded, this  nation  to  deliver  the  people  of  the  Philippines 
from  the  oppression  and  tyranny  of  the  centuries  and  to  give 
to  them,  as  will  be  done  in  due  time,  the  blessings  of  peace, 
civilization  and  good  government.  As  near  neighbors  to 
you  of  China  we  desire  to  cultivate  with  you  the  closest 
commercial  and  friendly  relations.  We  desire  to  see  your 
vast  ancient  empire  maintain  its  integrity.  We  ask  no 
special  "sphere  of  influence,"  so  called,  which  appears  to  be 
only  another  term  for  disintegration  and  ruin  for  China,  but 
we  hope  to  see  her  ere  long  abandoning  the  policy  of  seclu- 
sion, come  forth  in  the  light  of  her  civilization  and  power 
and  join  the  community  of  nations,  to  share  in  the  prosperity 
that  awaits  the  grand  commercial  development  of  the 
twentieth  century. 

Proceeding  with  the  regular  order,  gentlemen  and  dele- 
gates, the  first  paper  to  bo  read  this  morning  is  by  Mr.  Ar- 
thur E.  Dowler,  delegate  fi-om  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Shanghai. 

Mr.  Arthur  E.  Dowler: 

To  the  engrossing  subject  which  we  are  discussing  to-day. 
I  would  like  to  add  a  few  words  with  which,  in  as  concise 
a  form  as  possible,  I  will  endeavor  to  lay  before  you  some 
suggestions  and  facts  which  appear  to  me  to  be  especially 
applicable  to  this  occasion,  although,  in  the  time  at  our  dis- 
posal, it  is  impossible  to  treat  so  prodigious  a  subject  as  that 
of  our  trade  with  the  vast  Empire  of  China  in  anything  like 
a  manner  of  which  it  is  worthy.  Still,  it  is  undoubtedly  the 
hope  of  all  that  any  seeds  of  information  which  we  may,  on 
this  occasion,  be  able  to  plant,  will,  in  future,  bear  good 
fruit  and  enable  us  to  secure  a  portion  of  China's  trade  com- 
mensurate to  our  ])osition  as  one  of  the  foremost  producing 
nations  of  the  world. 

As  any  one  who  studies  the  progress  of  nations  can  easily 
perceive,  the  producing  capacity  of  these  United  States  of 
America,  has  now  reached  a  stage  which  far  exceeds  the 
consumption,  and  the  ratio  of  excess  is  assuming  greater 
])roportions  year  by  year.  It  is,  therefore,  imperative  for  the 
manufacturers  of  this  country  to  look  beyond  its  border  for 
markets  wherein  they  ca7i  profitably  dispose  of  their  goods, 
and  I  say  that  our  geographical  position  points  out  the  vast 
Empire  of  China  and  the  continent  of  A.sia  with  its  yet  un- 
developed trade,  as  pre-eminently  ours.  The  natural  course 
of  events  in  the  world,  the  enormous  natural  wealth  of  this 
country  and  the  character  of  its  people,  precludes  the  possi- 
bility which  some  would  have  us  follow  of  a  continuance  of 
our  past  seclusion,  or  what  I  would  take  the  liberty  of  term- 
ing, a  continuance  of  a  hermit  trade. 

With  the  adoption  of  a  colonial  policy  by  tlie  United 
States,  we  may  now  hope  to  see  a  rapid  development  of  the 
schemes  for  bringing  this  country  into  closer  connection 
with  China — I  refer  to  the  laying  of  the  Pacific  cable  and 
the  building  of  the  Nicaraguan  Canal — the  latter  of  which 


will  bring  us  on  the  Atlantic  coast  thousands  of  miles  nearer 
to  China  and  make  us  independent  of  the  present  Suez 
route.  It  will  bring  us  within  easy  reach  of  a  market  con- 
sisting of  eighteen  provinces — I  refer  to  China  proper  only — 
with  an  area  of  1,300,000  miles,  a  population  of  nearly  400,- 
000,000  souls,  equal  to  about  290  per  square  mile,  a  country 
in  which  the  germ  of  progress  is  now  making  fast  strides, 
and  in  which  the  possibilities  are  limitless;  a  vast  empire  in 
which  we,  by  right  of  treaty,  are  entitled  to  the  same  privi- 
leges as  those  enjoyed  by  others,  or  by  the  most  favored 
nation.  I  ask  you  all,  therefore,  to  earnestly  support  the 
policy  of  the  most  rigid  maintenance  of  American  rights, 
and  to  demand  the  security  of  American  trade. 

To  be  successful  in  China  we  must  have  a  fuller  knowl- 
edge of  its  requirements  and  be  in  close  and  daily  touch  with 
its  people,  and  I  look  forward  to  the  day  when  this  country 
may  have  as  close  ties — and  I  might  say  family  ties — with 
China,  as  our  English  and  German  friends.  It  is  this  close 
connection  which  brings  distant  countries  so  much  nearer 
home  and  makes  them  so  much  more  understandable  to 
them  than  to  Americans,  wlio  are  so  sparsely  represented  in 
the  Empire  of  China;  but  while  on  this  point  I  can  only  reit- 
erate and  emphatically  endorse  what  more  than  one  of  your 
consular  agents  have  stated,  that  it  is  worse  than  useless  to 
send  to  China,  as  representatives  of  American  enterpri.se  and 
trade,  any  but  those  of  undoubted  reputation  and  business 
ability,  for  a  Chinaman  is  capable  of  judging  men  perhaps 
as  well,  if  not  better,  than  most  other  human  beings,  and  in 
one's  dealings  with  the  Orientals,  character  and  knowledge 
of  character  play  a  great  role. 

The  Making  Vv  of  Goods. 

I  cannot  too  urgently  call  to  the  attention  of  your  nuinu- 
facturers  the  importance  of  studying  the  requirements  of  the 
market  for  which  your  goods  are  intended,  and  of  closely 
following  minute  details,  which  greatly  accounts  for  the  suc- 
cess of  our  European  competitors.  Shanghai,  which  is 
known  as  the  New  York  of  China,  is  the  great  distributing 
centre  of  the  north.  Its  import  and  export  trade  amounts 
approximately  to  $70,000,000.  The  means  of  communica- 
tion in  China  are  at  present  primitive,  being  chiefly  confined 
to  a  great  network  of  waterways.  It  is,  therefore,  most 
important,  in  the  making  up  of  goods,  that  the  size  of  the 
packages,  etc.,  should  be  adapted  to  the  manner  and  mode 
of  transportation,  either  liy  steamer,  junk  or  pack  animal. 

Teade  Marks. 

Another  important  matter  is  that  of  trade  marks,  for  the 
Chinaman  lays  great  store  or  worth  on  brands.  Even  now, 
with  our  growing  trade  with  the  East  yet  in  its  infancy,  this 
question  is  beginning  to  cause  confusion,  owing  to  the  simi- 
larity of  brands  used  by  ditferent  firms,  and  it  is  only  by 
the  exercise  of  courtesy  and  extreme  good-will  that  now 
exists  between  the  representatives  of  China  firms  and  manu- 
facturers in  tliis  countr)',  that  we  are  able  to  avoid  greater 
inconvenience.  In  regard  to  piece-goods,  I  would  suggest 
to  manufacturers  the  inadvisabiUty  of  selling  or  giving  the 
monopoly  of  their  original  mill  brands  to  any  one  party. 
This,  in  my  opinion — which,  I  believe,  is  shared  by  many 
others — 'restricts  the  consumption  of  your  well-known  mill 
brands,  and  I  would  propose  that  such  monopolies  of  a 
cloth  or  article,  if  desired,  be  confined  to  private  marks 
owned  by  firms  in  China;  but  keep  the  original  mill  brands 
or  makes  open  to  all  traders. 

While  on  the  siibject  of  brands,  I  may  be  allowed  to  ex- 
press the  hope  that  in  course  of  time,  it  will  be  found  feasi- 
ble to  adopt  a  practical,  easy,  inexpensive  method    for  thti 


82 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


registration  of  track'  luark^  in  tlie  same  maiiuer  as  tliat  at 
present  pursued  in  I-Cngland. 

Quality  of  Goods. 

Tlien  again,  I  would  call  your  serious  attention  to  the 
juatter  of  quality.  A  Chinaman  is  at  all  times  an  excellent 
judge  as  to  wliether  he  is  or  is  not  getting  his  money "s 
worth  of  goods  as  represented,  and  this  fact  is,  I  think,  in 
tliis  country,  little  appreciated.  It  matters  not  whether  it 
be  locomotives,  rails,  water-pipes,  piece-goods,  soap,  raw 
cotton,  or  any  other  article.  At  all  times  the  quality  must 
be  maintained,  and  the  thought  ever  present  that  we  do 
)U)t  desire  the  trade  merely  for  to-day  or  to-mormw;  but 
to  get  and  maintain  a  foothold  tlu'ough  the  excellence,  price, 
worthiness  and  regidarity  of  our  goods  which  will  bring  us 
to  the  forenuist  ranks  of  traders  with  China. 

Deliveries. 

The  matter  of  deliveries  is  also  often  a  vexed  question 
here  in  America.  Of  course  it  is  to  be  found  all  over  the 
world;  but  is,  I  think,  a  little  more  accentuated  over  here 
than  elsewhere.  In  the  closing  of  contracts  with  China, 
there  are  many  matters  to  be  taken  into  consideration,  such 
as  freights,  exchanges  and  opening  and  closing  of  naviga- 
tion, etc.,  which  vary  according  to  the  time  on  which  you 
figure  goods  will  be  shipped,  and  the  cautious  merchant  as 
a  rule,  when  closing  a  contract,  arranges  for  the  freighting 
and  exchange  at  the  same  time  that  he  fixes  the  prices  and 
date  of  delivery  with  the  manufacturer.  You  can  easily, 
therefore,  conceive  that  it  the  latter  d<)es  not  fulfill  his  con- 
tract in  regard  to  delivery,  it  not  only  leads  to  serious  com- 
plications -with  the  buyer  in  China,  liut  also  to  considerable 
loss  ofttimes  in  exchange  and  rate  of  freight.  I  would  ad- 
vise manufacturers,  therefore,  to  be  very  conservative  on 
this  point  and  allow  a  good  latitude  for  deliveries  in  making 
contracts. 

Catering  for  Trade. 

If  we  intend  to  secure  our  share  of  this  export  trade  to 
(■hina,  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  we  should  at  all  times 
l)e  prepared  to  cater  to  it.  At  present  the  outcry  is  often 
heard  there,  that  it  is  useless  to  endeivor  to  build  up  a 
regular  trade  in  this  or  that  line  of  American  goods,  as  ycui 
only  use  China  as  a  dumping  ground  for  surplus  stocks  in 
time  of  trade  depression  over  liere.  Therefore  I  say  to  the 
nninufacturers  of  this  country  now  that  you  have  en- 
tered upon  a  policy  of  expansion — now  that  you  do  earnestly 
intend  to  strive  after  foreign  trade — follow  the  example  of 
your  European  competitors — set  apart  a  portion  of  your 
l)lant  or  adopt  such  other  methods  as  will  make  you  always 
])reparcd  to  entertain  such  business  and  to  supply  a  regular 
trade.  J)ii  not  look  upon  the  business  as  one  of  only  to-day 
or  to-UKUTow,  liut  as  one  that  will  be  with  you  always. 

Samit.k  Wakkiiouses. 

I  have  often  heard  the  question  propounded  as  to  which  is 
the  best  means  of  bringing  American  manufactures  and  pro- 
ducts before  the  notice  of  the  Chinese  and  know  of  no  better 
medium  than  that  so  successfully  adopted  by  our  European 
competifor.«,  viz.,  through  the  intermediary  of  the  great 
commercial  liouses  long  established  in  Cliina.  many  of 
which  are  represented  in  this  country  and  are  bending  tlu>ir 
energies  lo-day  to  extend  their  Anin-ican  business;  but  find 
comiianilively  little  support  IViiin  manufacturers  in  lliis 
counfvv.  alflidugli   1   think  1  can  safdv  >av  tlial   Ibcv  will  be 


only  too  willing  to  give  all  the  necessary  information  and 
help, — and  in  fact  I  assume  that  this  is  one  of  their  objects 
in  being  on  the  spot. 

-i  Parcels  Post. 

I  tliiidv  also  the  adoption  of  a  parcels  post  on  a  litieral 
Ijasis  with  the  Far  East  would  prove  of  immeasurable  value, 
as  the  means  of  sending  or  receiving  small  packages  or 
samples  at  present  are  primitive  in  the  extreme  Ijetweeii  this 
country  and  Cliina. 

(inowTii   OF  Trade. 

Now  to  give  you  an  idea  of  tlie  growth  in  trade  between 
the  two  c(.iuntries  in  one  article  alone,  viz.,  cotton-piece 
goods,  during  the  first  .seven  months  of  this  year,  202,652 
jyackages,  ajiproximate  value  $6,000,000,  against  119,477 
])ackage,s,  approximate  value  $3,500,000,  for  the  same  period 
of  last  year,  were  exported  from  this  country  to  the  Chinese 
Empire,  which,  with  its  teeming  population  of  400,000,000 
has  as  yet  been  exploited  only  on  its  borders.  To  bring  the 
size  and  possibilities  nearer  home,  let  us  compare  some  of 
the  provinces  with  the  states  of  this  Union: 

Hupeh,  population  33,000,000;  area  about  the  same  as 
Indiana  and  Ohio  combined,  with  6,000,0(10. 

Ilonan,  22,000,000;  area  same  as  Missouri,  with  2,750,000. 

Szechuen,  67,000,000;  area  about  the  same  as  Ohio,  Indi- 
ana, Illinois,  and  Kentucky,  with  11,500,000. 

Kwangtung,  29,000,000;  area  the  same  as  Kansas,  with 
1,500,000,  etc. 

I  ask  you,  therefore,  is  it  possible  to  overestimate  the  pos- 
sibilities of  trade  in  such  a  vast  Empire,  all  points  of  wdiich 
are  slowly  Imt  surely  going  to  lie  thrown  open  to  the  worlil 
by  a  system  of  railways,  some  now  in  course  of  construction, 
others  projected,  Ijut  so  far  only  350  miles  completed?  Such 
a  trade  prospect  as  this  thrown  open  to  us  is  worth  having 
and  protecting  to  the  utmost;  but  to  discuss  this  I  should 
have  to  pass  over  from  the  commercial  to  the  political,  and. 
as  this  latter  aspect  will  be  put  before  you  this  afternoon,  I 
would  restrict  myself  by  comnu'iiding  to  your  urgent  notice 
the  following  clauses,  which  ajipcar  in  tlie  treaties  between 
China  and  this  country,  viz.: 

"Citizens  of  the  I'nited  States  resorting  to  China  for  tlie 
purpose  of  commerce  will  pay  the  duties  of  import  and 
export  prescribed  in  the  tariff.  They  shall  in  no  ca.se  be 
subject  to  other  and  higher  duties  than  are  or  shall  be 
required  of  the  people  of  any  other  nation  whatever,  and  if 
additional  advantages  of  whatever  descrijition  be  conceded 
liereafter  by  China  to  any  other  nation,  the  United  States 
and  the  citizens  thereof  shall  lie  entitled  thereupon  to  com- 
plete, equal,  and  impartial  particij]ation  in  the  same." 

Further,  in  a  later  treaty: 

"The  contracting  parties  hereby  agree  tluit  should  at  any 
time  the  Tatsing  Empire  grant  to  any  nation,  or  the  mer- 
chants or  citizens  of  any  nation,  any  right,  privilege,  oi- 
favor  connected  either  with  navigation,  commerce,  political 
or  other  intercourse,  which  is  not  conferred  by  this  treaty, 
such  privilege  and  favor  shall  at  once  freely  inure  to  the 
l)enefit  of  the  United  States,  its  ])ublic  ollicers,  merchants, 
and  citizens." 

Anil  1  would  a.*k  you  if  Iliis  does  not  give  us  the  right  to 
i'e(|iiirc  (if  t.he  govenunent  of  the  United  States,  action  and 
siqipdit  to  maintain  our  rights  at  all  costs,  to  maintain  the 
alisolute  equality  of  trade  advantages,  the  integrity  of  Cliina? 

Tlu're  is  an  article  in  tlie  September  number  of  the  Nnrlh 
Anifrliini  Hcrinr.  iMililIrd  "Kx  Oriente  Lux."  written  liy 
Mv.  .Xrcbibald  Little,  than  whom  there  are  probalily  few 
belter    judges  of    the  sit ii.il  ion    in   ('liiiia.  and    to   Hmsc   w  hii 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


83 


have  not  already  read  it,  1  would  suggest  doing  so.  In  it 
Mr.  Little  says: " 

"The  only  question  for  America  to  decide  is:  How  far  is 
it  wise  for  her  to  abandon  her  present  expectant  policy  in 
the  Far  East  and  to  actively  interest  herself  in  the  interna- 
tional struggle,  of  which  the  Chinese  metropolis  has  unwit- 
tingly become  the  distracted  centre?  For,"  he  adds,  "there 
is  little  doubt  that  events  in  China  are  hurrying  to  a  crisis, 
and  that  every  nation  that  would  safeguard  its  interests  in 
the  face  of  such  a  crisis  must  decide  on  a  course  of  action, 
form  a  definite  policy  and  be  prepared  to  meet  eventualities 
that  all  can  foresee." 

In  conclusion,  I  congratulate  the  Commercial  Museum 
on  tlie  great  work  which  it  has  inaugurated.  We  look 
for  good  results  from  the  joint  efforts  of  the  Amei'ican 
Asiatic  Association  of  New  York,  the  American  Association 
of  China,  and  the  Philadelphia  Museum,  and  I  ask  your 
cordial  support  of  these  thi-ee  important  bodies  which  are 
working  so  earnestly  in  the  interests  of  American  trade  in 
the  largest  market  of  the  world — the  Empire  of  China. 

lion.  Cornelivs  N.  Bliss: 

The  next  paper  to  be  read  will  he  by  Mr.  Thomas  R. 
Wheelock,  delegaite  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Shanghai.' 

Mr.  Thomas  R.  Wheelock: 

I  will  not  occu]>y  your  valuable  time  by  placing  before  you 
the  numberless  opportunities  for  the  expansion  of  trade 
whi<'h  are  offered  in  China,  as  the  ground  has  been  so  ably 
covered  by  inany  writers — a  paper  which  appeared  in  the 
Journal  of  the  American-Asiatic  Association  of  June  10th,  by 
Mr.  Foord,  covers  the  ground  so  completely  that  I  recom- 
mend it  to  your  perusal  and  serious  consideraition.  I  do  this 
without  Mr.  Foord's  knowledge,  and  hope  he  will  pardon 
me  for  the  liberty  I  am  taking. 

There  are  several  questions  of  vital  importance  to  Shang- 
hai which  I  wish  to  bring  before  this  Congress — d:he  principal 
one  being  the  conservancy  of  the  River  Whangpoo  (upon 
which  Shangliai  is  situated)  and  its  approaches. 

This  is  a  question  which  has  been  before  the  mercantile 
community  of  Shanghai  for  a  great  many  years,  and  efforts 
have  constantly  been  made  to  induce  the  Chinese  govern- 
ment to  do  something  towards  improving  them,  without, 
however,  any  success. 

It  is  now  evident  that  nothing  can  be  expected  from  that 
quarter,  and  a  scheme  is  proposed  for  the  formation  of  a  Con- 
servance  Board,  with  full  authority  to  carry  out  all  necessary 
works  of  improvement  and  to  collect  funds  to  cover  the  ex- 
pense of  same. 

I  submit  herewith  a  full  report  upon  the  whole  question, 
and  shall  be  glad  to  confer  with  your  representatives  as  to 
the  best  means  of  bringing  the  matter  to  the  notice  of  this 
government,  as  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  the  port  of 
Shanghai  be  made  available  for  the  largest  steamships. 

The  navigation  is  becoming  more  dangerous  year  by  year, 
and  further  delay  will  render  the  work  more  difficult  and 
expensive. 

There  are  many  other  questions  to  be  considered  in  con- 
nection with  the  China  trade,  and  I  shall  be  glad  to  meet 
and  co-operate  with  your  representatives  in  bringing  the 
most  important  to  the  notice  of  the  government. 

The  principal  of  these  are  the  placing  of  the  transit  pass 
svstem  upon  a  more  satisfactory  basis,  and  the  opening  of 
the  inland  waters  to  navigation  by  foreign  vessels.  This  has 
already  been  done  to  a  certain  extent,  but  under  the  present 
reo-ulations  the  privilege  is  of  little  value. 

These  questions  arc  of  vital  importance  to  American  and 


British  merchants,  and  as  their  interests  are  identical,  some 
concerted  action  should  be  taken  to  place  the  trade  of  these 
countries  on  a  more  satisfactory  basis,  and  to  insist  upon 
their  treaty  rights  being  respected. 

Memoraxdum   on  the   Proposed   Conservatory  of  the 
Whangpoo  River  at  Shanghai. 

The  Conservatory  of  the  Whangpoo  is  a  question  which 
has  been  agitated  by  the  Shanghai  Chamber  of  Commerce 
for  nearly  forty  years,  and  it  would  appear  that  a  short 
memorandum  explaining  the  situation  and  the  requirements 
of  the  port  of  Shanghai  may  be  useful  to  those  who  are  in- 
terested in  the  China  trade,  but  who  have  not  sufficient  local 
knowledge  to  follow  the  discussions  which  it  is  hoped  may 
before  long  be  raised  at  home  on  the  subject. 

This  so-called  river  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  a  sort  of  back 
water  of  the  Yangtse,  deriving,  it  is  true,  a  small  propor- 
tion of  its  volume  from  the  drainage  of  the  surrounding 
country,  but  dependent  for  its  existence  as  a  navigable  water- 
way on  the  flood  tide.  The  country  round  Shanghai  has 
been  formed  by  silt,  having  at  one  time  been  completely  cov- 
ered with  water,  and  the  process  is  still  going  on. 

The  Whangpoo  may  be  regarded  as  a  sort  of  lagoon  where 
the  process  of  silting  has  not  gone  far  enough  to  prevent  the 
ingress  of  the  tide,  and  the  channel  has  been  kept  open  by 
the  alternate  inward  and  outward  flow.  Changes  in  the 
direction  of  deterioration  are  constantly  at  work,  and  the  river 
must,  through  natural  causes,  gradually  sink  into  a  creek 
unless  preserved  by  artificial  means. 

The  well-known  Gough  Island  may  lie  quoted  as  an  ex- 
ample of  what  is  going  on.  This  island,  which  is  only  a  short 
distance  below  Shanghai,  is  now  several  acres  in  extent 
and  well  above  the  highest  tide,  whereas  there  are  residents 
now  in  Shanghai  who  can  remember  when  it  was  a  bank, 
covered  even  at  dead  low  water. 

In  1878  the  Chairman  of  the  Municipal  Council  wrote  to 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  pointing  out  the  danger  with 
which  Shanghai  was  threatened  owing  to  the  narrowing  of 
the  river. 

The  width  between  Pootung  Point  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Soochow  Creek  (a  creek  which  divides  the  American  and 
English  settlements)  was  in  1875  only  1,250  feet  at  low  tide, 
whereas  in  1866  it  was  1,820  feet. 

At  the  present  time  the  width  is  under  1,000  feet.  The 
condition  of  the  mouth  of  the  Soochow  Creek  is  also  a  cause 
of  grave  anxiety.  The  entrance  is  gradually  silting  up  and 
there  is  now  a  channel  200  feet  wide  at  low  water,  of  which 
only  some  forty  feet  give  a  depth  of  eight  feet. 

Mr.  Bisbee,  the  Coast  Inspector  of  the  Imperial  Maritime 
Customs,  drew  up  a  short  report  on  the  river,  showing  very 
clearly  the  general  deterioration  which  was  taking  place  in 
the  Whangpoo  from  the  native  city  of  Shanghai  down  to  the 
Y'angtse.  This  report  was  published  by  order  of  the  Inspector 
General  of  Customs  (No.  111.  Miscellaneous  Series  No.  22 
for  1894,  "The  Woosung  Inner  Bar  and  Wlaangpoo  River"). 

In  considering  the  question  it  is  necessary  to  make  a  dis- 
tinction between  the  conditions  of  the  Woosung  bar  and  the 
state  of  the  river  generally,  for  it  is  in  consequence  of  the 
prominence  which  has  been  given  to  the  former  that  differ- 
ences of  opinion  have  arisen,  causing  a  certain  apathy  toward 
the  subject  on  the  part  of  the  general  Shanghai  community. 

It  is  natural  that  peajile  who  are  not  thnroughly  acquainted 
with  the  necessity  for  works,  probably  involving  an  expen- 
diture of  some  millions  of  taels,  should  shrink  from  incur- 
ring expenses  which  thev  hope  may  not  be  necessary;  when 
they  hear  it  stated  that  the  bar  is  no  worse  than  it.:Was 
twentv  vears  agd.  Being  under  the  impression  that  it  is  the 
condition  of  the  bar  alone  which  has  to  be  considered,  it  is 


84 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


excusable  that  they  should  show  an  inclination  to  oppose 
the  views  of  those  who  have  been  compelled  to  give  the  ques- 
tion special  consideration. 

The  bar  has  been  varied  from  year  to  year,  according  to 
the  strength  of  the  scour  caused  by  the  tides,  but  the  ten- 
dency on  the  whole  has  been  for  the  worse.  This  is  fairly 
generally  admitted. 

What  is  not  universally  known,  but  what  it  is  equally  true, 
is  that  the  whole  river  has  shoaled  and  narrowed,  and  where 
shoaling  and  narrowing  has  not  been  so  marked,  there  has 
been  a  development  of  "channel  splitting." 

PLxperts  who  have  studied  the  matter  and  have  been  a1)le 
to  compare  s(nindings  taken  at  intervals,  appear  to  be  agi'eed 
that  the  AMiangpoo  as  a  navigable  river  is  dwindling  away, 
in  the  manner  of  which  the  Soochow  Creek  is  a  plainly  visible 
example. 

This  creek  was  formerly  periodically  developed  by  the 
( Chinese  authorities,  a  process  which  has  caused  for  some  years 
along  one  section,  between  the  stone  bridge  at  Sinza  and  the 
entrance  from  the  Whangpoo.  The  result  is  that  the  mouth 
is  setting  up.  In  other  words,  the  creek  is  only  preserved  by 
artificial  means. 

There  are  those  who  say  that  the  present  agitation  on  the 
part  of  the  shipping  companies  is  due  to  the  increased  size  of 
the  vessels  which  visit  the  port. 

It  is  admitted  that  the  size  of  the  vessels  has  increased 
during  the  past  few  years,  but  if  Shanghai  is  to  maintain  its 
position,  and  still  more  its  progress,  as  a  shipping  centre,  it 
must  see  that  the  class  of  shipping  is  ke])t  up  to  date. 

Entrances  and  clearances  at  Shanghai  during  1898  amonnt- 
cd  to  (;.870  vessels  with  an  aggregated  tonnage  of  8,205,288 
tons,  while  the  tonnage  dues  collected  here  during  the  same 
period  come  to  Haikwan  taels  401,000. 

(Note. — A  Haikwan  tael  may  be  taken  as  the  equivalent 
of  3s.  or  75  cts.  gold.) 

iVhatever  may  have  been  the  draught  of  vessels  which  for- 
merly visited  the  port,  we  have  to  consider  that  many  of  the 
modern  vessels  which  now  arrive,  such  as  the  trans-Pacific 
boats,  and  some  of  those  ninning  to  Europe,  frequently  draw 
lietween  twenty-three  to  twenty-five  feet,  sometimes  even 
more,  and  no  one  will  deny  that  every  encouragement  should 
be  given  to  boats  of  this  class  of  trade  here. 

That  the  conservancy  of  the  river  is  a  matter  of  vital  im- 
portance and  deserving  of  the  fullest  support  is  clearly  shown 
by  the  repeated  efforts  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  many 
years  past  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  practical  issue.  Are  we 
to  allow  the  water  approaches  to  the  most  important  trade 
eenli'c  of  the  Far  East  to  become  closed  to  the  largo  ocean- 
going steamers  which  now  call  there,  or  will  it  pay  us  to  put 
our  hands  in  our  pockets  and  prevent  the  extinction  of  Shang- 
hai as  a  shipping  port? 

A  glance  at  the  trade  returns  and  a  very  casual  inspection 
of  the  settlements  and  the  industries  now  carried  on  will  leave 
no  doubt  as  to  the  answer  which  must  be  given. 

The  Commissioner  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  at 
Shanghai  in  his  usual  trade  re|)ort  for  1898  quotes  tlic  fullow- 
ing  statement  of  the  Coast  Inspector: 

"The  Whangpoo  continues  to  show  signs  of  deterioration. 
The  most  serious  feature  is  the  tendency  to  an  equalization 
of  the  channels  on  either  side  of  Gough  Island,  a  process 
which,  if  continued,  must  sooner  or  later  cause  a  grave  do- 
crease  in  depth." 

The  suggestions  which  have  been  made  from  time  to  time 
by  experts  for  improving  the  condition  of  the  river  are 
all  fairly  in  agreement,.  One  canal  should  be  maintained 
through  which  the  flow  and  ebb  can  run  freely.  'IMiis  was 
the  scheme  advocated  by  Captain  Arthur,  R.  N.,  as  long  ago 
as  1872,  when  instructed  by  the  British  Admiralty  to  report 
on  the  matter,  and  this  principle  has  been  unanimously  en- 


dorsed by  every  competent  expert  who  has  since  examined 
the  river. 

We  have  flowing  past  the  foreign  settlement  of  Shanghai 
a  fine  stretch  of  water,  but,  as  said  above,  only  a  small  per- 
centage of  the  water  is  actually  the  drainage  of  the  basin  of 
the  Whangpoo.  By  far  the  larger  part  of  the  current  is 
caused  by  the  flood  tide. 

Once  the  flood  tide  is  checked,  the  current,  in  and  out, 
shows  a  rapid  diminution  both  in  volume  and  speed,  with  a 
corresponding  shoaling  and  narrowing  of  the  channel. 

The  natural  tendency  of  the  tidal  river  whose  banks  are 
formed  of  a  soft,  alluvial  soil,  devoid  of  stone  or  rock,  and 
entirely  unprotected  by  artificial  work,  is,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  strong  ebb  and  flow,  to  become  more  sinuous  by 
erosion;  the  concave  curves  become  more  accentuated,  with 
a  corresponding  extension  of  the  opposite  bank,  thus  caus- 
ing a  decrease  in  the  strength  of  the  current. 

This  -(vinding  of  the  river  causes  the  flood  tide  to  run 
.strongest  on  one  side  and  the  ebb  tide  on  the  other. 

During  certain  states  of  the  tide,  cross  currents  are  set  up, 
and  this  irregularity  of  the  current  causes  the  formation  of 
shoals  in  the  centre  of  the  channel,  which  in  time  develop  into 
obstacles  to  navigation,  and  sometimes  into  islands  rising 
above  high-water  level.  This  division  of  the  currents,  which 
may  be  termed  "channel  splitting,"  is  one  of  the  first  and 
most  serious  consequences  of  the  Whangpoo  being  left  to  its 
own  devices. 

To  eft'ect  a  permanent  improvement,  not  only  would  shoals, 
such  as  the  outer  and  inner  bars,  have  to  be  partially  dredged, 
but  the  banks  would  have  to  be  protected  against  erosion. 
All  secondary  passages  should  be  closed. 

The  river  would  have  to  be  regarded  as  a  canal,  requiring 
uniform  depth  and  regularity  of  bank. 

Experts  believe  that  a  passage  from  the  sea  to  Woosung 
will  always  be  open,  either  by  the  northern  or  southern  pas- 
sage, for  vessels  drawing  twenty-six  feet,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  the  river  Whangpoo  should  not  be  made  navi- 
gable for  vessels  of  like  draught. 

Looking  at  the  volume  of  water  in  the  river,  spread  over  a 
wide  channel  which  might  ])e  constructed  by  judicious  en- 
gineering, and  knowing  what  has  lieen  done  in  the  way  of 
eonsei-vancy  works  in  other  parts  of  tlie  world,  there  can  be 
no  doubt  as  to  the  feasibility  of  what  is  proposed;  but  the 
longer  the  work  is  delayed,  the  greater  will  be  the  expense 
and  the  difficulty. 

The  river  right  u]i  to  the  foreign  settlement  can  be  made 
a  fair  way  for  the  larger  vessels  visiting  Woosung,  and  this 
must  be  done,  unless  Shanghai  is  to  lose  its  position  as  the 
greatest  trading  centre  in  China. 

No  doubt  the  work  should  properly  be  done  by  the  Chinese 
(iovernment,  whose  duty  it  is  to  preserve  such  an  important 
waterway;  but  the  financial  condition  of  the  government  and 
its  peculiar  methods  render  it  useless  to  hope  for  any  serious 
and  practical  action  on  their  part. 

How  absolutely  ignorant  the  Chinese  officials  are  as  re- 
gards the  necessity  for  scientific  con.servation  of  the  groat 
waterways  of  the  Empire,  is  shown  by  their  continual  neglect 
to  take  "ordinary  precautions  to  jjrevent  deterioration  being 
.4111  further  encouraged  by  the  acticm  of  the  inhabitants  on 
tlie  banks  of  these  rivers. 

So  far  as  the  Whangi>i')0  is  concerned,  this  chielly  talces  the 
form  of  blocking  waterways  by  the  cultivation  of  watcrnuts 
and  other  aquatic  "crops,"  with  (isbimi  screens  and  tlie  ac- 
cumulation of  rubbish  and  old  building  material  which  is 
thrown  into  the  cracks  at  (he  various  towns  and  villages. 
The  only  means  to  grajiple  with  this  problem  is  by  forming 
a  conservancy  board,  wliidi.  acting  under  skilled  engineering 
advice,  will  have  full  power  to  deal  with  all  these  abuses, 
not  only  in  Shanghai,  but  in  the  neighboring  waterways. 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


85 


This  work  will  Lave  to  be  undertaken  by  foreigners  inter- 
ested in  the  protection  and  progi-ess  of  the  port,  and  they 
should  insist  on  being  granted  certain  powers  to  this  end, 
although  such  powers  may,  to  some  extent,  trench  on  the 
sovereign  rights  of  the  Emperor. 

After  interminable  negotiations,  a  scheme  for  the  forma- 
tion of  a  conseiTancy  board  to  supervise  the  work,  and  with 
powers  to  raise  the  necessary  funds,  has  been  submitted  by 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  the  consular  body.  The  latter 
have  forwarded  this  proposal  to  the  foreign  representative 
in  Peking,  with  an  earnest  recommendation  in  its  favor. 
The  diplomatic  body  are  said  to  be  unanimously,  or  almost 
unanimously,  in  favor  of  the  plan,  but  they  realize  that  a 
scheme  of  such  importance  cannot  be  dealt  with  by  them- 
selves, and  have  therefore  decided  to  refer  the  matter  for  the 
consideration  of  their  respective  governments. 

It  is  under  such  circumstances  that  it  has  been  thought 
that  the  above  memorandum  might  l)e  useful. 

Hon.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

We  now  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  Mr.  A.  M. 
Townsend,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Hong 
Kong. 

Mr.  A.  M.  Townsend: 

In  speaking  this  innrning  on  behalf  of  the  Hong  Kong 
General  C'hamber  of  Commerce,  I  would  say  that  I  represent 
no  mean  city — though  sixty  years  ago  Hong  Kong  was  an 
unknown  and  barren  island,  to-day  it  is  not  only  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  cities  of  the  world,  but  commercially  one  of 
the  most  important. 

It  may  sui-jirise  some  here  to  hear  that  the  annual  tonnage 
entering  the  port  of  Hong  Kong  is  8,000,000  tons — wliich  I 
believe  is  next  to  London  and  Liverpool  as  a  shipping  centre. 
The  aiLQual  trade  of  Hong  Kong  is  valued  at  250,000,000 
gold  dollars,  and  the  place  is  alive  with  business  activity. 
Foreign  banks  are  established  there.  Among  its  factories, 
it  has  three  large  sugar  refineries,  glass  and  match  factories, 
cement  works,  ice  factories,  cotton  mills,  tramways  and  three 
large  docks,  and  the  importance  of  Hong  Kong  will  still 
further  be  increased  when  it  becomes  the  southern  terminus 
of  the  great  American  Railway  from  Hankow  to  its  adjacent 
colony  of  Kowloon.  But  at  this  time  Hong  Kong  must  have 
a  special  interest  to  this  country,  lying  as  it  docs  on  the 
highway  of  Manila,  and  being  so  closely  connected  with  the 
trade  of  the  Philippines.  In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  an 
interesting  question  as  to  what  the  wonderful  growth  of  Hong 
Kong  is  due;  and  the  answer  to  that  question  is  free  trade, 
open  ports  and  government;  and  in  urging  on  this  conference 
the  importance,  the  necessity  of  a  lil)eral  commercial  policy 
in  dealing  with  the  Philippines,  I  speak  with  no  uncertain 
voice. 

The  development,  the  prosperity  of  the  native  interests 
demand  this  no  less  than  your  own  trade. 

In  Hong  Kong,  we  have  long  witnessed  the  strangling 
effects  in  the  Philippines  of  selfish  and  restrictive  commer- 
cial legislation,  and  now  with  the  American  flag  we  look  for 
freedom,  progress  and  prosperity.  We  are  not  afraid  of  pros- 
perous neighbors;  we  like  them. 

I  think  it  must  be  obvious  to  anyone  who  studies  the  ques- 
tion that  many  acts  of  protective  legislation  that  may  be  ac- 
ceptable in  this  country  would  be  quite  unsuitable  to  the 
situation  in  the  Philippines.  Take,  for  instance,  the  Anti- 
Chinese  Immigration  Act,  which  it  is  proposed  to  apply  to  tlie 
Philippines. 

In  this  country  you  have  the  highest  foi-m  of  intelligent 
labor,  resenting  the  intrusion  of  inferior  labor;  whereas  there 
you  have  inferior  labor  awaiting  the  imi)ulse  of  superior 
talent. 


There  is  no  demand  for  any  such  law  from  the  natives,  and 
so  far  as  the  American  residents  are  concerned  the  Chinese 
would  not  come  into  competition  with  them,  but  would  be 
most  useful  allies.  The  Chinaman  is  a  born  trader  and  the 
Filipino  is  not,  and  it  is  to  the  Chinaman  that  you  have  to 
look  for  a  reliable  and  useful  middleman  in  developing  and 
expanding  your  trade  with  the  natives.  In  fact  I  do  not  see 
how  you  can  do  without  him,  not  only  as  a  trader  but  as  a 
go-between,  in  the  matter  of  carrying  out  public  works  and 
contracts. 

Although  it  is  premature  to  attempt  to  discuss  the  subject 
of  the  currency  in  Manila,  I  would  like  to  make  a  few  remarks 
on  that  subject.  The  banking  currency  and  the  money  of 
commerce  in  Manila  is  the  .silver  Mexican  dollar.  At  the 
present  time,  w^hat  business  there  is  there,  is  mostly  in  con- 
nection with  the  United  States  army,  who  naturally  do  their 
thinking  in  money  matters  in  United  States  gold  dollars,  but 
when  commerce  again  resumes  its  course,  then  the  Mexican 
dollar  will  still  be  the  natural  curreuey,  and  it  would  in  my 
opinion  be  introducing  an  unnecessary  cause  of  friction  with 
the  natives  to  try  to  make  any  radical  change  at  present.  The 
wheels  of  commerce  will  run  smoothly  on  the  accustomed 
silver  basis  for  some  time  to  come. 

Now  I  would  like  to  say  one  word  about  credit,  which  is 
the  soul  of  business.  I  sometimes  meet  with  men  so  shrewd, 
so  clever,  that  they  tell  me  "that  they  trust  no  one."  I  think 
this  shows  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  use,  the  value,  the  neces- 
sity of  credit,  and  there  is  no  stronger  evidence  wanted  of  the 
desire  to  push  American  trade,  and  to  make  use  in  an  intelli- 
gent way  of  all  the  aids  provided  than  is  offered  by  this  great 
exhibition  and  the  work  of  this  Congress,  and  it  is  even  neces- 
sary to  sound  a  note  of  warning  on  the  other  side  of  the 
question. 

I  believe  myself  that  America  is  destined  to  control  a 
large  and  increasing  share  of  the  trade  of  the  Orient,  and 
the  caution  I  would  venture  to  give  is,  that  in  dealing  with 
new  markets  it  is  not  necessary  to  deal  with  new  men;  the 
old  are  better.  There  are  plenty  of  old  established  houses 
in  the  China  trade  ready  and  able  not  only  to  undertake  but 
to  co-operate  with  in  introducing  all  kinds  of  new  business 
until  such  time  as  it  seems  to  you  advisable  to  establish  your 
own  houses  there,  and  by  dealing  with  them  you  will  be  saved 
from  many  disappointments  and  bad  debts. 

And  finally,  there  is  no  subject  that  I  can  call  to  the  atten- 
tion of  this  Congress  of  more  importance  than  that  of  the 
necessity  of  maintaining  in  their  integrity  all  the  privileges 
and  rights  now  existing  under  treaties  with  the  present  gov- 
ernment of  China.  These  treaties  provide  for  free  trade,  sub- 
ject to  modern  revenue  duties  with  all  the  ports  of  China 
open  to  foreign  trade,  and  with  a  huge  trade  looming  before 
you  it  surely  behooves  this  Congress  to  use  all  its  influence 
to  prevent  any  of  those  rights  being  in  any  way  infringed  or 
curtailed. 

(The  Chairman  then  introduced  Mr.  Everett  Frazar.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Of  our  good  friend,  Mr.  Townsend,  I  can  speak  from  a  very 
long  acquaintance  and  a  great  many  years  of  residence  in 
China  and  Japan.  He  is  a  very  modest  man  and  you  might 
not  understand  the  influence  that  has  been  exerted  by  the 
large  institution  over  which  he  presides  in  New  York  City, 
for  the  development  of  our  trade  with  the  Far  East.  Many 
of  you  may  not  know  this  gentleman.  I  will  say  he  is  an 
Englishman  and  well  known  in  New  York.  He  is  manager 
of  the  Hong  Kong  and  Shanghai  Banking  Corporation,  the 
largest  banking  institution  in  the  East. 

I  could  speak  of  the  good  which  that  bank  has  done  in  the 
development  and  building  up   of  our  trade  from   personal 


86 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


intercourse,  and  transaetious,  goiug  back  to  ISGO  in  Ciiina 
and  Japan.  Although  an  English  gentleman  by  birth,  we 
consider  that  he  is  about  two-thirds  American  by  this  time. 
Wo  have  no  American  banking  institution  in  the  East,  and 
although  perhaps  stepping  on  -the  toes  of  my  friend,  Mr. 
Town.«end,  we,  as  Americans,  really  hope  to  see  American 
banks  established  in  the  East  in  the  near, future,  following 
the  pacification  of  the  Philippine  troubles- land  for  the  still 
further  development  of  our  trade,  in  honest  competition  with 
our  older  friend,  the  Hong  Kong  and  Shanghai  Unnk. 

II un.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

I  can  certainly  corroborate  all  that  Mr.  Frazar  has  said,  if 
it  needs  corroboration.  It  never  occurred  to  mi' — Mr.  Town- 
send  in  so  well  kno\^^l  in  New  York — it  never  occurred  to  me 
that  he  needed  a  special  introduction  to  this  audience. 

Lieutenant-General  J.  Wimbiirn  Laurie  (Delegate  from  the 
London  Chamber  of  Commerce): 

The  Maintenance  of  the  Oi'ex  Dook  Poijoy  in 
China. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  never  undertook  to  read  a 
jiaper  on  the  maintenance  of  the  open  door  policy  in  China. 
I  was  asked  what  subject  I  was  especially  interested  in  before 
the  Congress,  and  I  said  I  was  particularly  interested  in  the 
matter  of  the  maintenance  of  the  open  door  policy  in  China. 
What  I  meant  was  as  to  whether  the  question  of  still  main- 
taining that  policy,  in  view  of  existing  circumstances,  was 
wise.  A  few  years  ago  I  shoidd  have  been  as  strong  an  advo- 
cate as  any  man  could  be  of  the  desirability  of  maintaining 
our  rights  in  China — the  rights  have  been  referred  to  by  the 
previous  speaker.^ — rights  conferred  upon  us  by  the  agree- 
ments entered  into  between  the  Chinese  Government,  whose 
able  representative  sits  on  the  platform  here,  whom  you  all 
listened  to  with  great  pleasure  the  other  day,  and  our  govern- 
ment. (Applause.)  The  agreements  were  entered  into  be- 
tween that  government  and  our  government,  or,  in  the  first 
place,  England  and  France  alone,  if  I  recollect  right,  but 
afterward  extended  to  all  other  nations.  Well,  sir,  the  policy 
of  Great  Britain,  at  any  rate,  has  always  been  "open  door,'" 
and  any  rights  she  obtained  in  trade  with  other  countries  were 
rights  to  be  granted  to  all  indist-riminately.  (Applause.) 
The  British  have  acted  I  hope  in  this  manner  toward  oui- 
cousins  in  the  United  States,  which  country  has  obtained  tlic 
same  rights  as  ourselves.    (Applause.) 

I  know  we  are  sometimes  accused  of  land  grabbing  and 
that  we  want  territory.  Well — why  not?  We  want  territory; 
when  we  can  obtain  the  trade  of  that  territory  by  no  other 
nieans  we  are  liable  to  strive  to  obtain  it  if  we  think  we  are 
shut  out  of  that  territory  or  that  there  is  a  chance  for  us  to 
be  cut  out  of  it.  To  that  extent  we  are  land  grabbers.  When 
that  state  of  things  arises  which  I  have  referred  to  between  the 
inhabitants  of  a  territory,  then  we  at  once  hoist  our  flag  and 
take  possession  in  the^  name  of  civilization.  But  at  a  time 
when  our  ancestors  were  running  about  with  not  many  clothes 
on,  using  .sea-weed  to  cover  up  the  deficienc'V,  (his  nation  had 
a  high  state  of  civilization,  as  much  so  as  it  has  to-day.  There- 
fore we  are  not  approaching  them  with  any  idea  of  .spreading 
the  advancement  of  civilization.  I  think  tbe  educated  gentle- 
men of  China  too,  will  compare  with  those  of  any  country, 
and  I  am  happy  to  say,  judging  from  the  magnificent  speci- 
men— the  Ambassador  to  the  United  States,  who  spoke  to 
us  the  other  day,  a  man  who  can  shame  us  in  the  use  of  our 
own  language,  (apjilause),  a  man  who  spoke  English  as  we 
cannot,  that  there  are  many  more  of  them.  To  think  of  it. 
a  man  from  a  foreign  land  whose  language  is  quite  di(TiM-ent 


from  ours,  and  yet  he  conies  here  and  sj.ieaks  to  us,  giving 
us  an  example  of  the  choicest  English,  and  showing  us  what 
can  be  done.  Om'  good  friend  the  other  day  said  this  Con- 
gress ought  to  attempt  to  establish  a  universal  commercial 
'language.  Well,  I  think  that  is  establisliing  itself.  If  any- 
body wants  to  trade  now  in  any  part  of  the  world,  he  will  find 
intelligent  IjUglish  and  Americans  there — 1  suppose  I  ought 
to  say  Americans  and  English  (laughter  and  applause),  and 
he  finds  that  he  had  better  know  English.  As  we  have  the 
two  allied  nations,  allied  in  blood,  allied  in  language,  allied 
in  ideas,  as  we  practically  have  the  very  largest  portion  of  the 
world  before  us,  1  think  that  we  have  practically  established 
a  universal  commercial  language  in  the  shape  of  English, 
and  those  who  wish  to  participate  in  the  trade  will  find  there 
is  a  necessity  for  acquiring  the  language  and  nsing  it.  So  far 
1  am  simply  following  the  suggestions  of  his  Excellency,  but, 
h&wever,  the 'point  I  come  back  to,  is  that  we  will  stand  solidly 
on  our  rights  under  those  treaties,  as  have  been  mentioned 
on  the  part  of  the  government  of  that  great  Empire,  com- 
piled, as  it  has  been,  to  look  around  to  see  whether  we  can- 
no-t  devise  some  other  policy  than  the  open  door  and  free- 
dom of  trade,  throughout  the  whole  Empire. 

In  the  first  place,  they  are  under  what  is  called  the  sphere 
of  influence  of  Russia,  where  commercial  enterprise  can  only 
take  a  share  with  the  sanction  of  the  Russian  Government. 
Are  we  to  take  a  step  forward  and  associate  ourselves  with  the 
new  policy  or  sphere  of  influence?  I  hope  to  be  able  to  ask 
this  question  of  those  directly  interested  in  the  Chinese  trade. 
They  are  much  more  competent  to  advise  us,  as  it  is  a  specu- 
lation, but  a  specidation  to  which  efl^ect  can  be  given  accord- 
ing to  the  desires  of  the  commercial  communities  of  the 
world.  Effect  must  be  given  so  that  commerce  may  be  bene- 
fited, and  so  the  question  comes  to  us,  shall  we  stand  on  out 
extreme  rights  nnder  the  treaty,  reference  to  which  has  been 
made,  or  shall  we  consider  that  in  certain  portions  of  the 
Chinese  Empire  those  treaties  are  practically  abrogated,  and 
are  we  then  to  adopt  this  plan,  originated  through  Russia? 
Are  we  to  have  a  British  sphere  of  influence,  a  French  and  a 
German  sphere  of  influence,  such  as  that  of  Russia?  It  is 
quite  certain  that  what  my  gallant  comrade  of  the  British 
Navy — Lord  Charles  Beresford — said  here  was  right,  China 
still  holds  to  the  bill  that  the  open  door  policy  is  the  right 
policy,  and  that  all  we  have  to  do  is  to  appeal.  I  am  perhaps 
afraid  that  we  have  forgotten  our  friends,  the  four  hundred 
million  Chinese.  Will  we  take  them  over  to  our  management, 
and  will  we  manage  the  various  functions  of  their  govern- 
ment? Will  not  the  four  hundred  millions  of  Chinese  have 
something  to  say  about  it?  It  is  not,  what,  if  we  do  this, 
would  our  friends  in  China  have  to  say  about  it.  Are  we 
coming  in  contact  with  the  Chinese  in  North  China,  and  are 
we  to  force  them  to  comply  with  their  treaties? 

We  can  take  the  usual  remedy  for  broken  treaties  by  going 
to  war.  That  will  not  ])enefit  commerce  immediately.  It  is 
very  doubtful  whether  it  will  benefit  it  in  the  long  run. 
Therefore,  I  would  like  to  put  myself  in  the  proper  position 
before  you  to-day  and  ask  what  the  view  of  the  American 
commercial  public  is  on  this  point?  Do  they  desire  us  to 
fight?  For  what,  I  frankly  say,  I  believe,  now  to  be  im- 
possilile — what  I  believe  two  years  ago  could  have  been 
established — the  "open  door"  policy  of  freedom  of  trade  for 
all  thrnughout  the  whole  Empire.  I  believe  and  I  recognize 
that  the  government  simply  wishes  to  give  what  is  desired  by 
A  majority  of  the  trading  nations.  When  one  nation  comes 
forward  and  says  we  want  this,  and  another  nation  says  we 
want  something  else,  and  they  will  not  make  any  effort  to 
get  it,  that  is  one  thing.  Wc  would  naturally  say  that  the 
nuist  energetic  nation  would  make  an  cIVort  to  get  it.  It  may 
be  desired  by  other  nations:  the  most  energetic  nations  maygot 
il.  while  tbe  other  nations  are  apathetic.     So  it  seems  to  me. 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


87 


and  so  I  fear  we  have  been  apathetic.  We  did  not  rise  to  the 
situation  at  the  time  as  we  should.  Wrong  as  we  English 
were,  I  am  afraid,  sir,  I  must  bring  the  same  charge  against 
the  American  nation.  The  commercial  man  sat  still  and 
wondered  what  we  were  going  to  do  al)out  it.  I  cannot  help 
thinking  that  had  we  come  out  solidly  at  that  time,  that  the 
Chinese  Government  would  have  said,  "Here  are  our  two 
principal  customers,  those  who  biiy  from  us,  and  those  who 
sell  to  us.  What  they  want  should  have  our  first  considera- 
tion." I  am  afraid  you  did  not  act  in  time  in  reference  to 
this  question.  What  we  want  to  do  now  is  to  redeem  the  time 
that  was  lost,  t^an  we  put  ourselves  in  a  position  such  as  we 
occupied  with  affairs  as  they  are  now?  You  must  not  lie  back 
and  let  the  people  of  the  United  States  say,  some  get  the  ad- 
vantage over  us  with  the  Chinese  Government.  You  must 
go  in  with  us  and  determine  to  place  before  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment what  you  desire,  and  what  you  claim  under  your 
treaty  rights.  It  will  not  do  for  one  nation  to  undertake  to 
be  champion  for  the  whole  world.  You  were  ever  mindful 
about  your  home  market,  we  say  nothing  about  the  mainten- 
ance of  your  home  market,  that  is  your  question.  It  is  said 
with  regard  to  your  home  market,  you  have  placed  yourselves 
in  the  same  position  as  we  have  in  your  late  Congress.  You 
have  offered  to  make  a  new  departure.  I  hope  it  is  a  riew 
departure  in  the  commercial  policy  of  the  American  nation. 
Then  the  American  and  British  nations  can  get  together 
under  one  flag,  and  wherever  that  flag  flics  the  influence  of 
either  nation  shall  lie  felt.  That  will  do  something.  We  do 
not  claim  for  these  territories  extras  of  trade  for  the  English 
and  the  United  States  citizen.  We  will  continue  to  do  as  we 
have  done  in  the  past  and  claim  an  open  door  to  all  nations 
of  the  world,  and  take  the  same  privileges  that  a  brother  com- 
petitor might  claim  for  himself. 

Now  that  is  my  idea  of  an  open  door,  and  I  lielieve  in  the 
open  door  question.  It  may  he  we  have  lost  trade  in  a  cer- 
tain portion  of  that  great  Empire.  It  may  be  that  that  can 
never  be  regained  and  restored  to  us,  without  taking  our 
army  and  navy  into  service.  You  have  shown  that  you  are 
quite  able  to  manage  that  part  of  the  busines  for  yourselves, 
and  I  do  hope,  as  was  said  by  Lord  Charles  Beresford,  I  do 
hope  sincerely  that  we  shall  at  least  assert  our  rights  to 
trade — British  and  American — throughout  the  whole  world, 
until  not  only  what  remains  of  the  great  Empire  is  open  to 
us,  but  until  all  parts  of  the  world  are  open.  I  do  not  wish 
to  place  my  views  in  opposition  to  your  views  as  to  whether 
we  can  first  carry  the  open  door  policy,  and  secondly  carry 
it  in  any  shape;  if  so,  we  must  work  together  to  do  it. 

I  will  say  this,  that  inviting  expressions  of  opinions  and 
discussions  on  subjects  like  this  will  be  of  inestimable  value, 
for  it  will  attract  the  attention  of  leading  commercial  men, 
and  enable  them  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  the  politicians 
who,  after  all,  are  simply  those  who  execute  the  policy  of 
the  nation,  and  the  great  commercial  policy  of  the  nation 
must  be  guided  by  commercial  men.  Then  the  interest  of 
the  country  will  be  sen'cd — they  will  adequately  and  posi- 
tively be  protected  and  they  can  only  be  so  protected  when 
we  have  that  expression  from  those  most  interested  and 
those  able  to  direct.  Allow  me  to  apologize  for  having  taken 
up  so  much  of  yowT  time  (applause). 

Hon.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

I  am  sure,  gentlemen,  that  you  will  all  coincide  with  me 
that  we  have  certainly  heard  an  exceedingly  intere.«.ting 
address.  It  is  well  to  hear  both  sides  of  the  question  and 
discuss  the  matter,  if  discussion  is  required.  The  next 
paper  will  be  read  by  Dr.  Gustavo  Niederlein,  Commissioner 
to  China,  from  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museiim. 


Dr.  Gustavo  Niederlein  (Chief   of   tlie  Scientific  Department 

of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum): 

1  have  here  before  me  a  mass  of  information  systemati- 
cally arranged,  which  I  collected  in  China  during  a  stay  of 
fifteen  months.  I  also  have  here  a  number  of  sj>ecial  papers, 
all  of  which  would  be  of  great  interest  to  you  to  hear,  such  as 
on  the  foreign  trade  of  China,  a  full  account  on  the  financial 
conditions  of  China,  including  taxation,  revenue  and  expen- 
diture, loans,  currency,  foreign  and  native  banking,  as  well  as 
a  monograph  on  Chinese  trade  and  Inisiness  methods,  with  a 
full  account  on  the  native  and  foreign  merchant  and  their 
business  organizations. 

I  have  here  in  my  hand  an  historical  sketch  of  CMnese 
civilization,  which  also  is  too  long  to  be  read  before  you.  I 
invite  therefore  those  interested  in  Chinese  matters  to  look 
these  papers  over  with  me  at  some  other  time. 

This  sketch  of  Chinese  civilization  demonstrates,  on  au- 
thentic ground,  its  self-development,  due  largely  without 
doubt  to  China's  separation  by  sea,  high  mountains,  deserts 
and  long  distances  from  other  civilized  nations,  and  to  her 
varied  cofifiguration,  climate,  soil,  flora,  fauna,  mineral 
wealth,  agriculture,  industry  and  e.vtensive  inland  naviga- 
tion, which  had  made  her  independent  of  the  supplies  from 
foreign  countries. 

I  present  in  this  sketch  a  people  nearly  unchanged,  like 
its  flora  and  fauna  through  ages,  and  in  their  way,  cultured 
for  milleniums,  which  have  survived  Chaldea,  Assyria, 
Media,  Babylonia,  Persia,  Judea,  Egypt,  Greece,  Rome,  etc.; 
her  most  famous  contemporaneous  nations  and  cultures  of 
antiquity  we  know  of,  without  having  been  much  indebted 
to  them  for  contributions  to  her  civilization. 

In  fact,  we  know  only  from  a  legend,  although  Chinese 
historians  make  it  appear  as  history,  that  in  time  of  Iluangti 
(about  2()50  B.  C),  ambassadors  from  Kuen-luen,  the  so- 
called  roof  of  the  earth,  came  and  brought  science  and  art. 
We  judge  from  certain  similarities  that  Chinese  civilization, 
especially  its  astronomy  and  astrology,  might  have  been 
influenced  by  Assyrians  and  Babylonians. 

I  demonstrate  also  that  China  had  for  ages  her  elective 
and  for  about  four  millenniums  her  hereditary  government,  as 
it  had  had  her  feudal  and  imperial  sway,  her  native  and 
foreign  dynasties,  her  male  and  female  rulers  and  also  twice, 
within  the  last  3,000  years,  her  socialistic  trials. 

I  further  demonstrate  that  China  several  times,  in  different 
epochs,  had  command  over  many  nations  in  Asia,  far  beyond 
her  actual  limits;  that  on  the  other  hand  she  has  also  fallen 
in  several  periods  under  the  yoke  of  conquerors,  but  that 
also  she  has  been  able  to  assimilate  the  foreigners,  such  as 
Huns,  Mongols  and  Tartars,  in  her  civilization,  as  she  had 
been  equally  capable  of  giving  hospitality  in  her  own  phi- 
losophy to  a  great  variety  of  religions. 

I  furthermore  illustrate  that  in  various  periods  her  trading 
ships  went  to  India  and  Ceylon,  and  sometimes  as  far  as 
the  Euphrates,  while  at  other  epoclis,  all  kinds  of  foreign 
traders  came  to  her  ports  and  marts. 

I  could  date  back  to  remote  antiquity  her  astronomy  and 
writing  characters,  her  agriculture,  silk  culture,  mining  and 
iron  industry,  copper  coinage,  bronze  castings,  etc. 

I  could  also  trace  far  back  the  construction  of  canals, 
bridges,  roads,  as  well  as  many  government  organizations, 
l)esides  certain  laws,  taxes,  government  monopolies  and  the 
highly  important  institution  of  literary  examinations  for 
the  selection  of  government  officials. 

I  further  found  that  over  3,000  years  ago  there  had  already 
been  schools  and  the  Kuotz'chien  University  established; 
that  for  over  2,000  years  the  Chinese  almanac,  and  for  over 
1,000  years  the  6,ad.\y  official  paper,  had  regularly  been  pub- 
lished. 

I  ultimately  noticed  that  over  1,800  years  ago,  the  Chinese 


88 


PROCEEDI^'GS  OF  THE  INTERN^ATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


paper,  niifl  i^ince  more  than  1,000  j'ears  ago,  the  printing, 
the  gUMjiouder,  the  mariners  compass,  the  porcelain,  etc., 
had  i.icen  invented,  as  well  as  the  paper  currency  which  then 
for  centuries  had  come  into  nse. 

At  last  I  understood  that  China  had  been  a  world  and  a 
civilization  by  herself,  solidly  based  on  the  principle  of  filial 
piety,  inchiding  ancestor  worship,  and  for  milleniums  snc- 
cessfully  upheld  by  the  ethics  of  Confucius  and  through  the 
system  of  literary  examinations,  as  weU  as  by  the  almanac, 
which  for  about  2,000  years  has  regulated  the  public  obser\'- 
ance,  and  by  the  mentioned  daily  record,  published  on  gov- 
ernment affairs,  for  not  less  than  1,000  years,  which  has  had 
the  necessary  moralizing  effect  on  the  ruling  class. 

Going  more  in  detail,  I  observed  that  for  ages,  it  had  been 
the  custom  to  give  local  autonomy  and  to  leave  to  the  gen- 
eral government  the  care  for  national  defence,  internal  peace 
and  order,  as  well  as  justice  and  a  kind  of  legislation,  pub- 
lic examination  and  appointment  of  government  officials, 
public  works,  including  roads,  canals  and  river  works,  taxa- 
tion and  finances,  coinage  and  currency,  public  ceremonies, 
etc. 

I  may  now  add  that  the  Emperor  at  the  head  of  this  mild, 
despotic,  patriarchial  government,  had  usually  been  assisted 
by  a  ministry  of  the  Imperial  house,  and  six  ministers,  cov- 
ering civil  matters,  finances,  culture,  justice,  war  and  puli- 
lic  work,  besides  by  a  board  of  censors,  in  charge  of  severe 
criticism  of  all  government  acts,  and  since  18(il  also  by  the 
Tsungli-yamen,  or  ministry  of  foreign  affairs,  further  by  re- 
sponsible viceroys,  and  governors  in  the  provinces  of  China 
proper,  and  by  princes  and  governors  in  Manchuria,  Mon- 
golia, Thibet  and  other  dependent  states,  which  on  their  part 
were  assisted  by  commissioners  of  finance,  commissioners  of 
justice,  directors  and  collectors  of  the  salt  gabel,  commis- 
sioners of  grain,  intendants  of  circuit,  several  classes  of 
prefects,  and  sub-prefects  and  district  magistrates. 

I  further  may  add,  that  the  connection  of  the  provinces 
with  the  central  government  has  always  been  relatively 
loose,  consisting  mostly  in  regular  remittances  of  taxes,  a 
certain  prefixed  sum  of  money,  so  that  the  provincial  au- 
thorities had  always  to  be  considered  as  the  real  rulers. 

Chinese  legislation  had  always  been  done  only  by  the  Em- 
peror, on  suggestion  of  his  ministers,  without  a  proper  legis- 
lative council;  and  then  usually  in  a  moi-e  general  way.  I 
found  no  precise  and  proper  laws  which  would  fit  and  legal- 
ize the  taxes  or  would  regulate  the  functions  and  attributes 
of  each  office  and  government  official,  or  would  represent  a 
real  national  legal  code;  nevertheless,  the  existence  of  volum- 
inous books,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  Ta  King  liu  li,  or 
Book  on  Chinese  laws,  in  436  volumes. 

I  noticed  Chinese  finances  based  on  land  tax,  monopolies, 
customs  dues,  sale  of  rank  and  position,  some  times  on  capi- 
tal and  poll  tax,  but  lately,  I  have  to  add,  they  are  based  on 
all  kinds  of  taxes,  at  the  choice  of  mandarins,  to  the  detri- 
ment of  commerce,  agriculture,  industry  and  the  people  in 
general. 

Chinese  ti'udo  esju'cially  had  at  all  times  sulTered,  causing 
various  peculiar  usages  in  commercial  intercourse,  as  wefl 
as  VC17  high  money  intere.'^t,  counterbalanced  somewhat  by 
guilds  established  to  protect  their  members  from  excesses. 
Chinese  industry  I  could  not  find  better  off.  ,\s  (here  never 
was  estalilished  a  proper  commercial  code,  so  thor(>  never 
existed,  until  very  recently,  laws  of  patent  and  of  protec- 
tion of  trade  marks,  and  the  encouragement  and  I'eward.s  of 
which  Abu  Zaid  spoke,  a  thousand  years  ago,  they  have  long 
since  gone  out  of  usage.  Industry,  however,  still  subsists, 
I  may  add,  in  good  condition,  through  vigorous  apprentice- 
ship, kept  through  ages,  and  like  commerce.  Hi  rough  the  pro- 
tection by  guilds  or  trade  associations. 


In  regard  to  weights  and  measures,  so  essential  in  com- 
merce and  industry,  they  all  show  the  influence  of  local 
gdvernments  for  millenniums,  being  most  varied  throughout 
the  country. 

The  influence  of  ages  and  the  varied  political  faith  of  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Empire  in  the  course  of  time,  is  also  visi- 
l)le  in  the  copper  coins,  of  which  over  S(JO  different  kinds 
have  been  collected,  and  in  the  immense  variety  of  silver 
weights. 

Signs  of  time  passed  by,  are  further  seen,  in  nearly  every 
road,  bridge,  canal,  public  edifice,  as  well  as  in  nearly  every 
village,  town,  city,  pagoda  and  temple  of  the  Empire,  mclud- 
ing  the  capital,  Peking. 

Signs  of  decay  are  ob.served,  not  only  in  nearly  all  the 
functions  of  the  government,  but  also  in  public  conscience 
and  in  the  character  and  morals  of  the  people,  as  well  as 
in  the  economic  condition  of  the  nation. 

A  better  aspect  has  agriculture,  which  millenniums  ago 
reached  a  high  development,  although  there  are  many  im- 
jirovements,  possible  through  scientific  methods,  wanted 
everywhere  in  connection  with  proper  exploitation  of  natural 
resources. 

Science,  in  our  sense,  never  existed  among  the  Chinese, 
although  they  did  know  for  ages  the  circulation  of  the  blood, 
and  that  the  earth  was  round  and  suspended  in  space. 

Chinese  education  has  been  for  millenniums  without  peda- 
gogy, reduced  to  retain  in  memory  a  numljer  of  classical 
books,  and  the  Chinese  scarcely  ever 'paid  attention  to  the  out- 
side world. 

China  arrived,  however,  more  than  all  modern  countries, 
at  the  truly  normal  state  of  a  social  equilibrium.  There 
are  large  regions,  with  dense  population,  where  everything, 
under  their  own  .standard  of  right  and  wrong,  goes  smooth 
and  in  perfect  order,  without  the  aid  of  a  single  policeman, 
life  and  pi-operty  being  perfectly  safe.  Each  village  governs 
itself  without  let  or  interference.  Every  man's  house  is  his 
castle,  which  no  inferior  officer  can  legally  enter  without  a 
special  warrant  from  the  provincial  governor. 

So  we  see  hundreds  of  millions  of  farming  people  peaceful 
and  law-aliiding,  cultivating  their  little  fields;  tens  of  mil- 
lions of  wheelbarrow  men,  cart,  mule,  donkey,  horse,  and 
camel  drivers,  and  freight  carriers  on  back  or  "pole,  crossing 
happy  and  satisfied  on  bad  and  narrow  roads,  on  plains  and 
mountains,  all  over  the  country;  tens  of  millions  of  boatmen 
and  fishermen  peaceably  navigating  the  thousands  of  creeks, 
little  streams,  rivers,  canals,  lakes,  seas  ;and  tens  of  millions 
of  laborers  and  artisans  worldng  quietly  in  tens  of  thousands 
of  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  as  well  as  tens  of  millions  of 
merchants  following  their  trade,  and  other  tens  of  millions  of 
lillerali,  the  aristocrats  of  the  countiy,  teaching  or  study- 
ing, if  not  adnunistering  as  mandarins  this  vast  country. 

If  we  now  consider  that  when  modern  civilization  first 
approached  China,  by  the  then  discovered  waterway  around 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  it  was  represented  by  traders  and 
seamen,  which  were  little  better  than  pirates,  and  which  were 
unable  to  prove  its  superiority  or  to  inspire  respect  for  west- 
ern civilization. 

When  we  further  consider,  that  all  following  traders  for 
centuries,  were  culpable  of  frequent  provocations  and  unfair 
acts,  as  well  as  pronounced  fendeiu'y  for  acirte  selfishness  in 
their  dealings;  when  we  furthermore  consider,  that  all  em- 
bassies of  foreign  countries  bad  nothing  but  mercantile  gain 
in  view,  I  think,  we  shoulil  11. t  lihnne  China  for  having  been 
cautious  in  dealing  with  this  rivilization  and  to  have  re- 
stricted as  much  as  possible  all  intercourse  with  foreigners. 
When  \vc  consider,  also,  that  the  highly  unjust  opium  war 
and  all  f  illowiiig  wars  could  only  augment  the  contempt 
for  foreign  civiliziition,  how  can  we  expect  that  the  Chinese 
should  learn  to  sympathize  with  western  civilization,  although 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


B9 


they  had  frecjueiit  opportimily  to  recognize  western  super- 
iority in  warfare  and  mechanic-al  art. 

Not  one  of  those  nations  which  under  the  tlag  of  civiliza- 
tion and  Christendom,  pressed  China,  showed  an  interest  in 
aiding  her  to  cheek  or  to  smooth  over  the  tremendous  conse- 
quences, which  an  unrestricted  opening  to  free  intercourse 
would  have  brought  about,  the  economic  conditions  of  un- 
counted millions,  which  so  far  have  lived  for  thousands  of 
years  in  peace  and  enviable  social  order  and  harmony,  under 
an  entirely  different  basis  of  civilization. 

Not  one  of  those  nations,  with  the  utmost  desire  to 
establish  steamship  lines  and  railroads,  to  introduce  time 
and  labor-saving  machinery,  or  anxious  and  continually 
pressing  and  insisting  to  fill  up  the  country  as  much  as 
possible,  with  its  own  manufactured  goods  and  products  or  to 
employ  its  capital  in  new  industries,  has  cared  for  the  future 
of  those  tens  of  millions  of  simple-minded  men.  occupied  in 
navigation,  or  of  those  tens  of  millions  occupied  in  trans- 
portation overland,  or  of  those  ten  of  millions  occupied  in 
labor  and  domestic  industry;  nor  have  those  nations,  anxious 
to  fit  up  China  as  a  shield  and  aid  against  their  own  sphere 
of  interests,  ever  thought  to  aid  China  in  raising  the  enor- 
mous funds  necessary  to  organize  an  army  and  navy  and  a 
coast  defence  which  would  coiTespond  to  her  area  and  popu- 
lation; nor  have  those  nations  anxious  to  have  China  civil- 
ized in  their  way,  demonstrated  the  possibility  of  having  in 
eontinuaney  all  the  necessary  funds  to  reorganize  the  gov- 
ernment, the  finance,  public  instruction,  means  of  commu- 
nication, etc.,  so  as  to  be  able  to  pay  a  sufficient  salary  to 
each  mandarin  and  a  pension  to  those  who  retire,  to  main- 
tain tens  of  thousands  of  primary  schools,  together  with  pro- 
fessional, technical  and  higher  schools,  to  extend,  broaden 
and  conserve  the  canals  and  rivers,  to  improve  the  tea  and 
silk  production,  agriculture,  live  stock,  forestry,  mining,  etc. 

Shall  we  wonder  that  under  such  circumstances  China  hesi- 
tated to  open  her  country  to  western  civilization  or  to  intro- 
duce it,  up.setting  her  entire  economic  and  social  equilibrium 
so  well  settled  by  ancient  customs? 

Only  force  could  compel  her  to  give  all  the  concessions  to 
foreign  commerce  of  which  we  are  so  proud. 

It  is  strange  to  say,  but  it  is  a  fact,  that  China  with  all 
her  European  intercourse  had  not  realized  the  superiority  of 
modern  civilization  until  five  years  ago,  when  she  ceased  to 
Ije  respected  by  western  nations,  and  when  Japan,  Russia, 
France,  Germany  and  (Ireat  Britain  took  the  advantage,  in 
which  they  were  only  cheeked  by  their  jealotisies  and  con- 
flicting interests,  in  view  of  the  immense  chances  opened  for 
commerce  and  all  kind  of  enterprise,  so  that  the  United  States, 
Belgium  and  Italy  were  permitted  to  obtain  for  their  citizens 
huge  railroad  and  mining  concessions. 

Russia,  with  its  railroad  concessions,  Port  Arthur  and  Port 
Taliwan,  was  soon  considered  as  holding  Manchuria  and  the 
Liaotung  peninsula  as  her  sphere  of  interest. 

In  leasing  Kiaochow  bay  for  99  years  and  in  obtaining  rail- 
road and  mining  concessions  in  Sliantung,  the  entire  province 
of  Shantung  was  looked  upon  as  Germany's  sphere  of  influ- 
ence, despite  the  occupation  of  Wei-IIai-Wei  by  Great  Britain 
in  the  same  province. 

Great  Britain,  having  protested  against  any  alienation  of 
the  Yangtse  Valley,  got  the  reputation  of  having  claimed 
this  most  beautiful  and  rich  territory  with  over  150,000,000 
]>opulation,  as  her  sphere  of  interest. 

On  the  same  ground  of  protesting  against  further  aliena- 
tion, the  province  of  Fokien  became  in  the  eyes  of  politicians 
a  Japanese  sphere  of  interest,  while  the  southern  provinces 
of  Kwangtung,  Kwangsi,  Yunnan  and  Kucichow  became 
French  ones. 

These  facts  are,  in  short,  the  consequences  of  the  last 
struggle  of  China  in  keeping  up  her  old  civilization  in  its  en- 


tirety, as  well  as  her  old  prestige  and  her  old  influemce  in 
Korea. 

As  we  already  stated,  war  and  indemnity  payments  and 
those  ccmsequences  just  related,  convinced  China,  although 
slowly  but  lirmly,  of  her  weakness. 

After  about  four  years  of  grief  and  contemplation.  Emperor 
Kwangsu  conceived  a  system  of  reorganization,  and  in  the 
course  of  three  montlis  he  ordered,  among  other  reforms,  the 
general  right  to  memorialize  the  throne  direct  by  closed 
memorials,  the  encouragement  of  journalists  to  write  on  poht- 
ical  subjects  for  the  enlightenment  of  the  authorities,  and  the 
establishment  of  newspapers;  approval  of  the  western  system 
of  budgets;  abolishment  of  useless  boards;  establishment  of 
commercial  bureaus  for  the  encouragement  of  trade;  intro- 
duction of  patent  and  copyright  laws;  construction  of  the 
Lu  Han  Railway;  bureau  of  railways  and  mines;  abolishment 
of  the  imperial  courier  post  in  favor  of  the  imperial  customs 
post;  refonn  of  military  examinations;  establishment  of  naval 
academies  and  training  ships;  report  on  adoption  of  western 
arms  and  drill  for  all  Manchu  troops;  reform  of  literary  ex- 
aminations; establishment  of  school  boards;  establishment  of 
scliools  in  connection  with  legations  for  Chinese  in  foreign 
lands;  schools  for  instruction  in  tea  and  silk;  establishment 
of  agricultural  schools;  establishment  of  the  university  in 
Peking,  and  encouragement  of  art,  science  and  modem  agri- 
culture. 

These  reforms  were  almost  entirely  annulled  after  the  coup 
d'etat  and  the  Empress  Dowager  began  a  reactionary  policy. 

However,  progress  or  the  gradual  adoption  of  modem  civil- 
ization cannot  now  Ije  stopped,  although  it  might  be  the  de- 
sire of  many. 

The  former  feeling  of  indift'erence  has  passed  away.  The 
literary  class  shares  the  desire  of  reorganization,  and  also  in 
the  minds  of  the  merchant  class,  the  desire  of  reform  has 
grown  stronger.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  majority  of  the 
people  are  ready  and  willing  to  assist  in  the  reorganization  and 
in  the  development  of  the  nation's  resources  in  ojjening  mines, 
in  im])roving  industry,  in  extending  steam  navigation,  in  con- 
structing railroads,  etc. 

Ordinary  statesmanship  adopting  the  improvements  of 
modem  civilization  without  offending  the  customs  and  pre- 
judices of  the  people,  wiU  not  only  have  free  hand,  but  the 
sympathy  and  assistance  of  millions.  Also  the  ignorant  mass 
of  the  people,  seeing  prosperity,  and  especially  a  rise  of  wages, 
will  soon  join  in  the  movement. 

America  has  the  greatest  chance  in  China.  The  United 
States  have  in  China,  among  all  nations,  the  most  honorable 
record.  They  have  never  been  aggressive,  never  demanded 
more  than  what  was  just  and  right,  and  never  mingled  in  the 
attempted  dismemberment  of  China.  They  have  also  never 
asked  for  compensation  for  services  rendered,  which  in  many 
cases  have  been  of  the  utmost  importance. 

The  United  States  of  America,  just  as  well  as  Great 
Britain,  would  find  among  the  consular  and  diplomatic  body, 
custom  house  officials,  professors,  missionaries,  merchants, 
etc.,  a  very  large  number  of  able  men,  well  acquainted  with 
the  peculiarities  of  China  and  apt  to  assist  statesmen,  not 
counting  a  very  large  number  of  Chinese,  who  have  been  edu- 
cated in  the  high  schools  of  the  United  States  or  in  Europe, 
and  not  taking  into  consideration  a  large  number  of  all  kinds 
of  foreigners,  resident  in  China,  who  equally  could  be  utilized. 

The  trouble  in  instalUng  modern  methods  in  this  ancient 
I']nipire  will  be  recompensed  a  thousand-fold  by  the  benefits 
which  capital,  all  kinds  of  manufacturers,  merchants,  edu- 
cators, etc.,  would  reap. 

Speaking  here  more  to  the  Chinese  than  to  this  audience, 
I  would  like  to  advocate  a  program  stating  that  our  western 
statesmen  could  follow  Emperor  Kwangsu's  reforms,  begin- 
ning with  a  budget,  dividing  it  into  a  national  one  and  into 


90 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


proviiRMiil  lines,  providing  suHicient  salary  i'or  eacli  olHt-ial, 
regulating  alsu  promotions  and  paying  pensions  for  some  time 
to  retiring  olHcials.  In  connection  with  this  would  come  the 
proper  regulation  of  service  in  each  government  department; 
further,  that  of  the  taxation  of  revenue,  land  taxes,  salt 
monopoly,  customs  duties  and  other  kinds  of  taxes,  based  on 
laws,  which  would  be  published;  besides  it  would  promote  the 
codiiication  of  existing  laws,  or  the  making  of  new  commer- 
cial, civil  and  penal  codes,  under  the  direction  of  a  national 
and  provincial  legislative  council;  it  would  further  have  to 
organize  municipal  laws  and  regulations;  followed  by  regu- 
lations of  property,  the  establishment  of  modem  mortgage 
laws,  mining  and  other  laws.  Also  a  general  census  would 
have  to  be  made  and  statistical  bureaus  installed. 

It  would  further  have  to  decree  a  uniform  metal  and  paper 
currency  in  connection  with  a  national  bank,  as  well  as  uni- 
form weights  and  measures  throughout  the  country;  it  would 
have  to  establish  patent  and  copyright  laws  and  give  pro- 
lection  to  trade  marks;  it  would  have  to  extend  the  postal 
and  telegraph  seiTice,  to  regulate  the  improvement  and  ex- 
tension of  roads  and  bridges  and  building  of  new  ones  to  at- 
tend the  regulation  and  cleaning  of  the  waterways,  to  extend 
steamship  navigation  and  give  concessions  for  new  railroads, 
to  order  a  geological  survey  in  certain  regions,  to  open  the 
mineral  resources,  especially  coal  and  iron  mines,  to  establish 
lioards  of  trade  and  chambers  of  commerce,  to  open  primary 
schools  all  over  the  country  under  a  proper  and  uniform  sys- 
tem of  education,  selecting  proper  books,  followed  by  agri- 
cultural, industrial,  professional  and  higlier  schools,  adopting 
in  connection  with  it  a  new  method  of  selecting  officials;  it 
would  further  have  to  improve  properly  the  tea  and  silk  cul- 
ture and  agriculture  and  live  stock  in  general,  giving,  perhaps, 
special  rewards  in  regard  to  the  latter  and  establishing  proper 
schools  for  the  former.  Besides  it  would  have  to  give  special 
inducements  for  establishing  newspapers  and  periodicals 
tiiroughout  the  country,  to  instruct  the  people  and  to  awake 
tlie  sentiment  of  honor,  patriotism  and  good  sense  and  reform 
tlieir  moral  stanadard. 

This  task  will  not  Ije  too  heavy.  There  will  be  sufficient 
men,  capable  to  take  hold  of  the  different  departments  of 
such  government .  organization  and  to  act  upon  the  willing 
mass  of  humanity,  organizing  it,  stimulating  and  utilizing  it 
for  the  welfare  of  themselves  and  for  the  welfare  of  all  nations. 

The  realization  of  such  a  problem,  I  repeat,  will  be  not  at 
all  impossible,  but,  as  I  said,  an  inexhaustible  treasure  of 
wealth  and  prosperity,  which  no  other  policy  on  earth  could 
supplant. 

But  putting  entirely  aside  this  program,  although  worth 
the  sweat  of  great  nations,  there  still  remain  all  the  o]i]ior- 
tunities  in  connection  with  the  reforms,  which  peremptorily 
h'ave  to  come. 

-..The  army  and  navy  have  to  ho  organized,  arms  and  weap- 
(  ns.  vessels  of  all  kinds,  and  all  other  i'e(|uirements  for  the 
national  defence  have  to  be  ae(iuired,  more  forts  and  fortified 
harbors  to  be  built,  uniforms  to  be  made,  telegraphs,  tele- 
phones, railways,  tramways,  electric  cars,  bridges,  roads,  etc., 
to  be  constructed.  Merchant  steamers,  launches  and  all  other 
kinds  of  vessels  for  inhuul  navigation  have  to  be  bought, 
canals  and  waterways  to  be  im])roved,  mines  of  all  kinds  to 
be  opened,  carts  and  other  means  of  transportation  to  be  made 
or  im])orted,  agriculture  to  be  improved,  labor  and  time-saving 
machinery  put  in  o])eration,  the  raw  products  somewhat  trans- 
formed in  order  to  pay  the  transportation,  wood  and  all  kinds 
of  building  material  to  be  imported,  the  ten  thousand  of 
-chools  to  bo  furnished,  modern  mills  and  modern  industries 
to  be  introduced,  gas  and  electric  light  and  power  plants,  as 
well  as  steam  power  set  up,  water  works  to  be  erected  and 
thousands  of  other  things  to  be  imported  or  to  be  made. 
Besides,  there  will  he  increased  exports  of  silk,  tea,  tobacco, 


china  grass,  straw  braid,  hides,  skins,  furs,  leathers  and  other 
supplies. 

These  opportunities  (everybody  will  admit  it)  will  have  to 
be  properly  watched  and  properly  attended.  We  will  have 
to  follow  closely  each  step  forward  in  the  reforms,  always 
present  at  the  right  time  with  proper  offers  and  proposals. 
We  have,  so  to  say,  to  follow  China's  struggle  for  civilization 
and  always  be  ready  to  help. 

For  that  purpose  I  think  we  should  establish  an  interna- 
tional institute  of  trade  in  China,  with  the  proper  economical, 
technical  and  scientific  bureau  of  information,  a  permanent 
exlfibition  of  all  kiiuls  of  goods  and  products,  machinery, 
means  of  transportation  and  communication,  of  exploitation 
of  mines  and  natural  resources  of  all  kinds,  articles  for  the 
army,  etc.  In  connection  with  that,  there  should  be  published 
a  special  newspaper  in  English  and  Chinese,  also  a  great  bank 
\\ill  be  necessai^y,  which  will  have,  besides  other  functions, 
the  character  of  a  clearing  house. 

This  institution  should  have  directors  of  official  rank,  in 
order  to  be  properly  listened  to  and  have  free  intercourse 
with  the  Tsungli-yamen,  viceroys,  governors,  taotais,  directors 
of  railroads  and  mining  bureaus,  superintendents  of  trade, 
etc.  They  should  be  capable  of  winning  the  perfect  confi- 
dence of  the  officials  in  order  to  be  appreciated  as  advisors 
in  all  matters  of  economic  reforms.  Some  of  them  should 
have  a  thorough  technical  education,  while  others  should  be 
all  round  men  in  order  to  be  able  to  give  competent  sugges- 
tions also  in  other  intended  refonns. 

The  bureau  of  information  would  have  two  principal  sec- 
tions, a  department  where  all  information  from  home  would 
lie  received  for  distrilnition,  and  another  where  information 
would  be  gathered  to  be  sent  home.  To  these  would  be  added 
a  ti-anslation  bureau  and  library,  as  well  as  a  newspaper  de- 
partment, wdiich  at  the  same  time  would  have  the  functions 
of  n.  school  for  merchants,  in  which  to  acquire  the  Chinese 
language  and  exact  knowledge  aboat  the  commercial  usages, 
economic  and  trade  conditions,  resources,  customs,  means  of 
trans])ortation,  lianking,  etc.,  of  China. 

There  will  also  have  to  be  a  technical  and  scientific  depart- 
ment, whose  principal  functions  will  be  to  attend  to  the  needs 
of  the  Chinese,  to  see  the  public  officials,  make  proper  sug- 
gestions for  their  system  of  reform,  follow  Chinese  progress 
in  all  its  details  and  aid  in  giving  the  mentioned  lectures 
to  foreign  merchants,  to  establish  and  to  attend  a  mu- 
seum of  Chinese  products,  to  organize  and  attend  an  advisory 
Ijoard  all  over  C'hina,  keep  close  relations  with  Chinese  boards 
of  trade,  guilds,  etc.,  as  well  as  with  foreign  chambers  of 
commerce  and  associations,  missionaries,  merchants,  etc.  It 
also  will  have  to  attend,  instnict  and  recommend  travelers  and 
suggest,  when  convenient,  the  sending  out  of  experts  or  ex- 
pert commissions. 

There  will  be  further,  as  mentioned,  a  liank  connected  with 
this  Institute  of  Trade. 

This  bank  .should  be  e<|ually  sustained  by  the  chambers  of 
commerce,  boards  of  trade,  and  manufacturers'  associations 
of  all  interested  nations,  and  should  be  a  syndicate  bank  in 
every  way,  protected  by  all  the  interested  governments,  and 
also  be  capable  of 'eventually  taking  over  the  administration 
of  Chinese  finances  for,  let  us  say,  25  years,  including  the 
payment  of  interest  and  extinction  of  the  foreign  debts,  guar- 
anteeing a  gradually  increasing  amount  of  revenue  to  the 
central  aiid  provincial  governments,  offering  after,  say,  10 
years,  50  per  cent,  of  the  surplus,  after  15  years  75  per  cent., 
and  after  20  years  90  ])er  cent.,  under  specified  conditions 
with  respect  to  the  employnu'ni  of  these  sums  in  national 
defence,  public  instruction,  means  of  eommuniciifioii.  salaries, 
etc.  The  rest  of  the  surplus  should  be  kepi  by  ihe  syndicate 
as  a  reserve  fund  for  eventualities,  i'or  interest  on  new  national 
loans,  special  improvements,  etc.,  under  its  own  control. 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


91 


This  syndicate  bauk  would  tlieu  eventually  take  hold  uf 
the  collection  of  revenues  throughout  the  country,  making 
use  also  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs  service  in  accord- 
ance with  a  revised  customs  tariff  and  well  fixed  provincial 
taxes  and  monopolies,  based  properly  on  laws,  and  would 
have  further  under  its  entire  control  all  the  necessary  police 
force  on  water  and  land  for  preventing  smuggling,  etc. 

This  bank  should  then  also  have  the  privilege  to  issue  a 
national  paper  currency,  while  all  other  notes  of  native  banks 
or  merchants  would  be  prohibited.  In  connection  with  it, 
perhaps,  the  gold  standard  would  be  introduced  and  the  cop- 
per cash  gradually  retired  from  circulation. 

At  the  same  time,  a  uniform  standard  in  weight  and  meas- 
ures should  be  established  and  gradually  put  into  use  all  over 
the  country.  A  special  banking  law  and  commercial  code 
for  the  entire  Empire  should  also  be  issued,  reforming  the 
very  varied  banking  systems,  including  pawn-shops  and  cash- 
shops  and  reforming  the  too  varied  commercial  usages  as  well 
as  reducing  the  rate  of  interest  and  exchange  and  giving 
greater  credit  facilities  in  connection  with  th|e  creation  of  a 
new  mortgage  law,  the  proper  codification  of  existing  laws,  as 
well  as  proper  supervision  of  the  administration  of  those  laws. 
The  syndicate  bank,  in  taking  the  responsibility  for  Chinese 
finances  would  have  to  get  the  privilege  to  negotiate  new 
improvements,  as  it  would  also  have  to  approve  all  new  con- 
cessions and  supervise  the  reforms.  Members  of  the  syndicate 
bank  woidd  conseqtiently  be  members  of  a  necessaiy  legisla- 
tive council  where  the  budgets  of  the  Imperial  Government 
and  of  all  provincial  governments  should  be  examined  and 
approved. 

The  mentioned  permanent  exhibition  of  goods,  with  the 
character  of  bonded  wai-ehouses,  would  have  expert  salesmen 
attending  special  sections.  There  would  be  also  others,  com- 
petent in  working  new  ground,  to  go  with  samples  to  the 
interior  to  open  new  markets,  to  give  full  information,  to 
appoint  agents  and  give  commissions  for  sale,  etc. 

Besides  1his  central  institute  in  Shanghai,  there  should  be 
three  smaller  branches,  the  largest  one  in  Hong  Kong,  for 
the  Southern  trade,  one  in  Tientsin  for  the  Northern  trade, 
and  one  in  Hankow  for  the  interior  trade. 

The  functions  of  this  institute  of  trade  in  China  would,  as 
indicated,  not  be  limited  to  petty  technical  details,  it  would 
look  out  for  all  mercantile  interests  in  general  and  take  full 
care  how  to  uphold,  preserve  and  further  them.  The  duties 
of  the  directors  would  be  most  comprehensive  in  guiding  the 
Chinese  in  their  stniggle  for  modern  civilization  and  in  watch- 
ing their  improvements,  as  well  as  in  aiding  taxation  and 
financial  reforms,  extension  of  means  of  communication,  de- 
velo2)ment  of  resources,  having  perhaps  often  to  work  out 
proper  systems  in  connection  with  offers,  which  *w-oidd  benefit 
the  capitalists,  manufacturers,  merchants,  etc.,  at  home.  They 
also  would  have  to  look  out  for  early  information  about  pro- 
jected public  works  to  secure  contracts  or  invitations  for 
tenders.  They  often  would  have  to  supply  special  informa- 
tion and  make  estimates  in  regard  to  mining  and  industrial 
.and  other  enterprises,  or  to  .send  out  experts  or  competent 
engineers.  They  further  would  have  to  study  the  general  con- 
ditions and  requirements  of  trade  in  China,  the  growth  of 
manufactures,  the  existing  competition,  the  fluctuations  of 
trade  of  foreign  countries,  distribution  of  imports,  character, 
quantity  and  quality  of  exports  and  raw  materials,  .shipping, 
etc.  They  also  would  have  to  collect  samples  of  certain 
foreign  goods  with  all  necessary  data  to  he  sent  home,  as  well 
as  to  look  out  for  new  products  and  report  everything  China 
wants  and  interested  nations  can  supply  or  what  the  Chinese 
would  take,  if  they  would  see  it;  further  they  would  report  on 
l)anking  and  fluctuations  of  exchange,  give  all  kinds  of  in- 
structions  in    connection    with     the    permanent     exhibition. 


attend  properly  to  advertising,  and  keep  the  Chinese  con- 
stantly interested  in  this  institute. 

The  trade  in  China  has  taken  a  very  peculiar  form,  on 
account  of  the  compradore  system,  which  does  not  compel  the 
foreign  merchants  to  learn  the  language  and  to  mingle  direct 
wdth  the  Chinese  customers. 

Chinese  dealers  are  now  displacing  everywhere  the  foreign 
merchants,  and  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  the  foreign 
merchants  will  also  lose  their  still  appreciated  character  as 
"go  between"  to  obtain  their  stocks. 

In  Shanghai,  foreign  merchants  are  ceasing  in  an  alarming 
way  to  be  merchants,  becoming  mere  commission  agents, 
making  contracts  for  Chinese  for  goods  lying  still  in  the 
United  States  or  in  Europe,  which  goods  are  then  sent  on 
Chinese  account.  It  is  authentically  stated  that  already 
seventy-five  per  cent,  of  all  miscellaneous  merchandise,  and 
fifty  per  cent,  of  all  cotton  goods,  arrive  on  Chinese  account. 

The  direct  importation  of  goods  is  almost  entirely  hmited 
to  Hong  Kong  and  Shanghai.  Hong  Kong  supplies  the 
south,  while  Shanghai  gets  the  stocks  for  the  Yangtse  valley 
and  the  north  of  China. 

Merchants  from  the  interior  usually  make  their  purcha,ses 
through  Chinese  agents  in  those  places.  The  export  trade 
does  not  show  in  stich  an  alarming  way  the  tendency  to  slip 
out  of  the  hands  of  the  foreigners,  but  here  also  the  cable  and 
hanking  facilities  are  reducing  the  merchant  to  a  mere  com- 
mission agent. 

A  foreign  merchant  in  China  now  and  in  the  future,  will 
only  succeed  when  his  enterprise  is  large,  while  that  of  the 
competitive  Cliinese  is  still  small,  and  when  he  deals  in 
articles  of  popular  demand,  which  will  have  an  enormous 
sale,  enabling  him  to  he  satisfied  with  a  small  profit. 

The  times  of  large  and  quick  profits  have  passed  in  China, 
due  also  partly  to  the  great  competition  of  foreigners  among 
themselves,  but  besides  the  fact  that  the  Chinese  and  the 
foreigners  are  on  an  equal  footing  at  all  treaty  ports,  and 
that  the  Chinese,  living  considerably  cheaper,  traveling  much 
cheaper  and  knowing  perfectly  the  circumstances  of  their 
clients,  can  outwit  every  foreigner  in  retail  and  wdiolesale. 
They  only  require  to  learn  English  and  some  European  com- 
mercial usages  and  to  know  the  name  of  some  manufacturers, 
to  put  the  foreigners  out  of  work. 

Imports  and  exports  in  Chinese  hands  suffer  very  much  from 
the  fact  that  the  Chinese  merchants  do  not  take  the  trouble 
to  introduce  new  articles.  The  supposed  and  often  described 
antipathy  for  improvements  and  new  foreign  goods  on  the 
part  of  the  Chinese  people  is  imaginary,  as  it  can  be  proved 
every  day  and  everywhere. 

This  short  sketch,  which  I  extend  in  other  chapters,  here 
on  hand  but  too  long  to  read,  will  be  proof  enough  that  a 
tremendous  commercial  field  can  be  opened,  with  unheard 
facilities  in  establishing  this  proposed  institute  of  trade  which 
would  take  proper  care  of  all  interests,  including  the  per- 
manent exhibition  of  goods  which  would  show  the  goods  as 
they  are,  would  give  the  prices  and  all  information  required 
about  them,  would  give  the  names  of  the  agents  or  manu- 
facturers and  so  promote  direct  trade. 

The  expenses  for  the  establislmient  and  first  installment, 
building,  etc.,  of  this  proposed  International  Institute  of 
Trade  in  China,  as  well  as  the  running  expenses,  wovtld  be 
best  Ciixried  hy  the  united  chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of 
trade,  manufacturers'  associations,  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants, as  well  as  by  exhibitors  of  the  permanent  exhibition 
and  others  interested  in  Chinese  trade.  It  w^oidd  soon  become 
self-supporting,  as  also  Chinese  merchants,  guilds,  govern- 
ment yamens  and  whoever  would  require  the  services  of  this 
institute  would  pay  an  annual  amount  or  for  every  single  ser- 
vice. The  running  expenses  I  estimate  would  he  not  much 
over  $.50,000  a  vear,  and  I  hope,  that  in  order  to  preserve  and 


92 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


improve  the  much  desired  market  of  300,000,000  of  highly 
industrious  Cliiiiese,  ray  piau  will  find  approval  and  sometime 
he  carried  out.  This,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  would  be  one  <if 
I  he  i^Dlutions  of  the  complicated  Chinese  problem 

Hon.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

The  next  paper  will  be  by  Emil  S.  Fischer,  delegate  I'l-dui 
the  Wiener  Kaufmiinnischer  Verein. 

I\Ir.  Emil  S.  Fischer  (from    Shanghai,    delegate    from    the 

Wiener  Ivaufmiinnischer  Verein): 

One  of  the  subjects  that  I  suggested  for  discussion  at  this 
Congress  was  "Currency  and  Banking"  combined  with  the 
money  question.  For  those  who  are  accjuainted  with  the 
trade  of  China  and  those  who  are  intending  to  enter  into 
business  relations  with  this  coxmtry,  there  is  no  question  more 
important  than  the  Chinese  cuiTency  and  banking  problem. 
The  defectiveness  of  the  Chinese  currency  even  is  confirmed 
by  the  greatest  Chinese  administration,  the  Imperial  Mari- 
time (Customs,  which  is  governed  by  Europeans.  A  book, 
"China's  Defective  Currency,"  was  puljlished  in  1897  by  order 
of  the  Inspector-General  of  Customs,  but  nothing  seems  to 
have  been  done  since  that  time.  During  almost  forty  centu- 
ries, the  Chinese  Government  only  coined  the  so-called  copper 
"cash,"  which  is  a  small  metal  coin  having  a  small  square 
hole  in  the  centre,  in  order  that  a  number,  mostly  about  a 
thousand,  may  be  carried  on  a  string.  I  must  state  that  50(.) 
to  1,000  of  these  "cash"  are  only  the  equivalent  of  $1.00.  In 
former  times  these  coins  were  made  like  small  knives  and 
spades.  I  do  not  want  to  enter  more  fully  into  the  cpiestion 
of  this  coin,  but  only  to  say,  that  there  seems  to  no  question 
but  that  cash  are  becoming  more  scarce  every  year.  Owing 
to  the  high  price  of  copper,  the  minting  of  cash  has  become 
unprofitable,  and  good  copper  cash  are  mostly  withdrawn, 
to  l)e  used  by  peojile  in  the  manufacture  of  all  kinds  of  co])per 
goods,  so  that  the  circulation  of  these  coins  is  becoming  very 
limited:  still  there  is  a  great  need  of  them  because  the  great 
mass  of  people  want  to  buy  their  rice  and  local  products  with 
this  money.  All  the  manufacturers  of  China  suffer  on 
account  of  high  price  of  cash  because  they  have  to  pay  laborers 
in  this  coin. 

If  we  look  into  any  of  the  books  referring  to  tlie  money 
and  coins  of  the  whole  world,  we  will  find  that  C'hina  has  a 
silver  currency  called  the  "tael,"  but  in  reality  there  is  no 
such  coin  l)rought  into  circulation  by  the  Government  of 
China.  For  most  of  those  acquainted  with  Chinese  affairs, 
this  currency  called  "tael"  remains  a  myth,  and  it  is  true  that 
most  of  the  foreigners  arriving  in  China  soon  give  up  trying 
to  penetrate  the  mystery  of  this  fiction.  They  only  know 
that  there  bank  accounts  are  kept  in  tael  and  that  all  they  buy 
is  to  be  paid  in  tael  and  all  they  sell  is  invoiced  either  in 
foreign  currency  or  at  its  equivalent  in  the  Chinese  so-called 
"tael."  Not  only  is  there  no  uniform  tael  standard  for  the 
whole  country,  but  the  most  astonishing  fact  is  the  existence 
of  different  tael  in  one  place:  as,  for  instance,  in  Tientsin, 
where  you  can  find  about  eight  different  tael  to  count  with. 
One  is  different  rr<im  another.  Each  government  administra- 
tion in  Tientsin,  has  its  own  standard  value  of  taels.  Of 
course,  there  is  one  tael  in  Tientsin  on  which  everything  is 
calculated.  This  is  the  local  conimercial  tael  of  Tientsin,  but 
it  is  queer  enough  when  you  consider  lli.'il  there  are  so  iiiany 
difl'ereiit  values  in  one  ])lace  alone. 

i''or  those  who  are  not  ac(inainted  wiili  Chinese  reckoning. 
I  must  give  .some  explanation  i-egarding  the  taels.  AAHiat  is 
a  tael?  A  tael  represents  one  part  of  a  Chinese  weight.  T'hc 
('hinese  reckon  with  piculs.  catties,  taels,  mace,  candareen> 
and  cash.  These  are  only  the  juimes  of  weights  adojjfed  liy 
foreigners  in  the  trade  with  the  Chinese  The  Chinese  names 
resjjectively  are  Tan,  Ching,  Iviang,  Chienfen  and  Li. 


One  picul  has  100  catties. 

One  catty  has  16  taels. 

One  tael  has  10  mace. 

One  mace  has  10  candareens. 
!'    One  candareen  has  10  cash. 

Therefore  you  can  see  that  a  tael  is  only  a  part  of  a  weight 
of  a  picul.  Piculs  are  reckoned  exclusively  for  the  weigiit 
.of  merchandise.  One  picul  is  equal  to  133  1-3  English 
pounds,  but  as  to  the  tael,  this  has  a  different  weight  in  each 
place,  according  to  the  fineness  of  the  silver  used  in  this  place. 
1'hese  taels  are  the  standard  of  the  currency. 

There  is  no  coin  made  in  China  which  are  taels,  but  there 
are  ingots  of  silver  of  different  weight  which  we  call  "syeee," 
or  silver  shoe.  The  system  of  silver  shoes  was  established 
in  China  about  ten  or  fifteen  centuries  ago.  Silver  was  at 
that  time  brought  to  China  in  bars  in  exchange  for  goods  sold. 
This  prevailing  .system,  which,  as  before  stated,  has  numerous 
inconveniences,  is  not  exactly  a  merchandise  and  is  not  yet 
a  currency.  It  is  one  used  to  represent  the  reckoning  cur- 
rency called  tael.  This  is  the  unit  of  important  commercial 
transactions.  The  ingots  or  shoes  are  reckoned  according  to 
the  number  of  taels'  weight  which  they  represent.  The  name 
of  the  money  is  the  same  as  its  weight.  Therefore,  speaking 
of  ten  taels  is  the  same  as  speaking  of  the  value  of  ten  taels' 
weight  of  silver. 

The  short  time  which  is  accorded  me  to  speak  about  the 
currency  does  not  allow  me  to  give  you  any  more  informa- 
tion about  the  different  taels,  but  I  want  to  say  that  the 
('hinese  buy  the  silver  which  is  imported  by  the  foreign  banks 
in  bars  from  England  and  America.  These  bars  are  melted 
down  into  ingots  of  about  seven  pounds'"  weight,  wliieli  in- 
gots have  the  appearance  and  form  of  a  certain  kind  of 
Chinese  shoe.  The  Chinese  call  the  shoe  "syeee,"  which 
means  "fine  silk,"  because  the  silver  could  be  sewn  into  fine, 
silk-like  threads.  These  ingots  or  shoes  have  certain  stamps 
from  local  official  authorities  of  the  places. 

I  only  can  say  that  for  the  prosperity  of  this  great  country, 
it  is  very  necessary  that  a  change  in  the  system  of  the  cur- 
rency should  be  made  by  its  government.  If  the  currency 
of  China  were  administered  like  the  customs,  under  European 
supervision,  then  I  am  siue  that,  like  the  imperial  customs  of 
China,  it  would  be  of  great  importance  to  the  coimtry.  There 
have  been  certain  movements  made  by  different  governors  to 
erect  mints.  The  first  move  in  this  direction  was  made  about 
ten  years  ago  by  the  Viceroy  of  Canton,  who  established  there 
the  greatest  mint  in  the  world,  but  this  mint  at  the  present 
day  turns  out,  on  acount  of  high  copper  prices,  only  a  very 
small  quantity  of  copper  cash.  Other  mints  have  been  erected 
since  then  in  Hankow,  Tientsin,  Nanking,  and  other  places. 
These  mints  turned  out  a  great  quantity  of  small  silver  coins 
of  the  value  of  five,  ten,  and  twenty  cents  and  circulated  them, 
but  they  never  succeeded  in  bringing  into  circulation  any 
quantity  of  Chinese  dollars.  The  country  people  in  general 
object  to  the  acceptance  of  any  of  these  coins.  It  is  only  in 
the  trading  ports  that  the  silver  coins  have  become  the 
medium  of  money  exchange. 

I  want  to  state  here,  that  it  is  almost  exclusively  the 
Mexican  dollar  which  is  imported  from  abroad  that  serves  as 
a  medium  of  exchange  in  the  trading  ports  in  the  purchase 
of  necessary  articles  for  foreigners  as  well  as  Chinese.  In 
southern  f'hinese  ports,  the  Hong  Kong  dollar  and  the  Japan- 
ese silver  yen  are  accepted  for  the  same  purpose,  but  as  for 
hiTge  commercial  transactions,  the  local  tael  is  the  only  basis 
iif  reckoning.  There  is  a  continuous  basis  of  exchange  be- 
tween taels,  dollars  and  cash,  which  fluctuates  according  to 
I  lie  market  value;  if  the  foreign  merchants  did  not  liave 
('liincse  employes,  (compradores  and  shroffs),  who  are  ac- 
customed to  all  these  complications,  thev  would  neviM'  find 
their  way  through  these  money  traiisactions.     The  commer- 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  18,  1899 


93 


eial  dealings  of  the  European  with  the  Chinese  wliich  are 
based  on  taels  are  mostly  balanced  with  money  orders  on 
Chinese  banks  called  bank  chops.  Tliese  bank  chops  are 
placed  by  the  foreign  mercliants  into  the  hands  of  their 
foreign  bankers,  who  are  entrusted  with  the  collection.  The 
banker  collects  the  silver  shoes  as  soon  as  the  bank  chop  is 
due  and  puts  the  silver  into  his  vaults.  There  is  no  clear- 
ing house  in  China,  and  the  banks  which  receive  so  many 
hundred  thousands  of  taels  a  day  or  have  to  pay  as  many  to 
another  bank,  will  have  to  deliver  it  in  actual  silver  weight. 
It  can  easily  be  imagined  what  an  inconvenience  this  is,  and 
as  before  stated,  it  would  be  very  desirable  if  China  would 
adopt  a  currency  on  an  international  basis. 

I  do  not  want  to  refer  much  to  gold,  as  this  precious 
metal,  which  is  found  in  large  quantities  in  the  north  of 
China',  is  mostly  dealt  with  as  merchandise.  Gold  is  bought 
by  the  foreign  "banks  and  shipped  to  Europe.  •  The  actual 
value  of  the  gold  shipped  to  p]urope  is  1894  was  13,746,727 
taels.  This  was  the  highest  amount  exported  from  China 
in  the  last  ten  years. 

In  1898  the  expoi-t  of  gold  amounted  to  only  7,703,842 
taels.  China  is  trading  on  a  silver  basis  exclusively,  and 
suffers  very  much  from  the  depreciation  of  the  white  metal. 
Merchants  do  not  know  how  to  calculate  their  imports. 
They  always  want  ito  expect  raising  exchanges.  On  the 
other  side,  the  tea,  silk  and  other  products,  of  course,  de- 
pend on  the  fall  of  silver,  and  this  constant  fluctuation  of 
change  is  what  makes  the  continuous  excitement  among 
business  men.  This  situation  renders  exports  very  danger- 
our  and  the  imports  very  difficult.  Stocks  bought  at  one 
time  are  undervalued  by  the  following  purchases  made  at 
an  inferior  rate  of  exchange,  without  being  compensated  by 
an  increase  of  price  in  China  or  abroad.  The  exporters  are 
suffering  in  the  same  way.  Will  they  succeed  in  getting  in 
China  a  currency  on  modem  principles?  Will  there  be  a 
tael  coined  in  the  regular  way  at  the  regular  standard,  or 
will  they  generalize  the  use  of  the  dollar?  This  is  a  ques- 
tion very  hard  to  answer.  It  will  depend  upon  the  number 
of  circumstances,  the  principal  of  which  will  be  a  larger  or 
smaller  degree  of  interference  by  foreigners  who  are  doing 
l)usiness  in  China.     The  cash  cannoi  be  abolished. 

This  is  all  to  which  the  Chinese  look  to  buy  their  rice. 
All  that  can  be  hoped,  is  to  once  see  a  uniform  currency  and 
constant  relations  with  an  adopted  unit.  If  ever  these  things 
can  be  realized,  one  may  foresee  an  epoch  of  great  progress 
for  the  Chinese  as  well  as  the  foreign  merchants.  Inextri- 
cable complications  beyond  the  reach  of  accidental  intellect, 
and  the  bargaining,  and  the  profits  derived  therefrom  is  all 
that  reflects  the  Chinese  minds.  The  Chinese  are  rather 
conservative,  especially  in  monetary  questions,  and  attempts 
to  change  their  currency  have  many  times  failed,  but  it 
would  be  the  greatest  pro'.sjress  to  the  country  if  the  Chinese 
Central  Government  would  adopt  a  circulating  money  me- 
dium on  foreign  principles,  and  assuredly  China  would  de- 
rive a  great  benefit. 

There  has  lieen  in  the  last  few  years  a  great  development 
of  industrial  enterprise  in  China.  The  time  seems  near  when 
railroads  will  also  be  built  and  o])ened  throughout  the  vast 
country.  Mines  will  be  worked  and  will  affect  the  expan- 
sion of  the  trade;  and  it  is  to  be- hoped  that  a  uniform  cur- 
rency will  facilitate  the  commerce  of  China  in  general. 

Having  for  many  years  been  connected  with  the  German 
I'ank  of  Slianghai,'  it  was  my  special  object  during  all  this 
time,  not  only  to  take  an  interest  in  Cliinese  money  matters, 
l)ut  to  study  the  Chinese  money  question  from  Chinese  books 
with  the  aid  of  my  Chinese  teacher.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

There  is  one  more  paper  to  be   read  which    will   be    read 


this  afternoon  when  we  will  also  take  up  the  papers  relating 
to  China  and  will  have  an  address  from  His  Excellency  the 
Chinese  Minister,  and  other  discussions.  We  will  now  ad- 
journ the  session  until  2.30.  '■ 


Phil.\delphia,  Wednesday,  October  18,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  2.4.5  p.  ni.,  by  tlie 
Ohairman. 

Hon.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

Gentlemen,  please  come  to  order.  We  will  call  up(Hi  the 
Hon.  John  Barrett,  ex-ITnited  States  Minister  to  Siam, 
long  known  and  probably  better  known  regarding  Eastern 
affairs  than  almost  any  American  residing  at  home.  ]\Ir. 
Barrettt  is  obliged  to  begin  now,  as  he  has  to  leave  for  the 
South  at  an  early  hour.  So  without  waiting  any  longer  for 
the  audience  to  arrive,  we  will  ask  Mr.  Barrett  to  address 
us  on  "Foreign  Trade  Possibilities  in  the  Far  East." 

Hon.  John  Barrett: 

Mr.  Chainnan  and  Delegates  of  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress,  and  Ladies:  I  do  not  know  but  what  1 
had  better  say  "chairs,"  too,  from  the  large  attendance  of 
chairs  unoccupied.  But  this  afternoon,  while  appreciating 
very  much  the  honor  which  has  been  conferred  upon  me  to 
j)articipate  in  this  discussion,  I  must  say  that  the  time  is 
somewhat  limited  at  my  disposal,  as  it  is  my  desire  to  catch 
a  train  for  Dallas,  Texas,  where  I  wish  to  go  to  attend  the 
State  Industrial  Convention,  the  Governor  of  the  State  hav- 
ing asked  me  to  come  down  and  take  part  in  that  gathering. 
In  order  that  I  may  get  there  speedily  and  not  tire  you  out 
too  much,  I  am  going  to  read  the  printed  slips  which  I  had 
struck  off  this  morning.  As  one  of  these  slips  has  arrived 
just  in  time  for  me,  I  will  read  part  of  it,  and,  therefore,  not 
take  up  so  much  of  your  time  as  I  would  if  I  wandered  off 
in  this  discussion. 

You  may,  however,  pardon  me,  by  way  of  introduction,  if 
I  say  that  this  question  is  one  upon  which  I  feel  most 
strongly  from  long  experience  and  residence  in  the  Orient. 
I  do  n(k  believe  the  man  lives,  whether  he  be  English,  Ger- 
man, Russian,  Japanese,  American  or  French,  or  of  any 
nationality,  who,  after  he  has  lived  in  the  Orient  and  trav- 
eled through  the  great  countries  in  the  Far  East,  can 
come  to  any  other  conclusion  than  that  there  is  there  the 
greatest  undeveloped  opportunity  in  the  world.  It  is  the 
great  question  before  the  nations  of  the  world  to-day,  whether 
they  shall  develop  this  upon  lines  which  shall  be  longer  and 
broader  and  higher.  It  is  the  cardinal  point  which  underlies 
the  policy  of  the  United  States  to-day,  that  all  nations  shall 
work  t(>getlier  for  the  exploitation  of  the  markets 
of  the  Orient  upon  lines  giving  fair  play  and  no  favor. 
I  know  that  the  United  States,  or  the  merchants  and  manu- 
facturers and  exporters  of  the  United  States,  stand  ready 
to  meet  the  manufacturers  and  exporters  and  merchants  of 
the  other  countries  of  the  world  in  competing  for  these  mar- 
kets of  China,  Manchuria,  Japan,  Siam  and  the  Philippines, 
without  any  of  those  influences  to  advance  one  country's  in- 
terest overthe  other,  and  the  main  thing  that  I  wish  to  say 
to  you  this  afternoon  is  based  on  this  idea. 

China  presents  to-day,  not  only  the  most  important  but 
the  most  interesting  field  of  trade  expansion  and  exchange 
not  yet  extensively  exploited  and  appreciated  by  American 
manufacturers,    exporters    and    merchants.     The   entire    far 


94 


PliOCEEDlNUS  OF  THE  IJMTEENATIUNAL  COMiMEKClAL  CONGliESS 


Ea^t,  from  Siugapore  and  Bangkok  in  the  south  to  Yokohoma 
and  Vladivostoek  in  the  north,  witli  its  harbor-indented 
coat^t  line  of  4,000  miles  and  its  population  of  over  500,000,- 
000,  facing  the  Pacific  and  looking  to  the  east,  directly  oppo- 
site our  American-Pacific  shore,  looking  to  the  west,  affords 
a  mighty  commercial  opportunity  awaiting  our  best  efforts. 

Five  years"  continuous  residence  in  the  Orient  as  a  diplo- 
matic representative  of  the  United  States,  where  it  was  my 
repeated  experience  to  visit  not  only  the  coast  ports  but  the 
interior  of  t'liina,  Japan,  Korea,  Siberia,  M;mchuria  in  the 
north,  and  Siam,  Indo-China,  Straits  Settlements,  Java  and 
the  Philippines  in  the  south,  has  convinced  me  beyond 
question  that  the  markets  of  the  far  East  are  only  in  the  in- 
fancy of  tlieir  development.  The  buying  and  selling  capacity 
of  the  Asiatic  can  only  be  measured  by  the  opportunity  given 
liim  to  bring  his  own  varied  products  to  a  foreign  market 
and  to  buy  in  return  what  foreigners  have  to  sell.  So  far 
this  opportunity  has  been  comparatively  limited,  and  yet  he 
lias  improved  it  far  beyond  the  expectations  and  prophecies 
of  a  decade  or  two  ago.  As  conditions  are  bettered,  treaty 
ports  increased,  the  interior  opened,  resources  exploited, 
railroads  Iniilt,  watenvays  cleared,  embargos  on  trade  re- 
moved, mutual  confidence  developed  and  political  influences 
well  directed,  the  future  Avill  witness  progress  in  commercial 
demand  and  supply,  of  wJiich  the  past  provides  no  concep- 
tion. 

These  5U0,0Ul»,00U  people  must  Ijc  clothed  and  fed.  The 
class  of  clothing  they  wear  and  the  quality  and  variety  of 
the  food  they  eat  improve  as  they  come  in  contact  with  the 
outer  world,  and  find  what  it  has  to  olfer  them  and  that  it 
provides  them  with  more  money  to  use  in  purchases  as  they 
in  time  secure  an  enlarged  market  for  their  own  wares. 
Pessimists  who  urge  that  the  Asiatics  will  not  become  great 
and  permanent  consumers  of  foreign  products,  cannot  base 
their  arguments  on  the  experience  and  record  of  the  past. 
The  present  limited  demand  in  China  now  for  imports,  for 
instance,  does  not  mean  that  it  cannot  be  multiplied  and 
enlarged  many  fold.  On  the  other  hand,  it  augurs  well  for 
the  future.  We  have  only  just  begun  to  have  extensive 
trade  relations  with  the  Far  East.  Were  it  already  a  great 
developed  field,  like  P]urope,  it  would  not  so  much  concern 
us  at  present.  There  we  liave  learned  after  many  years  of 
vigorous  effort  wluit  is  the  market  for  our  exports;  in  the 
Orient  we  are  experimenting  in  a  wide  area,  and  among 
multitudes  of  whom  the  majority  of  our  manufacturers 
know  absolutely  nothing,  belong  mere  imagination  and 
liearsay.  and  who  in  turn  know  even  less  of  ns. 

Tn  the  brief  limit  of  time  at  my  di.sposal  to-day,  I  can  only 
make  passing  reference  to  salient  features  of  the  Asiatic 
commercial  opportunity.  It  is  so  vast,  varied  and  interesting, 
that  I  hardly  know  where  to  begin  and  where  to  end.  As 
the  sutvject  of  the  day  implies,  T  shall  devote  the  main  por- 
tiim  of  my  remarks  to  China.  Tlie  situation  there  is  such 
that  it  demands  our  immediate  attention,  and  possibly 
action  by  our  government  to  proteot  our  growing  markets. 
The  tendency  c)f  the  hour  is  towards  the  division  of  China 
into  spheres  of  influence  of  foreign  nations,  which  is  only 
another  fcrni  for  areas  of  actual  supremacy,  and  which  will 
mean  the  abrogation  of  the  old  Tientsin  treaties  whicli  guar- 
antee us  al)Solute  freedom  of  trade  throughout  China  in  com- 
petition with  otiier  nations.  That  is,  we  luive  now  the  same 
privileges  of  trade  exchange  that  all  otlier  lands  enjoy  fmm 
Canton  to  Newchaweng,  and  from  Shangliai  to  Chunking. 
Where  spheres  of  infiuence  are  admitted  and  hccome  gene- 
ral, tliere  may  be  no  portion  of  this  gi'eat  ]*hn])ire  where  we 
will  have  e(|ual  opportunities  with  others.  Tu  eac-h  sphere 
we  may  find  |)referential  duties  or  rates  in  Tavor  of  llu'  |iri)- 
diicts  of  Ibe  parliculai-  land,  and  against  ii-:.  which  applicil 
to  all  <pliei'('s,  will  pracliiiillv  cxcluilc  us  IVmri  a  I'aii'  partici- 


pation in  the  immeasurable  growing  demands  of  a  country 
that  holds  300,000,000  people,  and  reaches  over  an  area  of 
4,000,000  square  miles,  or  greater  than  the  United  States. 

We  have  everything  to  lose  and  nothing  to  gain  by  the 
dividing  of  China  into  such  spheres.  ISTow  the  development 
of  the  markets  depends  upon  our  own  efforts  in  fair  compe- 
tition with  all  the  world;  with  China  divided,  we  must  face 
individual  and  C(dlective  obstacles  of  all  kinds  that  ai-ise 
\inder  new  conditions  and  treaties. 

Such  an  alternative  is  possible  that  we  might  do  better 
under  these  doubtful  spheres,  but  it  is  so  improbable  as  to 
merit  no  support.  If  we  accept  them  we  throw  away  a  bird 
in  the  hand  for  one  in  the  bush.  Now  all  signs  point  to  a 
great  demand  throughout  China  for  oiir  manufactured  cotton 
goods,  machinery,  raw  products  of  flour,  oil,  and  miscellane- 
ous manufactures  and  raw  supplies  coming  from  all  parts  of 
the  United  States,  wesit,  south,  east  and  noi;th,  and  we  find 
that  we  can  sell  successfully  what  we  have  in  open  competi- 
tion with  the  similar  products  of  Europe.  If  the  door  is 
closed  by  preferential  duties,  then  our  growing  trade  might 
be  nipped  in  the  bud  or  have  to  face  conditions  that  may 
])rove  disastrous.  It  may  seem  incon.si.stent  for  America 
with  a  high  protective  tariff  to  work  against  such  measures 
in  China,  but  that  is  begging  the  question.  The  issue  in 
Cliina  is  simply  one  of  treaty  rights,  framed  long  years  ago 
and  applied  to  all  nations  alike.  We  might  not  be  able  to 
object  if  China  herself  should  raise  her  duties  against  all 
foreign  products.  We  would  still  have  equal  privileges  with 
others  and  could  stand  tlie  pace.  What  the  manufacturers 
and  exporters  of  the  United  States  fear  is  that  with  spheres 
of  influence  will  come  preferential  duties  that  will  overcome 
our  advantage  of  open  competition  and  effectually  close  the 
door  against  us.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  tend- 
ancy  of  the  hour  in  Cliina  is  toward  at  least  her  nominal 
division.  The  United  States  and  Japan  are  the  only  import- 
ant powers  of  the  world  that  have  not  in  agreement,  treaty 
or  letter  recognized  that  any  nation  has  any  more  influence 
or  privileges  in  certain  portions  of  China  than  either  of  them 
have.  The  United  States  undoubtedly  stands  to-day  as  the 
strongest  influence  for  the  integi-ity  of  the  Chinese  Empire. 
Were  we  for  one  moment  to  indicate  our  acquiescence  in 
such  spoliation  of  this  great  kingdom,  there  would  follow 
a  scramble  and  rush  for  China's  rich  area  that  would  aston- 
ish the  world  with  its  wantonness. 

There  are  moral  reasons  of  great  force  why  the  United 
States  should  lend  its  vigorous  influence  to  preserve  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  Chinese  Empire,  and  I  would  that  I  had  the 
time  to  discuss  them,  but  this  is  a  commercial  congress  and 
I  am  speaking  from  the  commercial  standpoint.  It  is  a 
question  of  the  hour.  It  appeals  to  the  whole  country.  It 
is  one  that  may  come  before  Congress.  It  requires  the  de- 
velopment of  public  sentiment  to  support  the  government, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  vast  importance  of  extending 
and  protecting  our  markets  in  the  Far  East  may  be  so  fully 
appreciated  throughout  the  land  that  the  President  and 
Congress  may  not  be  afraid  to  act  with  a  strong  hand.  We 
cannof.  tliink  of  rushing  into  an  unwarranted  expression  of 
a  bold,  war-like  policy,  but  we  can  exert  a  strong  moral  iii- 
fluenee  at  Peking  and  elsewliere  tlirougluuit  the  Far  East 
that  will  protect  and  enlarge  mii-  intcri'^ts.  It  we  will 
take  the  lead,  or  if  we  will  point  llic  way  clearly,  there  is 
no  valid  reasoii  why  we  should  not  only  join,  not  in  exact 
treaty  agreement  or  allegiance,  but  in  sympathy  and  ])ur- 
]iose  with  Great  Pritain,  Germany  and  .hipan,  Init  willi 
Ku.«sia,  France  and  other  countries  concerned,  in  preserving 
tlie  integrity  of  treaty  rights  thrcnighout  all  China.  Tict  us 
nnt  adopt  a  policy  of  pitting  oni!  natioTi  au-ainst  another  or 
uniting  with  one  nv  wmvv  against  others,,  lull  li'f.  us  act 
singly  or  in   co-ciprratidii    willi   tbosc   who   will  assist    us   in 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEK  18,  1899 


95 


exerting  sucli  vmmistakable  influence  at  Peking  that  other 
nations  will  not  only  not  oppose,  but  will  adopt  a  similar  pol- 
icy. It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  peculiarly  fitting  that  the 
United  States,  with  no  desire  for  ten-itorial  aggrandizement 
in  China  and  with  no  axe  to  grind  except  that  of  legitimate 
trade  expansion,  should  take  the  lead  in  the  permanent  solu- 
tion of  this  material  problem.  America's  relations  with  Rus- 
sia, Great  Britain,  Germany,  France  and  .Japan  are  such  that 
she  is  in  a  strong  position  to  initiate  such  a  policy,  while  no 
country  possesses  more  the  confidence  of  Cliina  and  the 
Chinese  people  than  the  United  States.  In  short,  we  stajid 
in  a  position  to  be  the  arbiter  of  her  future,  and  hence,  pos- 
sibly, of  the  interests  of  all  other  powers  in  the  Pacific. 

Two  courses  are  open  to  lis.  We  can  and  should  stand 
steadfastly  against  the  delimitation  of  so-called  spheres  of  in- 
fluence, and  tor  the  full  integrity  of  the  Empire,  from  Kwan- 
tung  to  Majichiuia,  together  with  the  permanent  maintenance 
of  tht  rights  guaranteed  in  the  Tientsin  treaties.  This  is 
our  plain  and  direct  duty.  We  should  do  it  in  justice  and 
protection  of  our  own  rights,  to  those  of  China,  and  to  those 
of  other  powers  who  have  similar  interests,  and  would  lend 
us  their  moral  support.  On  the  other  hand,  if  spheres  of  in- 
fluence are  to  be  delimited,  and  China  shall  be  thus  divided, 
despite  our  best  interests,  and  in  accordance  with  an  apparent 
tendency  of  grejit  controlling  foreign  interests  in  China,  and 
we  may  not  feel  equal  to  the  responsibility  of  checking  the 
movement,  then  it  behooves  the  United  States  to  take  a  strong 
stand  for  the  direct  and  continued  ajiplication  of  the  letter, 
spirit  and  meaning  of  the  Tientsin  treaties,  to  whatever 
spheres  may  be  delimited.  In  other  words,  we  must  have 
spheres  of  influence  and  the  open  door  at  one  and  the  same 
time.  If  we  do  not  take  this  step — our  only  alternative  to 
bei]ig  shut  out  altogether — there  is  little  doubt  that  the  great 
opportunity  that  awaits  us  in  China  will  be  seized,  appro- 
priated and  improved  by  other  nations,  which  will  in  the  end 
make  us  a  second-rate  power  in  the  Pacific.  If  we  control 
the  future  of  China  and  lier  commerce  we  shall  be  the  para- 
mount power  of  the  Pacific. 

While  I  am  in  earnest  in  stating  my  views  upon  this  great 
subject,  I  would  not  appear  as  an  enthusiast  or  an  alarmist. 
My  conclusions  are  only  reached  after  long  and  hard  study  of 
the  situation  on  the  ground.  I  may  be  in  error  in  my  opin- 
ions; if  so,  none  will  be  more  ready  to  correct  them  if  they  are 
proved  to  be  wrong.  My  picture  of  our  great  field  of  trade 
is  not  inspired  by  enthusiasm,  it  is  the  natural  result  of 
careful  investigation  of  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand  in 
the  principal  communities  of  Asia;  nor  is  it  one  recently 
jMiinted.  Years  ago,  in  reports  of  the  State  Department,  and 
in  letters  to  Chambers  of  Commerce,  I  was  faithfully  endeav- 
oring to  awaken  interest  throughout  America  in  our  Oriental 
trade  possibilities.  It  is  not  a  new  story  with  me.  Not  a 
post  helium  arsjument,  not  one  to  suit  the  interest  of  the  hour, 
but  a  statement  of  conditions  and  opporunity  repeatedly  told 
in  former  years  but  requiring  a  Dewey  victory  in  Manila  Bay 
and  the  consequent  awakening  to  realize  the  truth  of  our 
Pacific  and  Asiatic  possibilities. 

I  would  not  excite  undue  alarm  in  regard  to  the  attitude 
of  foreign  powers  in  China,  but  urge  immediate  forceful 
action  to  forestall  the  alami  which  may  otherwise  come.  At 
))resent  our  relatious,  for  instance,  with  Russia  in  Eastern 
Siberia  and  Manchuria  seem  favorable  to  trade,  and  Ameri- 
cans are  securing  large  and  numerous  orders  in  connection 
with  railway  building  and  other  enterprises,  but  we  must 
provide  for  future  contingencies.  Wliile  developing  new  trade, 
let  us  take  steps  to  protect  that  already  well  started.  While 
su]i])lying  Russia's  wants  of  railway  coustruction,  let  us  make 
sure  tlial  the  door  will  not  be  closed  in  ^fancburia  for  the 
great  and  rapidly  growing  demand  for  (uir  cotton  goods,  which 


has  already  reached  encouraging  proportions,  but  can  be  made 
ten  times  as  large. 

Let  us  consider  a  few  concrete  facts  that  bring  us  face  to 
face  with  our  great  Asiatic  opportunity — and  I  speak  after 
five  years'  cai'eful  study  of  the  principal  Asiatic  communities. 
Across  the  Pacific,  directly  opposite  our  own  shores,  is  a 
wonderful  coast  line  of  4,000  miles,  indented  with  scores  of 
deep  water  harbors,  upon  which  are  located  great  cities,  whose 
foreign  trade  already  reaches  nearly  one  billion  dollars,  and 
is  yet  only  in  the  infancy  of  its  development,  and  upon  which 
trade  five  million  people.  The  principal  Asiatic  ports  are 
crowded  with  steamers.  The  day  I  left  Hong  Kong  there 
were  over  fifty  ocean-going  vessels  loading  ajid  unloading. 
There  is  vigorous  commercial  activity  everywhere,  from  Java 
and  Singapore  to  Japan  and  Siberia. 

The  North  and  South  China  seas,  in  the  vessels  that  come 
and  go,  remind  one  of  the  great  lakes  of  America.  One 
sweeping  statement  gives  some  idea  of  what  awaits  foreign 
development  in  China,  with  300,000,000  people,  and  an  area 
of  4,000,000  square  miles:  she  has  only  350  miles  of  railway. 
Imagine  what  will  be  the  effect  on  commerce  when  China  is 
gridironed  with  railways:  20,000  miles  await  construction  at 
once,  with  an  investment  of  if 4(10,000,000.  Then  her  canals 
and  rivers  must  be  improved  at  a  great  outlay.  China's 
foreign  trade  now  only  amounts  to  about  $250,000,000,  or, 
taking  her  population  at  a  most  conservative  estimate,  $1.00 
per  head.  When,  with  the  opening  of  the  interior  and  the 
improvement  of  the  government  and  general  conditions,  this 
trade  is  developed  like  that  of  Japan,  which  now  averages 
$6.00  per  head,  we  may  have  a  magnificent  total  of  $1,500,- 
000,000.  Taking  a  st'ill  more  conservative  figure  of  $3.00 
per  head  as  the  average  of  other  countries  of  Asia,  retrogres- 
sive as  well  as  progressive,  and  we  may  have  even  then  a 
grand  total  of  $750,000,000  as  a  reasonable  possibility.  There 
is  no  doubt  about  the  buying  capacity  of  the  Chinese  if  given 
an  opportunity.  When  the  Yangtse  River  was  first  opened, 
one  million  dollars  and  one  or  two  steamers  represented  its 
trade;  now  a  finer  fleet  than  that  on  the  Hudson  or  !Missis- 
sippi  carries  the  business  which  is  valued  at  fully  $50,000,000. 
A  few  years  ago  a  little  or  no  flour  was  sold  in  China;  last 
year  we  shipped  over  five  million  dollars'  worth.  Cotton  goods 
from  America  have  advanced  with  corresponding  rapidity 
until  their  value  this  year  will  reach  nearly  $10,000,000. 
Kerosene  oil,  machinery  and  miscellaneous  products  are  being 
sold  in  increasing  quantity  and  value,  and  yet  we  have  only 
scratched  the  surface  of  China. 

I  wi.sh  I  had  time  to  speak  of  Japan,  which,  under  her  new 
treaties,  is  going  forward  to  new  life  and  greater  demands 
for  our  products  and  which,  according  to  Mr.  Komura,  the 
esteemed  Japanese  minister,  should  buy  of  us  to  the  extent 
of  $40,000,000  in  a  few  years  more.  Her  total  foreign  com- 
merce is  now  rapidly  forging  ahead  of  the  $300,000,000  mark. 

Korea  has  a  trade  of  $12,000,000,  which  should  be  devel- 
oped in  another  decade  to  $45,000,000.  Siam,  one  of  the 
richest  and  most  progressive  countries  of  all  Asia,  has  a 
foreign  trade  of  $20,000,000,  which  bids  fair  to  reach  $60,- 
000,000  in  the  near  future. 

Of  the  Phiuppines  I  can  say  that,  after  traveling  exten- 
sively through  them,  they  are  the  richest  country  in  propor- 
tion to  area  in  all  Asia.  Under  American  enterprise,  this 
foreign  trade  of  $33,000,000  should  be  extended  in  ten  years 
to  $100,000,000  or  $150,000,000.  All  foreisrn  houses  doing 
business  in  Manila  are  ]ireparing  to  increase  their  capital  and 
enlarge  operations.  With  great  staple  products  of  hemp, 
sugar,  tobacco,  copra,  rice,  together  with  coffee,  spices,  fruits, 
grains,  and  valuable  woods,  as  well  as  mineral  resources  of 
con.siderable  value  developed  to  their  present  extent  under  the 
depressing  and  retarding  conditions  of  former  years,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  state  what  limit  can  be  placed  on  their  development 


96 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


with  American  capital  and  industry.  The  people,  moreover, 
take  kindly  to  foreign  products,  and  will  bny  an  increased 
quantity  and  value  as  they  are  given  greater  opportunity  to 
sc-'ll  their  own  products.  Railway  construction  alone  in  the 
Philippines  is  needed,  which  w^ould  involve  the  safe  invest- 
ment of  $50,000,000.  At  least  1,500  miles  should  be  built 
within  the  next  ten  years. 

My  remarks  are  not  an  attempt  at  oratory,  but  simply  a 
plain  statement  of  a  few  facts. 

Before  I  close  I  wish  on  behalf  of  the  Pacific  coast  of  the 
United  States  and  of  the  Portland  (Oregon)  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  a  delegate,  to  invite 
all  foreign  delegates  to  this  Congress  to  visit  that  great  sec- 
tion if  they  shall  find  time  while  staying  in  America.  They 
will  be  given  a  cordial  welcome,  and  well  repaid,  I  am  con- 
fident, for  the  time  such  a  journey  would  require.  Though 
nearly  3,500  miles  away,  it  presents  conditions  of  national 
development  that  would  be  of  interest  to  all  wlio  are  eon- 
cemed  in  the  progress  of  this  land. 

Although  I  was  born  and  raised  beneath  the  green  hills 
of  Vennont,  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  I  live  on  the  Pacific 
coast.  You  will  see  out  there  the  people  of  the  East  joining 
with  the  people  of  the  West  and  building  up  new  common- 
wealths and  new  interests,  looking  upon  the  Pacific  for  a 
wonderful  progress  and  development  of  that  ideal  citizen- 
ship which  we  like  to  see  in  any  country.  I  assure  yon  that 
if  any  of  you  should  find  time  to  visit  tlie  other  shore  which 
looks  out  toward  Japan  and  China,  yon  will  find  the  same 
hearty  welcome  that  this  city  of  Philadelphia  has  given  you. 
I  wish  also,  coming  fom  the  Pacific  coast  and  also  recently 
I'rom  the  Orient,  to  express  my  high  regard  for  the  splendid 
labors  of  the  Commercial  Museum  and  of  the  Export  Exposi- 
tion, to  present,  not  only  to  you  foreign  delegates  who  are 
here,  but  to  us  Americans,  what  are  our  possibilities  on  the 
Pacific  and  what  onr  interests  are  in  the  foreign  trade.  Un- 
limited ci'edit  is  due  to  Dr.  Wilson  and  to  his  assistants.  I  say 
that  there  is  probably  not  a  delegate  here  who,  while  he  ap- 
])reciates  fully  the  difficulties,  also  appreciates  the  opportunity 
of  coming  into  contact,  of  greeting  each  other,  and,  therefore, 
broadening  the  views  of  all  of  us  and  carrying  back  to  the 
respective  cities  and  countries  a  wider  knowledge  of  the  in- 
terests of  all  countries  in  foreign  lands. 

Just  one  word  before  I  close.  I  wish  to  say  this  to  these 
foreign  delegates  who  are  here  that  I  hope  they  will  look  upon 
the  United  States  in  her  present  situation  in  the  Pacific  and 
the  Far  Fa.st  with  that  kind  and  healthful  sjiirit  which  will 
enable  us  successfully  to  solve  the  great  problems  bef:)re  us. 
Only  those  of  us  who  have  been  in  the  foreign  service  of  the 
I'nited  States  can  realize  what  a  great  change  has  come  over 
this  country  in  foreign  lands  as  a  result  of  the  events  of  tlic 
])ast  year  or  two.  Japan,  China,  Siam  and  Korea  treated  us 
with  the  utmo.st  courtesy  and  respect,  yet  there  was  that  im- 
pression that  we  (lid  not  come  from  one  of  the  foremost 
powers  of  the  world,  but  since  these  events  have  transpired, 
it  seems  as  if  we  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Great  Bri- 
tain, France,  Germany,  Russia  iuid  .rnpau  and  other  leading 
countries  of  the  world,  while  before  we  were  trailing  a  long 
way  behind.  Oh,  my  friends,  1  cannot  speak  to  you  in  too 
emphatic  terms  on  this.  It  is  easy  for  a  man  to  sit  in  a  sanc- 
tum in  America,  or  in  an  ollice  in  America,  and  tell  how  our  ■ 
foreign  afi'airs  .should  be  managed,  but  when  he  has  to  go  far 
from  home,  without  a  delegate  or  Oeel  respective,  then  he 
can  realize  what  may  be  the  effect  of  the  great  events  of  llie 
last  year  and  a  half.  And  I  say,  now,  that  we  come  into  diii' 
wider  opportunity,  1  say  to  you.  Foreign  Reiirosentatives  and 
Delegates,  tliat  we  are  coming  into  our  wider  O])portunities 
with  no  swelled  appreciation  of  our  position,  Imt  that  we  conu^ 
into  our  just  rights  with  the  intention  of  treating  you  with 


that  measure  of  respect  that  you  deserve,  and  expecting  that 
you  will  treat  us  in  the  same  way. 

In  conclusion  I  can  simply  say  this:  The  situation  in  the 
Far  East  as  afl:"ected  by  the  results  of  the  late  war  is  just  be- 
ginning to  unfold  itself,  and  we  trust  that  the  events  will  fol- 
low on  each  other  and  as  one  nation  works  with  another,  the 
United  States  and  all  the  powers  which  are  represented  here 
in  this  Congress,  may  be  always  found  standing  harmoniously 
and  admirably  together  for  the  legitimate  extension  of  lib- 
erty, progress  and  civilization.  I  beg  of  you,  in  judging  of 
America's  policy  in  the  Far  East,  to  remember  that  these 
closing  days  of  the  nineteenth  century  are  times  that  try 
men's  sonls,  when  all  the  nations  are  unsettled  as  to  what  the 
future  will  bring  forth.  There  is  confusion  in  the  minds  of 
the  people.  The  TTnited  States  has  her  share  of  trials  and 
tribulations.  But  there  will  soon  be  an  end  to  it  all,  when 
the  sunshine  of  peace  and  serenity  will  break  through  the  dark 
clouds.  Let  us  hope  that  this  day  will  soon  come  and  brin? 
such  a  decision  that  will  promote  the  comity,  prosperity  and 
well-being  of  all  nation.s — American,  European  and  Asiatic. 
I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

ffnn.  Cornelius  K.  Blif-s: 

1  will  now  introduce  to  you  ilr.  James  S.  Fearon,  who  is  a 
delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Shanghai. 

Mr.  Jdiiu's  S.  Feiiniii: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  After  listening  to  the  in- 
teresting address  of  my  friend,  Mr.  Barrett,  I  feel  very  re- 
luctant to  have  to  speak  before  you.  However,  I  have  been 
asked  to  give  some  facts  and  figures  regarding  the  cottcfn 
goods  trade  in  China,  and  it  will  be  of  most  interest  to  those 
engaged  in  cotton  goods  manufacture.  I  have  lived  in 
Shanghai  for  over  thirty  years  and  have  watched  this  trade 
grow  up  from  most  insignificant  proportions  to  what  it  is 
to-day. 

The  increase  in  the  importations  of  American  cottons  into 
China  from  1887  to  1897  was  120  per  cent.,  while  there  was 
a  decrease  of  about  15  per  cent,  in  the  trade  with  England 
during  that  period.  There  was  an  increase  in  the  deliveries 
i)f  American  cloth  in  China  in  18il8  over  1897  of  35  per  cent., 
and  up  to  the  end  of  August  of  this  year,  there  has  been  a 
further  increase  of  25  per  cent,  in  the  deliveries  for  consump- 
tion over  the  same  period  in  1898.  These  figures  show  the 
steady  increase  and  growing  ini])'ortance  of  our  trade,  but, 
notwithstanding  the  strides  it  has  made  in  the  past  ten  or 
twelve  years,  I  venture  to  say  that  the  next  five  years  will 
show  still  greater  development,  as  there  is  a  general  dispo- 
-itinii  on  the  part  ol^  the  natives  to  take  American  cloth  when- 
ever obtainable,  in  preference  to  the  filled  Lancashire-made 
goods  they  have  hitherto  used,  even  at  a  .somewhat  enhanced 
cost. 

I  feel  satisfied  that  it  is  only  a  question  of  a  few  years  when 
American  manufacturers  will  control  this  great  trade,  and 
that  there  is  ample  room  for  the  ex]iansion  I  anticipate  is 
evident  when  it  is  remendiered  that  our  exports  amount  to 
l)ut  40  per  cent,  of  the  plain  cutton   used  in  China. 

During  the  year  1898.  the  exports  to  China  Ir-nm  Oreal 
Britain  amounted  to  390,000,000  yards  of  i)lain  iloth,  of 
which  70,000,000  yards  were  bleached,  50,000,000  yards  were 
of  dyed  and  colored  and  15,000,000  yards  were  of  printed 
goods,  or  155,000,000  yards  in  all,  while  our  own  exports  did 
not  exceed  lt)O,O00,00()  yards  in  all,  ahcuit  98  jjcr  cent,  of 
which  consisted  of  2.85  yard,  3  yard  and  3^  yard  drills  and 
sheetings.  These  goods,  as  you  are  probably  aware,  are  al- 
most exclusively  sold  in  the  northern  provinces  of  China,  and 
should  those  nations  who  now  claim  this  section  as  (lu'ir 
sphere  of  influence  show  any  disposition  to  restrict  that  mar- 


HON.  JOHN    BARRETT, 

EX-MlNISTER    T    '    SlAM. 


HIS  EXuELLENCY,  WU  TING  FANG,        HIS   EXCELLENCY,  J.  KOM  U  RA, 
Chinese  Minister  at  Washington.      Japanese  Minister  at  Washington. 


HON.  TRUXTUN    EEALE,  PRESIDENT  CHARLES  W.   ELIOT,       HON.  CARROLL  D.  WRIGHT, 

Ex-MiMiSTER  TO  Persia.  Harvard  University.  Washington,  D.  C. 


COL.  A.  A.  POPE, 

Boston,  Mass 


MR.  J.  B.  CALVO, 

Costa  Rican  Minister  at  Washington. 


MR.  JUAN  J.   ULLOA  G., 
Consul-General  OF  Costa  Rica. 


OF  TTIW 

university 
*£Lcalifo2^^"''' 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEK  18,  1899 


97 


ket  to  the  advantage  of  their  own  citizens,  there  is  grave 
danger  that  this  vahiable  trade  will  be  lost  to  us,  unless  the 
government  of  this  country  proceeds  to  obtain  substantial 
guarantees  that  the  trading  privileges  we  now  enjoy,  under  our 
treaties  with  China,  shall  not  be  interfered  with. 

As  I  have  already  pointed  out,  our  exports  of  cloth  to  China 
now  consist  almost  exclusively  of  coarse  yard-lieavy  goods, 
which  find  their  market  in  the  Northern  provinces,  but  there 
is  no  reason  why  our  mills  should  not  make  an  effort  to  secure 
a  portion  of  the  trade  of  the  great  Yangtse  Valley,  and  of 
Southern  China,  by  giving  more  attention  to  the  manufadure 
of  the  finer  yam  and  lighter  cloths  required  there.  It  is  no 
use,  however,  trying  to  force  the  Chinese  to  buy  the  goods 
you  are  accustomed  to  make  for  the  home  trade;  they  are  con- 
servative people,  and,  unless  they  can  get  from  us  exactly 
what  they  want,  and  what  they  have  been  accustomed  to, 
they  will  go  elsewhere. 

There  is  a  large  and  valuable  trade  in  fine  bleached  cottons. 
China  took  from  the  Lancashire  looms  70,000,000  yards 
last  year,  and  another  60,000,000  or  70,000,000  yards  of  "dyed 
and  printed  goods;  and  I  feel  satisfied,  that  with  a  little 
study  of  what  is  req\iirod  by  the  native  traders,  the  manu- 
facturers of  this  country  will  find  they  can  successfully  com- 
pete for  this  trade  with  our  ''cousins  over  the  water."  Al- 
though our  trade  with  China  has  increased  in  the  past  few- 
years  by  "leaps  and  bounds,"  its  extent  is  insignificant  when 
the  population  to  be  supplied  (all  of  whom  use  garments  of 
cotton  cloth),  is  taken  into  consideration.  The  difiiculties 
and  lieavy  cosit,  owing  to  the  lack  of  modem  methods  of 
transportation,  of  reaching  the  densely  ])opulated  districts  in 
the  interior,  has  hitlierto  been  the  chief  obstacle  to  such  an 
increase  in  the  demand  as  would  tax  the  capacity  of  the 
looms  of  the  world,  biit  now  that  great  trunk  lines  of  rail- 
roads are  projected  that  will  enable  us  to  reach  the  densely 
populated  provinces  of  Szechuen,  Hunan,  Kwangsi  and  Man- 
churia, there  is  no  reason  why  our  trade  should  not  in  the 
future  increase  in  a  far  greater  ratio  than  it  has  in  tlic  past. 
provided,  of  course,  there  is  no  curtailment  of  the  privileges 
granted  us  by  the  treaties  now  in  existence. 

Hon.  CorneKus  N.  Bliss: 

1  have  now  the  honor  of  intr.iducing  one,  whom  I  am  satis- 
fied you  will  all  be  rejoiced  to  hear — a  gentleman  so  well 
known  to  this  country,  and  so  popular — the  Minister  from 
China.     ("Hear,  hear,"     Applause.) 

Miiiisler  Wu  Tiiig-fang: 

Mr.  Chairnum,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  We  are  assembled 
here  to-day  to  discuss  matters  aft'ecting  international  com- 
merce— to  enter  into  a  general  discussion  respecting  the 
world's  trade,  with  a  view  to  its  development  for  the  benefit 
of  all  nations.  China  gladly  takes  part  in  this  Congress,  and 
she  has,  accordingly,  sent  two  delegates  to  represent  her  in 
this  body.  It  is  a  well-knowTa  fact  that  China's  trade  and 
commerce  with  foreign  nations  has  been  and  is  increasing 
every  year.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  United  States. 
Since  the  opening  of  my  country  to  foreign  commerce,  fifty 
years  ago,  her  trade  with  the  United  States  has  been  steadily 
increasing.  To  go  no  further  back  than  the  year  1891,  I 
find  in  the  trade  returns  of  the  Imperial  Maritime  Customs 
for  that  year  that  the  exports  from  the  United  States  to 
China  amounted  in  round  numbers  to  7,700,000  taels,  and  the 
imports  from  China,  9,000,000  taels.  The  volume  of  trade 
has  increased  rapidly  every  year,  and  it  reached  the  following 
figures  last  year:  Exports  from  the  United  States  to  China, 
17,163,312  taels,  and  imports  from  China,  11,986,771  taels. 
with  a  total  of  20,150,083  taels.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that 
for  many  years  the  value  of  your  exports  to  C^hina  was  less 


than  your  imports,  but  last  year  it  was  the  other  way.  Your 
exports  exceeded  your  imports  by  over  5,000,000  taels.  Thus 
it  indicates  clearly  that  your  export  trade  has  been  and  is 
increasing  immensely.  I  have  taken  these  figures,  as  I  say, 
from  the  Cusitoms  Eeturns,  but  according  to  the  United 
States  Consul  at  Chefoo,  Mr.  Fowler  (who  seems  tO'  have 
taken  great  pains  in  going  over  the  figures),  the  United  States 
trade  with  China  is  underestimated  by  one-third,  because  the 
customs  method  of  reckoning  is  to  credit  the  ship  with  the 
merchandise  she  carries;  so  that,  in  the  case  of  a  steamer  fly- 
ing say,  the  British  flag,  and  carrying  a  large  quantity  of 
American  goods,  the  goods  so  imported  will  be  put  down 
as  British  and  not  American.  Thus,  according  to  Mr.  Fow- 
ler, your  trade  with  Chi-na  last  year  was  40,000,000  taels. 
Gratifying  as  these  figures  are,  they  will  not  stop  there,  but 
will  continue  to  advance  every  year.  Now  that  the  United 
States  has  practically  become  our  neighbor  by  its  recent  ac- 
quisition of  the  Philippine  Islands,  the  prospect  is  brighter 
than  ever,  and  I  should  not  be  surprised  if,  under  favorable 
conditions  and  not  retarded  by  unwise  methods,  the  trade 
will  be  doubled  or  trebled  in  a  few  years.  I  say,  if  not  re- 
tarded by  unwise  methods.  Let  me  give  you  an  illustration. 
Mr.  Wildman,  the  United  States  Consul-General  at  Hong 
Kong,  used  these  significant  sentences,  in  his  report  of  No- 
vember 22, 1898, after  having  studied  the  question  thoroughly: 
"Broadly  speaking,  there  is  not  an  industry  in  the  Islands 
(Philippines)  that  will  not  be  mined  if  Chinese  labor  is  not 
permitted."'  And  again,  in  his  report  of  July  1st  last,  speak- 
ing of  the  establishment  of  cotton  mills  in  Hong  Kong, 
which  is  looked  upon  as  a  remunerative  undertaking, 
he  says  :  "The  only  thing  that  the  promoters  of  this 
English  industry  fear  is  that  mills  will  be  established  in 
Manila,  which  would  only  be  possible  if  .Chinese  labor 
were  admitted  freely."  This  opinion  of  your  Consul, 
who  has  been  many  years  in  the  East,  and  whose  business  is 
to  protect  the  interests  of  his  countrymen,  is  universally  con- 
firmed by  all  other  competent  judges  in  the  matter.  It  is, 
therefore,  manifestly  to  your  interest  that  Chinese  immigra- 
tion to  the  Philippines  should  be  as  free  as  possible.  In  set- 
tling upon  a  policy  of  such  vital  importance,  affecting  the 
welfare  and  prosperity  of  your  newly-acquired  possessions,  it 
is  well  to  study  the  course  pursued  by  another  great  power  in 
its  colonies  adjacent,  whose  conditions  are  very  much  similar. 
Take  the  case  of  Hong  Kong.  It  was  but  a  barren  rock  on 
the  Chinese  coa-st.  But  since  its  occupation  by  Great  Britain, 
every  inducement  has  been  given  to  Chinese  to  come  and 
settle  there.  Now  it  has  become  a  great  centre  of  trade,  as 
fair  a  city  as  can  be  found  under  the  tropical  sun,  a  genuine 
pearl  of  great  price,  and  the  pride  of  the  British  Empire. 
It  is  tire  Chinese  that  have  contributed  so  lai'gely  to  the 
prosperity  of  that  British  colony.  Then  again,  consider  the 
Straits  Settlements,  which  are  not  so  near  to  China  as  the 
Philippines.  There  the  Chinese  form  a,  large  proportion  of 
the  population.  Their  presence  has  been  deemed  desirable, 
and  no  restriction  is  placed  upon  their  admission.  The  Eng- 
lish peo]de  are  well  known  to  be  shrewd  and  good  colonizers, 
and  if  Chinese  immigration  were  objectionable,  they  would 
have  stopped  it  long  ago.  But  instead  of  doing  that,  tliey 
have  held  out  every  inducement  to  Chinese  to  come  to  their 
colonies,  because  they  know  by  experience  that  Chinese  are 
useful  to  them.  It  is  not  for  me  to  say  what  policy  should 
be  adopted  by  the  American  Government  for  the  Philippine 
Islands,  but,  apart  from  other  considerations,  and  looking 
solely  to  the  interests  of  the  Archipelago,  it  would  seem  to  he 
a  suicidal  policy,  from  a  statesman's  point  of  view,  to  pro- 
hibit the  entrance  of  Chinese  labor  into  those  islands. 

^Tliile  upon  this  subject,  I  feel  compelled  to  refer  to  the 
status  of  my  countrymen  in  this  country.  Although  from 
fear  of  undue    competition  with    American  laboi-,  it  wa^ 


08 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


thought  expedient  seventeen  years  ago  to  enact  a  law  to  pro- 
hibit the  coming  of  Chinese  laborers  to  this  country,  subse- 
quent legislation  on  this  subject  has  gone  so  far  as  to  inter- 
fere with. the  coming  of  other  classes  of  Chinese  as  well.  It 
has  been  held  by  the  highest  legal  authority  in  this  country 
'"tliaii  the  result  of  the  whole  l)ody  of  these  laws  and  decisions 
thereon  is  to  determine  that  the  true  theory  is  not  that  all 
('hinese  per.sons  may  enter  this  country  who  are  not  forbid- 
den, but  that  only  those  are  entitled  to  enter  who  are  ex- 
pressly allowed. ■■  In  consequence  of  this  opinion,  all  col- 
lectors of  customs  and  inspectors  in  this  country  and  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  have  been  instructed  to  refuse  admission  to 
persons  descrilied  as  salesmen,  clerks,  buyers,  cashiers.  ])hysi- 
cians,  ])roprietors  of  restaurants,  etc.  My  attention  was  called 
the  other  day  to  the  case  of  three  Chinese  clergymen  who 
were  not  allowed  to  land.  The  legal  functionary  stated  his 
decision  tlnis:  "1  am  nf  ilie  opinion  that  ministers,  preachers, 
and  missionaries,  as  well  as  doctors,  lawyers,  etc.,  are  not  of 
the  c.xem]!!  class."  Therefore,  should  His  Excellency  Li 
Hung  Chang  come  to  New  York  as  a  private  individual,  he 
would  not  be  allowed  to  land.  Fortunately,  I  came  to  this 
country  before  this  opinion  was  rendered,  otherwise  I  should 
have  been  excluded,  and  I  must  abandon  any  intention  I 
may  have  of  coming  to  the  United  States  m  ths  future 
as  a  Confucian  missionary,  because  T  shall  be  turned 
back.  It  must  not  be  inferred  that  in  this  matter  I 
throw  any  blame  on  the  oflficials  charged  with  the  carrying 
out  of  the  Chinese  exclusion  laws.  They  are  simply  doing 
their  duty.  And  here  I  would  acknowledge  the  uniform 
courtesy  and  kindly  feeling  shown  me  by  all  the  officials,  higli 
and  low,  with  whom  I  have  come  in  contact.  I  simply  point 
out  that  under  the  existing  laws  and  regulations,  my  country- 
men are  singled  out  as  the  only  people  who  are  not  permitted 
(except  a  very  few  under  certain  strict  conditions)  to  come 
to  the  United  States  and  its  colonial  possessions,  while  the 
subjects  and  citizens  of  all  other  nations,  of  whatever  color 
or  race,  including  Japanese,  Malays,  Siamese,  and  other 
Asiatics,  and  .Vfricans,  and  even  savages,  are  f^t  liberty  to 
enter  freely-  Persons  are  generally  disliked  on  account  of 
their  indolence,  immorality  and  other  bad  (jualities,  but  I 
l)elieve  this  is  the  first  instance  in  the  history  of  the  world 
that  a  people  are  considered  as  undesirable  and  excluded  from 
a  country  because  of  their  industry,  perseverance,  honesty, 
and  other  good  qualities,  (^'hina  does  not  make  such  in- 
vidious distinctions.  \Yimt  is  open  to  one  nation  is  open  to 
all  others.  All  are  ('((ually  welcome.  So  far  from  taking 
any  retaliatory  measure,  she  is  still  holding  the  most  friendly 
and  cordial  relations  with  the  United  States,  and  I  hope  and 
trust  these  relations  will  long  continue.  And  referring  to 
the  discussions  to-day  about  open  door,  (!hina  is  for  open 
door;  she  opens  her  doors;  Iht  doors  are  wide  open  to  you 
all  without  distinction  of  rac(>  and  color  and  of  any  nation 
at  all;  all  are  welcome  equally.  In  view  of  llic  cei'tain  in- 
crease of  this  vast  trade  and  commerce  beiweeii  China  and  the 
United  States,  and  in  view  of  the  unrivaled  oppoitunities 
China  offers  to  American  ca]yiUil  and  enterprise,  the  question 
naturally  arises  whether  it  is  worth  while  to  keep  on  your 
statute  book  a  discriminating  law  against  a  people  with  whom 
it  is  to  your  interest  to  keep  and  maintain  relations  of  the 
most  friendly  nature.  This  is  a  i|ucstioii  for  the  merchants, 
manufacturers,  capitalists  and  laborers  of  this  country  to  de- 
cide, and  I  am  sure  they  will  decide  rightly  and  fairly  wlnii 
the  fiicts  are  laid  before  them.  I  do  not  fear  that  even  Amer- 
ican laborers  will  offer  any  opposition,  because  being  intelli- 
gent men  and  men  of  common  sense,  they  will  understand 
that  increase  of  trade  means,  of  necessily,  increase  of  employ- 
ment and  work,  hence  prosperity,  for  them. 

With  (be  view  of  expanding  the  tr:iili'  between  China  and 
11)0  United  Slate.s,  il  has  occurred  to  mc  that   the  establish- 


ment of  an  institution  on  lines  somewhat  similar  to  those  laid 
down  for  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  at  some 
Chinese  seaport,  say  Shanghai,  would  be  an  excellent  thing. 
Manufacturers  could  then  send  samples  of  their  goods  there 
on  exhibition,  so  that  the  natives  could  see  what  America 
has  to  sell  in  the  way  of  manufactures  and  agricultural  pro- 
ducts. On  the  other  hand,  the  products  of  Chinese  factory 
and  soil  might  also  be  placed  on  exhibition  in  the  same  build- 
ing. A  permanent  exposition  of  this  kind  would  certainly 
result  in  lasting  benefit  to  both  sides.  I  nc>tice  that  a  similar 
scheme  has  been  proposed  by  the  United  States  Consul-Gen- 
eral  at  Shanghai  and  Hong  Kong,  and  I  take  great  pleasure 
in  recommending  such  a  scheme  to  the  favorable  considera- 
tion of  the  manufatturers  aiid   merchairts  of  this  country, 

I  am  exceedingly  glad  that  I  have  l)cen  able  to  be  present 
at  some  of  the  sessions  of  this  Congress.  This  is  an  era  of 
conference  and  international  conferences.  We  have  seen  the 
Social  Congress,  the  Medical  Congress,  the  Women's  (Con- 
gress, the  Mothers'  Congress,  the  Congress  of  Demography 
and  Hygiene,  the  Disannament  Congress,  etc.,  that  have  been 
lield  in  different  countries.  Now  we  have  this  International 
Commercial  Congress,  Great  credit  is  due  to  Dr.  Wilson  and 
his  associates  for  getting  up  this  Congress,  and  I  am  sure 
I  am  expressing  the  sentiment  of  all  of  us  that  we  are  grateful 
to  them  for  inviting  us  to  take  part  in  it.  This  Congress, 
in  my  opinion,  cannot  fail  to  do  good  to  the  world  at  large. 
It  has  brought  together  the  representative  men  from  different 
countries  and  afforded  them  an  opportunity  to  propose  and 
express  their  views  from  the  standpoint  of  their  respective 
countries,  and  at  the  same  time  ascertain  the  views  of  other 
nations  and  states.  I  anticipate  that  the  results  of  this  Con- 
gress will  be  far-reaching,  \\nien  the  representatives  of  the 
different  nations  report  to  their  respective  governments  and 
chambers  of  commerce  the  things  they  have  seen,  the  people 
they  have  met  and  talked  with,  and  the  impressions  they  have 
formed  from  personal  contact  and  investigation,  a  better  un- 
derstanding will  naturally  be  established  between  nations  and 
peoples,  leading  to  closer  friendship  and  to  the  increase  of 
trade  and  commerce.  My  earnest  hope  is  that  in  our  delibera- 
tions here,  we  shall  rise  to  that  higher  plane  which  eniibles 
us  to  see  our  way  to  contribute  as  much  as  possible  to  the  com- 
mon good  of  the  world,  while  not  giving  up  the  national 
interests  of  each,  T  pray  that  the  efforts  of  these  good  men 
in  getting  up  this  Congress  will  be  crowned  with  great  siiccess, 
and  that  its  beneficial  results  will  be  permanent.  (Prolonged 
applause.) 

Jflltn  Foord,  Esq.  (Secretary  of  the  American  Asiatic  Associa- 
tion of  New  York): 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Delegates:  By  way  of  giving 
compact  expressions  and  directions  to  some  of  the  sentiments 
that  have  been  expressed  here  this  afternoon.  T  have  been 
asked  to  submit  to  you  the  following  practical  preamble  and 
resolution  which  necessarily  comes  from  only  a  portion  of  this 
Congress,  inasmuch  as  it  is  submitted  by  the  manufacturers 
and  merchants  of  the  United  States  interested  in  the  China 
trade  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress.  It  is  a 
resolution  that  colicerns  our  brethren  from  other  countries, 
however,  and  I  will  read  to  you  the  preamble  and  resolution, 
and  with  these  remarks,  so  you  can  understand  il  is  presented 
I'ather  for  the  action  of  a  certain  portion  of  the  delegates 
here  than  for  the  action  of  all  the  delegates  here.  I  think 
everybody  has  actually  awakened  to  the  importance  of  [he 
subject  of  trade  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
China,  and  that  the  conditions  of  those  relations  justify  xis 
in  adopting  just  such  a  resolution  as  this.  It  has  been  sub- 
mitted to  us  with  reference  to  every  one  of  our  international 
friends,  in  Europe  and  elsewhere. 

'J'he  ]n'eand)le  and  resolution  are  as  follows: 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


99 


Whereas,  the  exports  of  American  manufactures  to  China 
are  growing  in  value  and  in  volume  with  a  rapidit\-  unex- 
ampled in  any  other  market;  and 

Whereas,  no  other  market  in  the  world  offers  such  vast  and 
varied  opportunities  for  the  further  increase  of  American 
exports;  and 

Wliereas,  foreign  powers  have  shown  a  disposition  to  re- 
strict that  market  to  the  advantage  of  their  own  citizens  and 
the  exclusion  of  others  by  the  creation  of  spheres  of  influence, 
therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  as  the  judgment  of  the  representatives  of  Amer- 
ican industry  and  commerce  engaged  in  the  China  trade,  here 
assembled  as  delegates  to  the  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress at  its  session  held  in  Philadelphia  this  18th  day  of 
October,  1899,  that  an  emphatic  declaration  should  be  made 
by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  of  its  intention  to 
protect  to  the  fullest  extent  the  rights  which  its  citizens  enjoy 
under  existing  treaties  to  pursue  their  trade  in  the  Chinese 
Empire;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  that  a  copy  of  this  preamble  and  resolution  be 
transmitted  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  to  the 
Secretary  of  State. 

The  resolution  I  think  is  in  unison  with  the  words  you  have 
heard  in  remarks  made  by  Mr.  Fearon  and  Mr.  Barrett.  The 
whole  subject  is  too  familiar  to  the  persons  to  whom  it  is  ad- 
dressed to  require  any  argument  on  my  part.  The  resolution 
is  now  before  you  and  I  respectfully  submit  it  to  you  for  your 
action. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Mr.  President,  Dr.  Wilson  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  great 
pleasure  in  seconding  this  resolution. 

In  doing  so  I  had  intended  making  some  remarks,  but  the 
ground  has  been  so  well  traveled  over  to-day  by  the  different 
speakers  who  have  given  an  abundance  of  information,  that 
I  am  candid  in  saying  to  you  that  I  think  the  subject  has 
already  been  very  fully  covered. 

In  reference  to  the  district  of  China  where  the  largest  pro- 
portion of  goods  go,  I  would  say,  that,  from  80  to  90  per  cent, 
pass  through  Shanghai  and  are  re-exported  to  the  Northern 
ports. 

Now  the  great  Northeastern  province  of  Manchuria  has 
practically  come  under  the  control  of  Russia.  You  can  well 
see,  gentlemen,  how  important  it  is  that  we  follow  up  what 
has  already  been  accomplished  in  our  American  Asiatic  As- 
sociation and  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  New  York.  In 
both  these  connections  I  have  had  the  pleasure  of  taking  part 
in  these  matters,  and  on  two  occasions  I  visited  Washington, 
and  had  interviews  with  both  the  President  and  Secretary  Hay, 
arguing  that  our  minister  at  Pekin  should  be  notified  to  act, 
and  to  see  that  our  treaty  rights  are  fully  maintained.  If 
that  can  be  accomplished,  we  will  have  no  further  trouble 
about  the  question  of  the  "open  door,"  and  our  expanding 
trade  with  that  great  Empire  will  receive  its  full  share  of  the 
lienefits  to  be  derived  therefrom. 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  seconding  the  resolution,  in  order 
that  other  gentlemen  may  have  the  opportunity  of  making 
remarks  thereon.    (Applause.) 

Hon.  Coriieliiifi  N.  Bliss: 

You  have  hoard  the  resolution,  gentlemen.  Avhich  has  been 
made  and  seconded.  Are  there  any  remarks  to  be  made  on 
this  resolution?    If  not — 

Direrlnr  W.  P.  Wi'hni, : 

Before  this  resolution  is  put,  I  feel  myself  constrained  to 
say  one  word  to  the  Congress.  This  Congress  is  a  peculiar 
body.    It  is  made  up  of  representatives  from  foreign  govern- 


ments and  chambers  of  commerce  and  from  members  of 
chambers  of  commerce  in  the  United  States,  quite  a  number 
of  whom  are  present  this  afternoon. 

In  my  view  of  the  case,  the  government  delegates  present 
at  this  Congi-ess  would  not  be  expected  to  vote  upon  such  a 
resolution.  They  are  of  course  perfectly  free  to  vote  in 
every  way,  and  sd'is  every  delegate.  I  simply  wanted  to 
refer  to  the  peculiarity  of  this  Congress,  and  the  question  of 
bringing  up  a  resolution  which  has  not  been  carefully  dis- 
cussed in  a  section,  which  should  be  made  up  of  a  committee 
of  representatives  from  the  government  and  the  trade  body. 

I  want  to  put  myself  on  record  also  as  being  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  this  resolution.    (Applause.) 

Hon.  W.  P ember  Beeves: 

Mr.  Chairman:  As  a  delegate  from  a  portion  of  the  great 
Pacific  not  very  often  heard  from,  I  can  only  speak  on  this 
resolution,  and  on  such  resolution,  by  your  kind  permission. 
I  only  rise  to  say  a  few  words,  and  to  appeal  to  the  American 
delegates,  and  to  ask  them  whether  they  think  a  portion  of 
the  resolution  is  quite  fair  and  just  as  regards  Great  Britain. 
The  part  of  the  resolution  I  allude  to  is  that  which  has  refer- 
ence to  the  action  of  foreign  powers  in  creating  spheres  of 
influence  in  China,  and  thereby  tending  to  exclude  American 
merchants. 

Gentlemen,  I  would  remind  you  with  reference  to  Great 
Britain,  the  nation  that  holds  and  exercises  the  greatest 
sphere  of  influence  in  the  East,  that  she  always  does  and 
always  has  kept  an  open  door  to  American  merchants,  and 
that  she  is  the  only  great  power  in  the  world  who  does  that, 
and  I  would  therefore  appeal  to  j'ou  whether  in  fairness  you 
ought  not  to  recognize  that  in  any  resolution  you  pass 
to-day. 

Mr.  James  S.  Fearon  (Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Shanghai): 
In  reply  to  what  the  gentleman  has  said  in  regard  to  the 

sphere  of  influence,  I  would  like  to  say  that  England  has  not 

created  a  sphere  of  influence,  but  has  maintained  the  dignitv 

of  the  Empire. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Whellams  (Secretary,  North-Western  Manufacturers' 

Association,  St.  Paul,  Minn.): 

Mr.  President:-  While  the  gentlemen  were  talking  amongst 
themselves,  we  American  delegates  from  the  West  had  a  con- 
ference about  the  very  clause  which  seemed  to  us  too  sweep- 
ing. It  seemed  unfair.  We  all  know,  and  all  appreciate  that 
Great  Britain  has  ever  done  her  utmost  to  throw  open  the 
door  to  commerce.  We  think  the  words  "foreign  powers" 
there  are  unjust.    I  move  that  amendment  to  the  resolution.    ' 

Hon.  Cornelivs  N.  Bliss: 

The  gentleman  will  put  his  amendment  in  writing. 

Mr.  H.  Sell  (London,  England): 

Mr.  President:  This  is  open  to  a  general  discussion.  I  sup- 
pose, and  if  so,  I  would  like  to  say  to  his  Excellency  that  I 
think  he  has  undoubtedly  again  and  again  done  his  utmost 
for  other  countries.  I  nnsh  you  would  consider,  gentlemen, 
what  would  be  the  eft'ect  on"  the  400,000,000  of  Chinamen, 
when  like  Englishmen  and  Americans  they  are  fully  educated 
to  the  use  of  machinery  and  other  methods  of  working.  What 
will  their  influence  then  be  upon  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and 
upon  the  European  races?  I  take  it  for  granted  that  we  all 
admit  that  the  (hinese  are  all  industrious,  as  you  say  we  are, 
beyond  measure.  They  live  economically  on  one  quarter  of 
what  I  suppose  would  support  an  English  workman, 


100 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Hon.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

Is  the  gentleman  speaking  on  the  amendment  to  this  reso- 
lution? If,  not,  he  is  hardly  in  oi-der  in  his  remarks.  I  am 
waiting  for  a  written  copy  of  the  amendment  proposed  hy 
this  gentleman. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

I  wonld  say  that  1  think  that  this  amendment  can  he  ti.xed 
up  this  afternoon.  If  it  cannot  he  arranged,  then  it  might  be 
postponed  until  to-morrow  afternoon.  I  think  we  can  get 
the  amendment  in  shape  to-morrow  afternoon.  I  think  we 
can  get  the  amendment  in  shape  and  all  right  before  the 
session  closes  to-day.  We  want  all  nations  treated  fairly  and 
equally,  therefore,  this  resolution  should  he  amended,  1  tiiink, 
and  a  few  gentlemen  can  leave  the  room  and  make  the  amend- 
ment and  bring  it  in  later. 

Hon.  Cornelius  N.  Bliss: 

Is  not  this  all  in  the  same  line  as  the  proposed  amendment? 

A  Delegate: 

I  believe  we  should  amend  this  resolution  as  read,  to 
properly  give  expression  to  the  sentiments  that  we  feel  as 
Americans  to  the  representatives  from  abroad.  We  would 
like  a  little  time  to  consider  it.  I  think  we  ought  to  be  given 
a  half  hour,  and  in  that  time  we  could  fix  it  up.  We  don't 
want  to  entrench  on  to-moiTow's  business. 

[The  resolutions  were  shortly  afterwards  pre.sented  to  the 
Congress  again,  in  amended  form,  as  follows: 

Whereas,  The  exports  of  American  manufactures  to  China 
are  growing  in  value  and  in  volume  with  a  rapidity  unex- 
ampled in  any  other  market;  and, 

Whereas.  No  otherniarket  in  the  world  offers  sucli  vast  and 
varied  opportunities  for  the  further  increase  of  American 
exports;  and. 

Whereas,  These  opportunities  a.re  absolutely  dependent  on 
the  maintenance  of  the  equality  of  commercial  privilege, 
which  treaties  made  with  the  United  States  secure  through- 
out the  whole  of  the  (.'liinese  Empire;  and, 

Whereas,  Certain  foreign  ])owers  seem  to  show  a  disposition 
to  restrict  that  market  to  the  advantage  of  their  own  citizens 
and  the  exclusion  of  others,  by  the  creation  of  .splicros  of 
influence;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  as  the  judgment  of  the  representatives  of  Amer- 
ican industry  and  commerce  engaged  in  the  China  trade,  here 
assembled,  as  delegates  to  the  International  Commercial 
Congress,  at  its  session  hold  in  Philadelphia  this  ISth  day  oC 
October,  1899,  thai  nn  cniiiliatic  declaration  should  be  made 
by  the  (lovernment  of  the  Tnifed  States  of  its  intenti(jn  to 
protect  to  the  fullest  exfciit  Ihc  rights  which  its  citizens 
enjoy  under  existing  treaties  to  pursue  their  trade  in  ihc 
Chinese  Empire;  and,  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  a  cojiy  of  this  preaiidilc  and  rosohilinn  he 
tran.smitted  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  In  the 
Secretary  of  State. 

The  resolutions  were  adoj)ted,  but  at  subsequent  sessidii 
of  the  Congress  this  action  was  reconsidered,  the  point  liaving 
been  raised  that  all  resolutions  must  be  referred  to  the  Cdin" 
mittee  on  resolutions  for  action.  The  resohitioiis  were  there- 
upon referred,  but  the  commitiee  failed  to  approve  them  and 
they  were  not  again  reported  to  the  Congress.  | 

Hon.  Cornelivs  N.  Bliss: 

There  is  one  more  address  to  be  made.  We  will  now  listen 
t6  Col.  G.  W.  Bell,  United  States  Consul  at  Sydney. 


Cul.  G.  W.  Bell  (U.  S.  Consul  at  Sydney,  and  representing 
the  Colony  of  New  South  Wales): 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  am  here  because  I  believe  in 
civilization,  and  I  believe  that  commerce  is  the  strongest 
force  in  civilization.  I  believe  that  he  who  does  most 
for  commerce  does  most  for  civilization.  I  hardly  be- 
lieve we  realize  the  importance  of  this  magnifleent  gath- 
ering. I  doubt  if  in  the  history  of  the  world  the  repre- 
sentatives of  so  many  nations  have  been  called  together  to 
consider  questions  of  trade,  to  consider  the  questions  above 
all  others  which  bring  men  in  harmony,  to  consider  the  ques- 
tions which  in  themselves  are  the  prophecies  of  peace.  I 
have  positive  opinions,  as  most  men  have,  I  believe  every 
man  should  have  a  reason  for  his  opinions,  to  which  he  should 
hold  fast  as  he  would  to  the  title  deeds  of  his  property.  I 
hold  that  the  integrity  of  China  must  be  maintained.  I  hold 
that  the  autonomy  of  China  must  be  protected  at  all  hazards. 
We  must  keep  the  open  door  of  the  far  East,  as  the  only 
refuge  for  the  ever-increasing  surplus  of  the  United  States. 
I  hold  that  the  time  is  coming  when  those  who  brought  to- 
gether this  magniticent  Congress  will  be  held  in  reverence  by 
all  nations,  because  it  is  the  grandest  promise  for  the  future. 
1  am  not  going  to  talk  about  dollars  and  cents  to  you,  I  am 
not  going  to  discuss  dry  statistics,  but  I  want  to  call  your 
attention  to  a  few  most  interesting  and  important  ideas,  in 
which  all  men  of  all  countries  must  necessarily  feel  deeply 
interested.  Let  us  just  for  a  brief  time  quit  the  puzzling  task 
of  wearying  figures,  and  float  a.way  in  the  realms  of  ideas 
until  from  the  perplexing  theme  we  refresh  ourselves  with  a 
little  mental  relaxation.  We  are  here,  I  take  it,  to  discuss 
questions  of  commerce,  as  a  means  for  advancing  the  general 
good  of  all  concerned.  It  is  a  most  liberal  gathering,  where 
liberty  of  speech  is  only  bounded  by  respectful  discretion. 

I  am  going  to  give  you  my  reasons  for  the  great  anxiety  I 
have  regarding  the  policy  to  be  pursued  in  opening  up  this 
wonderful  dreamy  oid  "Far  East."  As  we  are  all  citizens  of 
different  countries  having  opinions  moulded  to  a  large  degree 
Ijy  otir  pectiliar  surroundings,  1,  of  course,  mttst  speak  from 
the  standpoint  of  an  American,  but  as  America  is  becoming 
so  important  a  factor  in  the  world's  doings,  the  condition 
of  her  people  and  the  policy  of  her  business  men  must  be  of 
interest  to  all  the  world.  We  are  what  the  past  has  made  us 
and  the  future  will  be  according  to  our  actions  to-day.  Amer- 
ica, then,  being  a  powerful  factor  in  the  world's  present 
doings  and  being  destined  to  be  a  more  powerful  factor  in  the 
future,  [  feel  sure  of  ynur  interest  in  an  American's  ideas 
regarding  American  conditions,  her  duties  and  her  destiny. 
To  me  this  calling  together  of  all  the  nations  is  a  most  im- 
portant occasion  and  a  rounding  out  nf  the  century  with  a 
gi-and  event.  It  is  a  unique  gathering  and  the  producing,  the 
ialMD'ing.  the  commercial  and  the  trading  classes  of  allthe 
cDuntries  here  represented,  yes.  all  peo])le  of  the  earth,  should 
and  sometime  will,  acknowledge  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  these 
tireless  men  who  have  so  long,  and  finally  so  successfully, 
struggled  for  this  most  auspicious  consummation  of  a  grand 
projcel. 

'i'his  meeting  is  the  liiii'liinger  iif  a  mighty  good  f  u'  the 
\\iirld,  and  some  effort  should  he  rnade  by  the  members  of 
this  Contrress,  to  utilizi'  this  sph'iidid  Commercial  Museum,  as 
an  instrumentality  througii  which  the  work  now  being  done 
here  could  he  carried  nn  In  a  fiillei-  ivalizal  imi  of  the  original 
ho|ies  of  the  ])rojectors. 

Why  are  we  here,  representing  progressive  peoples  from  all 
quarters  of  the  globe?  Why,  except  to  devise  means  by  which 
the  ]M'ople  may  iiioiv  r<'adily  exchange  the  products  of  their 
varied  skill  and  of  tlieir  varied  climates  ami  soil,  that  the  con- 
ditions of  the  homes  of  the  world  may  !»>  made  more  happy. 
IMiis  is  commerce,  to  jiroinote  which  we  have  come  together. 
This  reminds  us  that  the  world  is  growing  smaller  and  that 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  18,  1899 


101 


the  cultivated  tastes  of  tlie  people  of  modern  ages  require 
and  demand  for  their  satisfaction  all  the  skill  and  industry 
of  all  men.  This  is  the  grandest  of  all  the  ages.  We  are 
the  most  wealthy,  the  most  civilized  and  the  best  provided 
for  of  all  the  generations  that  ever  inhabited  the  globe.  To 
my  mind  we  stand  at  the  dawn  and  not  at  the  high  noon  of 
civilization.  To  my  mind  the  future  historian  will  record 
this  as  the  ushering  in  of  a  new  era,  as  really  the  first  genera- 
tion of  civilized  men.  The  end  of  this  century  will  mark  a 
mil'e-stone  in  the  path  of  human  progress,  and  this  meeting 
and  its  deliberations  will  be  conspicuous  in  history.  The  last 
half  of  this  century  has  done  more  for  civilization,  more  to 
happify  the  common  home,  more  to  raise  to  a  common  level 
tlie  great  mass  of  the  people,  more  to  humanize,  to  unite  and 
to  elevate  the  race,  than  all  the  generations  from  Constautine 
to  Gladstone.  Why  this  wonderful  change?  Through  what 
forces  have  we  leaped  the  gulf  of  the  silent  centuries  and 
come  so  suddenly  to  our  present  position?  How,  but  through 
the  force  of  commerce,  that  subtle  force  that  drew  us  together 
from  the  remotest  parts  of  the  earth.  Commerce  is  the  might- 
iest civilizing  agency  known  to  man,  and  this  Congress  is  a 
recognition  of  this  truth.  But  what  is  commerce? — for  this  is 
worthy  of  our  inquiry.  Well,  we  are  land  animals;  we  are 
children  of  the  earth;  we  subsist  from  the  products  of  this 
little  planet  and  all  the  things  which  w^e  properly  call  goods, 
are  products  wrenched  from  the  treasure  house  of  nature  by 
the  genfus  and  toil  of  man.  The  exchange  of  these  goods  is 
commerce,  and  just  to  the  extent  that  men  exchange  the 
product  of  their  toil  with  that  of  others,  for  the  product  of  the 
others  toil,  do  we  become  civilized.  The  force  behind  is,  that 
man  is  the  unsatisfied  animal,  and  his  wants  increase  with 
his  knowledge  of  the  world  and  his  conceptions  of  nature. 
He  ever  hungers  physically  and  intellectually,  and  so  he 
studies  his  surroundings.  We  see  that  every  distinct  spot  of 
earth  is  better  adapted  to  the  production  of  some  one  than 
of  any  other  thing.  Then  we  begin  to  specialize,  then  the 
products  of  special  industry  are  exchanged  for  the  products 
of  other  special  industry.  Then  we  learn  that  organization, 
concentration  and  specialization,  multiplies  almost  infinitely 
our  powers  of  production,  and  thus  arises  a  hope  for  the  satis- 
faction of  our  wants.  But  our  wants  ever  increase  and  outrun 
our  powers  of  production.  All  the  great  movements  looking 
to  the  progress  of  humanity  have  their  inception  in  the  com- 
mercial idea,  the  idea  of  exchanging  products  for  products. 
In  this  they  follow  the  decree  of  nature,  for  each  and  all  of 
us  ever  strive  to  secure  the  best  possible  living  with  the  least 
possible  work.  A  civilized  man  exerts  his  energies  in  the 
production  of  one  or  a  few  things,  but  as  the  civilized  man 
desires  many  thousand  things,  he  specializes  his  efforts  and 
in  exchanging  his  one  for  many  things  he  develops  com- 
merce. As  you  sit  down  to  dinner  to-night,  each  of  you 
think  how  many  people  of  how  many  nations  of  the  globe, 
have  been  contributing  to  your  comforts,  for  'tis  this  for  which 
we  are  here.  Here  we  are  the  representatives  of  more  than 
forty  nations,  each  of  us  require,  need  and  must  have,  the 
assistance  of  all  the  others,  without  which  our  table,  our 
raiment  and  our  happiness,  would  be  incomplete.  Then  as 
the  wise  man  desires  to  improve  the  buying  capacity  of  his 
customer,  commerce  is  the  apotheosis  of  business  and  the 
prophecy  of  peace  and  plenty.  Of  all  the  missionaries  then  of 
civilization  the  commercial  agent  is  the  most  potent.  It 
was  the  commercial  instincts  of  the  Phoenicians  that  led 
them  beyond  the  pillars  of  Hercules;  it  was  the  commercial 
instinct  of  the  Greeks  that  peopled  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean; it  was  the  commercial  instinct  of  the  times  that 
erected  Venice  and  Genoa,  as  beacon  lights  for  the  new  ages: 
it  was  the  commercial  instinct  of  Columljus,  who  desired  to 
arrest  from  decay  his  own  beloved  land,  that  led  to  the  dis- 
covery of  America,  and  it  was  the  commercial  or  shop-keeping 


instinct  of  our  friends,  that  brought  them  here  together  to 
help  make  the  world  worth  living  in. 

The  new  discoveries  of  the  new  world  offered  such  grand 
rewards  for  mental  and  physical  effort,  that  genius  arose  in 
answer  to  the  cries  of  humanity  for  better  things.  Oppor- 
tunities, enlarged  opportunities,  in  America,  developed  the 
inventive  genius  of  man  and  the  application  of  science  to  pro- 
duction has  lifted  the  age  out  of  its  old  and  non-progressive 
systems  of  government  and  industry. 

Soon  after  the  "camping  out"  of  our  ancestors  among 
the  rugged  hills  of  New  England  and  the  not  over-fertile 
soil  of  my  owti  Virginia,  the  progressive  instincts  of  the 
race  began  to  show  themselves.  Our  people,  in  the  very 
early  ages  of  our  history,  showed  their  superiority  as  traders 
and  navigators.  They  were  great  in  their  childhood.  We  are 
great  still,  and  any  American  will  admit  that,  if  you  get  him 
quietly  to  one  side  and  get  an  honest  expression.  But  let  us 
think.  Forty  years  ago  we  were  one  of  the  leading  commercial 
countries  of  the  globe;  the  American  ship  was  in  every 
harbor;  the  stars  and  stripes  kissed  every  breeze  and  were 
honored  and  cheered  in  all  lands  under  the  sun.  Less  than 
half  a  century  ago,  and  but  little  more  than  a  half  a  century 
from  the  birth  of  our  national  life,  so  strongly  had  our  people 
developed  their  commercial  and  maritime  instincts  that  our 
ships  carried  a  third  of  the  world's  tonnage;  they  carried 
three-fourths  of  our  own  products,  and  from  our  shipyards 
were  sold  to  other  nations  the  most  graceful  and  rapid  sailing 
vessels  that  had  ever  defied  the  waves.  The  American  "skip- 
per" was  the  navigator  of  navigators,  and  the  American  sailor 
was  the  sailor  of  the  times.    Wliere  have  these  all  gone? 

To-day  we  carry  less  than  twelve  per  cent,  of  our  own  ton- 
nage, our  share  of  the  world's  carrying  is  insignificant  indeed, 
and  we  pay  foreign  ships,  owned  by  our  competitors  in  the 
world's  markets,  nearly  three  hundred  millions  dollars  an- 
nually for  carrying  our  goods  to  the  points  of  competition.  My 
patriotism  revolts  at  such  a  situation.  On  the  grand  Pacific 
Ocean,  whose  boisterous  waves  lash  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  of  our  shores,  we  have  less  than  three  per  cent,  of  the 
carrying  trade.  Why  this  melancholy  change?  Through 
what  influence  has  the  American  abandoned  the  waves?  Why 
have  we  yielded  the  helm  to  other  hands?  Why  have  we  sur- 
rendered an  industry,  without  which  no  nation  ever  became 
truly  great?  Let  us  inquire.  Well,  in  the  fulness  of  our 
strength  and  our  greatness  as  a  maritime  power,  gold,  yellow 
gold  was  discovered  in  "far  off  California."  Our  race,  you 
know,  is  controlled  by  dominant  ideas  and  gold,  gold,  gold, 
became  the  ruling  passion.  The  wisest  American  knew  little 
of  the  possessions  of  which  we  boasted;  we  abandoned  the 
seas;  our  ships  swung  at  anchor  until  the  cables  parted  and 
they  floated  leisurely  to  the  distance,  disappearing — I  hope 
not  forever.  The  skipper  and  the  sailor  plunged  into  the 
mines  for  gold.  As  a  nation,  we  reversed  the  history  of 
progressive  action.  Instead  of  crossing  the  sea  from  land 
to  land  in  search  of  pay  cargoes,  we  crossed  the  land  from 
sea  to  sea,  in  search  of  pay  dirt.  We  opened  our  arms  to 
the  world;  the  world  came  and  soon  we  were  numerically 
strong.  In  searching  for  gold  we  discovered  the  greater  wealth 
of  our  country,  the  wealth  of  soil,  and  forest  and  baser  mines, 
and  in  the  genius  of  our  people,  which  had  been  aroused  by 
the  ever  enlarging  opportunities.  The  energies  of  the  nation 
were  exerted  in  developing  the  interior  resources  of  the  coun- 
try. So  rapidly  did  we  grow,  so  rapidly  did  we  multiply,  that 
the  market  and  the  system  of  exchange  satisfied  the  ambition 
of  the  most  progressive  for  many  years.  The  achievements  of 
America  during  these  ambitious  decades  pales  the  lustre  of  the 
world's  authentic  history.  But  now  what?  Our  temple  is 
erected;our  shops  are  finished;the  grandest  industrial  machine 
ever  conceived  by  man  awaits  the  touch  of  a  spring  to  leap 
into  action.    We  have  become  the  most  wealthy,  the  most  pro- 


102 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


grussive  aud  the  most  ambitious  of  people.  Of  course,  you 
■'foreigners"  will  pardon  me  for  appearing  to  speak  so  directly 
of  my  own  country,  but  these  things  alfect  you  all  very  deeply. 

i^et  mc  tell  you.  We  now  produce  more  of  the  things  that 
satisfy  huuiau  wants  than  any  other  four  nations  on  the  globe, 
aside'from  England,  a  tliird  more  than  even  she.  But  we  now 
discover  that  the  American  stomach  will  not  hold  the  Ameri- 
can crop;  we  now  discover  that  our  means  and  our  powers  of 
production  have  far  outrun  our  capacity  for  consumption,  and 
that  our  improved  conditions  and  our  improved  wants,  de- 
mand a  broader  exchange.  We  must  go  abroad,  as  other  pro- 
gressive people  have  done  before  us,  we  must  have  a  market 
for  our  surplus  products.  This  is  the  crucial  test  of  our 
civilization,  and  our  social  system.  Can  we  adjust  ourselves 
to  the  demands  of  this  jH-ogressive  age?  Evefy  nation  is 
striving  to  secure  a  market  among  other  nations,  for  its  sur- 
plus products.  Rememlx^r,  this  is  an  age  of  aggressive  action, 
an  age  of  intense  activity,  an  age  of  almost  warlike  competi- 
tion because  it  is  an  industrial  age  of  vast  surpluses.  Each 
strives  to  get  abroad.  Each  nation  is  striving  to  do  unto 
others  what  it  would  not  have  others  do  unto  them.  The  sal- 
vation of  each  country  seems  to  be  in  finding  a  market  for  its 
products,  that  its  labor  may  be  employed,  and  its  civilized 
wants  may  be  somewhat  satisfied. 

Now,  no  nation  more  emphatically  requires  a  foreign  market 
than  ourselves.    We  have  demonstrated  our  capacity  for  pro- 
duction, as  well  as  our  capacity  for  competition,  under  proper 
conditions.     But  here  is  an  important  matter.     Production 
has  become  so  specialized  that  it  requires  to-day  greater  capi- 
tal, greater  energy,  greater  mental  capacity  aud  a  greater  num- 
ber of  people  to  carry,  to  sell,  to  handle  and  to  exchange 
the  products  of  industry,  than  to  produce  them.    The  condi- 
tions of  this  commercial  and  progi-essive  age  have  evolved 
this  phase  of  civilized  progress.    We  must  meet  the  world  in 
competition,  in  the  world's  own  markets,  but  we  must  re- 
member  that   all   the   productions   of   man's   skill   must  be 
moved  from  the  point  of  production  to  the  point  of  con- 
sumption.   This  is  transportation.    Tbis  is  another  important 
factor  in  commerce,  in  exchange.     We  have  the  goods,  but 
iiow  are  we  to  "get  there?"    How  shall  we,  how  do  we  reach 
I  lie  point  of  competition?     How  shall  we,  my  countrymen, 
meet  our  competitors  on  anything  like  equal  terms?     Shall 
we  become  inland  drudges  exerting  our  stupendous  energies 
only  in  creating  goods?  or  shall  we  broaden  the  scope  of  our 
sjilendid  man  and  womanhood  by  enlarging  our  industrial 
appliances.    Now  let  us  think  again.    I  reminded  you  that  we 
had   practically  abandoned   the   seas.     Practically,   we  have 
no  ships  and  our  producers  are  at  the  mercy  of  their  com- 
petitors in  the  means  of  reaching  the  point  of  competition. 
The  carriers  of  the  world,  you  know,  may  easily  control  the 
channels  of  the  world's  trade,  and  crush  or  spare  their  com- 
.  petitors  at  will.     We  have  no  ships,  remember,  practically, 
■and  we  now  pay  nearly  three  hundred  million  dollars  an- 
nually to  foreign  shipowners,  to  our  competitors,  for  carry- 
ing our  goods  to  the  point  of  competition.    How  can  we  suc- 
cessfully meet  such  a  condition  of  affairs?    It  is  impossible, 
even  with  our  boasted  superiority  of  energy  and  business 
capacity,  to  overcome  such  disadvantages   as    these.      Now, 
while  the  most  of  us,  on  general  principles,  are  opposed  to 
S[)ecial  favors  and  feel  that  every  man  and  every  industry 
should  stand  upon  its  own  merits,  we  are  confronted  by  a 
condition  and  not  by  a  theory.     We  must  get  abroad,  or  de- 
pression, stagnation,  idleness,  discontent,  sedition  and  possi- 
ble revolution,  may  arise  to  close  our  magnificent  pretensions. 
We  must  get  abroad,  or  our  progress  will  be  checked,  and 
we  must  yield  the  advanced  position  to  others,  to  less  pre- 
tentious hands.     Commercially  our  condition    is    almost    a 
melancholy  one,  but  we  must  awaken  to  our  new  duties. 
What  is  our  renu'dy?    On  principle,  we  may  lie  opposed  to 


subvention,  to  subsidizing  anything.  Yes,  on  principle,  we 
are  opposed  to  war;  on  principle  we  are  opposed  to  many 
things,  but  under  certain  conditions,  patriotism  demands  that 
we  change  our  policy.  We  are  so  determinedly  opposed  to 
war,  and  such  lovers  of  harmony,  that  we  will  have  peace  if 
we  have  to  fight  for  it.  We  have  been  opposed  to  subsidizing 
ships,  but  we  are  confronted  by  a  condition,  for  when  any 
great  nation  adopts  the  policy  of  subsidy,  others  must  follow 
suit  or  be  left  behind  the  procession.  Subsidy  may  not  be 
the  best  means  of  obviating  the  difficulty,  but  something  must 
be  done.  Can  we  afford  to  abandon  the  seas?  Can  we  afford 
to  rely  upon  our  competitors  to  carry  our  goods  to  the  point 
of  competition?  Can  we  afford  to  abandon  a  sphere  of  action 
for  which  our  people  by  nature  are  so  well  fitted?  Now,  sup- 
pose we  should  subsidize  American  ships  to  the  extent,  say 
of  three  per  cent,  of  the  amount  we  now  pay  foreign  ship 
owners.  Should  we  go  to  this  extent,  we  would  encourage 
American  sea  carrying  from  seven  to  nine  million  dollars  a 
year.  This  would  bring  into  existence,  in  a  few  years,  a  finer 
commercial  merchant  marine  than  now  plies  the  ocean  under 
any  flag.  This  would  enable  American  producers  to  go  abroad 
on  even  terms  with  their  competitors;  it  would  do  more,  it 
would  create  a  merchant  marine,  to  man  which  would  require  a 
quarter  of  a  million  men  and  to  build  and  supply  which  would 
require  another  quarter  of  a  million,  and  this  would  solve  the 
unemployed  question  for  an  indefinite  future. 

Now,  let  me  tell  you,  the  sea  has  always  been  the  best 
refuge  for  the  discontented,  for  the  dissatisfied,  for  the  re- 
fractory and  seditious  element  of  society.  Then  this  diversity 
"f  industry  would  broaden  the  scope  of  our  national  life,  that 
employment  for  mind  and  body  would  be  pos.sible  for  all  our 
people.  With  a  merchant  marine,  worthy  of  our  pretentions, 
our  flag  would  be  known,  would  be  respected  the  world  over, 
and  would  mean  something  to  our  own  people.  In  our  mer- 
chant marine,  there  would  be  a  member  of  every  hamlet  and 
almost  every  family  of  our  country,  and  our  flag  would  become 
an  object  of  national  admiration,  yes,  of  national  adoration. 
Loyalty  would  be  more  than  a  sentiment,  more  than  a  dream, 
'twould  touch  the  heart  and  the  home  of  every  true  American. 
Let  me  tell  you,  ray  countrymen,  without  a  merchant  marine, 
we  will  be  unable  to  dispose  of  our  surplus  products  as  we 
will  be  hampered  in  this  competitive  war;  without  disposing 
of  our  surplus  we  cannot  keep  our  vast  industrial  machine 
running,  and  with  this  even  checked  in  its  operations  a  large 
number  of  our  population  will  be  in  idleness  and  want;  with 
idleness  and  want  there  will  be  discontent,  then  will  dangerous 
factions  arise  and  then  may  come  sedition  and  revolution  to 
wreck  our  promises  for  the  regeneration  of  the  world.  I  am 
no  alannist,  but  for  the  love  of  my  country,  I  plead  for  a 
symmetrical  development  that  will  confer  the  greatest  bles- 
sings on  the  greatest  number  of  our  people.  It  is  surely  to  be 
regretted  that  the  millennium  has  not  yet  dawned,  and  that 
great  navies  are  regarded  as  necessary.  With  our  changed 
condition  the  necessity  of  a  greater  naval  force  in  our  country 
is  almost  universally  conceded.  But  how  can  a  people  sup- 
port a  navy  without  a  commercial  marine  from  wliich  to  re- 
cruit the  navy?  With  a  great  commercial  marine,  manned 
by  Americans,  as  it  should  be,  there  would  always  be  a  naval 
force  ready  with  a  few  days'  training  for  any  emergency.  It 
is  not  England's  vast  navy  that  makes  her  invincible  at  sea, 
i)ut  her  280,000  seafaring  men,  who  stand  ready  to  man  the 
U'uns  upon  the  sea.  It  is  folly  to  talk  of  a  navy  which  must 
depend  upon  foreigners  to  man  its  guns.  Under  present  con- 
ditions we,  by  our  vast  practical  subsidies  to  foreign  ships, 
are  keeping  afloat  the  navies  of  the  world;  are  keeping  afloat 
Ihc  navies  tlint  may  overwhelm  us.  Of  this,  of  course,  we 
have  no  IVai-.  I'lul  a  miTcbaiil  marine  is  an  absolute  neces- 
silv,   to   cniilili'    .Americans    to    compete   successfully   in   the 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  18,  1899 


103 


world's  markets,  where  we  must  compete,  or  smother  in  our 
own  grease. 

Let  us  go  back  upon  the  seas!  Let  us  reoccupy  this  great 
sphere  of  human  action,  for  which  we  are  so  well  fitted  by 
nature.  Let  us  grapple  again  with  the  waves,  where  we  stood 
so  proudly  conspicuous  less  than  half  a  century  ago.  With  a 
merchant  marine,  we  can  successfully  get  abroad,  and  once 
abroad,  we  can  successfully  compete  anywhere. 

This  brings  us  to  another  question.  With  the  surplus,  and 
with  the  ships,  where  are  we  to  find  a  market?  All  the  nations 
have  surpluses.  All  the  nations  are  striving,  striving  in  the 
competitive  markets.  Each  must  find  a  market  to  satisfy  its 
people,  to  employ  its  labor  and  to  fulfill  its  destiny.  But  none 
are  driven  by  a  greater  necessity  than  we.  We  must  find  new 
fields  for  the  exercise  of  our  enormous  powers,  for  the  dis- 
posal of  our  enormous  surpluses,  for  the  expansion  of  our 
stupendous  energies.    Now  where  shall  we  turn? 

In  the  far  East,  in  this  new  old  world,  there  has  recently 
arisen  from  its  centuries  of  slumber,  a  country  containing 
one-third  of  the  human  race.  These  Orientals,  these  Chi- 
nese, are  a  peculiar  jjeople,  but  they  are  very  human  and 
once  aroused,  their  wants  will  enormously  multiply,  for  I 
say  they  are  awfully  human.  China  is  an  unexploited  world. 
China  has  approximately  four  hundred  millions  of  people 
who  are  but  recently  touched  by  the  magic  spark  of  civili- 
zation. It  is  folly  to  quote  statistics;  it  is  folly  to  write  enor- 
mous columns  of  figures;  it  is  folly  to  speculate  on  the 
probable  or  possible  magnitude  of  this  trade  in  the  East, 
for  it  is  positively  beyond  computation.  A  people's  capacity 
for  consumption  is  only  equalled  by  their  capacity  for 
production,  and  a  suddenly  awakened  people  reach  out 
in  their  desires  as  earnestly  and  passionately  as  those  of  older 
civilization.  None  can  calculate  the  trade  of  four  hundred 
millions  of  people.  Who  could  ever  have  dreamed  that  four 
millions  of  people  would  export  and  import  three 
hundred  and  sixty  million  dollars  worth  of  goods  per  year, 
as  do  the  wide  awake  and  enterprising  Australians.  Of 
course,  the  Chinese  are  not  Australians,  but  consider,  the 
population  and  the  possibilities  become  staggering.  But 
China  must  be  our  future  market.  Upon  the  shores  of  the 
broad  Pacific  there  already  arises  a  prophecy  of  a  coming 
change,  greater  and  grander  than  we  ever  witnessed  before 
in  the  history  of  the  world.  China  once  aroused,  her  capac- 
ity for  production  increased,  she  will  furnish  a  market  for 
other  nations  for  generations.  But  in  this  matter  there  are 
some  serious  questions  to  be  considered.  The  eyes  of  all 
nations  are  centered  on  China.  Here  must  the  competitive 
war  be  carried  on,  by  methods  which  we  may  aid  in  shaping 
for  the  future.  In  China  the  capacity  of  the  different  na- 
tions, the  different  peoples,  evolved  by  different  systems  of 
government,  musit  test  the  virtue  of  their  manhood  and  of 
their  peculiar  institutions.  Now  here  is  an  important  mat- 
ter. Under  our  free  in.«titutions,  we  have  developed  the 
sturdy  individual  in  the  unit  of  our  society,  which  is  the  chief 
factor  in  our  social  and  political  structure.  No  king,  no 
counsel,  no  parliament  or  no  congress,  can  guide  a  people 
as  wisely  as  they  will  guide  themselves,  when  each  is  left 
to  pursue  his  or  her  choice  in  means  for  betterment.  Upon 
the  individual  effort  is  the  success  of  our  national  life  based. 
Upon  the  success  of  the  individual,  depends  the  success  of  the 
nation,  for  the  greatness  of  a  nation  consists  in  the  greatness 
of  the  individuals  composing  the  nation.  This  success  born 
of  the  sense  and  genius  of  our  country,  I  say  has  aroused 
the  discontent  of  the  struggling  millions  of  the  civilized  old 
world.  Then  in  this  new  competition,  there  may  have  to 
be  fought  out,  not  only  the  relative  merits  of  our  industrial 
systems,  but  the  fitness  and  the  capacity  of  the  people  of 
different  political  systems  to  adjust  themselves  to  the  new 
order  of  things.     It  may  be  more  than  an  industrial  com- 


petition. It  may  be  the  test  of  individualism  or  centralism 
as  forces  in  the  evolution  of  civilization.  It  may  be  to  the 
interest  of  several  nations  to  partition  China,  that  they  may 
l)usy  giddy  minds  wi\h  foreign  broils,  or  foreign  opportuni- 
ties, and  thus  perpetuate  for  a  time  the  old  sy,sten¥.'  By  the 
division  of  spheres  of  influence  in  China,  different  countries 
might  find  abundance  of  markets  for  their  products,  places 
for  their  ambitious  and  discontented  citizens,  and  many  re- 
wards for  those  whose  influence  they  desire  to  retain.  "  But 
the  door  of  China  must  be  left  open.  It  must  be  left  wide 
open.  To  the  individualism  of  America,  of  Britain,  and 
of  the  struggling  world,  it  is  an  overwhelming  necessity,  but 
especially  to  America.  The  salvation  of  America  depends 
upon  her  finding  an  outlet  for  her  surplus  products,  and 
this  is  th?'one  unexploited  field.  With  the  door  of  China 
open,  there  may  be  markets  found  for  our  surplus  products 
for  generations  to  come.  I  have  no  fear  of  the  industrial 
competition  in  China.  It  is  folly  to  remind  us  that  these 
people  are  "small  consumers,"  for  human  desires  increa.se 
with  human  knowledge,  and  consumption  increases  with  the 
capacity  of  a  people  to  buy,  or  to  satisfy  their  wants.  The 
possibilities  of  the  awakened  wajits  of  the  people  of  China 
are  beyond  the  dreams  of  the  mo^  enthu.siastic  speculator. 
The  demands  of  China  will  increase  with  the  awakening  of 
China.  Her  industrial  progress  will  increase  her  capacity 
to  purchase  and  like  other  peoples,  she  will  purcha.se  up  to 
her  producing  capacity.  We  are  often  warned  that  China, 
once  thoroughly  aroused,  with  her  tireless  industry  and  imi- 
tative skill  applied  to  modern  methods  of  production,  would 
ovei-whelm  the  civilized  nations  with  the  products  of  her 
cheap  and  efficient  labor.  No  greater  folly  was  ever  preached 
to  a  people,  in  my  opinion.  This  is  to  assume  the  unnat- 
ural. It  is  to  assume  that  awakened  China  would  be  con- 
tent to  live  as  sleeping  China  has  lived,  during  the  many 
centuries  of  her  nationhood.  It  is  to  assume  that  a  people 
fired  by  the  ambition  of  modem  civilization  would  be  con- 
tent to  live  the  lives  of  ancient  serfs  and  slaves.  It  is  as- 
suming the  grotesque,  the  unnatural,  the  impossible.  To- 
day the  people  of  China,  like  the  people  of  other  countries, 
live  on  a  plane  measured  by  their  earnings.  Their  wants 
are  restricted  to  their  purchasing  power.  In  China,  as  in 
other  countries,  the  plane  of  the  living  of  the  individual 
corresponds  with  the  income.  Economy  is  not  natural  with 
them,  it  is  only  a  necessity.  His  Excellency,  the  Minister  of 
the  Celestial  Empire  to  our  land,  who  has  so  ably  and  elo- 
quently joined  in  our  discussion  here,  assures  us  that  grad- 
ually American  imports  into  China,  have  gained  on  China's 
exports  to  America,  and  that  lasit  year,  our  sales  to  China 
far  exceeded  our  purchases  from  China.  This  is,  as  any 
student  might  infer.  The  more  aroused  China  becomes,  the 
greater  become  her  wants  and  the  greater  also  becomes  her 
ability  to  buy  our  goods.  China  aroused  by  modern  ideas, 
fired  by  modern  ambition,  touched  deeply  by  the  magic  force 
of  modern  civilization,  will  find  it  possilile  to  remain  at  home, 
and  by  her  awakened  industrial  force,  she  will  be  able  to 
consume  fabulous  amounts  of  our  various  goods.  Commerce 
is  but  the  exchange  of  the  products  of  industry  by  methods 
we  call  purchase  and  sale,  and  the  more  wealthy,  intelligent 
and  productive  a  people  become,  the  more  they  have  of  their 
own  creation  to  exchange  for  the  creations  of  other  people. 
Individually  the  people  of  China  are  poor,  they  have 
little  to  buy  with,  as  their  methods  of  production  are  primi- 
tive, but  they  buy  all  they  are  able  to  pay  for.  Increase  the 
productive  capacity  of  China  tenfold,  and  you  will  increase 
her  wants  tenfold,  her  purchasing  capacity  tenfold,  and  her 
general  business  enterprise  at  the  same  ratio. 

It  is  not  in  a  race,  but  in  the  social  condition,  that  we 
see  economy  or  extravagance.  The  wants  of  all  people  in- 
crease more  rapidly  than  their  capacity  to  supply  such  wants, 


104 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


ami  in  this  is  the  safety  of  civilization.  Wealthy  Cliinamen 
live  extravagantly;  well-to-do  Chinamen  live  comfortably, 
and  poor  Chinamen  live  very  hard  indeed,  but  is  not  that 
liie  ease  with  all  peo])le,  regardless  of  race,  color  or  nation- 
ality? 

It  won"t  do,  the  barriers  of  China  are  broken  down;  China 
is  awakening;  her  millions  are  rubbing  their  eyes  preparing 
for  the  new  play  and  for  generations  she  will  furnish  the 
most  desirable  market  for  our  surplus  products  and  the  most 
interesting  history  in  the  pages  of  human  progress.  Ilcr 
door  must  be  kept  open,  well  open;  her  temtorial  integrity 
must  be  nuiintained;  her  autonomy  must  be  respected,  and 
we  must  adopt  a  policy  that  will  afTord  opportunities  for 
our  people  ecpial  to  any  other  nation  in  this  greaite^t  of  com- 
])etitive  markets  of  the  world. 

This  reminds  me  again  of  the  necessity  of  our  getting 
al)road  to  get  our  goods  to  the  door  of  this  falnilous  market. 
Now,  remember  I  remark  that  on  the  broad  I'acific  we  car- 
ried less  than  three  per  cent,  of  the  tonnage.  Further,  I 
may  remark,  that  the  people  who  live  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  world,  who  must  round  Cape  Ho:-n  or  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  or  pay  toll  through  the  Suez  Canal,  to  get  to 
the  Chinese  waters,  do  the  carrying  of  this  ocean  that  lashes 
a  thousand  miles  of  our  shore.  But  the  ships  doing  this 
trade  are  mostly  subsidized  sis  millions  of  dollars  per  year, 
being  paid  by  tlio  nations  whose  flag  protects  the  commerce. 
So  you  see  wo  are  not  in  it.  How  can  we  meet  this  com- 
petition? How  can  our  merchants  go  in  these  foreign  ships 
to  the  point  of  competition  and  meet  the  nations,  the  pro- 
ducers of  which  aid  their  carriers  to  such  an  extent.  We 
must  change  our  policy.  As  we  use  modern  machines  and 
modern  guns  on  emergencies,  so  we  must  adopt  the  methods 
in  our  commercial  pursuits,  used  by  our  competitors.  The 
highest  principle,  after  all,  is  to  promote  the  general  material 
interests  of  our  people,  for  industrial  prosperity  is  the  chief 
source  of  the  happiness  and  well  being  of  the  nation,  and 
the  individuals  composing  the  nation. 

Ijct  me  tell  you,  to  keep  our  people  employed,  and  thus 
contented,  intelligent,  loyal  and  free  from  the  mischievous 
iniluence  of  ambitious  or  designing  men,  our  great  industrial 
machiiu'  mu.st  be  kept  unceasingly  at  work.  To  keep  the 
industrial  machine  run)iing,  we  must  vastly  increase  our 
foreign  trade;  to  increase  our  foreign  trade,  we  must  find 
a  greater  market  and  devise  some  means  for  reaching  it  on 
terms  as  rea,sonable  as  those  enjoyed  by  our  competitors. 
Well,  we  have  the  most  perfect  industrial  machine  known 
to  the  world;  by  a  free  shipping  bill  or  some  subsidy  scheme, 
we  may  easily  furnish  means  of  employing  our  people  and 
of  carrying  our  goods  abroad;  we  have  discovered  a  market 
awaiting  us  in  the  Orient,  and  thank  God  and  old  Dewey,  and 
the  necessities  of  war,  and  a  firm  admini.stration,  we  hold 
to-day  one  of  the'  most  fair  and  fertile  spots  on  earth,  but 
six  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  the  door  of  the  only  un- 
exploited  country  on  this  earth,  and  I  have  a  firm  faith 
tiuit  our  enterprising  people  will  have  the  sagacity  to  make 
the  be,st  use  of  these  new  opportunities.  And  this  menus  a 
short  chapter  on  Manila. 

I)Ut  let  me  rendnd  you  that  the  most  vital  que.'^lion  of  the 
hour,  not  oidy  with  us,  but  with  all  other  nations,  is  the 
disj)Osa!  of  surpluses,  arising  from  the  application  of  science 
to  production.  IjcI  me  remind  you,  that  the  peace  and  prog- 
ress of  (Hir  countiy,  yes,  its  very  salvation,  rests  absolutely 
upon  our  success  in  the  disposition  of  our  surplus  in  the 
competitive  markets  of  the  outside  world.  Let  me  impress 
upon  you,  that  without  an  increased  foreign  market,  there 
must  1)0  increased  domestic  idleness,  which  must  bring  do- 
mestic discontent,  and  possible  friction  and  danger  to  the 
]ieace  and  safety  of  our  coimtry.  AVe  must  assume  a  posi- 
tion in  the  world,  commensurate  with  our  wealth,  our  intel- 


ligence, and  our  general  pretensions.  The  Far  East,  and 
chiefly  China,  I  believe,  must  be  largely  our  reliance  in  this 
overshadowing  necessity.  Well,  I  have  positive  opinions  re- 
regarding  recent  events  that  have  given  us  an  advantage  in 
the  Orient.  I  do  not  deny  to  others  an  equal  intelligence  or 
an  equal  patriotism.  I  do  not  deny  to  any  other  American 
the  right  to  express  an  honest  opinion.  I  do  not  claim  su- 
perior knowledge  or  sagacity,  regarding  the  public  policy  of 
our  country,  but  as  an  American,  I  claim  the  right  to  express 
my  opinions  freely.  For  myself,  considering  the  necessities 
born  of  our  industrial  progress,  the  fields  to  which  we  must 
turn  for  a  market  for  our  ever  increasing  surplus,  I  do  not 
weep  over  the  emergencies  that  placed  us  in  the  position  we 
now  occupy  so  near  the  door  to  the  Asiatic  markets.  Here 
again,  honest  men  may  differ  in  opinion,  but  from  the  be- 
ginning we  have  been  a  growing,  an  enterprising,  an  am- 
liitious  people  and  an  "expanding"  people.  Our  industries 
have  extended,  until  ruin  threatens  us  unless  we  find  a 
broader  market.  Our  ambition  has  expanded,  until  we  feel 
capable  of  the  most  marvelous  achievements.  Our  country 
has  expanded,  from  one  million  square  miles  along  the  East- 
ern border  of  the  Continent,  to  its  present  stupendous  wealth 
and  proportions.  Then  we  are  all  expansionists,  as  we  all 
approve  the  policy  of  our  forefathers,  in  making  our  grand 
country  whait  it  is,  and  really  worth,  living  in.  Let  us  think, 
again.  Genius  has  annihilated  time  and  space,  so  it  is  now 
a  question  of  cost  and  convenience  only,  in  discussing  our 
dealings  with  foreign  lands.  When  we  acquired  Louisiana 
— by  treaty — New  Orleans  was  further  from  Philadelphia,  in 
danger,  in  time  and  cost,  than  is  Manila  to-day.  We  ac- 
quired Louisiana  by  treaty,  before  we  knew  much  of,  or 
needed,  her  territory.  Then  we  had  few  people  and  a  com- 
]»aratively  broad  area  of  unoccupied  land.  We  acquired 
Florida,  by  treaty,  long  before  it  was  known  or  needed  by 
our  people.  In  time,  in  danger,  in  cost,  it  was  more  dis- 
tant than  Guam  is  to-day.  The  territoij  of  Florida  was  not 
needed,  but  we  "expanded";  I  am  glad  of  it.  Then  we  ac- 
quired Texas,  by  treaty.  It  was  so  distant  that  the  average 
American  knew  less  about  it  than  he  now  knows  of  Australia, 
(U'  the  Islands  of  the  Pacific.  We  "expanded";  I  am  glad  of 
it.  Then  by  a  war,  regarded  by  nuiny  as  hardly  justifiable, 
we  acquired  about  all  that  was  worth  having  of  Mexico — - 
by  treaty.  We  "expanded;"  I  am  glad  of  it.  In  time,  and 
cost  it  was  more  distant  than  the  furthermost  parts  of  the 
earth  are  to-day,  from  the  centre  of  our  wealth  and  popula- 
tion. We  never  acquired  an  inch  of  territory  thait  has  not 
proven  an  advantage  to  us,  though  we  never  acquired  an 
inch  of  territory  without  tlie  l)itterest  opposition  from  pa- 
triotic men.  To  souls  caged  in  a  shell,  growth  is  i>ainful. 
When  we  had  reached  from  ocean  to  ocean  and  from  lake 
to  gulf,  when  we  had  become  a  mighty  people,  though  before 
we  needed  additional  territory,  we  acquired,  by  treaty,  Ala.ska, 
but  patriotic  men  objected.  We  expanded,  and  I  am  glad 
of  it.  Each  and  every  one  of  these  acquisitions  became  oure 
by  treaty,  when  they  were  very  distant  in  time  and  cost,  and 
long  before  they  were  needed  by  our  people.  I  am  an  ex- 
pansionisit,  because  I  approve  of  the  expansion  policy  of  my 
country,  a  policy  without  the  adoption  of  which  we  would 
to-day  have  been  one  of  the  minor  powers  of  the  world. 
Well,  later  still,  through  the  fortunes  of  one  of  the  most 
justifialile  wars  in  the  anmils  of  the  world,  Manila  fell  into 
OU1-  lap.  and  by  a  gemu-ous  and  riilightened  treaty  on  our 
|ini-t,  we  acquired  the  Philippine  (iroup  with  their  capital 
iiul  six  hundred  find  forty  miles  from  a  gi-eat  and  expanding 
nuirket.  As  wo  acquired  the  Philippines  by  the  same  means 
we  acquired  tliree-foni-t  lis  of  oiii'  mtire  present  territory,  i 
regard  llicm  as  much  a  part  of  the  rightful  jwssessions  of 
our  cduiitrv  iis  Iowa,  California,  Oregon  or  Washington.  If 
I   liclievc'il  ill  till'  mcildlesonu'm\ss  of  a  partial   I'rovideiU'e  in 


SIXTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  18,  1899 


105 


the  bloody  affairs  of  men,  I  would  point  to  our  acquisition 
of  the  Philippines  as  an  evidence  of  Divine  favor.  Now  let 
us  be  honest.  All  the  country  we  have  acquired,  we  have 
acquired  by  treaty,  and  we  have  extended  the  blessings  of 
our  humane  government  over  many  peoples.  We  gave  to 
the  inhabitants  of  all  our  acquired  territory,  opportunities  for 
enlightenment  and  progress.  Now,  as  we  acquired  the  Phil- 
ippines by  the  same  methods  by  which  we  acquired  our  other 
territory,  I  feel  that  we  are  bound  to  defend  their  territorial 
integrity  as  we  -would  defend  that  of  Florida  or  California. 
I  impute  no  unholy  motives  to  others,  but  I  could  reconcile 
no  other  position  in  this  matter  as  consis'tent  with  my  con- 
ception of  loyalty  and  duty  to  my  countij  and  her  institu- 
tions. I  am  a  Southerner,  but  I  remember  that  once  upon 
a  time  a  very  respectable  number  of  very  respectable  people 
proitested  against  marching  in  the  main  procession  of  the 
Union,  and  it  was  very  firmly  decided  to  use  the  ancient 
arts  of  persuasion  in  the  matter.  I  remember,  too,  that  some 
very  intelligent  and  very  respectable  gentlemen  denied  the 
right  of  this  government  to  control  certain  political  paddocks, 
without  the  consent  of  the  people,  and  their  attention  was 
very  forcibly  called  to  some  peculiar  definitions  of  some  very 
expressive  terms  in  the  English  language. 

Well,  briefly,  let  us  look  at  the  condition  of  the  Philip- 
pines. I  have  never  been  there.  I  boast  of  no  personal 
knowledge  of  them,  though  I  have  had  close  business  and 
social  relations  with  many  hundreds  of  people  who  have  been 
studying  them  and  doing  Inisiness  with  them  for  many  years. 
I  regard  the  Islands  as  among  the  most  valuable  of  our  ter- 
ritorial acquisitions.  Of  course,  their  possibilities  are  largely 
matters  of  speculation,  but  we  have  a  very  correct  idea  of 
what  American  enterprise  can  do  in  a  country  with  great 
resources.  Among  the  seven  millions  of  people,  said  to  exist 
on  these  Islands,  there  are  several  races  and  many  tribes, 
speaking  different  languages,  believing  in  different  religions 
and  enjoying  varied  degrees  of  civilization,  or  none,  the  high- 
est of  which  is  low  as  measured  by  our  standard.  To  say 
Aguinaldo  represents  the  sentiments,  the  feelings,  or  the  in- 
terests of  any  considerable  portion,  even  of  his  own  race,  to 
my  mind  is  absurd.  To  say  that  he  represents  the  people 
of  the  Islands,  is  too  foolish  for  refutation,  and  to  say  that 
people  of  the  Philippines  are  fighting  for  liberty  is  using 
terms  of  which  they  have  but  the  dreamiest  conception. 
We  acquired  these  Islands  frqm  Spain,  by  treaty.  Her  title 
to  them  has  been  acknowledged  by  the  powers  for  more  than 
three  hundred  years.  We  acquired  all  her  rights,  her  titles 
and  paid  for  them.  The  people  belonged  on  the  Islands  and 
owed  allegiance  to  the  legal  possessors  of  the  Islands.  Agui- 
naldo and  his  little  band  of  half-savage  disturbers  are  in  re- 
volt against  the  legal  authority  of  the  United  States,  now 
the  legal  possessors  and  owners  of  the  Islands.  To  my  mind 
that  revolt  must  be  suppressed,  yes,  it  must  be  crushed,  and 
order  restored  among  the  people.  To  my  mind  no  question 
of  form  of  government  for  the  Islands,  should  engage  the 
attention  of  our  people  imtil  the  rebellion  is  quieted.  To  me 
the  cry  of  Imperialism  is  all  cant.  There  are  no  Imperialists  in 
America,  there  are  no  American  citizens  who  woiild  not  grant 
these  people  all  the  privileges  and  all  the  libei'ty  consistent 
with  the  l)est  interests  of  the  whole.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  we  will  give  the  people  security,  that  we  will  give  them 
the  best  government  they  are  capable  of  enjoying,  that  we 
will  give  them  protection  against  the  rapacity  and  the  op- 
pression of  their  own  ambitious  countrymen  and  all  the  power 
suggested  by  their  capacity  for  the  exercise  of  political  au- 
thority. I  say,  hold  the  Philippines,  not  only  as  a  matter 
of  defending  our  rights,  not  only  as  a  matter  of  defending 
nur  legally  acquired  teri-itory,  and  not  only  as  a  matter  of 
l)atriotism  and  duty  to  those  whom  the  fortunes  of  war  has 
thrown  into  our  care,  but  because  our  business  interests  de- 


mand that  course.  Eecent  events  have  forced  upon  us  new- 
responsibilities,  and  we  cannot  shirk  them.  We  cannot  aban- 
don one  inch  of  soil  over  which  our  flag  has  ever  floated, 
without  doing  violence  to  our  pride  and  our  pretentions  as 
a  nation.  We  cannot  abandon  one  inch  of  soil  acquired  by 
treaty,  and  in  justice  to  our  industrial  classes,  we  cannot 
abandon  any  possession  which  broadens  our  opportunities  for 
industrial  development.  Patriotism  and  the  interests  of  our 
people  demand  that  we  stand  firm.  I  believe  in  our  institu- 
tions, I  believe  in  our  obligations  to  the  weak,  and  I  believe 
in  our  grand  destiny  as  a  civilizing  force  for  the  future. 
Great  men  are  scarce.  I  wish  I  were  great,  that,  when  I  tell 
the  American  people  that  the  salvation  of  this  country  de- 
pends upon  an  increased  foreign  trade,  that  a  merchant  ma- 
rine is  an  absolute  necessity,  and  that  a  halt  in  this  emer- 
gency means  that  we  are  not  in  the  vanguard  of  progress, 
they  would  listen  to  my  appeal.  To  conclude,  then,  my 
friends,  America  must  have  a  merchant  marine,  she  must 
build,  own  and  operate  the  Nicaragua  f'anal,  and  she  must 
have  the  door  of  China  left  wide  open  to  her  commerce,  or 
her  efforts  in  the  future  movements  of  our  race  will  be  so 
restricted  that  her  civilizing  influence  will  be  largely  lost  to 
the  world.     Thank  you.     (Applause.) 

Minister  Wii  Tliiri-faiig: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  in  reply  to  a 
gentleman  who  has  previously  spoken.  He  said  that  China 
has  four  hundred  nuUions  of  people,  and  if  the  law  of  ex- 
clusion is  abolished  the  four  hundred  million  Chinese  would 
all  come  to  America.  That  is  his  statement  of  the  question, 
but  I  am  very  sure  they  would  not  come,  and  I  am  obliged 
to  him  for  having  made  that  statement  because  it  affords  me 
an  op])ortunity  for  answering  him. 

That  question  has  often  been  debated  by  people,  and  it 
often  shows  itself  in  the  press,  and  ]  am  glad  of  it;  and  I  am 
glad  that  I  now  have  the  opportunity  of  answering  his  state- 
ment. 

He  says  that  if  the  Chinese  were  allowed  to  come  here,  a 
very  large  part  of  the  population  of  China  would  come  here. 
But  he  does  not  understand  the  ])eculiar  circumstances  in 
China.  I  must  tell  him,  if  that  gentleman  is  here,  that  they 
come  from  only  two  or  three  districts  in  the  Canton  prov- 
ince. You  never  find  here  in  this  country  any  Chinese  from 
the  northern  part  of  China.  You  never  find"  here  any  Chi- 
nese from  the  central  part  of  China.  You  have  heard  to- 
day about  Shanghai,  but  you  have  never  heard  of  a  China- 
man from  Shanghai  coming  here.  I  appeal  to  all  gentlemen 
who  are  acquainted  with  China,  whether  they  have  ever  found 
a  Shanghai  Chinaman  in  America,  except  as  a  member  of 
my  Legation,  of  course:  but  not  as  a  trader,  nor  as  a  work- 
man, you  never  find  them  here.  What  is  the  population  of 
the  Chinese  in  America?  Only  about  one  hundred  thousand; 
and  they  are  found  in  your  large  cities,  such  as  San  Fran- 
cisco, New  York,  AVashington,  and  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  But  this  one  hundred  thousand  Chinese,  who  are 
they?  They  all  come  from  Zse-ling  and  San-ifoi,  and  one 
other  district.  I  will  tell  you  why.  Because  thirty  years 
ago,  when  you  eon.structed  your  railway  from  the  East  to 
the  West  you  were  then  in  need  of  laborers,  and  you  sent  to 
t'hina  for  them;  and  you  invited  the  Chinese,  and  held  out 
inducements  for  them  to  come  here  to  work  on  your  railroad. 
If  you  had  not  sent  for  the  Chinese  to  come  liere,  the  Chi- 
nese would  never  have  come  here,  I  am  sure.  But  you 
wanted  the  Chinese  laborers  in  this  country,  and  got  several 
thousand  of  them  from  Canton.  These  are  the  poor  laborers 
from  Canton,  who  came  here  to  work  and  got  from  twenty 
dollars  to  thirty  dollars  per  month  for  their  work,  and  then 
they  went  home  and  reported  to  their  friends  and  relations, 
and  so  they  came  to  this  country;  Init  thev  only  come  from 


106 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRPISS 


Mu'se  hvo  districts.  And  these  two  districts  liave  only  a 
population  of  one  million.  Suppose  you  were  to  abolish  your 
exclusion  laws,  why,  there  would  not  be  more  than  one  half 
a  million  of  Chinese  to  come  here,  I  guarantee,  no  more. 
And  what  is  a  half  million  of  Chinese  here  in  this  vast  coun- 
try? You  will  be  benefited  here  by  them — by  Chinese  labor- 
ers coming  here.  They  don't  rob  you;  they  work  for  you  by 
the  sweat  of  their  brow,  and  they  have  to  work  here  day  and 
night;  they  are  useful  servants;  they  do  not  steal,  and  if  you 
do  not  employ  them  of  course  they  will  go  away.  They  only 
\rant  to  cam  an  honest  penny,  and  if  yon  want  to  employ 
t  hem,  well  and  good.  My  only  reason  for  getting  up  was  to 
refute  your  argument.  You  fear  that  the  Chinese  will  come 
here  in  large  numbers.  There  is  no  fear  of  that,  and  as  re- 
gards their  living  in  this  country,  I  admit  they  want  to  make 
a  few  dollars  and  go  home.  The  American  and  English  peo- 
ple, they  go  to  China  and  they  want  to  make  their  pile  just 
I  lie  same.  (Applause.)  Why  do  you  blame  them?  You 
need  not  blame  them;  they  want  to  make  a  few  thousaml 
dollars  and  go  home,  the  same  as  you  do.  You  go  to  a  foreign 
country  for  the  same  purpose;  the  same  as  you  know  of  somr 
people  coming  here.  I  want  to  infonn  you  that  these  Chi- 
nese in  their  own  counti-y  have  very  few  luxuries.  When 
ihey  come  here  they  learn  your  habits,  and  they  spend  their 
money  freely.  I  know  that  from  personal  experience.  Now, 
wiien  you  go  to  China,  you  go  to  China  how?  You  go  there 
and  you  spend  your  money.  That  is  the  way  all  the  foreigners 
in  China  do.  And  that  is  the  way  the  Chinese  will  do,  and 
as  soon  as  they  learn  to  smoke  your  cigars  and  drink  your 


champagne,  they  will  live  luxuriously  and  spend  their  money. 
They  do  not  save  much  money.  What  I  want  to  say  is  with 
regard  to  this  vast  trade — China  could  furnish  a  vast  trade 
for  this  country.  Is  it  wortli  your  while  to  keep  on  your 
statute  books  this  exclusion  law  against  the  Chinese?  I  say 
it  is  against  your  interest  in  the  long  run,  and  that  the  law 
should  be  abolished,  and  the  sooner  it  is  al)olished  the  sooner 
you  will  be  benefited  by  it.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Frazar: 

As  the  programme  is  fini.shed,  I  beg  to  propose  that  this 
meeting  will  adjourn  to  meet  to-morrow  morning  at  10.30 
o'clock. 

A  Delegate: 

One  moment.  I  would  like  to  make  a  motion  that  in  fu- 
ture, resolutions  shall  be  offered  one  day,  and  acted  upon  the 
next. 

Hun.  Coriicliiis  N.  Bliss: 

You  have  heard  the  motion,  are  there  any  remarks? 

(The  question  being  on  the  motion  that  all  resolutions 
hereafter  should  be  acted  upon  the  day  succeeding  the  pre- 
sentation, it  was  ag^i'eed  to.) 

On  motion  of  T.  R.  Wheelock,  the  Congress  adjourned  to 
meet  Thursday  morning  at  10.30  o'clock. 


-MP 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


SEV15NTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadelphia,  Thursday,  October  19,  1899. 
Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  in  the  Convention  Hall, 
Exposition  Unilding,  at  11.10  a.  m.,  by  Director  W.  P.  Wil- 
son. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson :  i 

I  have  to  announce,  on  behalf  of  the  exhibitors  in  the 
Exposition,  that  there  will  be  a  smoker  this  evening  in  this 
room,  to  which  all  the  foreign  delegates  are  invited.  It  will 
consist  of  some  entertainment.  I  believe  there  is  a  cake-walk 
mentioned,  and  some  other  things.  This  is  gotten  up  entirely 
by  the  manufacturers  here  exhibiting  in  the  Exposition,  and 
they  are  the  hosts  of  the  evening.  I  will  state,  at  the  same 
time,  that  this  room  and  the  general  guests'  room  will  be  open 
on  Monday  evening  to  a  general  meeting  for  the  foreign 
delegates,  the  delegates  from  the  States,  and  business  men  in 
the  Exposition  and  out  of  it,  who  desire  to  meet  the  foreign 
delegates  from  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  from  the 
governments,  for  the  discussion  of  business  relations  or  any 
other  topics  of  interest.  On  Monday  evening  at  eight  o'clock 
you  will  be  the  guests  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum  in  this  room  and  in  the  adjoining  room. 

I  have  to  announce  that  the  German-American  Section, 
which  has  been  holding  its  sessions  daily,  presents  its  com- 
pliments to  the  Congress  and  requests  the  president  to  an- 
nounce that  the  sessions  of  the  German-American  Section 
will  be  held  daily  in  the  forenoon  only,  at  the  Commercial 
Museum,  beginning  at  10  o'clock,  and  that  any  American 
manufacturer  desiring  to  express  his  views  with  reference  to 
the  difBculties  in  the  way  of  a  freer  and  fuller  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  two  countries  is  heartily  invited  to 
attend  the  sessions.  We  have  this  morning  a  very  interesting 
series  of  subjects  before  its.  We  have  with  us  Mr.  Everett 
Frazar,  the  Consul-General  of  Korea  and  president  of  the 
American-Asiatic  Association,  who  is  well  known  to  many  of 
you.  I  have  the  pleasure  to  introduce  Mr.  Frazar  as  the  pre- 
siding officer  of  the  day. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  and  Delegates,  Business  Men 
and  Minister  of  Japan:  We  have  considered  that  China  and 
Japan  days  would  be  two  as  interesting  days  as  we  could  have 
placed  before  the  Exposition  during  its  several  meetings. 
Yesterday  we  received  a  deal  of  very  interesting  and  correct 
information  on  matters  pertaining  to  China.  These  records 
will  be  placed  in  print,  and  I  am  sure  will  be  universally  read 
by  those  interested  in  trade  with  the  Far  East,  for  those  who 
were  not  able  to  be  present,  as  well  as  for  future  reference. 
We  have  an  equally  interesting  day  before  us,  I  hope  and 
believe.     This  is  what  we  call  "Japan  Day,"  the  forenoon 


being  devoted  to  the  interests  of  Japan  and  the  afternoon 
to  the  interests  of  Korea,  followed  by  that  of  Native  India, 
of  Central  Asia,  of  Queensland,  and  one  of  no  less  import- 
ance, the  Philippines. 

1  shall  have  to  call  on  the  delegates  who  will  have  remarks 
to  make  to  be  as  prompt  and  short  as  possible,  confining  them- 
selves to  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  in  order  that  we  may  get 
through  our  program  and  not  go  too  late  into  the  early  hours 
of  the  afternoon. 

The  Japan  question  is  such  a  large  one  that  I  really  would 
not  like  to  undertake  in  this  short  space  of  time  to  cover 
much  of  the  ground.  I  will  endeavor  to  be  brief  in  placing 
before  yon  the  experience  of  forty  years  from  my  first  voyage 
tothe  East,  but  in  order  that  I  may  here  have  the  opportunity 
to  do  justice  to  our  friends  of  the  Exposition,  and  particidarly 
to  our  good  friend  Dr.  Wilson,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  pay  one 
more  compliment  to  him  and  to  his  officers  for  what  they 
have  done  and  are  doing  for  all  the  interest  centered  in  this 
grand  exposition. 

In  1858,  on  my  first  trip  to  China,  and  in  1859  to  Japan,  I 
remember  landing  at  the  little  Island  of  Desima,  adjoining 
the  city  of  Nagasaki.  That  port  was  not  a  success  and  we 
left  Nagasaki  and  went  to  Kanagawa,  where  we  did  not  find 
sufficient  water  for  our  ships,  and  then  we  opened  at  Yoko- 
hama a  very  convenient  post  about  ten  miles  from  Tokyo. 
Later  on  Kobe  was  added  to  the  list  of  open  treaty  ports.  In 
the  great  city  of  Osaka,  not  fifteen  years  ago,  the  factories 
could  be  counted  on  the  ends  of  one's  fingers;  the  chimneys 
could  be  seen  with  one  short  glance.  But  to-day  it  is  the 
Manchester,  or  the  Philadelphia,  we  may  say,  of  Japan. 
Osaka  is  a  very  large  city  and  a  beautiful  city;  it  has  increased 
its  territory  very  much  indeed,  has  fine  water  running 
through  the  city,  making  it  very  healthy  and  convenient  for 
transportation.  It  is  so  fast  becoming  a  manufacturing  city 
that  I  believe  it  will  interfere  very  seriously  with  our  own 
manufactures  here  as  time  proceeds. 

I  will  dwell  a  moment  on  the  new  treaty  with  Japan,  for 
in  the  preliminary  list  of  subjects  to  be  presented  to-day  I 
find  the  following:  "The  New  Independence  of  Japan  and  its 
Eelations  to  the  World's  Trade."  This  new  treaty  between 
Japan  and  the  United  States  which  became  operative  in  July 
last,  will,  without  doubt,  work  wonderful  changes  for  the 
benefit  of  Japan  particularly.  It  allows  her,  first,  to  double 
her  import  duties  on  the  average,  while  all  export  duties  are 
abolished.  Second,  it  does  away  with  the  foreign  extra- 
territorial clause  in  our  treaties,  whereby  all  Americans  have 
been  able  to  place  the  differences  before  their  consular  officers, 
assisted  by  two  American  assessors,  or  jur3'men.  This  is  a 
personal  liberty  privilege,  always  considered  dear  to  Amer- 
icans abroad,  which  is  now  transferred  to  the  Japanese  courts. 

By  many  it  is  considered  somewhat  of  an  experiment,  but 
I  have  every  confidence  in  the  good  faith  of  Japanese  Gov- 
ernment and  its  officers,  and  we  feel  that  they  will  use  every 


107 


108 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


exertion,  in  eonferenee  with  onr  foreign  ministers  and  ton- 
-tiUir  iiiitiioritios,  to  see  that  tlie  working  of  the  new  treaty 
siiall  not  give  us  trouble,  but  be  of  assistance  to  us.  A  few 
years  experience  will  give  us  the  proof  of  this.  Tliinl.  the 
collection  of  local  taxes  from  foreignei's  upnn  their  Imsincss 
and  pro})erty,  together  with  numy  other  nuitters  of  minor, 
importance  which  are  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  Ja])an.  In 
return  Japan  gives  us  the  privilege  of  intercourse  and  resi- 
dence in  the  interior,  with  the  establishment  of  factories. 

I  have  not  prepaix'd  any  set  speech  for  you.  iirrlVi  i  iiij;  iidt 
to  do  this,  as  there  are  many  papers  to  be  read  hei'c.  'I'lie 
few  remai-ks  that  I  have  made  I  give  in  the  way  of  an  intro- 
ductory, and  am  sure  that  the  papers  to  follow  will  giM'  us 
the  information  and  statistics  that  we  so  much  desire. 

Among  our  friends  and  our  guests  of  honor  to-day.  we 
have  Mr.  J.  Komura,  the  recently  ari'ived  ^linister  from 
Japan,  and  while  he  is  not  on  our  list  for  a  set  speech,  he  has 
very  kindly  promised  me  that  if  called  ujum,  he  wcuild  make 
a  few  remarks. 

1  have  very  much  pleasure  in  introducins;  to  you  the  Japan- 
ese Minister,  Mr.  Komura. 

M  iiiislcr  J .  Komurit : 

Mr.  Chairman:  Being  here  in  the  Exposition  I  thought 
that  all  I  had  to  do  was  to  listen,  not  to  speak.  I  should  love 
to  remain  silent,  for  I  don't  want  to  speak,  but  I  will  do  my 
duty  in  saying  a  few  words  in  acknowledging  the  courtesy  that 
has  been  extended  to  me  as  a  representative  of  Japan.  I  thank 
you  sincerely  and  also  the  chairnuTU  for  the  remarks  with 
reference  to  Japan,  and  I  am  assured  that  it  needs  no  protesta- 
tion from  me  to  convince  you  of  the  extreme  gi-atitication  that 
I  feel  in  having  the  honor  to  be  present  on  this  interesting 
occasion.  The  policy  of  Japan  has  been  and,  I  am  sure  it  will 
be,  nothing  but  peaceful  expansion  to  the  men  of  commerce 
and  industry.  (Applause.)  As  I  presume  the  delegates  from 
Japan  are  prepared  to  tell  you  what  Japan  has  done  in  the 
pursuit  of  this  policy,  and  what  she  will  do  in  the  future  in 
that  direction,  it  is  hardly  necessary  for  me  to  add  anything 
to  what  they  may  have  to  say,  and  acting  on  the  suggestion 
of  the  Chairman  that  we  should  be  as  brief  as  possible,  I  will 
no  longer  detain  you,  but  thank  you  again  for  your  kind  at- 
tention.   (Applause.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Gentlemen  and  Delegates  assembled:  I  have  very  great 
pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  the  Japanese  Consul  from 
New  York,  Mr.  S.  Uchida,  a  genfleman  with  whom  I  have 
had  the  pleasure  of  an  acciuaintance  in  a  business  way  for 
the  last  two  years,  and  I  am  sure  that  you  will  be  very  much 
pleased  to  bear  from  him.  He  has  taken  upon  himseir  a  very 
severe  task  in  the  carrying  out  of  our  new  treaty  in  reference 
to  the  shipping  of  goods  to  Japan.  The  ]ira(liei'  is  to  piil 
the  goods  through  his  office,  as  we  have  had  to  do  in  China 
and  Japan  when  the  goods  are  shipped  from  that  comilrv  to 
this.  It  is  something  new  for  his  consular  office  to  uiuleriake 
this  work,  and  I  am  free  to  say  that  he  has  shown  the  great- 
est courtesy  to  our  merchants  in  New  York.  When  he  has 
been  overwhelmed  at  the  time  of  his  mail  and  might  at  limes 
delay  the  perfection  of  necessary  documents,  he  has  t;i|.eii 
great  pains,  early  and  late,  to  accomujodate  us  all.  1  l'( cl  ;i 
warm  resjieot  for  him  and  for  his  offiicc  in  \ew  Voile,  and  il 
is  with  the  very  greatesi  pleasure  that  I  intnidnee  to  vnn  Mi-. 
S.  T'cbida,  Imperial  Japanese  Coiisul-Ceiieral  and  (i(.\cni- 
ment  Delegate, 

Mr.  8.  Uchida: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  my  Colleagues:  It  is  my  great  pleaMiic 
to  have  the  honor  of  addi'cssing  you  as  the  delegate  of  lhi> 


Japanese  Government  at  this  meeting  of  the  International 
Commercial  Congress,  held  here  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum.  The  limit  of  time 
allowed  each  speaker  this  morning  compels  me  to  make  my 
speech  as  short  as  posihle,  and  instead  of  making  a  long 
speech  I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  every  one  of  you, 
with  the  compliments  of  my  colleague,  Mr.  A.  J.  Ost- 
heinier  and  myself,  a  copy  of  "Commercial  Japan  in  1S99," 
which  has  been  so  well  compiled  and  published  by  the  Treas- 
ury Department  of  the  United  States  Government.  This 
pamphlet  gives  valuable  information  in  reference  to  our 
country,  much  more  than  I  can  in  the  short  time  of  the  ses- 
sions of  this  Congress. 

(~As  you  all  know,  our  countiy,  which  had  \)v('\\  shut  up| 
at  the  eastern  corner  of  the  earth  until  the  middle  of  the  I 
present  century,  was  ojiened  to  trade  and  intercourse  with  the; 
western  world  by  the  famous  expeditions  of  Commodore 
Perry,  of  the  United  States,  and  since  then  she  has  been 
brought  to  the  notice  of  other  nations  by  the  rapid  progress 
and  development  which  have  marked  the  last  thirty  years  the 
history  of  modern  Japan. 

To  say  nothing  about  the  reform  of  the  government  from 
feudalism  to  a  constitutional  monarchy,  the  organization  of 
tlie  army  and  navy  upon  nu)dern  principles  and  equipments, 
the  advancement  and  spread  of  education  throughout  the 
country,  the  estal)lishment  of  free  internal  communication  by 
railroads  and  steamship  lines,  as  well  as  postal  and  telegraph 
.systems,  the  conclusion  of  the  new  treaties  placing  Japan  on' 
an  equal  footing  with  the  enlightened  nations  of  the  West, 
the  adoption  of  the  gi.dd  standard  in  common  with  the  rest  of 
the  civilized  world,  and  hundreds  of  other  changes  and  pro- 
gi'esses  which  have  been  accomplished  in  a  short  period  of' 
our  national  career  with  the  introduction  of  the  western 
civilization,  I  would  like  to  call  your  attention  to  the  rajjid 
develop)ment  of  our  commerce  and  industries,  and  especially 
to  the  remarkable  advancement  of  trade  between  Japan  and 
the  United  States. 

Going  through  the  statistics  of  our  foreign  commerce  back 
to  18(18.  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  the  present  Emperor  of 
Japan,  we  find  the  total  value  of  exports  and  imports  in  tluit 
vear  was  only  2],IHI(),()00  yen,  but  in  1878  it  increased  to  over 
'."i8,lJ(H),0U0  yen;  in  1888  it  was  131.000,000  yen,  and  in  1898 
it  reached  to  443,000,000  yen.  Thus  you  will  see  that  the 
amount  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  Japan  increased  enor- 
mously in  the  last  three  decades,  and  in  the  last  two  tliere 
was  no  single  year  whose  amount  of  the  foreign  commerce  was 
smaller  than  any  ]>receding  year,  and  especially  during  the 
last  ten  years  its  volume  has  increased  with  leaps  and  bounds. 

The  ]n-incipal  articles  of  our  export  are  raw  silk,  silk  piecei 
goods,  silk  hantlkerchiefs,  cotton  yarns,  coal,  tea,  rice, 
nial(hes.  eoiijiei-,  matting,  cotton  piece  goods,  straw,  plaits, 
dried  lish,  china  ware  and  camphor.  x\nd  the  principal 
.■iiii(le-  (if  onr  ini|init  are  i-Jee.  raw  cotton,  sugar,  cotton  ami 
\\(H)len  piece  goods,  cotton  yai'ns,  kerosene  oil,  steamships, 
beans,  tobacco,  drugs,  iiuHlicines,  chemicals,  dyes  and  paints, 
bean  cakes,  railroad  loconuifives,  rails,  steel  and  iron,  different 
kiiuls  of  machinery,  watches,  paper,  leather  and  hides,  alcohol, 
lliiui'  and  -exi'iai  oilier  kinds  of  goods,  each  amounting  in 
\alne  to  over  a  million  yen,  according  to  the  official  trade 
i-el  urns  I'oi-  tlie  last  year. 

The  leading  countries  with  which  we  have  commercial  re- I 
laiions  are  (Jreat  Hritain,  Germany,  France,  Belgium,  Switzer-  | 
lain!  and  Italy  in   hhirope;  the  United  States  and  C^anada  in 
Nerth    .\nierii-a:   and    Cliitia.    IJong   Kong,   British.    French 
and    Dutili    India,    Korea,    Siam   ami    Philippine   Islands   in 
.\sia. 

rnlil  (|nite  I'ecently  ahnost  all  shipping  trade  between 
.'apan  ami  other  eounti-ies,  except  China  and  Korea,  was  con- 
iliieted  l)y  foreign  vessels,  mostly  British,  German  and  French. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEK  19,  1899 


109 


In  1893  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha,  or  Japan  Mail  Steam- 
ship Company,  extended  its  lines  to  Bombay,  India,  and  a 
few  years  later  the  same  company  opened  its  regular  service 
lines  to  Europe,  Australia  and  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
last  spring  the  San  Francisco  via  Honolulu  line  was  also 
started  by  the  Toyo-Kisen-Kaisha,  or  Oriental  Steamship 
Company,  with  three  large  steamers  built  in  England.  About 
two  years  ago  another  Japanese  steamship  company  opened 
a  new  line  to  China,  besides  several  other  native  companies, 
which  have  been  engaged  in  the  carrying  trade  between  Japan 
and  t^hina.  During  the  last  year  about  one-fourth  in  value 
of  all  the  exports  and  imports  of  our  country  was  carried  by 
Japanese  vessels,  while  only  five  years  ago  the  proportion  did 
not  reach  even  one-twelfth  part  of  the  total  amount. 
I  Now,  speaking  of  the  commerce  l>etween  the  United  States 
)  and  Japan,  Americans  may  be  rightly  called  the  pioneers  of 
our  foreign  trade.  Though  the  Dutch  had  been  allowed  to 
do  business  at  Nagasaki  before  the  expeditions  of  Commo- 
dore Perry,  they  were  conducting  the  trade  in  exclusion  of 
others  under  strict  restrictions,  and  the  amount  of  our  foreign 
trade  was  very  limited  in  those  days.  It  was  Americans  who 
opened  the  door  of  our  foreign  trade  to  all  other  nations  of 
the  world,  and  tlie  first  treaty  of  Japan  with  the  United 
States  is  the  dawn  of  the  commercial  and  industrial  progress 
of  modern  Japan. 

The  annual  amount  of  trade  between  these  two  countries 
has  increased  enormously  in  recent  years.  From  8,500,000 
yen  in  1878  it  increased  to  over  87,000,000  yen  in  1898,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  amount  has  increased  oven  ten  times  dur- 
ing the  last  twenty  years,  and  about  20  per  cent,  of  the  total 
amount  of  our  foreign  trade  is  now  being  done  witli  this 
country. 

The  United  States  is  the  best  customer  for  our  raw  silks 
and  tea.  Over  50  per  cent,  of  our  raw  material  for  the  Ameri- 
can silk  industry  is  imported  from  our  country.  The  tea  im- 
ported from  Japan,  including  Formosa,  constituted  about 
60  per  cent,  of  the  total  consumption  of  the  article  in  this 
country.  A  good  deal  of  our  silk  piece  goods  and  handkci'- 
cliiefs  are  also  purchased  by  the  American  public.  Other 
principal  articles  imported  from  Japan  are  matting,  porcelain, 
straw  plaits,  rice  and  brushes. 

On  the  other  hand,  up  to  a  few  years  ago,  the  principal 
article  exported  to  Japan  from  this  country  has  been  kero- 
sene oil,  and  there  was  a  large  balance  of  trade  against  the 
United  States.  For  instance,  in  1881  our  exports  to  this 
country  were  over  11,000,000  yen,  while  our  imports  from 
the  United  States  were  only  1,750,000  yen,  that  is  to  say 
there  was  the  balance  of  about  80  per  cent,  of  the  total 
amount  of  trade  against  this  country.  This  percentage,  how- 
ever, was  gradually  decreased  by  the  importation  from  this 
country  into  Japan  of  raw  cotton,  railroad  materials,  such  as 
rails,  locomotives,  bridge  structures,  different  kinds  of  ma- 
chinery, electric  plants  and  leaf  tobacco,  with  the  gi'owth 
of  the  cotton,  railroad,  electric,  tobacco  and  other  industries 
in  our  country,  and  tlie  trade  l}alance  between  the  two  .coun- 
tries was  not  only  reduced  to  7,333,000  yen,  or  about  one- 
eighth  of  1  per  cent,  of  the  total  amount  against  the  United 
States  in  the  last  year,  but  in  this  year  it  is  now  turned  in 
her  favor  to  the  amount  of  over  5,000,000  yen,  according  to 
the  statistic-s  of  our  foreign  trade  for  seven  months  ending 
July  31. 

Tlie  industry  of  Japan  has  made  at  least  ecjual  pi'ogress 
with  our  foreign  commerce.  Of  its  various  branches,  none 
has  had  a  more  remarkable  growth  than  silk  filature,  silk 
weaving  and  cotton  industries,  the  products  of  which  con- 
stitute nowadays  the  most  important  articles  of  our  export 
trade.  The  amount  of  annual  exports  of  raw  silk  depends 
upon  the  crop  of  cocoons  every  year,  but  it  ranges  between 
10,000,000  and  20,000,000  pounds,  including  all  sorts  of  raw 


silk,  which  represents  50  to  70  per  cent,  of  the  total  annual 
production  in  recent  years.  The  silk  weaving  industry  was 
conducted  in  our  country  long  before  the  communication  was 
opened  with  the  western  world,  and  heavy  fabrics,  plain  or 
of  elaborate  design,  still  continue  to  be  manufactured  for 
home  use,  but  with  the  development  of  our  foreign  commerce 
the  light-weight  silks,  known  as  Habutai  and  Kaiki,  began  to 
be  specially  woven  for  the  purpose  of  exportation  to  Europe 
and  America,  and  the  output  of  these  articles  rapidly  in- 
crea,sed  during  the  last  ten  years.  Silk  handkerchiefs  are 
made  mostly  with  Habutai,  also  for  foreign  shipment. 

The  cotton  spinning  industry  has  made  rapid  growth  dur- 
ing the  last  few  years,  and  the  number  of  spindles  in  opera- 
tion at  the  end  of  last  year  was  estimated  at  over  a  million, 
while  it  was  only  aliout  354,000  in  1891.  Though  the  prin- 
cipal products  of  the  cotton  mills  are  of  coarser  grades  of 
yarns,  they  are  trying  to  increase  the  production  of  finer 
gi'ades  for  home  consumption.  The  weaving  of  cotton  fab- 
rics has  also  made  considerable  progress  with  the  growth  of 
the  cotton  spinning  industry. 

Match,  matting,  straw  plaiting,  paper,  soap,  brush,  beer, 
camphor  and  porcelain  factories  have  sprung  up  year  after 
year  in  diiferent  parts  of  the  country.  The  cultivation  of  tea 
and  rice  has  gradually  increased  to  meet  our  home  as  well  as 
foreign  demand.  Silver,  coal  and  copper  mines  and  petroleum 
wells  have  been  developed  with  modern  machinery  and  ap- 
paratus. Though  the  output  of  silver  and  petroleum  is  rather 
limited  at  present,  coal  and  copper  may  be  now  classified 
among  the  leading  articles  of  our  exportation.  Besides  those 
enumerated,  there  are  a  hundred  other  new  industries  started 
and  grown  up  in  our  countiy  within  the  last  two  or  three 
decades,  but  the  list  is  too  long  to  be  mentioned  here. 

Apart  from  large  amounts  of  capital  invested  in  our  rail- 
roads, extending  about  2,500  miles  already,  we  have  a  large 
shipping  business,  with  coa.sting,  as  well  as  foreign  lines, 
reaching,  as  I  have  .said  l)efore,  to  Europe,  Ameiica  and  Aus- 
tralia, and  also  telegraph,  telephone  and  mining  industries. 
TJie  total  sum  of  the  paid-up  capital  of  all  the  manufacturing 
corporations  only  amounted  to  36,000,000  yen  in  1894,  but 
in  1897  it  had  increased  to  75,000,000  yen,  with  no  watered 
stock,  in  addition  to  the  capital  invested  in  partnership  or  in- 
dividual undertakings  of  the  same  nature,  which  must  have 
amounted  to  much  more  than  that  during  the  last  yeax. 

As  a  matter  of  course  we  admit  that  the  annual  amount  ' 
of  foreign  trade  and  amount  of  capital  invested  in  our  indus- 
tries cannot  be  compared  as  yet  with  those  of  the  most 
prosperous  countries  of  tlie  world,  but  at  the  same  time  it 
would  be  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  speed  with  which 
our  commerce  and  industries  have  grown  up,  and  are  grow- 
ing up,  is  not  below  any  one  of  them.  And  this  speed  is 
going  to  be  accelerated  by  the  operation  of  the  new  currency 
law,  and  the  new  treaties  concluded  with  all  the  civilized 
powers. 

Under  our  old  currency  system,  with  a  silver  standard,  the 
rates  of  exchange  on  Europe  and  America,  and  also  prices  at 
homo,  u.sed  to  fluctuate  with  the  ups  and  downs  of  the  silver 
markets  of  the  world,  which  have  been  so  badly  disturbed 
during  the  last  three  decades,  and  consequently  merchants 
and  manufacturers  had  to  run  a  serious  risk  in  their  business 
transactions.  But  with  the  operation  of  the  new  currency 
law  ado])ting  a  gold  standard,  which  was  passed  in  March, 
1897,  and  took  etfect  October  1st  of  the  same  year,  foreign 
exchange  on  gold  countries  assumed  their  staliility,  a.nd  prices 
at  home  began  to  be  regulated  by  ordinary  causes,  that  is, 
the  demand  and  supply  of  the  commodities  themselves,  and 
the  abatement  of  the  risks  in  the  business  transactions  with 
Europe  and  America  is  going  to  result  in  the  sound  develop- 
ment of  commerce  and  industries  in  our  country.  Under  \ 
the  old  treaties  with  diflierent  countries,  foreigners  were  not  ' 


110 


rEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEKNATIONAL  CO.MMEECIAL  CONGRESS 


allowed  to  live  or  conduct  a  business,  or  even  travel  without 
a  passport  outside  tlie  narrow  limits  of  foreign  settlements  at 
a  few  ports  specially  open  for  foreign  commerce,  but  with 
ilio  operation  of  the  new  treaties  above  referred  lo,  which 
tnok  effect  on  July  17th  this  year,  all  the  restrictions  against 
foreigners  have  been  taken  away,  and  they  are  now  allowed  to 
he  engaged  in  any  business,  in  any  part  of  Japan,  the  whole 
country  being  wide  open  to  them.  It  is  expected  that  the  free- 
dom thus  granted  to  foreigners  will  enable  them  to  assist  the 
further  development  of  our  commerce  and  industries  with 
skill  and  capital  from  their  own  countries,  to  the  mutual 
benefit  of  both  the  natives  and  foreigners  themselves. 

Finally,  as  to  the  future  of  the  commerce  between  Japaii 
and  (lie  I'nited  States,  I  can  declare  that  we  have  the  most 
brilliant  prospects  assured  by  the  rapid  progress  in  the  past. 
With  the  future  development  of  our  industries,  which  will  be 
made  with  greater  strides  than  ever  before,  we  have  to  import 
on  one  hand  more  raw  materials  and  machinery  than  we  used 
to  do,  while  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  to  find  foreign  mar- 
kets to  sell  our  products. 

Now,  the  United  States  being  the  largest  agricultural  and 
mineral  countiT  in  the  world,  and  her  people  being  unsur- 
passed by  any  other  nation  in  their  inventive  genius,  she 
will  be  able  to  give  our  country  the  most  abundant  supply 
of  her  products,  such  as  materials  and  implements  for  our  in- 
dustrial development,  and  at  the  same  time,  being  one  of 
the  wealthiest  nations  in  the  world,  with  her  vast  population 
of  over  75,000,000,  she  will  continue  to  be  the  best  customer 
for  our  principal  products. 

The  great  prospect  of  commerce  between  the  United  States 
and  Japan,  we  believe,  will  be  made  much  greater  on  the  eve 
of  opening  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  which  may  be  completed 
in  the  near  future. 

Thus  we  have  every  reason  to  expect  that  the  special  friend- 
ship, which  has  been  happily  existing  between  the  people  of 
the  United  States  and  our  nation,  with  no  interruption  what- 
ever since  the  time  of  Commodore  Perry,  will  be  confirmed, 
cemented  and  made  everlasting  by  the  increasing  material 
interests  for  both  countries  in  their  commercial  relations. 
(Applause.) 

1//-.  I'Jverell  Frazar: 

Gentlemen. — I  am  sure  that  you  have  listened  with  very 
great  pleasure  to  the  valuable  address  just  given  by  the 
Japanese  Consul  in  New  York.  It  gives  us  the  latest  and 
most  reliable  figures,  which  will  be  well  worthy  of  reference 
and  go  on  our  record — information,  which  up  to  this  time, 
\vc  have  not  had  so  concisely  placed  before  us.  We  certainly 
iliaid':  him  very  much  for  the  pains  which  he  has  taken,  and 
I  will  now  follow  with  the  third  of  the  official  representatives 
of  the  Japanese  Government  in  bringing  forward  to  you  the 
Imperial  Japanese  Consul  and  Government  Delegate,  who 
will  speak  to  you  upon  "Comtnercial  Japan  in  1899."  This 
gentleman,  1  think,  needs  no  introduetion  to  Philadelphians, 
but  to  delegates  out  of  town  he  may  not  be  known.  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  A.  J.  Ostheimcr, 
liriperial  Japanese  Consul  and  Governmenf  Delegate. 

Co.MMKliCIAT,  J.WAN    IN'   1899. 

Mr.  Alfred  J.  Ostheimer: 

.Mr.  Chairman  and  Delegates. — After  the  numerous  most 
el<i(|iient  addresses  of  welcome,  and  the  equally  eloquent  rc- 
]ilies  by  the  distinguished  representatives  of  the  commercial 
bodies  from  all  over  the  civilized  world,  pronounced  at  the 
convening  of  the  Internafional  Commercial  Congress,  it  ap- 
pears to  be  the  concens\is  of  ojiini  m  fiial  (his  International 
i'oinmercial  Congress  can  be  most  likened  to  a  family  gather- 


ing of  nations,  where  each  member  wishes  to  bring  to  the 
attention  of  all  the  others  that  which  the  country  he  repre- 
sents is  most  famed  for. 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  the  interchange  of  views  by 
practical  business  men  on  important  (juestions  of  international 
commerce  can  only  be  to  the  advantage  of  the  world's  busi- 
ness. The  International  Commercial  Congress  and  Export 
Exposition  are  naturally  the  outcome  of  great  improvements 
in  transportation,  such  as  rapid  transit  and  the  cheapening 
of  freight  ratef;,  which  have  made  the  whole  world  neighbors 
and  turned  it  into  one  immense  trading  community.  As  one 
of  the  honorable  delegates  very  pertinently  remarked:  "Each 
nation  has  much  to  learn  from  other  nations  in  the  way  of 
commerce,"  and  therefore  the  acceptance  of  the  invitation 
extended  by  the  great  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia 
was  cordial  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Every  nation  of 
the  world  is  struggling  for  new  trade,  and  they  are  all  scan- 
ning the  whole  horizon  for  new  fields  of  commerce,  as  it  is 
an  acknowledged  fact  that  the  most  successful  nation  is  the 
one  which  can  attain  commercial  supremacy.  We  are  all  keen 
competitors  for  trade,  and  are  all  business  rivals,  and  our 
coming  together  at  this  time  will  unquestionably  confer  great 
benefit  upon  each  country,  for  the  reason  that  it  will  exert 
a  stupendous  influence  to  stop  many  systems  of  warfare  which 
we  have  waged  upon  each  other  for  many  years.  Expressions 
of  opinion  and  mutual  explanations  will  do  away  with  many 
imaginary  grievances,  and  it  is  almost  safe  to  predict  that 
this  first  International  Commercial  Congress  will  be  suc- 
ceeded by  another,  and  that  before  long  there  will  be  annual 
international  commercial  meetings  in  different  parts  of  the 
world.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  commerce  is  seliish;  that 
every  good  merchant  in  the  world  will  buy  wherever  he  can 
obtain  the  best  things  for  the  least  money;  and  for  that  reason 
every  nation  is  indebted  to  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum  for  the  opportunity  to  bring  forth  and  talk  about 
the  advantages  of  its  own  country,  at  this  Congress. 

It  will  be  universally  admitted  that  American  industry  is 
full  of  magnificent  achievements,  full  of  triumphs  over  many 
obstacles,  and  in  many  cases  full  of  victory  over  Nature  her- 
self! In  all  the  annals  of  commerce,  in  all  the  chronicles 
of  conquest,  there  is  probably  nothing  more  impressive  than 
the  wonderful  mastery  over  adverse  conditions  which  has 
been  won  by  the  American  manufacturer,  and  it  would  be, 
perhaps,  only  just  to  say  that  the  Americans  have  been  the 
largest  ccmtributors,  in  both  ideals  and  results,  to  the  in- 
dustrial progress  of  the  world  within  the  century  which  is 
just  now  closing.  The  bold  originality  of  the  American 
methods,  and  the  striking  departure  from  the  traditional 
practices,  have  startled  older  nations,  and  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  American  ideas  have  made  their  impress  upon  the  indus- 
tries of  the  world  in  a  manner  that  cannot  be  mistaken. 

Probably  the  most  surprising  revelation,  after  the  United 
States,  is  the  significant  progress  which  has  been  made  by  the 
country  wliich  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  as  an  official 
government  delegate,  and  about  which  it  is  my  intention  to 
say  a  few  words  in  this  paper.  I  refer  to  the  "Island  Em^ 
pire  of  Japan,"  which  has,  during  the  past  few  year?;  ks- 
sumed  an  important  rank  in  the  list  of  commercial  nations, 
and  which,  in  so  doing,  has  vastly  increased  her  commerce 
with  the  United  States,  the  nation  which  was  insti^imental 
in  tirst  opening  the  door  of  that  country  to  the  commerce  of 
the  world. 

On  the  17th  of  last  July,  the  new  treaties  between  Japan  > 
fhe  Tniicd  States  and  nearly  all  the  nations  of  Europe  and 
some  (if  tlie  South  Atnerican  Republics  went  into  effect. 
IMiis  was  an  event  of  far-reaching  importance  in  the  relations 
between  Japan  and  the  United  States,  as  it  does  away  with 
the  treaty  methods  which  have  been  in  vogue  tor  nearly  fifty 
yi'ars  and  substitutes  an  entirely  new  method  of  procedure. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  19.   1899 


111 


On  the  17tli  of  July,  Japan  was  placed  on  an  entirely  new 
footing  with  the  world  at  large,  and  she  is  now  recognized  as 
an  equal  in  every  respect.  It  can  be  said  that  this  date 
marks  the  tnrning  point  in  diplomatic  history,  not  only  of 
Japan.  l)iit  of  Oriental  countries  in  general.  It  will  be  the 
first  instance  in  which  Western  powers  have  recognized  the 
lull  sovereignty  of  an  Oriental  State.  This  action  of  the  en- 
lightened nations  of  Europe  and  America  shows  that  if  any 
nation  is  ready  to  assiime  a  full  share  -of  responsibility  in 
affairs  of  the  world  at  large,  tlie  old  and  enlightened  coun- 
tries are  ready  to  admit  such  a  nation  to  full  comity  among 
nations.  So  we  regard  the  advent  of  this  treaty  a.s  a  very 
important  step,  not  only  for  Japan,  hut  for  all  the  nations,  of 
the  East.  To  auiderstand  ihe  chanije,  it  is  necessary  to  look 
fat  the  system  under  the  old  treaties.  This  was  essentially 
based  on  two  principles:  First,  that  foreign  residents  in 
jjapan  should  enjoy  the  privileges  of  extra  territoriality— that 
is,  they  should  be  amenable  to  the  law.s  and  jurisdiction  of 
the  consuls  and  courts  of  their  own  country,  and  not  to  Jajia- 
nese  jurisdiction:  and,  second,  that  foreign  residents  in  Japan 
should  be  confined  to  certain  open  ports,  outside  of  which  for- 
eigners could  not  reside,  own  property  or  engage  in  trade. 
The  result  was  in  effect  about  fifteen  or  sixteen  systems  of 
courts  in  Japan,  for  the  purpose  of  trying  foreigners  who  might 
commit  offences  in  Japan.  Furthermore,  most  of  the  powers 
lelaimed  that  Japanese  laws  were  not  binding  upon  foreigners. 
For  instance,  take  our  quarantine  law.  Wliile  it  protected 
us  against  our  own  people,  yet  there  was  no  protection  in  the 
case  of  an  infected  foreign  ship.  The  only  exception  to  this 
refusal  to  recognize  Japanese  law  was  the  Fnited  States, 
which  recognized  from  the  first  the  binding  force  of  the 
Japanese  law.  One  of  the  bad  effects  of  this  system  was  that 
foreign  residents  had  entire  immunity  from  taxation.  The 
Japanese  paid  all  the  taxes.  All  this  has  now  disappeared, 
and  foreigners  have  the  same  privileges  as  well  as  the  same 
obligations  as  the  Japanese  citizens,  no  more  and  no  le-is. 
The  first  step  in  the  new  system  was  to  put  an  end  to  the  old 
fiction  of  cxtra-tcrritoriality,  by  which  foreigners  were  judged 
by  a  different  .'standard  from  the  Japanese. 

The  second  essential  thing  is  the  opening  of  the  entire 
interior  of  Japan  to  foreign  residents  and' trade.  Until  now, 
there  have  been  only  five  treaty  ports,  Yokohoma,  Nagasaki, 
Kobe,  Hakodate  and  Niigata.  In  these  places  foreigners  had 
been  able  to  live,  to  purchase  property  and  to  trade:  but 
outside  of  these  they  could  not  even  travel  without  a  special 
permit.  These  five  places  are  comparatively  an  insigiiifieant 
part  of  Japan.  Henceforth  the  entire  interior  of  the  Empire, 
with  its  populous  cities  and  inviting  fields  of  industry',  is 
thrown  open  to  foreigners.  They  may  live  anywhere,  engage 
in  any  kind  of  business,  and  will  be  assured  of  the  .same  pro- 
tection to  life  and  property  that  is  given  to  the  Japanese. 

In  bringing  about  the  new  system  of  treaties,  Japan  natu- 
rally feels  most  friendly  towards  the  Ignited  States,  becau.'je 
she  has  always  shown  a  most  sympathetic  interest  in  Japan's 
desires  to  adopt  modern  methods  and  to  deal  on  even  terms 
with  the  rest  of  the  world. 

The  United  States,  which  ha.s  been  constantly  and  activelv 
associated  with  the  development  of  Japan,  has  participated 
largely  in  the  growth  of  her  commerce.  Thousands  of  young 
men  from  Japan  have  visited  the  United  States  as  students, 
and  thousands  of  merchants  and  business  men  from  the 
I'nited  States  have  visited  Japan  as  instructors  in  educational 
and  commercial  lines.  As  teachers  and  professors  in  schools 
and  colleges:  as  editors  and  publishers;  as  merchants,  Avho 
engage  in  both  importing  and  exporting:  a.s  manufacturers: 
as  constructoi-s  of  railways  and  telegraphs,  and  in  ef?tablishing 
modern  electrical  aids  to  commerce,  citizens  of  the  United 
States  have  been  active  in  Japan.  As  a  consequence,  the  trade 
relations  lietween  the  two  countries  have  grown  with  greater 


rapidity  than  between  Japan  and  any  other  nation.  The 
total  exports  from  Japan  in  1898  amounted  to  163,796,652 
yen  in  value,  and  of  this  amount  nearly  .50,000.000  yen  went 
to  the  Ignited  States.  The  exports  of  Japan  to  the  United 
States  consist  mainly  of  raw  silk,  of  tea,  of  mattings,  of  rice, 
chemicals,  of  drugs,  of  manufactures  of  silk,  of  manufactures 
of  bamboo,  of  lacquered  ware,  and  many  other  products  pecu- 
liar to  Japan.  The  United  States  is  to-day  the  largest  pui-- 
chaser  of  raw  silk  from  Japan,  whose  total  exportation  of 
raw  silk  exceeds  50.000,000  yen  annually.  Japan's  imports 
from  the  United  States  have  grown  with  even  greater  ra- 
]iidity  than  her  exports  to  the  United  States.  In  1881,  the 
exports  from  the  I'nited  States  to  Japan  amounted  to  not 
(|uite  200,000  yen,  while  in  1898  thev  had  readied  over  40,- 
000,000  yen  in  value.  In  the  fiscal  year  of  1892,  the  United 
States  exported  to  Japan  a  little  over  $3,000,000,  and  in 
1899  the  United  States  will  export  to  Japan  nearly  $18,000,- 
000.  These  exportations  consist  of  raw  cotton,  tobacco  and 
manufactures  thereof,  iron  and  steel  and  manufactures 
thereof,  illuminating  oil,  bread  stuffs,  distilled  spirits,  paper 
and  manufactures  thereof,  'instruments  for  scientific  pur- 
poses, leather  and  mauufactures  thereof,  clocks  and  watches, 
parafline  wax,  lubricating  oil,  condensed  milk,  chemicals, 
drugs  and  dyes,  wood  and  manufactures  thereof,  and  India 
rubber  manufactures.  In  1899  the  United  States  exported 
to  Japan  in  locomotive  engines  nearly  $600,000.  The  gro\rth 
of  importations  of  tobacco  into  Japan  has  been  phenomenal, 
growing  from  a  total  importation  in  1892  of  about  80,000 
yen  to  nearly  5,000,000  yen  in  1899. 

Exportations  of  cotton  cloths  to  Ja]ian  have  fallen  by  i-ea- 
son  of  the  rapid  increase  of  the  manufacture  of  cotton" cloth 
in  that  country,  while  the  exportations  of  raw  cotton  to  Japan 
has  increased  from  $85,000  in  1890  to  nearly  $6,000,000  in 
1899. 

The  geography  of  Japan  is  well  known,  and  the  territory 
extends  over  about  4,000  miles,  covering  a  popnlatioii  of 
nearly  45,000,000,  or  an  average  of  about  292  per  square 
mile.  In  addition  to  this,  the  population  of  the  Island  of 
Formosa,  which  was  ceded  to  Japan  by  China  after  the  war 
between  China  and  Japan,  is  given  as  nearly  3,000,000.  Rice 
is  the  largest  and  most  important  crop  agriculturally,  sup- 
plying, as  it  does,  the  principal  food  to  a'large  part  of  the 
population. 

Coal  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  tlie  minerals  of 
Japan  and  is  found  in  large  quantities  in  the  northernmost 
island,  Hokkaido.  Coal  has  been  mined  systematically  dur- 
ing the  past  thirty  years,  formerly  by  the  government,  but 
more  recently  the  management  has  been  transferred  to  a 
prominent  financial  firm  of  private  citizens,  who  promptly 
established  trading  stations,  not  only  in  Japan,  but  also  iii 
China,  Straits  Settlements.  Burmah'and  the  Philippine  Is- 
lands, their  product  rapidly  taking  the  place  of  Australian 
coal,  upon  which  steamships  in  that  part,  of  the  world  were 
formerly  compelled  to  largely  rely.  Locomotive  engines  from 
the  United  States,  and  electric  power  have  been  introduced 
into  mines  to  take  the  place  of  horses,  and  branch  railways 
convey  the  coal  to  ports  fifty  miles  distant,  where  steam.>5hip.s 
can  have  constant  access  to  the  docks  and  depots  of  supply. 
It  is  believed  that  for  a  great  many  years  to  come  Japan  will 
prove  a  most  important  coal  producer  and  distributor  in  the 
East;  and  when  it  is  remembered  tliat  the  supply  of  natural 
water  power  in  the  mountains  of  Japan  must  necessarily  be 
very  great,  and  that  this  may  now  be  conveyed  in  the  form 
of  electricity  to  accessible  points,  the  manufacturing  possi- 
bilities of  Japan,  with  its  large  industries  and  skillful  popu- 
lation, will  be  very  apparent. 

Methods  of  communication  and  transportation,  which  ]ilay 
such  an  important  ])art  in  the  jiroductive  possibilities  of  any 
country,  have  so  ra])idly  improved  in  Japan  during  the  last 


112 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEKNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


few  j-ears  as  to  add  greatly  to  its  iadustrial  prospects,  whetlier 
agricultural,  mining  or  manufacturing. 

Railway  lines  now  stretch  along  the  coast  on  either  side 
of  the  principal  islands,  the  total  length  of  railroads  being 
over  3,000  miles,  with  a  largely  additional  mileage  proposed 
and  in  many  cases  under  construction.  Telegraph  and  tele- 
phone lines  form  a  network  over  the  entire  group  of  islands, 
while  large  sums  of  money  have  recently  been  expended  by 
the  government  in  the  constiiiction  of  highways  for  trans- 
portation, connecting  the  railways. 

The  educational  conditions  in  Japan  are  the  subject  of 
very  favorable  comment  by  those  who  have  had  opportunity 
for  thorough  investigation,  and  the  official  reports  of  the  gov- 
ernment sho\y  that  the  number  of  schools,  teachers  and  pupils 
has  rapidly  increased  during  the  past  few  years.  It  can  be 
truly  said  that  Japan  by  her  efforts  to  promote  the  welfare 
of  her  OAvn  people  by  the  establishment  of  enlightened  laws 
and  liberal  institutions,  now  rea])s  the  reward  of  an  equal 
place  among  the  Western  nations,  and  from  none  has  Japan 
received  more  hearty  congratulations  than  from  the  ])eople 
of  this  country,  who  have  always  been  conspicuous  and  con- 
stantly most  friendly  to  Japan. 

The  Imperial  Commercial  JIuseum  of  .Ia|i;ni,  which  has 
recently  been  established  under  the  control  of  the  Department 
of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  of  the  Japanese  (iovernnu'iit. 
seeks  to  obtain  the  same  objects  as  those  of  the  I'biladi'Iphia 
Commercial  Museum. 

The  government  development  of  Japan  is  un(|uestionably 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  this  wonderful  cen- 
tury. Wlien  Commodore  Perry  forced  his  way  into  the  Japa- 
nese ports  in  1853  he  found  an  absolute  monarchy  under  a 
feudal  system,  similar  to  that  which  Europe  outgrew  centuries 
ago.  Fifteen  years  later  Japan  swept  away  at  a  breath  this 
feudal  system,  which  had  lasted  nearly  three  hundred  years, 
and  in  1899  an  absolute  nu)iiarch  gives  his  people  a  constitu- 
tion and  parliamentary  form  of  government.  Thus  in  a  pe- 
riod of  about  thirty  years  Japan  passed  fidiu  a  feudal  mon- 
archy to  a  parliamentary  form  of  government,  achieving  at  a 
single  stroke  a  development  which  cost  Ihiropean  nations  cen- 
turies of  bitter  struggle,  and  now  since  the  now  treaties  have 
gone  into  effect  Japan  has  entered  upon  a  new  career,  as  far 
as  international  relations  are  concerned,  which  lifts  it  into 
a  position  with  the  most  favored  nations  in  the  world,  and 
all  must  recognize  fully  the  right  of  the  great  Island  Emjjire 
of  Japan  to  equality  of  treatment  in  the  field  of  international 
relations.  Of  course,  the  most  noteworthy  provision  in  tiie 
new  treaties,  of  which  tliat  with  the  ITnited  States  is  a  type, 
is  that  declaring  that  from  the  time  they  come  into  force 
the  jurisdiction  exercised  by  the  consular  courts  in  Japan, 
and  all  the  exceptional  privileges,  exemptions,  and  immuni- 
ties then  enjoyed  by  the  citizens  of  the  several  countries  as 
a  part  of  or  appiiricnant  to  the  consular  jurisdiction  will 
absolutely  cease,  and  lliat  tbereaftci' all  such  jiirisdictiim  sliall 
be  exercised  by  the  .lapanese  courts. 

I  The  provision  guarantees  the  legal  inde|iendeiice  of  Japan. 
It  is  a  feature  of  no  less  than  fiftet'u  treaties — those,  namely, 
with  the  ITnited  Stales,  (Ireat  liritnin,  (lei-niany,  France, 
Russia,  Austria,  Italy,  Spain,  Poitugal,  lU'luiiim.  Il(dland, 
Denmark,  Sweden  and  Norway,  Switzerland  and  I'eru.  These 
treaties  have  lifted  Japan  into  a  position  of  e(pialily  in  in- 
ternational law  with  the  other  sovereignties  of  the  globe. 
(Applause.) 

Mr.  Everell  Frnzar: 

We  no^v  have  to  Iiciir  IVoni  several  of  llic  ciniinicrcial  ddi'- 
gates  from  Japan  \\  bo  are  here  with  us,  the  Urst  one  being  .Mr. 
Kahe  Otani,  delegate  from  the  Japanese  Traders'  Society  and 
the  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Tokyo  and  Yokohama.  Ow- 
ing to  the  fact  that  he  speaks  English  a  little  indistinctly, 


he  has  requested  not  to  he  called  upon  to  address  you  in 
English.  There  are  a  number  of  persons  here  who  will  un- 
derstand the  Japanese  and  I  am  sure  they  will  be  pleased  to 
hear  from  him  in  his  own  language.  I  must  say  Mr.  Kahe 
Otani  represents  a  liigh  p.^sition  in  Japanese  society  and  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Tokyo  and  Yokohama. 

(Mr.  Kahe  Otatii  then  addressed  the  Congress  in  Japan- 
ese. Mr.  T.  Mizutauy,  the  delegate  from  the  Japanese  Central 
Tea  Association,  interpreted  ilr.  Otani"s  remarks.) 

il/r.  T.  Mizulnnij:  ,  ,    ^ 

Mr.  (diairnian.  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Mr. 
Kahe  Otani  has  spoken  in  Japanese  and  the,  time'  is  now  very 
limited,  and  I  am  requested  by  your  Chairman  to  read  as  fast 
as  possible,  so  I  think  I  will  read  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred 
miles  an  hour. 

J/r.  Kalu  Otani: 

It  affords  me  the  gTcatest  pleasure  to  be  present  at  this 
Congress,  and  to  have  this  opportunity  to  express, my  humble 
remarks  before  the  distinguished  delegates  from  various  coun- 
tries of  the  world.  It  is  an  established  fact  that  the  trade 
between  Japan  and  America  has  beert  steadily  increasing,  and 
will  be  greater  year  by  year,  and  in  this  connection  I  may  say 
that  we  have  a  special  interest  in  the  City  of  Philadelphia, 
where  the  first  national  exhibit  from  Japan  was  made  at  the 
Centennial  Exposition  in  1876.  The  subjects  I  am  going  to 
speak  upon  are  most  important  ones  concerning  the  present 
and  future  trade  between  America  and  Japan,  and  I  hope  you 
will  kindly  spare  a  few  moments  for  me.  Mr.  Mizutany  will 
read  the  first  part,  as  I  represent  here  four  different  commer- 
cial bodies  in  Japan,  the  Japanese  Traders"  Society,  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Tokyo  and  Yokohama,  the  Japan- 
ese Business  Soeiety,  and  the  Japan  Central  Tea  Association  of 
Tokyo,  and  each  of  these  desires  me  to  present  its  own  views. 

The   (^).MJiE]u'i.\L  Relations  Between  J.\p.\n  and  the 
United  States  of  Ameijica. 

The  ()uantity  of  the  [troducts  which  one  country  sells  to  the 
other  should  be  identical  in  value  with  the  quantity  which 
it  buys.  Hence,  to  sell  it  must  buy.  It  is  owing  to  this  fact 
that  the  customs  regulations  of  a  nation,  according  as  they 
liave  been  wisely  framed  or  otherwise,  have  always  brought 
about  that  nation's  success  or  failure  in  international  trade. 

By  the  consent  and  agreement  of  the  United  States  of 
America  and  of  other  foreign  ])owers.  Japan  recently  put  into 
iperation  the  revised  treaties,  and  at  the  same  time  made  a 
cliange  in  its  customs  system.  In  consequence,  the  greater 
]iart  of  the  goods  imported  into  Japan  have  had  the  duties 
on  them  more  or  less  increased.  Still,  excepting  a  few  special 
cases,  the  tariff  rate  does  not  exceed  on  the  average  ten  to 
lifteen  ])er  cent.,  while  the  old  rates  have  been  retained  as  far 
as  jjossible  for  the  most  important  goods  of  )ni])ort..  Your 
nation,  however,  whose  commercial  relations  with  us  have 
been  yearly  increasing  in  magnitude,  seems  to  have  deter- 
ntined  upon  a  policy  of  imposing  excessively  licavy  duties  ou 
tlie  jiroducts  of  Japan. 

In  examining  the  conimei'iial  ]n'ogress  of  Japan  since  its 
opening  to  foreign  commerce,  it  is  seen  that"  I'hirtqie  has  al- 
ways been  in  a  position  of  an  ex|)orter  to  Japan,  while  j'our 
nation  has  always  been  an  imi)orter.  In  other  words,  you  have 
alwavs  bought  a,  great  deal  from  lis  l}ut  sold  us  in  return  very 
lillle.  The  ]u-ogress  of  tlie  .faiian-American  trade  from  1873 
to  |S,S7  shows  fliat  your  exports  to  Japan  did  not  e.xeeed 
oiu'-.seventh  at  its  minimum  and  one-fourth  at  its  maximum, 
as  compared  with  the  nin(iunf  of  Japair's  exfiorts  to  the  Ignited 
States  of  America. 


JOHN   A.   KASSON, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

GEO.  H.  DANIELS, 
New  York. 


CHARLES    PAGE    BRYAN, 
U.  S.  Minister  to  Brazil. 

CHARLES  A.  SCHIEREN, 
New  York. 


EUGENE  SEEGER, 
U.  S.  Consul-General  at  Rio. 

ULYSSES   D.  EDDY, 
New  York. 


WILLIAM    E.  CURTIS,  WILLIAM    I.  BUCHANAN, 

Washington,  D.  C.        Director-Gen.,  Pan-American  Exposition. 


A.   B.   FARQUHAR 
York,  Pa. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  19,  1899 


113 


But  in  1888,  a  sudden  change  came  over  the  situation  and 
American  exports  to  Japan  rose  at  one  jump  from  three 
million  yen  to  five  million  six  hundred  thousand  yen  (one  yen 
is  nearly  equal  to  fifty  cents  in  American  gold).  This  favor- 
able state  of  affairs  lias  steadily  been  kept  up  ever  since,  your 
exports  to  Japan  reaching  the  high  figures  of  ten  million  yen 
in  1894,  followed  by  16,000,000  yen  m  1896,  27,000,000  yen 
in  1897,  while  it  at  last  increased  to  the  enormous  sum  of 
40,000,000  yen  in  1898.  Thus  the  difference  between  export, 
and  import  in  the  Japan -American  trade  has  been  steadily 
diminishing  until  it  now  threatens  not  only  to  disappear  alto- 
gether, but  very  likely  your  exports  to  Japan  will  overbalance 
your  imports  from  Japan.  The  following  table  will  show  the 
matter  iu  detail: 

Comparative  table  of  the  total  value  of  commodities  ex- 
ported to  and  imported  from  America  by  Japan: 


Year. 

Exports 

Imports 

Total  Exports  and 

yen. 

yen 

Imports,  yen. 

1873 

4,226,162,180 

1,017,761,460 

5,243,922,640 
*3,208,400,720 

1874 

7,464,843,860 

1,047,249,810 

8,512.093,670 
*6,417,954,050 

1875 

6,890,132,270 

1,920,346,100 

8,810,478.370 
*4,969,786,170 

1876 

5,797,825,410 

1,124,881,780 

6,922,707,190 
*4,672,943,630 

1877 

5,232,321,600 

1,736,780,690 

6.969,102,390 
*3,495,540.910 

1878 

5.845,063,620 

2,727,584,920 

8,572,652.940 
*3,117,483,100 

1879 

10,879,053,390 

3,212,273,090 

14,091,326.480 
*7,666,780,300 

1880 

12,041.150.720 

2,669.333,700 

14,710,484,420 
*9,371,817,020 

1881 

11,087,556,370 

1,816,199,830 

12,903,756,300 
♦9,271,356,540 

1882 

14,280,199,140 

3.133,665,570 

17,413,864,710 
*11, 146.533,570 

1883 

13,293,758,570 

3,232,032,300 

16,526,790.S6O 
*10,060,726,270 

1884 

13,130,923,670 

2,498,969,510 

15,620,893.180 
*10,640,954,160 

1885 

15,629,005,130 

2,751.320,950 

18.390.326.080 
*12,387,684,180 

1886 

19,922,429,410 

3,358,986,800 

23.351,416,210 
*16,633,442,610 

1887 

21,519,266,970 

3,283.096,120 

24.812,363.090 
*18,346,170,S5O 

1888 

32.618,483,480 

5,648,733,700 

28,267,317,180 
*16,969,749,780 

1899 

25,282,873,660 

6,142,171,108 

31,426,044,760 
*19.139.702,560 

]  890 

19,821,437,750 

6,874,521,590 

26,645,969,700 
*12,946,905,800 

1891 

29,795,754,840 

6,840,047,970 

36,625,803,810 
*22.955,706,870 

1892 

38,674,971,360 

5,988,053,560 

44,663,021,920 
*32,686,917,800 

1893 

27,739,458,310 

6,090,408,400 

33,829.866.710 
*21,619,049,910 

1894 

43,323,557,0(;() 

10,982,558.440 

54,206,115,500 
*32,340,998,620 

lSi)5 

54,038,950,2(tO 

9.2;  (i. 360.350 

63.304.950.850 
*44.752,589,850 

189(; 

31,533,341.130 

16.372.419.850 

47,905,760,980 
*15.158.931,280 

1897 

52,436,404,480 

27,030,537,560 

79,466,942,040 

1898       47,311.154.900  40,001,097,520 

1899,  Jan.  6,201,309,500  3,125,845,200 

1899,  Feb.  5,380,854,380  2,011,635,560 

1899,  Mar.  3,538,019,410  4,246,771,440 

1899,  Apr.  2,414,075,430  3,412,083,910 

1899,  May  2,338.316,150  3,377,819,170 

*  Excess  of  Exports  over  Imports. 
f  Excess  of  Imports  over  Exports. 


*25,405,866,930 

87,312,252,420 

*7,310,057,380 

9,327,151.700 

*3,075,464,300 

7,292,489,940 

*3,369,218,830 

7.774.790.850 

t718,752J030 

5.826.159,340 

t988,008,480 

5.716.135,330 

tl,039,503,020 


It  will  be  most  important  here  to  determine  what  class  of 
commodities  has  contributed  to  this  increase  in  tlie  American 
export  trade. 

In  examining  the  items  which  exceeded  one  million  yen  for 
the  last  three  years,  during  which  time  it  took  the  remark- 
alile  progress  above  referred  to,  we  obtain  the  following: 

Principal  Items  of  American  Export  to  Japan  Exceed- 
ing One  Million  Yen  in  Value,  per  Year. 

Item.s.                   1896.  1897.  1898. 
Machines  and  Ma- 
chinery  1.104.250.06  4,259,536.74  2,983,376.12 

Iron 674,567.59  2,758.547.30  4,173,696.02 

Kerosene    5,383,909.40  5,975,866.30  5,910,774.16 

Gin  Cotton 4,352,398.26  7,273,331.69  14,751,199.91 

Flour 980,303.96  1,152,318.48  1,979,359.32 

Tobacco   519,864.96  886,016.81  2,940,500.65 

From  the  above  it  will  lie  seen  that  the  principal  article?  of 
importation  are  those  for  which  the  demand  will  increa.se 
with  the  economic  progress  of  Japan  and  the  increase  of  its 
national  wealth. 

Hence,  while  their  importation  may  be  more  and  more  en- 
couraged, there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  in  any  way  be 
objected  to.  It  should,  however,  be  noted  that  the  case  of 
tobacco  in  the  above  table  is  an  exception.  Its  importation 
amounted  to  nearly  three  million  yen  in  1898-1899,  but  that 
was  owing  to  the  fact  of  a  heavy  duty — heavy,  at  any  rate,  asi 
(•(inipared  with  the  duty  on  other  commodities — to  be  levied) 
on  tobacco  from  the  succeeding  year.  Therefore,  the  amount- 
of  tobacco  importation  of  last  year  is  quite  an  exception, 
and  tlie  figure  of  that  importation,  for  an  ordinary  year,  may 
be  safely  put  down  at  from  800,000  to  900,000  yen. 

Under  these  circumstances  we  do  not  propose  to  place  to- 
bacco in  the  same  categoi-y  as  .the  other  principal  articles  of 
importation. 

Leaving,  then,  toliacco  out  of  the  question,  we  can  see 
clearlv  that  the  tariff  rates  levied  on  the  other  articles  of  ex-  1 
]iort  are  by  no  means  excessive,  the  lowest  being  only  5  per 
cenf.  while  the  highest  does  not  exceed  15  per  cent.  It 
should  be  especially  noted  that  gin  cotton,  the  import  of 
which  amounfs  in  value  to  nearly  fifteen  million  yen,  and 
which  still  heads  the  list  of  American  exports  to  Japan,  is 
on  the  free  list  with  us.  Such  being  the  case,  it  may  be  con- 
cluded that  our  government  has  not  committed  much  of  a 
bluiuler  in  its  customs  policy,  so  far  at  least  as  the  principal 
American  articles  of  import  to  Japan  are  concerned.  "Where- 
as, the  Japan- American  trade  has  reached  a  high  state  of  de- 
velopment, the  exports  and  imports  nearly  balancing  each 
other  at  the  respectable  figure  of  about  fifty  million  yen... 
the  course  that  has  been  adopted  by  our  nation  ha-s  attained 


lU 


PliUt'KEUiiNUS  Oh'  THE  ix\TEKXATiUi\AL  CUALMKltClAL  CUiNGliESS 


a  tertaiii  degree  of  satii^lactioii.  fur  it  has  beeu  our  aim  uot 
(o  take  any  course  tiiat  may  seriously  interfere  with  foreign 
irade. 

XotHtlhsiandiiiji  the  ahove  fat-t,  it  appears  tliat  you  aj-c 
aliout  to  ado})t  a  ])oliey  of  im2X)sing  heavy  duties  upon  our 
jM'incipal  and  most  imjjortant  products  of  export.  This  can- 
not but  be  a  matter  of  regret  to  our  own  country  especially. 

A  reference  to  the  following  table  will  show  how  the  arti- 
cles proposed  for  increased  taxation  by  your  government  hap- 
j)eu,  unfortunately,  to  he  our  must  impurtaiit  exports  to  your 
country: 

Tabi>k  (IF  'ijii';  t'oMMdiJiriiis  Exported  to  Amichu'a   i;y 
Jai'ax,  which  E.xcekd  one  JIillion  Yex  a  Year. 

1896  1897  1898 

I?a\v  Silk   14,080.981.3:  32,262,900.31  2.5,311,401.03 

'JVa r..210,7?8.18  6,489,493.23  6.541,716.19 

Ilabutai   2,240,452.59  3,528,804.39  4,015,504.37 

Silk  goods  ...  .      1,913,988.92  1,561,519.25  1.997,559.98 

Fancy  matting  .  2.683,255.00  2,697.249.83  3.707,460.10 

In  studying  the  history  of  your  tariff  system  for  several 
years  back,  one  cannot  but  perceive  that  you  have  advanced 
many  ste]is  further  toward  the  policy  of  protection  since  tiie 
year  '181(;.  Vuu  now  threaten  to  charge  heavy  duties  even 
on  '"half  maiuifacturcd"  articles.  Can  this  be  a  policy  con- 
sistent with  the  progressive  tendency  of  the  Japan-American 
trade,  and  with  the  fact  that  your  commodities  are  enjoying 
a  gofxl  market  in  Jajian?  Nothing  more  can  be  said  if  it  is 
yuur  ])olicy  m.it  to  increase  your  markets.  If,  however,  the 
|iolitics  of  a  nation  were  to  be  based  on  its  trade  and  cum- 
merce,  it  could  not  send  out  its  ])rodticts  far  and  wide,  unless 
it  would  follow  the  policy  of  absorbing  those  of  other 
countries.  If  it  is  to  make  the  recent  progress  in  the  Japan- 
American  trade  continue  and  become  even  more  striking, 
then  there  can  1)e  liut  mn'  eourse  to  follow — a  course  of  free 
reci]irocity.  As  a  measure  of  financial  exigency,  our  govern- 
ment was  compelled  to  levy  a  slightly  heavy  duty  on  tobacco; 
Ijut  it  has  already  been  shown  that  that  article  does  not  form 
an 'item  of  s])ecial  importance  in  Japanese-American  trade. 
It  points  out,  after  all,  an  attitude  of  fairness,  if  the  more  im- 
portant  items  are  taken  into  consideration.  It  might  be 
different  if  the  trade  of  two  countries  were  to  remain  all  one- 
sided to  Japan,  as  in  former  years,  yonr  nation  lieing  disad- 
vantageoiisly  ])Iaced  in  ihe  matter  of  exchange,  bid  things 
are  not  so.  nay,  we  are  to  march  shoulder  to  shoulder  along 
the  |)ath  of  mutual  trade  and  commerce,  our  ini]iorts  and  ex- 
ports being  fairly  balanced  one  against  the  other.  Under  these 
circumstances,  it  seems  to  be  the  duty  of  the  moment  for  both 
cotintries  to  uiiili'  in  tlicir  (•iruri<  for  maintaining  the  jiri-sent 
slalus  quo. 
'  In  conclusi(Jii,  we  beg  to  say  that  we  have  in  the  ])ast  dune 
all  in  our  power  to  improve  tlie  progress  of  .Tapan-Anierican 
trade,  always  adhering  to  the  princi|)les  above  stated;  and  it 
will  continue  to  be  so  in  the  future.  Furthermore,  it  has 
bound  itself  to  use  its  influence  in  fighting  against  any  policy 
on  the  part  of  the  govcrnnieni  or  even  against  any  tendency  of 
])td)!ic  opinion  injurious  or  opposed  to  that  principle.  Should 
your  business  men,  as  well  as  your  govei-nment,  hold  the  san:e 
view  as  we  have,  and  .should  tliey  agree  tu  a  policy  of  securing 
further  jirogrcss  and  ])rosperity  to  the  midual  trade  of  both 
'•ountries,  it  will  not  only  give  great  .satisfaction  tu  us.  but 
it  will  be  a  matter  uf  congratidaiimi  to  the  pcuplc  uf  the 
T'^nited  States  of  .Anu'rica  atid  Ihe  Empire  uf  Japan. 

Om  Ti-:\  DfTY. 

Jlr.  Chairman.  Delegates.  Ladies  and  (ieiith'men:    1  have 


heretofore  .spoken  ahout  the  general  oiiinion  of  the  Jajianesc 
Traders"  Society  in  regard  to  the  Japan-American  commercial 
relations.  Now  I  beg,  furthermore,  to  say  a  little  more  par- 
ticularly of  the  tea  industry  of  Japan  and  its  duty.  I  have 
been  interested  in  the  tea  business  for  the  la.st  forty  years — 
in  fact  from  its  Ijeginning  to  the  present — and  am  very  thank- 
ful and  glad  that  I  have  had  a  good  opportunity  to  express  my 
c)wn.  and  our  general  opinion  of  tlie  tea  trade. 

The  sul)ject  will  be  principally  on  tea  duty  and  its  effects, 
(ienerally  speaking,  we  have  no  right  to  say  anything  about 
your  tariff  or  duty,  as  it  is  a  national  right  that  cannot  be  in- 
terfered with  liy  any  foreign  power,  but  one  thing  that  I 
have  to  call  to  your  i)ublie  attention  is  simply  for  mutual 
benefit  of  your  own  and  our  own  nation  at  large. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  you  are  well  aware  that  tea  is  one 
of  the  so-called  "necessities"  for  everybody  in  this  coun- 
try; a  heavy  duty  on  it  jiractically  means  "a  heavy  burden 
to  your  own  people  as  well  as  for  Japanese.  Let  us  reflect 
a  moment  on  the  duty  im])osed  upon  the  tea  last  year — ten 
cents  a  pound — twenty  cents  a  pound  in  Japan;  that  is,  one 
dollar  and  a  third  more  than  the  average  cost  per  one  hun- 
dred pounds  of  Japan  tea,  which  occupies  the  greater  part — 
65  per  cent. — of  tea  imports  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
I  know,  however,  the  duty  was  merely  to  raise  a  revenue  to 
meet  the  war  expenditures  of  your  government,  and  not  to 
exclude  Ja])an  teas  from  your  market;  but  nevertheless  its 
effect  will  undoubtedly  be  to  cut  off  the  consumption  to  the 
least  amount,  and  finally  it  may  entirely  exclude  the  Japan 
tea  from  your  States.  .  I  say  that  the  Japanese  tea  planters 
and  growers  are  suffering  nearly  to  death;  would  you  not 
synijiathize  witli  such  a  miserable  condition  at  present  of  our 
tea  planters? 

You  are  (uie  t)f  the  countries  which  are  richly  gifted  with 
all  resources  of  wealth  in  land  and  in  ocean,  and  you  are 
surely  one  of  the  must  wealthy  and  progressive  nations  on  the 
surface  of  the  globe.  Let  me  repeat  to  say  that  your  resources 
arp  simply  enormous,  and  you  have  taxed  the  tea  that  is 
necessary  to  everybody  and  is  not  produced  in  this  country. 
I  cannot  see  wliy. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  a  sudden  change  in  customs  duties 
ami  tariffs  is  sometimes  necessary  for  tlie  protection  of  do- 
mestic ]n-oducts  and  industi^,  but  you  do  not  grow  tea,  and 
there  is  no  rea.son  or  fact  that  should  bring  any  antagonistic 
feeling  between  the  two  nations.  Nay,  I  see,  and  you  see  that 
the  amounts  of  imports  and  exports  of  the  two  countries  are 
coming  up  to  the  mtv  ]ioint  of  lialance,  as  I  have  .said  before, 
ajul  we  have  always  encouraged  the  increasing  imports  of 
American  gootls  to  Japan. 

'IMie  jtresent  situation  of  Japan  tea  is  entirely  dependent 
upon  the  American  market,  and  the  heavy  duty  of  ten  cents 
a  pound  may  stop  altugether  the  importation  of  Japan  tea  to 
.Vmerica,  unless  certain  stejis  should  be  taken  at  once,  or  in 
the  near  future. 

This  is  the  most  important  matter  that  1  have  to  bring 
before  you,  and  in  presenting  it  I  appeal  to  your  public  sym- 
jiatliy.  I  dare  say  the  Japanese  peo])le  who  were  brought  into 
contact  with  foreign  countries  through  your  ])eople.  have 
always  shown  their  waiin  and  sincere  feeling  toward  vent, 
and  this  feeling  will  ne\i'r  change.  On  tb(>  other  hand  what 
a  miscialilc  thing  il  is  to  see  five  millions  of  Japanese  tea 
]ilaiitcis  siiiVii-Jiiri  ,111  account  uf  the  duly  so  suddenlv  jilaced 
on  tea.  which  may,  \\i'  Tear,  also  .-ilTcct  the  general  trade  be- 
t  \M'<'n  t  he  luii  countries. 

I  heg.  in  couclnsiou.  to  say  that  we  nmsl  sincendv  desire 
and  hope  that  such  In'avy  duly  will  he  abolished  as  soon  as 
possible  by  your  gu\eiiimenl.  and  that  you  will  nui  ha\c  anv 
more  similar  cases  in  tlu'  fuliire.  bringing  sudden  nuclnations 
ill  the  coinniei'ci'  and  indiistiy  of  two  nations.  I  thank  von. 
(.\pplan>e.) 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSlUN,  UCTUBER  19,  1899 


115 


Mr.  S.  T.  Nishimura: 

Gentlemen:  It  seems  to  me  very  necessary  to  quote  i'roni 
the  statutes  of  the  United  States  a  portion  relating  to  the 
coasting  trade,  ilr.  Otaui  has  I'equested  me  to  read  it.  and 
1  shall  do  so. 

On  the  Coasting  Tkade  of  the  United  States  of 
America. 

Section  43-t7  of  Kevised  Statutes  of  the  United  States  con- 
cerning the  coast  trade  which  was  enacted  by  the  United 
States  Government  in  1817,  says: 

"No  merchandise  shall  be  transported  under  penalty  of 
forfeiture  thereof,  from  one  jwrt  of  the  United  States  to 
another  port  of  the  United  States,  in  a  vessel  belonging 
wholly  or  in  a  part  to  a  subject  of  any  foreign  power.  The 
same  rule  applies  when  foreign  vessels  pass  through  a  foreign 
port,  while  transporting  goods  between  the  two  ports  of  the 
United  States;  but  this  section  shall  not  be  construed  to  pro- 
hibit the  sailing  of  any  foreign  vessel  from  one  to  another 
port  of  the  United  States,  provided  that  imported  goods  in 
such  vessel  from  some  foreign  port,  and  which  shall  not  have' 
been  unladen  shall  be  carried  from  one  port  or  place  to  an- 
other in  the  United  States.'' 

This  section  was  amended  several  times  since  its  first  enact- 
ment, but  the  principle  involved  in  it  has  never  been  changed. 
On  February  17,  1898,  the  section  was  again  amended  and 
expanded  as  follows: 

"No  merchandise  shall  be  transported  from  one  port  of  the 
United  States  to  another  port  of  the  United  States  with 
goods  on  board  the  vessels,  either  directly  or  via  a  foreign 
port,  or  for  any  part  of  the  vo)'age,  in  any  other  vessel  than 
a  vessel  of  the  United  States,"  etc. 

Again  a  law  concerning  the  transportation  of  passengers, 
which  was  enacted  in  188G  and  amended  on  February  17, 
1898,  reads  as  follows: 

"No  foreign  vessel  shall  transport  passengers  between  ports 
or  places  in  the  United  States,  either  directly  or  by  way  of  a 
foreign  port,  under  a  penalty  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  each 
passenger  so  transported  and  landed." 

Now,  these  laws  are  not  only  applied  to  the  main  coast  of 
the  Ignited  States,  but  different  courts  in  the  United  States 
have  interpreted  these  laws  as  applicable  to  Lancodas  Islands 
in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  the  Treasury  Department  pre- 
pared many  rules  in  applying  these  laws  to  the  different  ports 
in  Porto  Rico  in  the  West  Indies.  It  is  rumored,  moreover,  that 
the  United  States  government  is  intending  to  extend  the 
application  of  these  laws  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  the 
Philippine  Islands,  the  recent  acquisitions  of  this  country. 
Now,  until  to-day,  both  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  in  the 
Philippine  Islands,  all  foreign  vessels  have  enjoyed  all  the 
freedom  of  transportation  of  goods  and  passengers. 

If  these  exclusive  laws  were  applied  to  the.se  two  groups 
of  islands  in  the  Pacific,  then  all  the  foreign  vessels  which 
are  now  used  for  the  purpose  of  commerce  on  the  Pacific 
must  sufFer  a  serious  effect.  For  instance,  foreign  vessels, 
loaded  with  goods  and  passengers  in  some  ports  of  the 
Orient  and  bound  for  ports  of  the  United  States,  can  disem- 
bark a  part  of  her  goods  and  passengers  in  Honolulu,  and 
the  remainder  in  the  ports  of  the  ITnited  States,  but 
there  cannot  l)e  taken  in  any  goods  or  passengers  bound  for 
the  United  States  in  Honolulu.  Again  foreign  vessels, 
bound  for  the  Onent  and  starting  from  ports  of  the  United 
States,  cannot  take  in  goods  and  ])assengers  bound  for  Hono- 
lulu in  these  ports.  Above  all,  tlie  new  and  extended  ap- 
plication of  the  laws  would  make  it  im|>ossil)]e  for  foreign 
vessels  to  transport  goods  bound  for  iManila  from  one  port  of 
the  United  States  to  llong  Kopg — the  goods  which  are  in- 


creasing very  rapidly  every  day.  For  the  section  in  the  laws, 
amended  on  February  17,  1897,  plainly  prohibits  foreign  ves- 
sels from  making  any  part  of  the  voyage  between  two  ports 
of  the  ITnited  States  with  goods  on  board  the  ships.  If  any 
foreign  vessel,  now  sailing  on  the  Pacific,  would  lose  the 
traffic  between  the  United  States  and  the  Hawaiian  as  well 
as  the  Philippine  Islands,  she  would  be  deprived  of  the  largest 
part  of  her  business. 

Of  twenty-nine  vessels  which  are  now  plying  between  the 
United  States  and  the  Orient,  only  six  belong  to  the  United 
States.  The  remaining  twenty-three  vessels  would  suffer 
sudden  and  great  lo.s,s  as  a  result  of  the  new  application  of 
the  laws.  In  consequence  of  this  the  transjwrtation  between 
different  ports  Ijecomes  inadequate.  Capitalists  must  pay 
comparatively  more  for  the  transportation,  and  consumers 
must  pay  extraordinary  prices  and  still  cannot  satisfy  their 
demands.  It  is  as  clear  as  the  light  of  the  sun  that  both  par- 
ties, the  United  States  and  other  nations,  would  not  reap 
any  profit,  but  rather  suffer  gi-eat  loss. 

Such  being  the  case,  we  earnestly  hope  that  for  tiie  profit, 
of  the  United  States  herself,  as  well  as  that  of  the  world 
at  large,  tlie  Hawaiian  Islands  and  the  Philippine  Islands 
will  not  be  included  in  the  sphere  of  the  exclusive  laws  on 
the  coasting  trade.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Mr.  Kahe  Otani  has  divided  his  paper  into  three  parts;  he 
will  speak  to  you  again  in  Japanese. 

(Mr.  Kahe  Otani  then  spoke  again  in  Japanese  and  his  re- 
marks were  interpreted  by  Mr.  T.  Furuya.) 

Mr.  T.  Furvija: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  lay- 
ing of  the  submarine  cable  across  the  Pacific  Ocean  being  of 
the  utmost  importance  between  the  North  American  Con- 
tinent and  the  Far  East,  Mr.  Otani  desires  to  discuss  the 
question  and  has  done  so  in  his  paper.  I  have  the  honor  of 
reading  his  paper  before  you. 

Mr.   Kahe  Otani  (representing  the  Yokohama  and    Tokyo 
Chambers  of  Commerce  and  the  Japan  Traders'  Society): 

A  Proposition  for  the  Laying  of  a  Submarine  Tele- 
graph Cable  in  the  Pacific. 

The  laying  of  a  submarine  cable  across  the  Pacific  being  of 
the  utmost  importance  for  the  further  development  of  com- 
mercial intercourse  between  the  North  American  Continent 
and  the  countries  in  the  Far  East,  we  hereby  propose  that 
the  question  be  discussed  and  that  such  measures  be  taken 
by  the  conference  as  may  seem  .suitable. 

It  was  not  more  than  fifty  years  ago  that  the  North 
American  States  first  came  into  contact  with  the  countries 
in  the  Far  East  Yet  their  commercial  intercourse  has  at- 
tained .such  a  prosperous  pitch  that  in  1898  the  total  sum  of 
exports  and  imports  between  the  United  States  and  Japan 
had  increased  to  87,313,2.52  yen,  compared  with  that  of  the 
previous  year,  which  was  79,460,942  yen.  This  state  of  things 
points  to  a  very  promising  future. 

Now  China  is  inclined  to  adopt  the  "open  door"  policy, 
and,  opening  her  ports,  she  seeks  to  afford  a  convenience  for 
the  commerce  of  the  world.  What  the  future  trade  relations 
between  the  great  continent,  and  the  vast  empire  having  a 
population  of  four  hundred  millions  may  be,  it  is  needless 
to  enumerate  here. 

But  among  several  means  for  promoting  this  hopeful  rela- 
tion, one  that  is  very  urgent  is  to  secure  the  requisite  means 
of  ooninnuiication  between  the  twu  ci>ntiiu'uts,  that  is,  to 


11& 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


furnish  the  complete  organs  of  transportation  and  of  corres- 
pondence. The  former  is  in  a  fair  state  of  perfection  for  the 
present;  but  the  latter,  especially  in  the  ca.se  of  telegraphic 
communication,  is  still  in  its  infancy.  Telegrams  between 
America  and  the  Far  East  can  only  be  exchanged  by  two 
routes,  the  one  going  throxigh  Siberia  and  northern  Europe, 
and  the  other  through  India  and  southern  Europe.  As  a  con- 
sequence, high  charges  are  inevitably  levied  on  the  corres- 
pondence and  delays  are  frequent.  For  instance,  the  rate 
per  word  from  Japan  to  New  York  is  3.58  yen  via  the  north- 
em,  or  4.38  yen  via  the  southern  route;  the  time  required 
for  the  transmission  of  a  telegram  is  about  thirty  hours;  and 
as  it  passes  through  a  great  many  stations,  the  frequency 
of  errors  is  unavoidable. 

This  is  the  present  condition  of  telegraphic  service  between 
the  American  Continent  and  the  Far  East. 

As  the  telegraph  is  one  of  the  commercial  organs,  the 
merchant  must  make  use  of  it,  and  the  charge  which  he 
pays  for  telegrams  is  in  reality  a  duty  imposed  on  com- 
merce. Should  the  transmission  be  slow,  it  retards  commer- 
cial transaction;;.  Should  the  occurrence  of  errors  be  fre- 
quent, it  impairs  commercial  confidence. 

Lower  charges,  quicker  transmission  of  telegrams,  and 
confidence — these  are  the  essential  ingredients  for  the  futher- 
ance  and  development  of  commercial  intercourse.  Even  with 
sucli  an  imperfect  telegraph  system,  as  altove  stated,  twenty 
thousand  telegi'aphic  messages,  containing  some  two  hundred 
thousand  words,  were  forwarded  and  received  between  the 
North  American  States  and  Japan  during  the  year  1898. 
The  existing  telegi'aph  system  between  North  America  and 
the  Far  East,  not  only  does  not  guarantee  to  meet  the  com- 
mercial requirements  of  the  futui'e,  but  is  even  incompetent 
to  answer  the  necessities  of  the  present.  Such  l)eing  the 
case,  a  perfect  and  reliable  system  must  be  constructed  as 
early  as  possible. 

Now,  most  countries  are  telegraphically  placed  in  one 
neighborhood,  notwithstanding  the  existence  of  high  moun- 
tains or  of  vast  oceans.  The  absence  of  electric  wires  across 
the  Pacific  and  the  desert  of  Central  Africa  is  a  matter 
which  has  long  been  regretted;  but  in  the  latter  place  Brit- 
ish enterprise  has  already  commenced  the  establisihmcnt  of 
the  lines  which  will  .*oon  be  completed. 

What  about  the  Pacific?  Nothing  has  yet  actually  been 
done.  Is  it  not  a  great  defect,  technically  of  the  world, 
commercially  of  the  North  American  States  and  of  the  coun- 
tries of  the  Far  East? 

The  Pacific  cable  must  be  laid,  connecting  North  America 
with  Japan,  China  and  Australia.  This  cable,  when  once 
opened,  would  effect  a  great  saving  in  charges  and  time,  and 
the  telegraphic  errors  which  occur  in  transmission  would 
naturally  be  aliafed,  as  the  messages  would  pass  a  less  num- 
ber of  intermediate  stations.  Thus  the  advantages  arising 
out  of  the  cable  would  enormously  affect  the  commerce  of 
North  America  and  of  tlie  Far  East. 

As  I  have  explained  above,  the  laying  of  a  cable  in  the 
Pacific  is  to  make  good  the  deficiency  of  the  telegraphic 
system  of  the  whole  worhl.  We  will  now  consider  whether 
the  undertaking  could  be  effected  vrithout  any  difficulties, 
and  whether  the  income  arising  out  of  the  working  of  the 
cable  would  be  sutiicient  to  maintain  it.  The  surveys  pre- 
viously made  show  that  the  depth  of  the  Pacific  is  generally 
less  than  tliree  thousand  fathoms,  but  it  is  supposed  there 
might  be  ])laces  reaching  five  thousand  fathoms.  Would  it  be 
possible  to  lay  a  cable  in  five  thousand  fathoms  of  water?  At 
a  meeting  held  by  the  members  of  a  certain  scientific  asso- 
ciation at  P>r)siol,  in  the  latter  part  of  1898,  it  was  decided 
that  the  Pacific  cable  would  not  be  a  matter  of  impossiliilify. 
if  the  wires  should  be  constructed  and  laid  with  special  caii- 
tion  in  places  reaching  five  thousand  fathoms,  a.<  some  of  tlie 


present  cables  have  been  laid  in  depths  of  three  thousand 
fathoms  of  water  and  no  serious  difficulty  has  been  met  with 
in  grappling  them  up  for  repairs.  Of  course  an  enormous 
capital  must  be  invested  for  the  carrying  out  of  the  enter- 
prises, but  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  income  would  be 
more  than  sufficient  for  maintaining  the  line,  as  in  spite  of  the 
present  round-about  routes  and  the  high  charges,  the  total 
number  of  words  transmitted  yearly  between  Japan  and  the 
North  American  States  does  not  come  under  two  hundred 
thousand. 

If,  therefore,  in  the  event  of  the  completion  of  a  cable 
across  the  Pacific,  the  messages  should  be  transmitted 
quickly  at  reduced  rates,  it  is  evident  that  the  traffic  between 
Japan  and  America  would  be  considerably  augmented,  and, 
moreover,  messages  for  China  and  Australia  might  be  for- 
warded by  this  route.     This  is  the  natural  consequence. 

The  question  whether  the  Pacific  cable  would  injure  the 
interests  of  some  of  the  cable  companies  is  not  a  matter  worthy 
of  serious  notice.  The  cables  between  Asia  and  Europe 
may  be  exclusively  used  for  traffic  exchanged  between  the 
two  continents;  and  those  between  America  and  Europe  for 
traffic  exchanged  with  each  other.  With  the  profits  deriv- 
able from  their  respective  traffic,  the  companies  should  be 
able  to  maintain  their  own,  and  they  would  not  play  the 
foolish  part  of  attempting  anything  to  retain  the  monopoly 
in  their  handvs,  despite  the  geographical  position  and  the 
public  interests.  So  far,  we  can  see  nothing  to  obstruct  the 
Pacific  cable  plan,  which  has  been  talked  about  for  so  long 
a  time. 

In  1870  Mr.  Cyrus  Field  designed  to  lay  a  cable  between 
(California  and  Japan,  via  Alaska.  In  1879  the  United 
States  Government  sent  out  a  war  ship  for  the  purpose  of 
surveying  the  Pacific.  The  result  having  been  excellent, 
the  sa.me  government  proposed  to  lay  a  cable  to  con- 
nect North  America  with  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and  to 
extend  the  wire  to  Japan,  via  the  Bonin  Islands.  In  1884 
a  certain  syndicate  of  financiers  formed  a  plan  to  connect 
Brisbane  with  San  Francisco  by  a  subnuirine  cable.  In 
1892  the  United  States  Government  again  dispatched  a  war 
ship  in  order  to  survey  the  Pacific,  and  ascertained  that  a 
submarine  cable  could  be  laid,  the  depth  not  exceeding  three 
thou.¥and  fathoms.  The  same  design  was  formed  by  Mr. 
Spalding  in  1895.  His  intention  was  to  connect  California 
with  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  thence  to  extend  the  line  to 
Japan,  and  he  concluded  an  agreement  with  the  Hawaiian 
Government  to  that  effect. 

Similar  plans  have  been  formed  by  many  other  parties, 
but  most  of  them,  having  been  projected  merely  as  specula- 
tions, have  ended  in  failure,  sometimes  through  the  oppo- 
sition of  the  cable  companies  or  sometimes  through  the 
policy  of  the  governments  concerned.  Recent  information 
from  aln-oad  stated  that  a  cable  company  had  been  formed 
in  New  York,  with  a  capital  of  ten  million  dollars,  for  the 
purpose  of  laying,  across  the  Pacific,  a  cable  which  would 
connect  the  Unit'ed  States  with  the  Philippines,  Jajjan,  and 
Au,s.tralia,  and  had  applied  to  the  I'nited  States  (iovernmeut 
for  the  concession.  Another  report  announced  that  Canada, 
together  with  Phigland  .uul  the  Australian  Colonics,  were 
]iroposing  to  link  each  other  by  a  calile  in  the  Pacific. 

We  desire  that  the  cable  shcnild  lie  laid  as  quickly  as  pos- 
sible. It  matters  not  whether  tliis  gigantic  enterprise  shall 
be  undertaken  by  some  of  the  present  cable  companies  or 
by  a  new  cable  company  established  by  American  capitalists 
or  by  the  combined  capitalists  of  several  nationalities. 

As  the  cable,  besides  requiring  an  enormous  capital,  af- 
fords a  great    iiiieresl    and    advantage   to   the    commerce   of 
North  Amerii-,'1  ami  of  the   l'"ar  I^ast,  the  governineiil-  con 
ccnicd  shmdd   be  (juite  willing  to  assist   the  enterprise. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  19,  1899 


117 


We  shall  endeavor  to  induce  the  Japanese  Government  to 
guarantee  such  aid  as  it  will  be  possible  to  render  to  the  cable 
company,  if  it  should  be  founded  on  a  firm  and  steady  basis. 
(Applause.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Gentlemen:  These  papers  are  exceedingly  interesting,  and 
as  the  reporters  may  not  be  able  to  understand  all  the  ex- 
pressions used  there,  we  shall  depend  upon  having  a  good 
translation  for  the  official  record.  I  know  from  experience 
that  these  remarks  are  very  interesting  and  the  statements 
quite  correct,  and  I  hope  that  we  shall  get  all  the  infomiation 
we  want  from  these  delegates  from  Tokyo,  which  will  be  very 
valuable.  I  know  that  Dr.  Wilson  will  appreciate  the  honor 
these  gentlemen  have  conferred  upon  us  by  being  present  at 
this  Congress  from  the  distant  East  at  a  sacrifice  to  them- 
selves both  in  their  business  and  loss  of  time.  We  have  no 
doubt  they  will  leave  behind  them  very  valuable  papers. 

In  order  that  we  may  economize  our  time,  as  I  notice  there 
are  several  papers,  two  or  three  that  have  not  been  presented, 
I  would  like  to  call  on  Mr.  George  G.  Ward,  of  the  New 
York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  but  I  am  pretty  sure  he  is  not 
here  or  I  should  have  seen  him.  Whether  he  has  sent  a 
paper  or  not  I  cannot  say.  It  may  be  that  some  one  in  the 
room  has  this  paper,  if  so  I  would  be  very  glad  to  hear  it. 
Does  any  one  in  the  room  know  where  it  is?  Mr.  Ward's 
paper  not  being  before  us,  that  will  remove  one  paper.  I 
would  like  to  know  if  Mr.  Thornton,  from  the  Honolulu 
Chamber,  is  present.  If  not,  his  paper  has  been  placed 
probably  in  the  hands  of  some  delegate  or  representative  of 
his.  Both  of  these  gentlemen  may  be  heard  from  later. 
There  is  a  gentleman  here  who  has  quite  an  interesting  and 
valuable  experience  of  thirty  years  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands, 
and  he  has  got  a  paper  that  we  would  very  much  indeed  like 
to  hear  read.  Before  the  paper  is  read  perhaps  he  will  make 
a  few  personal  remarks.  Therefore  I  am  very  happy  and 
have  much  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  General  Alfred  S. 
Hartwell,  a  delegate  from  the  Government  of  the  Hawaiian 
Islands. 

General  Alfred  S.  Hartwell: 

Mr.  Chairman:  WTiile,  in  a  sentimental  point  of  view, 
the  juggernaut  wheel  of  progress  of  civilization  is  passing 
over  the  Hawaiian  Islands — those  beautiful  islands  of  the 
Pacific — the  life  of  the  lotus-eater,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  no 
longer  a  possibility,  but  the  morning  and  evening  news  will 
be  read  there  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  the  daily 
cablegram  will  make  a  connection  there  very  soon. 

The  volume  of  commerce  in  the  Orient  and  Australia, 
which  is  already  large,  and  is  soon  to  become  enormous,  pej- 
mits  no  unnecessary  delay  in  the  establishment  of  a  complete 
system  of  Pacific  Ocean  submarine  cables. 

The  military  necessity  to  the  United  States  of  such  cable 
communications  follows,  as  a  matter  of  course,  from  the 
annexation  of  Hawaii  and  the  Philippine  events.  Slight 
inquiry  will  show  that  the  governments  concerned  in  these 
commercial  and  military  objects  will  have  to  establish  such 
cable  lines  at  their  own  expense,  or  else  aid  in  their  construc- 
tion and  operation  by  companies  or  corporations  which  will 
be  subject  to  governmental  control.  The  seven  powers  which 
are  concerned  in  this  subject  are  the  United  States,  Eng- 
land, Germany,  France,  Russia,  China  and  Japan.  Sound- 
ings have  been  taken  both  by  United  States  and  British 
men-of-war  for  cable  lines  between  Hawaii  and  the  coast  of 
California,  as  well  as  between  Hawaii  and  British  Columbia. 
A  complete  system  of  cables  would  require  lines  from  the 
Pacific  Coast  to  Hawaii:  thence  to  Yokohama  via  Manila; 
from  Yokohama  to  Vladivostok;  there  connecting  with  the 


trans-Siberian-Russian  telegraph;  and,  for  the  South  Pacific 
Ocean,  from  Hawaii  to  Sydney  via  Samoa  and  Fiji,  as  well 
as  for  the  French  interests  via  Tahiti  and  the  French  Island 
of  Noumea  to  Sydney.  There  is  already  cable  communica- 
tion between  Yokohama  and  Hong  Kong.  It  is  understood 
that  the  French  Government  desires  to  connect  its  South 
Pacific  Islands  with  the  Pacific  Coast  via  Hawaii,  affiliating 
at  that  point  with  the  American  cable.  And  also  that  the 
British  Colonies,  aided  by  the  home  government,  desire  to 
establish  their  lines  from  Sydney  to  Hawaii,  also  connecting 
at  that  point  -with  an  American  division  of  the  cable. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  I  infer,  that  both  China  and  Japan 
would  unite  with  the  United  States  in  establishing  or  aiding 
cable  communication  between  their  respective  countries  and 
the  United  States  via  Hawaii.  The  ditticulties  in  the  way 
of  laying  these  cables,  from  the  unprecedented  ocean  depths 
off  the  coast  of  British  Columbia  as  well  as  off  Japan,  will, 
it  is  believed,  be  overcome;  but  they  cannot  be  ignored. 

For  over  thirty  years,  the  subject  of  these  cables  has  re- 
ceived considerable  attention  from  submarine  cable  experts, 
cable  construction  companies,  and  from  the  San  Francisco 
and  Honolulu  Boai'ds  of  Trade;  and,  on  repeated  occasions, 
from  the  United  States  Congress.  Exclusive  franchises  and 
subsidies,  ranging  from  $25,000  to  $40,000  a  year,  have  been 
offered  by  the  Hawaiian  Government  dating  from  the  year 
1876;  but,  thus  far,  Congress  has  declined  to  appropriate 
money  to  enable  the  holders  of  these  franchises  to  make 
practical  use  of  them.  Last  year  the  Government  of  Hawaii 
entered  into  a  contract  with  the  Pacific  Cable  Company  of 
New  York,  for  the  landing  in  Hawaii  of  cables  connecting 
with  the  coast  of  California  and  with  Japan,  giving  that 
company  an  exclusive  cabling  right  between  Hawaii  and 
Japan,  and  no  subsidy.  The  contract  provided  that  it  should 
be  invalid  if  disapproved,  within  six  months  from  its  date, 
by  the  United  States  Department  of  State.  At  the  sugges- 
tion of  a  majority  of  the  Hawaiian  Commission,  composed 
of  Senators  Morgan  and  Cullom  and  Representative  Hill, 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  President  Dole  and 
Justice  Frear,  on  the  part  of  Hawaii,  the  Secretary  of  State, 
upon  the  last  day  of  the  six  months,  expressed  the  disap- 
proval of  that  contract  by  the  Department.  Measures  were 
introduced  at  the  last  Congress,  both  in  behalf  of  the  Pacific 
Cable  Company  and  of  another  company,  which  will  undoubt- 
edly come  before  the  next  Congress. 

Undoubtedly,  the  first  question  for  decision  will  be 
whether  appropriation  shall  be  made  for  a  cable  to  be  laid, 
owned  and  operated  by  the  United  States  Government,  or 
by  some  corporation  subject  to  the  control  of  the  United 
States  Government.  The  former  method  has  commended 
itself  to  some  of  the  senators  and  members  of  Congress,  and 
it  is  possible,  but,  I  think  hardly  likely,  that  it  may  be 
adopted.  Private  ovmership  and  operation  of  the  cable, 
securing  to  the  United  States  Government  precedence,  suit- 
able rates  and  the  right  to  take  possession  in  time  of  war  or 
any  other  emergency,  and  also  to  buy  the  cable  outright  on 
specific  terms,  appears  to  me  to  be  the  wiser  course.  This 
is  the  method  adopted  by  the  British  Government  in  regard 
to  the  submarine  cables  constructed  by  the  aid  of  its  sub- 
sidies. 

If  this  method  shall  be  adopted  by  Congress,  it  would  be 
a  simple  thing  to  ascertain  the  precise  cost  of  the  material 
and  construction  of  a  cable  and  the  approximate  cost  of  its 
repairs  and  operation;  and  also,  perhaps,  to  estimate  with 
some  degree  of  accuracy  the  receipts  likely  to  aecriie  for  a 
term  of  years.  After  making  a  reasonable  allowance  for 
wear  and  tear  and  breakages,  there  ought  to  be  no  difficulty 
in  determining  how  much  government  aid  should  be  granted, 
in  order,  on  the  one  hand,  to  invite  capital  by  a  fairly  safe 
investment,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  avoid  unnecessary  or 


118 


PROrKKDINOS  OF  THE  INTKRNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


iiiuliic  use  (if  public  I'miils  for  private  benefit. 

Whichever  method  sliall  be  adopted,  the  interests  of  the 
("iiited  States  imperatively  demand  an  early  accomplish- 
ment of  a  sy.stem  of  telegraphy  between  the  Pacific  Coast 
and  the  Orient  via  Hawaii. 

H  .-^eems  to  be  a  proper  subject  for  treaty  stipulation  to 
be  entered  into  between  the  seven  powers  concerned  in  these 
cables,  to  the  effect  that  in  time  of  war  they  shall  be  regarded 
as  strictly  neutral  property,  not  subject  to  be  interfered  with 
by  any  belligerent. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  a])pearance  of  partisanship  in  the 
interest  of  this  or  that  cable  company,  it  is  ])ossible  that  this 
Interiuitional  Commercial  Congress  might  with  advantage 
ap]>oint  a  committee  to  investigate  and  recommciul  the  ac- 
tion that  it  deems  liest  upon  this  subject  of  internntional  im- 
portance. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 
The  time  is  short. 

Mr.  .s7;7)H-  (Wilkesliarrc  Board  of  Trade): 

I  move  that  a  committee  of  seven  be  appointed  by  the 
Chair  to  take  into  consideration  all  resolutions  presented  to 
this  Congress. 

Mr.  .V.  /).  Kelly  (Philadelphia  Trades  Ix'ague): 

1  .second  that  motion. 

(The  question  being  on  the  motion  of  Mr.  Straw  it  was 
agreed  to.) 

Director  IF.  P.  Wilson: 

It  will  facilitate  the  busine.ss  if  the  names  are  presented  to- 
morrow morning,  I  suppose. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

The  names  will  be  presented  to-morrow  morning,  and  we 
will  now  adjonra  until  2.30  p.  m. 


PHiLADLrni.\,  October  19,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  3  p.  ni.  by  Mr.  Everett 
Frazar. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Gentlemen  and  Delegates:  I  would  like  to  say  that  in  our 
forenoon  session  some  of  our  papers  took  a  little  more  time 
than  we  had  e.xpected  and  we  were  unable  to  quite  get  through 
with  the  program  there  laid  out  There  are  two  or  three 
— two,  here,  I  see — that  yill  be  brought  into  the  afternoon 
session,  but  to  follow  the  lines  laid  out  in  the  program  now 
before  you  it  will  be  proper  for  mo  to  introduce  to  you  what 
we  consider  to-day  to  be  the  third  important  country  in  the 
Far  F'.ast  having  treaty  relaticms  with  the  United  States — that 
is,  tlie  Kingdom  of  Korea.  We  have  had  China  Day.  We 
have  had  this  forenoon  devoted  to  Japan,  and  1  would 
like  to  say  a  few  words  to  you  this  afternoon,  at  the  opening 
of  this  session,  on  matters  pertaining  entirely  to  Korea.  I 
will  then  call  upon  the  delegates  who  were  unable  to  get 
their  papers  in  this  morning. 

I  regret  very  mucli  to  say  to  you  that  there  is  no  other 
representative  of  the  Korean  iuupire  here  to-day  but  myself. 
I  had  hoped  that  our  Minister  in  Washington  from  Korea, 
Hon.  Chin-Pom-Yc,  would  have  been  here,  but  had  he  been 
here  he  could  not  have  spoken  to  you  iu  English,  and  you 
could  not,  of  course,  have  understood  him  iu  Korcnn.      .As  the 


representative  of  the  Korean  Government  in  iS'ew  York  City, 
I  have  had  .some  little  knowledge  of  the  trade  passing  between 
that  country  and  the  United  States.     1  think  it  is  right,  in 
our  proceeding.s,  that  we  should  have  that  little  information 
noted  in  the  records  of  the  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress, to  make  the  minutes  correct.    In  the  preliminary  list  of 
subjects  we  are  asked  "to  report  on  the  local  trade  interests 
of  Korea,  and  as  to  the  prospects  f(n-  a  continued  development 
of  trade  with    Korea.     Now,  gentlemen,  wlien  we    consider 
that  only  sixteen  years  ago  Korea  was  a  sealed  book,  and 
was'  open  to  trade  only  with  China  and  Japan,  I  think  you 
will  agree  wath  me  that  she  has  made  a  very  fair  progrefss, 
but  not   such   as   we   would   apply   to  Japan,   hers  being  a 
wonderful  progress  in  those  si.vtcen  years.     Only  three  years 
ago  Korea  had  no  railways.     Within  a  very  few  months  the 
first  steam  railway  line  between  Seoul,  the  capital,  and  Che- 
muljx),  twenty-five  miles  distant,  will  be  opened.     That  con- 
cession was  given  to  me  about  ten  years  ago  by  his  Majesty, 
the  King  of  Korea,  not  only  for  the  building  of  the  railway, 
but  for  the  opening  of  two  coal  mines,  together  with  a  Gov- 
ernment loan.     Those  concessions  from  the  King  I  was  able 
to  perfect,  and  had  expected  ten  years  ago  that  early  progress 
would  have  been  made  in  that  direction,  but  through  certain 
circumstances,  connected  with  the  hypothecation  of  the  cus- 
toms, Korea  complicated  with  her  neighbor,  China,  and  the 
negotiations  were  laid  over  indefinitely.    Following  later,  our 
American  friend,  Mr.  James  E.  Morse,  was  able  to  secure  a 
concession,  and  by  dint  of  hard  work  and  perseverance  he 
.succeeded  in  getting  the  support  and    favor  of    American 
manufacturers  for  the  prospective  building  of    the  railway 
line,  although  the  financial  part  be  found,  as  I  myself  did, 
a  difficult  matter  to  arrange  in  the  United  States.     Besides 
that  line  of  railway,  there  is  a  second  concession  for  a  road 
to  be  started  in  the  not  very  distant  future,  between  Seoul 
and  Fusan,  the  southeastern  open  port,  about  three  hundred 
miles  distant.     The  third  concession  is    one  of    about  four 
hundred  miles  between  Seoul  and  Wuji  on  the  northwestern 
province  adjoining  Manchuria  and  Korea.     The  concession 
between  Seoul  and  Fusan  has  been  given  to  Japanese,  that 
from  Seoul  to  the  northwestern  frontier  to  a  French  syndi- 
cate.    Besides  these,  there  is  an  electric  trolley  road  of  six 
miles  running  through  the  capital  of  Korea  now  in  working 
order,  and  this  will  eventually  be  a  great  success,  although 
it  met  with  much  opposition  on  the  part  of  a  few  Koreans  at 
its  opening.     That  is,  however,  gradually  being  overcome, 
and  the  people  of  Korea  will  soon  be  able  to  see  and  witness 
for  themselves  the  great  advantages  they  will  have  in  this 
modern  imiirovement,  the  influence  of  which  will  be  found 
to  be  irresistible  in  nudcing  its  way  in  that  Kingdom,  as  has 
been  done  in  Japan,  and  will  be  done  in  China.     Gold  min- 
ing is  being  successfully  prosecuted  by  Americans,  while  con- 
cessions have  also  been  granted  to  British  and  Germans.     The 
principal  products,  and  some  of  these  are  capable  of  much 
larger  expansion  hy  the  adoption  of  improved  foreign  meth- 
ods, with  American  machinery  now  being  sent  out  from  the 
United  States   are:   coal,   wheat,  rice,  ginseng,   timber,   sea- 
weed, furs,  etc.     The  late  opening  of  several  new  ports  vol- 
untarily by  the  Korean  Government,  shows  the  desire  of  the 
people  for  a  further  expansion  of  Korea's  trade.     As  to  the 
trade  interest  in  Korea,  I  think  no  material  change  has  lately 
shown  itself  other  than  the  largely  increased  demand  for  some 
of  our  American  products,  one  of  which  is  refined  petroleum. 
The  streets  of  Seoul  are  lit  not  only  with  this  oil  largely, 
but  with  electricity  as  well.     Kerosene  lamps  are  found  in 
nearly  all  the  important  towns  iind  houses  of  all  classes.     A 
statement  nuule  in  a  late  report  by  British  Consul  John  Wal- 
ker, might  he  here  wortli  mentioning  to    you.     He  speaks 
satisfactorily  of  .Xmericnn  oil,  'imw  it  lui.s  worked  a  veritable 
revolution  iu  Knrenu  ibuiiistic  life.  ncMrlv  cvcrv  cottage  being 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  19,  1899 


119 


uow  supplied  with  the  very  best  of  Amerieau  oil  and  Japan- 
ese made  lamjjs  at  very  reasonable  prices,  while  the  streets 
are  well  lit  in  the  same  manner."  The  present  development 
of  steam  and  electric  railways,  opening  of  gold  and  coal 
mines,  the  introduction  of  foreign  machineiy  for  mining  and 
other  purposes,  with  increased  local  and  foreign  steamer 
traffic,  the  establishment  of  our  modern  postal  money  order 
system  already  introduced,  are  working  satisfactorily  in  Korea, 
as  in  China -and  Japan;  adding  to  these  the  opening  of  the 
new  ports,  all  combining  to  give  great  hopes  for  the  further 
expansion  of  Korean  trade.  The  people  are  now  taking  more 
active  interest  in  public  alfairs  through  contact  with  foreign- 
ers, and  the  reform  movement,  both  by  men  and  women, 
through  their  club  organization,  is  gaining  ground,  with  a 
desire  for  more  extensive  surveys,  better  roads  and  sewerage, 
lighting  of  .streets,  etc. 

I  will  not  detain  you  further,  gentlemen,  on  this  subject 
of  Korea.  1  think  1  have  given  you  sufficient  to  place  on 
record  what  1  have  seen  and  experienced  within  the  past 
sixteen  years,  and  what  is  likely  to  take  place  in  the  near 
future.  It  is  impossible  for  Korea  to  stand  still,  with  Japan 
on  the  one  side  urging  her  forward,  increasing  her  trade  and 
giving  her  the  example  and  experience  of  our  present  mod- 
ern advancement  and  civilization.  China  on  the  western  side 
is  slowly  but  surely  moving  forward  under  the  .same  influ- 
ences of  competing  American  and  European  nations  for  the 
vast  trade  which  is  constantly  developing  in  that  empire. 

Now,  gentlemen,  I  would  like  to  take  up  the  continuation 
of  the  two  or  three  papers  that  were  to  have  been  read  during 
the  forenoon  session. 

AVe  have  a  gentleman  present  here  who  has  to  return  to 
Washington  very  shortly.  He  has  asked  a  favor,  and  if  not 
granted  we  would  not  have  the  pleasure  of  his  appearing 
before  you  and  reading  what  I  believe  will  be  found  to  be 
an  interesting  paper.  The  Hon.  Truxtun  Beale,  ex-United 
States  Minister  to  Persia,  had  intended  to  be  present  and  read 
his  paper  on  "The  Trade  of  Central  Asia."  He  has  found 
that  engagements  interfere  so  that  it  will  be  impossible  to 
come,  and  he  has  deputed  his  good  friend,  Mr.  Williams  C. 
Fox,  of  Washington,  to  appear  on  his  behalf,  and  with  your 
consent,  gentlemen,  I  shall  ask  Mr.  Fox  to  come  to  the  front 
and  read  Jlr.  Beale's  paper.    (Applause.) 

(Mr.  Williams  C.  Fox,  of  Washington,  then  read  the  paper 
prepared  by  the  Hon.  Truxtun  Beale,  ex-United  States  Min- 
ister to  Persia,  entitled  '"The  Trade  of  Central  Asia'"): 

lion.  Truxlun  Beale: 

It  is  difficult  at  first  to  realize  that  a  large  part  of  Middle 
Asia  will  be  commercially  more  accessible  to  the  United 
States  than  to  any  of  the  great  commercial  nations.  The  huge 
mountain  barrier  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Hindoo  Koosh 
and  the  Altai  Mountains  effectually  closes  it  to  European 
trade  by  land.  The  several  attempts  the  English  have  made 
to  establish  trade  routes  for  the  Indian  markets  on  the  south, 
between  India  and  Central  Asia,  have  failed,  because  of  the 
great  height  of  the  Himilaya  passes,  which  for  many  months 
of  the  year  are  closed  and  have  a  climate  of  Arctic  severity, 
and  it  will  be  many  years  before  Eus.sia,  on  the  north,  will 
build  railroads  to  that  country  from  Siberia  across  (he  icy 
passes  of  the  Tien  Shan  range  of  mountains,  whose  northern 
slopes  are  constantly  swept  by  the  ice  laden  winds  of  the 
Arctic  region,  rushing  so\ith  without  an  obstruction  across 
the  steppes  of  Siberia,  making  a  climate  there  which  often 
closely  approximates  to  that  of  the  pole  itself.  This  great 
portion  of  the  continent  of  Asia  thus  penned  in  by  the  highest 
mountain  ranges  of  that  hemisphere  is  open  only  from  the 
seaside,  so  that  its  trade — when  it  becomes  sufficiently  de- 


veloped to  have  a  trade — must  flow  with  the  rivers  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

To  reach  it  by  sea,  European  traders  have  the  alternative 
of  a  long  and  expensive  route  by  the  Suez  Canal  or  of 
doubling  either  of  the  capes,  twice  crossing  the  line,  with  all 
the  attendant  risks  and  delays,  w-hereas  from  the  Pacific  coast 
there  are  direct  and  unobstructed  w^ater  routes  to  every  part 
of  the  coast  of  Asia  facing  us.  Tliis  huge  territory,  whose 
great  resources  are  about  to  be  developed,  forms,  roughly 
speaking,  a  triangle,  whose  base  is  the  coast  of  China,  and 
whose  apex  pierces  Middle  Asia,  and  is  the  last  great  por- 
tion of  the  Temperate  Zone  that  is  not  already  in  process  of 
development  by  the  enterprising  races  of  Europe.  In  my 
opinion,  tliis  Congress  could  do  no  more  effective  work  for  the 
extension  of  the  world's  trade  than  to  resolve  that  that  coun- 
try should  forever  remain  commercially  neutralized;  that  its 
trade  should  be  unobstructed,  fair  and  free  for  all,  and  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  the  delegates  here  asseml)led  will  use  their  best 
elforts  with  their  respective  governments  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  end.  The  conclusion  of  this  Congress,  full  of 
the  spirit  of  the  coming  industrial  age  and  unembarrassed 
by  the  barbarous  traditions  of  militarism  and  obsolete  schools 
of  statecraft,  should  have  the  greatest  weight  with  all  pro- 
gressive governments.  For  this  purpose,  the  strategic  import- 
ance of  the  Philippines  is  so  great  that  the  T^nited  States  can 
hold  them  with  all  the  more  profound  conviction  of  right,  if 
from  that  point  of  vantage,  she  holds  the  door  of  Asia  open  to 
the  trade  of  all.  From  these  islands  co-operation  with  Eng- 
land to  effect  this  object  would  be  easy.  Distant  as  it  is  from 
the  English  Islands  of  Hong  Kong  and  Singapore,  the  three 
points  command  the  channel  of  the  China  Sea — the  road  to 
Europe.  They  should,  therefore,  tlank  the  communications  of 
any  nation  attempting  to  shut  off  that  portion  of  the  world 
from  friendly  and  fair  competition  in  trade.  With  the  door 
thus  held  open  to  the  capital  of  the  world,  the  development 
of  that  whole  region,  from  the  Pacific  Coast  to  the  depths 
of  Middle  Asia,  would  be  rapid.  In  the  race  for  the  enormous 
trade  that  will  follow  this  rapid  development  now  that  local- 
ity, time  and  space  count  for  so  little,  no  nation  can  afford 
to  put  artificial  obstructions  to  exchange  in  her  way,  while 
others  have  a  clear  and  open  path  to  the  goal.  Those  nations 
that  can  soonest  emancipate  themselves  from  the  slowness, 
extravagance  and  unadaptiveness  of  protective  tariffs  will 
benefit  most  from  the  regeneration  of  this  last  great  territory 
that  in  the  present  state  of  science  is  capable  of  a  high  ma- 
terial development.  The  portion  of  Central  Asia  referred  to, 
though  a  country  capable  of  enonuous  development,  is  one 
of  the  least  advanced  and  most  sparsely  populated  countries 
of  Asia.  The  Chinese  have  now  held  it  for  twenty-five  years, 
but  have  done  nothing  towards  its  development  and  little  for 
its  trade.  If  they  were  enterprising  and  progressive,  they 
could  supply  the  whole  eight  millions  of  Siberian  Russians 
with  the  tea  which  is  now  furnished  by  India,  despite  the  fact 
that  there  is  duty  against  it,  for  there  is  no  duty  on  Chinese 
goods  going  into  Siberia  and  Russia  west  of  the  great  wall. 
The  cotton  area  could  also  be  immensely  increased.  There 
is  an  opportunity  also  for  a  grand  system  of  irrigation  from 
the  streams  running  from  the  slopes  of  the  Tian  Shans  and 
the  branches  of  the  Yarkand  and  Tarim  rivers,  when  Ameri- 
can methods  of  saving  and  using  water  are  introduced.  This 
would  multiply  many  times  tlie  area  of  cultivation.  There 
are  two  principal  trade  routes  running  from  this  part  of  Cen- 
tral Asia,  a  caravan  route  through  the  passes  of  Tian  Shan 
by  the  Fortress  of  Xarine  into  Siberia;  the  other  by  Turkis- 
tan  over  the  range  of  Altais  into  Central  Asia.  Through  this 
latter  come  all  the  manufactured  goods  of  Russia  and  the  dry 
fruit  and  leather  of  Central  Asia:  through  the  former,  iron 
ore  from  Siberia  and  some  few  crude  Siberian  products.    The 


120 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Central  A.si:ins  send  back  by  both  routes,  principally  hand- 
made diy  goods,  wool  in  the  grease,  felt  carpets,  Chinese 
silver  in  the  form  of  bulhon,  silk,  cotton,  skins  and  a  small 
amount  of  tea.  But  a  camel,  under  the  most  favorable  circum- 
stances upon  the  plains,  can  only  cany  one-twentieth  part  of 
the  load  of  a  freiglit  car,  and  in  a  day  can  only  carry  one-twen- 
tieth part  as  far.  The  passes  are  steep  and  dangerous,  cara- 
vans on  the  Siberian  route  being  frequently  detained  for 
weeks  by  the  snow,  and  sometimes  dispersed  and  totally  de- 
stroyed by  the  Arctic  blizzards  that  blow  across  the  Siberian 
steppes,  antl  on  the  Turkistan  route,  w-hen  the  passes  are  not 
completely  blocked  by  snow,  the  gorges  in  the  high  altitudes, 
both  trnil'and  sides,  are  fantastically,  though  completely,  stuc- 
coed by  ice.  The  trade  is  therefore  small.  The  llussian  Gov- 
ernment gives  a  bounty  to  the  Russian  merchants  on  all  man- 
ufactured goods  exported  into  this  country,  which  amounts  to 
more  than  the  cost  of  transportation,  so  that  Russian  goods 
are  cheaper  in  this  part  of  Central  Asia  than  in  Russia  itself, 
the  object  being  to  crush  out  the  cheap  hand-made  goods  of 
the  country  and  confine  the  natives  to  producing  the  raw  ma- 
terial, thus  leaving  the  market  entirely  to  the  Russian  mer- 
chants. It  also  prevents  the  importation  of  these  cheap  native 
goods  to  their  large  Kirgizh  settlements  in  Russia.  It  is  evident 
that  nothing  on  a  large  scale,  either  for  material  development 
or  trade,  can  be  effected  for  this  country  before  the  advent  of 
railroads.  In  my  opinion,  they  will  be  built  from  the  Pacific 
Coast,  and  since  American  engineering  skill  has  been  called 
upon  to  build  railroad  bridges  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  it  will 
probably  be  the  whistle  of  an  American  locomotive  tlaat  will 
break  the  silence  of  the  Gobi  desert.  Of  that  part  of  Middle 
Asia  across  the  divide  formed  by  the  Pamir  and  the  Hindoo 
Koosh,  and  whose  waters  flow  towards  Europe  and  the  Persian 
Gulf,  Russia  is  developing  the  northern  portion,  and  the  ac- 
count of  its  wonderful  material  progress  will  doubtless  be 
treated  of  under  the  head  of  the  Russian  Empire.  Of  the  part 
that  remains,  Persia  is  the  country  which  will  command  the 
attention  of  those  countries  whose  destiny  it  is  to  civilize,  and 
build  up  others. 

It  was  once  said  that  every  grave  is  a  cradle,  and  every 
cradle  is  a  grave.  This  double  aphorism  may  certainly  be 
applied  to  Persia.  It  has  been  in  turn  the  home  and  the  tomb 
of  empires,  and  its  fitful  history  recalls  to  us  most  vividly  the 
decline  and  fall  of  dynasties. 

The  past  of  Persia  stretches  back  to  the  dawn  of  human 
history,  and  its  present  position  is  all  the  sadder  when  one 
remembers  he  part  it  has  played  in  tlie  early  progress  of  the 
world. 

Its  fall  was  due  not  to  real  decay,  but  to  other  circum- 
stances, which  had  far-reaching  consequences.  The  rounding 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  by  Vasco  de  Gama  opened  up  a 
new  route  between  Europe  and  Asia.  The  conquest  of  Asia 
Minor  by  the  Turks  completed  the  isolation  of  Persia,  and  cut 
off  all  communication  between  Europe  and  the  remote  East 
through  Persian  territory. 

As  a  result  of  these  causes,  Persia  ceased  to  have  direct 
communication  with  the  western  world,  and  lost  touch  with 
the  ideas  which  have  regenerated  modern  Europe. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  to  learn  that  the  wealth  of 
Persia,  which  was  at  one  time  fabulous,  almost  completely 
disappeared,  and  that  the  intellectual  activity  for  which  it 
had  at  one  time  been  famous,  became  a  mere  tradition. 

Even  twenty  years  ago  the  condition  of  the  country  pre- 
sented a  picture  emldematic  of  Asiatic  retrogression.  The 
capital  of  each  province  had  its  own  mint,  and  the  coinage 
was  carried  on  in  so  haphazard  a  manner  that  there  was  a 
difference  of  seventeen  per  cent,  between  coins  of  the  same 
nominal  standard.  The  Kran  fluctuated  so  much  in  value 
as  to  paralyze  all  attempts  at  buying  and  selling  and  opened 
up  a  ready  means  for  fraud  and  dishonesty.     So  uncertain 


a  medium  of  exchange  was  in  many  respects  inferior  to  the 
system  of  barter  which  it  had  superseded. 

Tlie  Shah's  first  visit  to  Europe  seems  to  have  marked  the 
beginning  of  a  new  era,  and  to  have  brought  Persia  once  more 
into  touch  with  the  Western  world  and  Western  civilization. 

Persia  liad  no  sooner  broken  down  the  barrier  of  her  isola- 
tion, than  European  capitalists  began  to  look  upon  the  country 
as  a  field  for  investment.  The  Renter  concession  marks  the 
first  effort  to  regenerate  Persia  with  European  gold.  The 
temporary  failure  of  this  concession  did  not  discourage  other 
similar  enterprises;  and,  within  the  last  few  years,  several 
luiropean  companies  have  commenced  operations  in  the  coun- 
try. The  Imperial  Bank  of  Persia,  the  Mining  Rights  and 
Roads  Company,  the  Tramway,  and  Railway  Company,  the 
Persian  Gulf  Trading  Company  and  other  mining  undertak- 
ings are  already  established  in  the  country,  and  nearly  $30,- 
000,000  of  European  capital  is  now  used  in  Persian  produc- 
tive industries. 

The  results  of  this  friendly  financial  invasion  are  already 
conspicuous.  In  every  province  Europeans  are  engaged  in 
transacting  the  business  of  foreign  companies.  The  capital 
is  lighted  by  a  European  company  and  a  tramway  runs  along 
the  streets.  A  road  is  now  in  course  of  construction  between 
Teheran  and  the  head  of  the  Kanm  River.  On  all  sides,  in 
town  and  country,  there  are  indications  of  the  beginning  of 
progress.  The  sudden  influx  of  Western  energies,  and  Euro- 
pean capital  has  overcome  the  inertia  of  centuries,  and  the 
country  is  awakening  to  the  new  influences  which  are  now 
at  work. 

There  is  certainly  ample  scope  for  progress  and  improve- 
ment in  Persia.  The  present  condition  of  the  country  abounds 
in  proofs  of  the  necessity  of  urgently  introducing  new  meth- 
ods of  production.  Formerly  Persia  was  the  seat  of  an  exten- 
sive sugar  industry.  The  sugar  cane  was  grown  in  many  parts 
of  tlie  country,  and  a  large  export  trade  was  carried  on.  At 
present,  the  Caspian  littoral  is  the  only  district  where  sugar 
is  produced,  and  the  yearly  export  of  sugar  is  only  ninety 
tons.  The  silk  trade  was  once  a  flourishing  industry.  Twenty 
years  ago  a  disease  attacked  the  silk-worm,  and  the  trade  was 
destroyed,  no  attempt  having  been  made  (as  in  France  and 
elsewhere)  to  introduce  silk-worms  from  other  countries. 
Cotton  can  be  grown  in  almost  every  province  of  the  country, 
hut  to-day  there  is  not  a  cotton-gin  or  even  a  steam  or  hy- 
(li-aulic  press  within  Persian  territory.  A  few  wooden  hand- 
presses  in  Ispahan,  bale  and  pack  all  the  produced  cotton 
in  the  country.  No  effort  has  been  made  to  extend  the  wool 
export  trade,  which  is,  no  doubt,  capable  of  immense  devel- 
opment. The  area  of  cultivation  for  wheat,  barley,  rice  and 
tobacco  might  be  greatly  increased  with  an  elementary  knowl- 
edge of  American  processes  of  cultivation. 

In  spite  of  these  serious  drawbacks  it  must  not  be  supposed 
that  nothing  has  been  done.  As  a  factor  in  the  development 
of  production,  a  good  system  of  currency  is  as  useful  as  rail- 
roads and  telegi-aphs.  A  few  years  ago  it  took  twenty-eight 
camels  to  convey  £2.o,000  worth  of  silver  to  tbe  new  bank, 
then  established,  and  the  difliculty  of  transportation  of  money 
from  one  part  of  the  country  was  such  a  clog  upon  inter-pro- 
vincial dealings,  that  the  very  first  need  of  the  country  was  the 
establishment  of  sound  |iaper  currency,  based  iipon  tlie  Euro- 
pean sy.stem. 

A  uniform  silver  currency  is  now  firmly  established.  Bank 
notes,  at  first  viewed  with  suspicion,  are  now  in  constant  use, 
and  may  be  seen  at  the  liazaars.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
the  ease  with  which  paper  money  can  be  sent  from  one  part 
of  Persia  to  another  has  contributed  materially  to  the  growth 
and  development  of  commercial  transactions.  This  easy  and 
cheap  transmission  of  paper  money,  as  contrasted  with  the 
difficulty  and  cost  of  transjtorting  specie,  together  with  the 
confidence  felt  in  the  stability  of  European  banking  methods, 


gl:VENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  19,  1899 


n\ 


has  led  many  Persians  to  convert  to  productive  uses,  wealth 
formerly  hoarded  up,  and  especially  has  brought  the  different 
parts  of  th€  kingdom  into  closer  commercial  relations  with 
one  another. 

The  distance  and  inaccessibility  of  Persia  have  been  much 
exaggerated.  California,  in  1849,  was  less  known  than  the 
Persia  of  to-day.  A  three  months'  journey  separated  Cali- 
fornia from  the  borders  of  civilization.  The  overland  and 
the  Panama  routes  were  almost  equally  dangerous  to  the  emi- 
grant whose  alternatives  were  shipwreck,  fever  and  attack  by 
the  bandits  of  the  Isthmus. 

This  comparison  between  California  and  Persia  might  be 
further  amphfied.  The  former  was  peopled  with  Indians; 
the  latter  has  a  peaceful  and  skillful  population.  Persia  to- 
day is  only  three  weeks  from  London;  in  1849,  California  was 
as  "many  months  from  the  iinancial  centre  of  the  world. 

Persia  is  now  ready  to  receive  the  benefits  of  Western  ma- 
terial development. 

The  pace  at  which  modem  progress  moves  and  the  means 
already  at  hand  in  Persia  to  import  European  methods,  give 
hope  that,  as  in  Western  States,  so  also  in  Eastern  lands,  ad- 
vancement once  begun  will  be  rapid.  It  is  frequently  con- 
tended that  labor  is  so  cheap  that  improvement  by  the  intro- 
duction of  machinery  is  impossible;  that  wages  are  less  than 
the  interest  on  the  money  required  to  purchase  machinery. 
This  premium  set  on  ignorance  is  a  time-worn  fallacy  which 
has  become  an  economic  anachronism. 

Agriculture  in  Persia  is  carried  on  under  the  crudest  con- 
ditions. One  man  and  two  oxen  axe  occupied  in  plowing  one 
acre  per  day.  A  Stockton  plow,  to  be  found  on  any  ranch  in 
California,  would  not  only  plow  twenty  times  as  much  land 
in  the  same  time,  but  also  increase  the  production  per  acre 
five-fold. 

In  Persia,,  the  cost  of  transport  is  about  ten  cents  per  ton 
per  mile,  in  America  two  cents.  So  much  for  the  economy 
of  labor  where  wages  are  low. 

It  would,  in  my  opinion,  be  difficult  to  exaggerate  the 
benefits  which  would  accrue  in  Persia  from  the  introduction 
of  American  methods  of  tillage  and  agriculture. 
■  The  wants  of  Persia  may  be  learned  from  the  progress  of 
California.  The  two  countries  resemble  one  another  in 
physical  conditions  and  climate,  and  what  has  been  accom- 
plished in  one,  is  a  fair  standard  liy  which  to  gauge  the  pos- 
sibilities of  the  other. 

California  has  just  one-third  the  area  of  Persia,  yet  the 
county  of  Fresno,  which  is  only  twenty  years  old  as  a  fruit- 
growing district,  exports  more  fruit  than  the  whole  of  Persia. 
Though  Persia  is  as  well  adapted  as  California  for  the  growth 
of  the  wine  grape,  no  Persian  wine  crosses  the  Persian  fron- 
tier. California  produces  .54,000.000  pounds  of  wool,  most 
of  which  is  exported;  the  wool  supply  of  Persia  only  reaches 
6,000,000  pounds.  California  exports  wheat  to  the  value  of 
$25,000,000.  From  Northern  Persia,  owing  to  lack  of  means 
of  communication  and  methods  of  tillage  two  thousand  years 
old,  not  a  bushel  of  wheat  is  exported. 

It  now  becomes  a  question,  what  part  the  United  States 
will  play  in  the  progress  of  this  far  distant  land  now  on  the 
verge  of  great  changes.  For  a  generation,  Americans  have 
been  the  pioneers  of  educational  and  religious  movements  in 
Persia.  In  addition  to  these  chaimels  of  usefulness,  there  are 
"  othere  where  one  might  well  expect  to  see  the  full  tide  of 
American  advancement.  The  aim  of  America  should  not  be 
to  obtain  concessions  or  initiate  organizations  for  exclusive 
monopolies. 

American  eapitali.^ts  may  well  leave  permanent  invest- 
ments in  Persia  to  others,  seeing  that  they  can  obtain  a  high 
per  cent,  in  their  own  country.  The  real  objects  and  scope  of 
American  influence  in  the  material  regeneration  of   Persia 


are  to  be  found  in  the  establishment  and  development  of 
legitimate  trade  and  commerce. 

Where,  then,  is  America's  best  chance  of  success  in  com- 
parative competition  with  other  nations?  Our  own  industrial 
history  supplies  a  ready  answer.  Our  own  plains  have  ma,de 
efficient  agricultural  implements  necessary,  and  this  necessity 
has  been  the  mother  of  inventions,  which  all  the  East  espe- 
cially needs. 

Cotton  is  grown  everywhere  throughout  Persia,  but  there 
are  no  gins,  steam  or  hydraulic  presses  throughout  the  king- 
dom. The  area  given  to  wheat  cultivation  is  capable  of  im- 
mense increase.  At  the  present  time  methods  of  tillage  are 
of  the  crudest  description.  The  plow  in  use  is  similar  to  that 
employed  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  and  the  harrow 
is  a  bunch  of  brush  roughly  tied  to  the  end  of  a  pole. 

During  my  residence  there,  I  received  many  inquiries  from 
American  exporting  ajid  importing  houses,  and  already 
American  machinery  has  been  ordered  which  will  be  tried  in 
every  part  of  Persia. 

Be  it  remembered,  too,  that  Persians  possess  considerable 
mechanical  skill.  An  American  buggy  was  built  for  the  Le- 
gation by  Teheran  worlonen,  and  an  American  artesian  drill 
may  to-day  be  seen  boring  in  the  centre  of  the  Persian  capital. 

The  merchants  of  Persia  have  shown  themselves  anxious 
to  profit  bv  the  example  of  other  countries,  and  the  govern- 
ment is  making  every  effort  to  encourage  this  new  departure. 
The  export  duty  was  remitted  on  all  goods  sent  to  the  Chicago 
Exposition,  and  all  goods  bouglit  by  Persian  merchants  at 
the  Fair  were  allowed  to  enter  Persian  territory  free  of  the 
usual  charges  on  imported  goods. 

The  construction  of  roads,  the  Karun  route,  and  the  new 
spirit  of  enterprise  will  undoubtedly  lead  to  a  great  develop- 
ment in  the  exports  and  imports  of  the  country. 

Persia  has  advanced  too  far  to  turn  back.  Here  is  the  first 
step  in  the  regeneration  of  Central  Asia,  and,  in  this,  America 
has  before  her  a  conspicuous  part  to  play.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

The  next  paper  in  order  on  our  list  will  be  that  from  Mr. 
George  C.  Ward,  of  New  York,  on  the  "Need  of  a  Cable  in 
the  Pacific."  I  will  ask  if  Mr.  Ward  is  present,  or  if  his  paper 
is  in  the  hands  of  one  deputed  by  him  to  read  it?  (No  re- 
sponse.) The  probabilities  are  that  it  will  have  to  be  passed 
for  to-day.    (Paper  read  l)y  title  only.) 

Mr.  J.  B.  Atherton,  delegate  from  the  Honolulu  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  has  a  paper  on  the  same  subject,  "Need  of  a 
Cable  in  the  Pacific."  If  Mr.  Atherton  is  not  present,  or  a 
representative  deputed  to  read  his  paper,  we  shall  have  to 
pass  that  also.    (Paper  read  by  title  only.) 

The  next  in  order  will  be  a  paper  by  Mr.  K.  Yaraamoto, 
delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  from  Kobe,  Japan, 
one  of  the  most  important  and  rising  ports  in  that  kingdom, 
which  by  many  Americans  to-day  is  considered  in  its  trade  to 
be  surpassing  that  of  Yokohama.  A  few  years  ago  it  was 
considerably  behind,  but  it  is  becoming  one  of  our  most  im- 
portant points  where  Aiuerican  trade  is  being  largely  devel- 
oped. 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Yama- 
moto,  and  I  am  sure  we  will  have  pleasure  in  hearing  the 
latest  reports  of  trade  in  that  important  point.  Mr.  Yama- 
moto  does  not  speak  English  suttlciently  clear  for  you  to  un- 
derstand it.  He  would  like  to  introduce  his  subject  in  his 
own  language  briefly,  and  then,  in  the  hands  of  his  interpre- 
ter, have  it  read  to  you. 

(Mr.  K.  Yamamoto,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Kolie.  Japan,  then  road  in  his  native  tongue  a  paper 
prepared  by  him  on  the  "Future  Trade  in  tlie  Far  East," 
which  was  interpreted  by  Mr.  T.  Kimura,  as  follows): 


122 


PROCKRDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Mr.  7'.  Kiniuru: 

ijfi'ore  speaking  a  few  words  on  belialf  ol'  Mr.  K.  Yama- 
nioto,  delegate  from  tlie  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Kobe, 
.lapaii.  I  mu.^t  apologize  for  my  limited  knowledge  of  English, 
hut  please  remember  tliat  my  lOiiglish  has  been  taught  only 
in  my  own  eoiintry,  far  distant  from  your  coiintrv  or  h-ng- 
land. 

"ThK  FuTUISK  'j'HADK    IN   THE   Fa  U   EaST." 

.1//'.  K.  Yamamoto: 

My.  I'resideut,  ]..a(lies  and  (ientlenicn:  It  gives  me  the 
greatest  satisfaction  to  state  that  I  have  the  honor  of  repre- 
senting the  commercial  men  of  the  Empire  of  the  Rising  Sun 
who  have  the  most  intimate  friendship  with  this  mighty  na- 
tion, in  the  presence  of  the  most  respected  gentlemen  of  the 
whole  world  for  tlie  advancement  of  the  material  interests  of 
the  various  countries,  and  at  the  same  time  to  express  my 
warmest  thanks  for  the  most  cordial  and  magnificent  treat- 
ment bestowed  on  me  by  the  generous  people  of  the  City  of 
Philadelphia,  of  the  Stale  of  Pennsylvania,  nay,  of  the  wliole 
I'nitcd  States  of  America. 

I  intend  to  speak  upon  the  subject,  "Future  Trade  in  the 
l-'ar  East." 

First,  Japan  a.s  maritime  depot. 

Second,  trade  relations  between  America  and  Jajian. 

Third,  navigation  between  America  and  the  Orient. 

Fourth,  telegraphic  communication  over  the  I'acitic. 

Fifth,  war  tax. 

Sixth,  the  port  of  Kobe. 

To  enter  into  details  on  so  many  points  would  take  \ei'y 
long,  and  it  is  beyond  the  time  at  my  disposal.  So  I  will  speak 
only  a  few  words  on  each  subject,  and  first  of  all  take  up 
the  subject,  Japan  as  the  maritime  depot. 

You  all  know  that  the  resources  of  our  country  have  re- 
cently been  developed  with  great  strides  and  our  international 
trade  has  been  growing  larger  and  larger  year  after  year. 
.Vnd  when  we  take  into  consideration  the  opening  of  the 
.Xicaragua  canal,  the  construction  of  the  Siberian  railroad, 
the  future  development  of  China  and  the  expansion  of  the 
I'nited  States  dominion  in  the  vicinity  of  our  sea,  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  expect  that  our  country  will  become,  so  to 
spc>ak,  the  great  maritime  depot  for  canning  on  the  trade 
between  the  Old  and  the  New  World. 

We,  the  people  of  Japan,  are  making  preparation  in  every 
possible  way  for  this  golden  age  of  commerce  to  come.  Our 
principal  harbors  have  been  or  will  be  repaired  so  as  to  make 
them  still  more  commodious  than  at  present.  The  poit  of 
Kobe,  which  is  naturally  a  good  harbor,  its  water  being  gen- 
erally six  and  one-half  fathoms  deep,  will  be  made  more  con- 
venient in  the  near  future  for  loading  and  discharging 
cargoes. 

Preliminary  surveying  has  already  been  made  and  the  plan 
draw^n  by  the  experts  will  soon  be  carried  out.  I  expect  that 
at  least  those  who  have  any  trade  connection  with  Northern 
China,  Formosa,  or  the  Philippiiu'  Islands,  will  assist  me  with 
all  their  might  and  main  and  make  our  Kobe  the  New  York 
III'  Japan. 

Now  in  regard  to  the  commerce  between  the  United  States 
and  Japan,  it  has  been  one-sided  for  several  years  pa.st,  but 
recently  the  scale  ha,s  been  turning  and  now  the  exports  and 
imports  between  the  two  countries  have  almost  been  eqtialized 
and  we  have  every  reason  to  expect  that  the  exports  from  this 
country  to  Japan  will  increase  still  more  year  after  yeai-  and 
at  no  distant  time  the  trade  between  the  two  coimtries  will 
again  become  one-sided,  but  this  time  Invorabli'  to  the  I'nited 
Stales,  not  to  us.  . 

Among  the  ex]5oi-|s  fr<:m  tlie  Fniled  Stale-;  to  nur  country. 


the  principal  items  are  cotton  and  macliinery.  But  with  re- 
spect to  the  latter  I  have  nothing  more  to  say  than  to  con- 
gratulate the  manufacturers  of  this  renowned  city. 

The  value  of  the  American  cotton  imported  in  1893  was 
two  and  one-half  million  yen,  but  it  increased  to  fifteen  mil- 
lion yen  in  1898,  and  let  me  add  that  out  of  this  fifteen  million 
yen,  twelve  million  passed  through  Kobe,  from  which  I  have 
been  delegated. 

From  wdiat  has  been  said,  nobody  will  deny  me  the  lib(  rty 
to  speak  a  few  words  about  cotton. 

That  the  quality  of  American  cotton  just  meets  our  re- 
ijuirements  is  too  well  ])roved  by  the  never  ceasing  increase  of 
its  import  into  our  country. 

]5ut  the  quantity  each  bale  contains,  if  I  mistake  not,  is 
not  the  same  with  every  kind.  For  that  reason  our  merchants 
warehouses  and  insurance  companies  and  bankers  feel  it  very 
inconvenient  in  tran.sacting  their  business. 

In  such  a  country  as  this,  where  each  Sttite  and  every  city 
has  its  own  institutions,  the  fact  just  referred  to,  I  think, 
might  be  said  to  be  unavoidable.  However  it  may  be,  1  can- 
not help  but  saying  that  if  what  I  have  said  be  true,  it  is  a 
serious  defect  accompanying  the  American  cotton.  I  earn- 
estly recommend  the  cotton  growers  and  merchants  of  this 
C(Uintry  to  consider  the  matter  for  the  lienefit  of  both  na- 
tions. 

Though  the  commerce  between  the  United  States  and 
Ja]:ian  has  advanced  rapidly,  as  I  said  before,  yet  it  is  very 
doid>tful  whether  the  means  for  transjiortation  have  kept  pace 
with  that  progress. 

There  are  at  present  seven  regular  steamer  lines  running 
upon  the  great  Pacific,  but  the  sliijis  used  are  small  in  com- 
parison with  the  Atlantic  liners.  We  want  more  shipjs  of 
greater  tonnage  and  at  the  same  time  cheaper  freight  for 
goods, — nay,  we  want  to  have  something  more. 

However  perfect  would  become  the  accommodation  for  the 
trans-Pacific  line,  it  serves  only  for  carrying  the  merchandise 
from  the  west  of  the  United  States  to  the  Orient  or  vice  versa. 

How  flourishing  w-ould  grow  the  trade  between  the  coun- 
tries, if  the  direct  shipping  could  be  carried  on  over  the 
Pacific  between  Asia  and  the  eastern  part  of  the  United 
States,  wiiich  is  the  center  of  industry  and  commerce  of  the 
wiiole  world. 

It  would  be  an  unsurpassed  and  everlasting  benefit  to  the 
whole  human  race  if  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  could  be  cut 
through  at  any  advantageous  point  and  direct  trade  could  be 
carried  on  between  the  east  of  the  United  States  and  the  far 
side  of  another  hemisphere.  I  firmly  believe  that  the  open- 
ing of  the  Nicaragua  canal  will  be  practically  carried  out  at 
no  distant  day  by  the  rich  and  enterprising  people  of  the 
world. 

At  present  telegraphic  communication  between  America 
and  Asia  can  be  nuide  only  through  the  Atlantic  cables.  The 
inconvenience  and  great  cost  resultinsr  from  this  circum- 
stance have  been  felt  by  everybody.  And  the  laying  of  sub- 
marine cables  in  the  deep  Pacific  waters  has  been  proposed  by 
the  leading  men  of  the  world,  as  stated  by  representatives  of 
tlie  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Yokohama  and  Honolidu  tluis 
morning. 

What  T  want  In  .-ay  now,  has  liecn  tiiUy  staled  by  them, 
sii  1  will  not  liui'dcii  VdU  any  nmri'.  but  simply  endorse  tluir 
o])inion. 

But  before  coiKiudiiig.  let  iiir  assume  the  part  of  a  prophet 
just  a  moment.  I  sav  that  almul  the  middle  of  the  next 
century  we  will  Ik-  cnabbMl  to  send  messages  from  one  side 
of  i]\e  Pacific  to  the  other,  not  by  the  submarine  cables,  but 
by  ^larconi's  wireless  tek'gra])hy. 

The  peo))le  of  .\nu'rica  who  have  such  ancestors  as  Frank- 
lin and  ]\rorse  will  surely  accomplish  this  feat  for  the  benefit 
of  mankind  at   lai'ge. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  19.   1899 


123 


As  you  all  kuow,  the  Goverjinimt  of  tlie  liiiited  States 
levied  a  war  tax  on  several  articles. 

It  is  beyond  my  power  to  speak  aljout  stamp  duties,  but 
I  may  say  a  few  words  about  the  duty  on  imported  goods  as 
the  delegate  from  the  commercial  port  and  as  the  member 
of  the  International  Commercial  Congres-s — nay,  it  is,  per- 
haps, my  duty  to  venture  to  speak  upon  this  subject. 

I  know  very  well,  from  my  experience  aljout  Formosa,  that 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  needs  very  mucli  money 
for  controlling  the  newly-acquired  tenitory.  But  a  great 
country  like  the  United  States  has  many  rich  sources  of  taxa- 
tion and  need  not,  I  think,  resort  to  imported  good.s,  which 
are  necessary  for  keeping  the  international  trade  upon  a  hrm 
footing.  For  instance,  though  the  import  of  machinery, 
cotton  and  other  things  into  one  country  is  increasing  year 
by  year,  it  will  decrease  by  and  by  unless  export  from  that 
country  should  )je  kept  up,  and  not  dropped  off,  for  if  the 
goods  decrease  to  be  exported  on  account  of  heavy  tax,  the 
freight  for  the  import  must  necessarily  become  higher  and 
prices  dearer  and  the  demand  decrease  until  eventually  the 
import  will  be  cut  ofiE.  On  the  occasion  of  great  national 
emergencies  something  must  be  sacrificed  for  a  great  cause, 
but  I  hope  the  burden  will  be  discharged  as  soon  as  the 
necessities  will  have  ceased. 

Kobe,  one  of  the  principal  commercial  ports  in  the  Far 
East,  is  situated  in  135°  24'  29"  of  E.  long.,  and  35° 
37'  of  N.  lat. 

The  climate  is  mild  and  healthy.  In  1897  the  highest  de- 
gree of  temperature  was  34°  4'  Cent,  on  the  l^th  of  August, 
and  the  lowest  5°  Cent,  on  the  17th  of  February. 

The  native  population,  estimated  in  Decendjer  31st,  1899, 
was  214.119.  The  number  of  foreigners  resident  is  2.044, 
of  which  161  are  Americans. 

The  district  where  the  foreigners  mostly  reside  is  the  model 
Occidental  settlement  in  the  East,  the  houses  being  neatly 
built,  the  streets  broad,  clean  and  well  lighted. 

Kobe  is  very  near  to  two  large  cities,  Osaka  and  Kyoto, 
with  which  it  is  connected  by  railways,  and  laimches  and 
Japanese  boats  are  also  plying  to  and  fro.  It  is  also  in  touch 
with  the  western  part  of  the  Island  proper  by  means  of  the 
railroad  which  runs  along  the  beautiful  inland  seacoast. 

Ocean-going  vessels  of  several  flags  enter  and  clear  from 
or  to  America,  Australia,  Europe  and  other  parts  of  Asia. 

In  1897,  285  steamers  of  326,611  tons  cleared,  and  335 
steamers  of  500,429  tons  entered. 

The  people  of  Kobe  can  communicate  with  all  parts  of  the 
world  by  the  cable,  either  by  way  of  Shanghai  or  Vladivostok. 

The  water-works  have  now  been  completed.  Water  is  sup- 
plied from  two  sources,  one  of  which  is  the  water-fall  Nu- 
nobiki,  renowned  for  its  beautiful  scenery.  Any  ship  in  the 
harbor  can  be  supplied  with  fresh  water  at  the  rate  of  45  sen 
per  ton. 

There  are  two  docks  in  the  port,  belonging  to  the  Kawas- 
aki shipyard,  which  is  presided  over  by  the  son  of  Count 
Matsukata,  the  present  Minister  of  the  Treasury.  One  of  the 
two  is  900  feet  long  and  24  feet  wide,  and  the  other  500  feet 
long  and  20  feet  wide.  In  addition  to  those  mentioned,  the 
said  company  is  now  constructing  a  wet-dock,  390  feet  long 
and  GO  feet  wide.  The  Mitsubishi  Company  owned  by  Baron 
Iwasaki,  the  Oriental  Vanderbilt,  is  also  building  a  large  dock 
capable  of  accommodating  any  steamer  of  more  than  10,000 
tons. 

There  is  one  iron  pier  (585  feet  and  10  inches  long)  and 
two  railway  piers.  The  iron  pier,  being  very  near  to  the 
Custom  House,  is  very  convenient  for  blading  and  discharg- 
ing cargoes. 

Vessels  at  the  pier  have  to  pay  pier  dues  at  the  rate  of 
$50  to  $150  per  vessel,  according  to  the  amount  and  nature 
of  coniniodities  to  be  loaded  (U-  discharged. 


Ballast  can  be  obtained  at  the  rate  of  40  sen  per  ton  for 
sfvnd  and  1  yen  and  20  sen  for  stone. 

Labor  is  very  cheap,  and  coal  can  be  abundantly  found. 

The  harbor  is  deep  and  commodious.  The  area  included 
within  the  harbor  limits  is  6,084,667  square  yards,  and  the 
water  is  generally  six  fathoms  deep. 

North  winds  are  very  prevalent,  but  they  are  cut  off  by  the 
hill  ranges. 

The  people,  however,  not  being  content  with  the  present 
natural  state  of  the  harbor,  are  earnestly  contemplating  mak- 
ing it  still  better,  and  surveys  have  already  been  completed 
by  competent  experts,  and  the  result  has  been  reported  to 
the  City  Assembly  for  consideration.  I  am  sure  that  the 
project  will  be  successfully  carried  out  at  no  distant  time. 

The  trade  of  Kobe  has  been  rapidly  developed,  and  it  now 
successfully  comi)etes  with  Yokohama  and  Shanghai  in  the 
Far  Orient.     The  subjoined  tables  will  clearly  show  this  fact. 

TABLE  I. 

Comparative  trade  relums  of  Kobe,  Yokohama  and  Shang- 
hai for  1898. 

Export.  Import.  Total. 

Kobe    60.119,645  yen.  138,133,797  yen.  198,253,442  yen. 

Yokohoma   ..      80,312,435     "  111,014,139'"  191,336,574     " 

Shanghai    . . .      67,141,235     "  56,960,778     "  134,102,013     " 

In  regard  to  the  trade  relation  existing  between  the  United 
States  of  America  and  Kobe,  the  latter  might  be  looked  upon 
especially  as  the  import  market  for  the  former.  More  than 
half  of  the  imported  goods,  and  the  majority  of  American 
cottons,  pass  through  Kobe.  Though  the  export  trade  of 
Kobe  with  the  United  States  is  comparatively  small  in  value, 
its  tonnage  is  far  greater,  for  the  chief  exports  from  Kobe 
to  America  ai'e  mostly  bulky  things,  such  as  mattings,  straw 
braids,  etc.,  etc.  This  fact  should  not  be  forgotten  by  those 
who  are  engaged  in  carrjing  on  business. 

The  trade  relation  existing  betw:een  America,  on  one  side 
and  Kobe  or  Japan  on  the  other,  is  shown  by  the  following 
tables: 


TABLE  II. 

Exports  to  the  United  States. 

From  Kobe.              From  Japan. 

Percentage. 

1894  . 
1895 

7,061,519  yen             43,323,557  yen 

9,685,442     "               54,028, 950     " 

16.3 
17.9 
28.6 
16.2 
30.6 

1896  , 

1897  . 

7,437,765     "                SlisSS,  341     " 

8.502.094     "                52  436  404     " 

1898    . 

9,746,269     "               47,311,154     " 

TABLE  IIL 

Imports  from  the  LTnited  States. 

1894  . 

1895  . 

To  Kobe.                  To  Japan. 

5,633,347  yen             10,983, 558  yen 

4.563.793     "                   9  276  360  ' " 

Perce.stage 
51.2 
49.2 
52.0 
50.1 
57.1 

1S96    . 

8  495  903      '*                  16  371  4.1  Q      '* 

1897  . 

1898  . 

13,545,337     "                27,030,537     " 

33,850,116     "                40,001,097     " 

TABLE  IV. 

Chief  Exports  to  the  United  States 

Kobe.                Japan.                Kobe. 

Japan. 

Tea.                   Tea.              Mattings. 

Mattings. 

1894. 
1895. 
1896. 
1897. 
1898. 

2,358,773  yen     6,267,364  yen     1,754,  958  ven 
3,070,147""       7,390,883     "       3,083, 471  "" 
3,4.54,937     "       5,306,442     "       2,612,030     " 
2,278.511     "        6,549,460     "       2,647,109     " 
2,.531.674     "       6.S23.S5S     ••       3,666,564     " 

1,759,957   ven 
3,083,123  '" 
2,683,255     " 

3,697,249     " 
3,707,460     " 

124 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


KoBK.  Japan-.                Kobe.  .Iapan. 

Kke.  Eick.  Camphor.  Ca.mphok. 

1S<)4    547,257  yen  549,304  yen  292,879  yen  292,879    yen 

li,y5    S23.:il5   "••  820,626     "  72,540     "  72,560     " 

lS!)(i    673,324     "  717,353     "  125,933     "  127,755     " 

1897    691,595     "  098,937     "  425,054     "  434,625     " 

18U8    084,437     "  697,330     "  403.939     ••  403.939     •• 

Kobe.  Japan. 

Carpets.  Carpets. 

1894    916,690  yen  927,363    yen 

J895  V. 1,005,053""  1,076,049   '• 

1896.. 523,198  "  .525,366   " 

1897.'.'. 395,286  "  393,785   " 

1898  '.'. 268,628  "  270,278   " 

TABLE  V. 

Imports  from  the  Uniterl  State.'?. 

Kobe.  Japak.  Kobe.                   .1a  pan. 

Cotton.  Coal  On,. 

1S94.      2,432,882  yen  2,680.671  yen  2,709,863  yen  4,079.352    yen 

1895.  1,803,280   "  2,338,177  "  1,494,980  "  3,039,254  " 

1896.  3,639,052   "  4.252,398  "  2,730,992  •■  5,282,909  " 

1897.  6,475,921   "  7.273,221  "  2.777,864  "  .5,971,866  " 
■1898,  12,218,064   "  14,751,199  "  3,018,012  "  5,910,774  " 

■  •  ■  '*'  Tobacco. 

Kobe.  Japan. 

1894    9,232  yen  9,248    yen 

1895    13,567       "  16,128       " 

1896    32,008      "  35,133       " 

1897    268,166      "  298,378      " 

1898    1,464,961      •'  1,598,235      " 

The  trade  hetween  America  and  Northeni  China  is  said  to 
be  very  promising,  when  we  consider  the  future  development 
of  the"  latter's  resources  and  the  rising  export  trade  of  the 
former.  It  will  be  much  more  so,  when  we  take  into  con- 
sideration the  opening  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

Even  at  present,  many  thousands  of  rails  and  other  similar 
materials  are  exported  to  Manchuria  from  America,  and  most 
of  them  are  transshipped  via  Kobe  to  their  destination. 

Though  ^lajichuriathus  importsmanythings  fromAmerica, 
siie  cannot  afford  to  export  any  incrc-handise  which  Ameri- 
cans want.  Thus  vessels  loaded  with  American  goods,  and 
going  directly  to  Manchuria,  have  no  commodities  to  carry 
on  their  return  voyage. 

The  case  is  quite  ditferent  with  our  trade  with  Maiuhuria, 
for  we  have  to  import  great  quantities  of  beans  (necessary 
articles  of  food),  bean-cakes  (useful  manure),  and  other  mer- 
chandise from  Northern  China.  The  natural  inference  is 
that  the  freight  demanded  by  our  shipping  agent~s  for  the 
goods  to  be  re-ex])orted  to  l\Ianchuri:i,  should  be  much  lower 
than  that  which  .\niericaii  merchants  must  ]iiiy  ubcu  tliey 
ship  their  goods  (Hrcctly  to  Northern  Cliiiia. 

Let  me  add,  oi  paasaiit,  tliat  Japanese  ships  employed  for 
the  carrying  trade  between  iMauchuria  and  Kobe  arc  suffi- 
cient to  meet  the  present  demand,  and  are  to  lie  improved 
very  much  in  flie  future. 

The  large  mail  .steamers  owned  l)y  the  Nippon  Yuscn 
Kaisha  ])\y  once  in  every  four  weeks  lietvveen  Kol)c  and  si-v- 
eral  ]>orts  in  Norflunni  Cliiiui,  and  those  belonging  to  llic 
Osaka  Shosen  Kaisha,  tltrice  per  month.  Both  roinpanics 
are  lil)erally  sul)sidized  liy  our  Government  and  ready  to  in- 
cur any  pecuniary  loss  if  necessary,  and  especially  willing 
to  make  the  charges  for  the  comTnodities  to  be  re-exported 
to  Manchuria  as  low  as  possible. 

The  part  taken  by  the  L^nited  States  of  America  in  regard 
to  Taiwan  (Formosa)  trade  is  very  favorable.  This  fact  is 
amply  shown  liv  the  following  table  (semi-annual  returns 
ending  June  30",  1897): 


Names  ok  Countries. 

I  hina    

lloii^-  Kong-   

I'.   S.   of  .\nierica 

( Ireat   Brituiii    


Exports. 

,  3,735,518  yen 

,  1,038.474  '•• 

,      463,444    •■ 

0,081     •' 


Imports. 
.(.420,241  yen 
203,208  '  " 
486,300    " 
543,092    " 


Totals. 

7,161,759   yen 

1,241,742     •' 

949,804     " 

950,373     •• 


We  need  not  say  that  the  commercial  relations  between 
America  and  Formosa  have  become  closer  and  closer  through 
the  annexation  of  the  Philippine  Islands. 

The  steamers  belonging  to  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha  ply 
thrice  every  month,  and  those  of  Osaka  Shosen  Kaisha  six 
times  a  month  between  Kobe  and  Formosa. 

The  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha"s  mail  steamer  bound  for  Aus- 
tralia calls  at  ilanila  once  in  every  four  weeks. 

There  are  at  present  seven  regular  steamer  lines  upon  the 
Pacific.     Their  names  are  as  follows: 

1.  Nippon  Y'^usen  Kaisha  (Japan  Mail  Company). 

2.  Toyo  Kisen  Kaisha  ((Jriental  Steamship  Company). 

3.  Northern  Pacific  Steamship  Company. 

4.  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company. 

5.  Occidental  and  (Jriental  Steamship  Company. 

6.  Canadian  Pacific  Railway  Company. 

7.  California  and  Oriental  Steamship  Company. 

The  large  increase  in  Pacific  liners  may  be  accounted  for 
by  the  recent  expansion  of  American  export  trade,  but  I  would 
call  the  attention  of  the  American  public  to  the  fact  that  it 
is  decidedly  necessary  to  foster  Japanese  import  trade,  if  it 
be  desired  to  enable  those  seven  lines  to  carry  on  their  busi- 
ness successfully. 

Now,  without  detaining  you  any  longer,  I  will  close  my 
speech,  hoping  what  has  been  and  will  be  talked  over  by 
the  most  distinguished  gentlemen  of  the  world  during  the 
present  session,  will  be  put  into  practice  as  far  as  possible 
for  the  welfare  of  mankind  at  large,  and  for  the  honor  of  the 
Philadelphia  T'ommercial  Museum  and  of  the  whole  grand 
Empire  of  States. 

Mr.  Everett  Fruzar: 

We  have  one  more  paper  from  our  Japanese  friends.  This 
paper  will  be  upon  the  situation  of  Japan  in  1899,  by  Mr. 
Okada,  a  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Ku- 
mamoto,  Japan.  I  have  gi-eat  jileasure  in  introducing  to  you 
Mr.  M.  Okada. 

Mr.  M.  Ol-ada: 

Mr.  ('hairinan  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  my  great  honor  and 
pleasure  to  have  the  privilege  of  attending  this  Inteniational 
Commercial  Congress  as  a  delegate  of  the  Kumamoto  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  Japan.  I  am  very  happy  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  hearing  the  discussion  on  commercial  and  indus- 
trial subjects.  I  thank  you  very  much  for  giving  me  the 
opportunity  of  addressing  this  meeting.  I  do  not  intend  to 
give  you  a  statistical  report, asthat  has  been  done  by  a  previous 
speaker  this  morning,  and  no  doubt  you  are  veiy  tired  of 
it.     I  am  going  to  give  you  a  brief  general  address. 

It  is  almost  useless  to  say  anything  about  the  relationship 
which  exists  between  the  T'nited  States  and  Japan,  for  even 
the  cliildren  of  liolli  countries  know  that  in  1853  Commo- 
dore Perry,  with  a  fieet  of  American  vessels,  visited  our 
country  and  persuaded  her  to  open  her  doors,  which  had 
l)een  closed  to  all  the  world  long  before  your  nation  existed, 
and  five  years  later  Townsend  Harris  concluded  at  Y^edo  the 
treaty  which  became  the  basis  of  .lapaiicse  conventional  rela- 
lions  with  western  luitions. 

It  was  to  the  United  States  lli;i(  Japan  fir.st  sent  envoys  to 
make  an  acquaiiitiince  with  ,'iii(l  to  investigate  the  results  of 
modern  civilization,  al'tci'  which  (uir  social,  political,  educa- 
tional, commercial  and  industrial  revolutions  followed  in 
>wift  succession,  and  her  great  stride  on  the  path  of  progress 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  19,  1899 


125 


is   recognizee!    and  wondered    at   hy  all    the    natrions    of   the 
world. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  war  with  China,  Japan  stood  l)e- 
fore  the  world  as  a  powerful  nation.  As  a  result  of  her  vic- 
tory various  railroads  have  been  projected,  indu.strial  enter- 
prises have  been  made,  importations  and  exportations  have 
gi-own  enormously,  educational  facilities  have  rapidly  multi- 
plied and  wages  have  advanced. 

A  new  order  of  things  is  in  practice,  and  Japan  has  be- 
come the  object  of  commercial  interest  to  all  the  nations 
and  especially  to  Americans.  Now,  under  the  new  treaties 
which  were  inaugurated  on  the  seventeenth  of  July,  1899, 
her  doors  are  wide  open  to  all  nations.  Both  our  govern- 
ment and  people  welcome  you  'with  gladness  to  our  interior. 
Japan  of  to-day  is  the  commercial  and  industrial  country 
of  the  Orient.  Her  land  is  fertile;  she  has  rich  mines  of 
coal  and  iron  in  the  northern  and  southern  parts,  and  the 
mountains  of  the  interior  may  have  other  hidden  treasures 
which  are  yet  to  be  discovered.  She  has  fine  seaports  all 
along  the  coast  and  the  great  Empire  of  China  is  our  near 
neighbor  on  the  west  and  the  great  continent  of  America 
on  the  east.  After  the  completion  of  the  Siberian  Railroad, 
and  when  the  canal  of  Panama  is  opened,  Japan  will  become 
the  market  place  between  the  Old  and  the  New  World. 

Japan  has  a  population  of  over  40,000,000  and  her  people, 
though  generally  small,  are  intelligent  and  enterprising. 
But  so  far  our  industrial  enterprises  have  met  with  little 
success  or  with  failure,  simply  on  account  of  scarcity  of  cap- 
ital; indeed,  Japan  wants  capital  and  her  arms  are  always 
open  to  the  foreign  capitalists. 

Commerce  is  an  interchange  of  merchandise  between  na- 
tions or  individuals.  Commerce  is  never  improved  between 
nations  if  one  of  them  is  exhausted.  In  other  words,  com- 
merce between  two  nations  will  become  larger  and  larger 
if  both  of  them  are  increasing  in  wealth.  The  increase  of 
the  wealth  of  our  country  by  the  investment  of  your  capital, 
means  the  increase  of  commerce  between  your  country  and 
mine. 

As  our  country  is  situated  .«o  far  in  the  East  and  our  peo- 
ple are  of  a  different  race,  with  different  customs  and  man- 
ners, it  is  quite  natural  that  the  people  of  western  nations 
do  not  take  much  interest  in  Japan  and  if  they  do,  it  is 
sentimental  rather  than  practical. 

You  may  therefore  ask,  "Can  there  any  good  thing  come 
out  of  Japan?"     I  will  answer,  "Come  and  see." 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

We  have  now  finished  the  papers  on  Japan.  I  think 
we  will  be  very  glad  to  listen  to  some  remarks  upon  the 
trade  and  surroundings  of  Aden,  by  E.  Somenille  Mur- 
ray, whom  I  have  the  pleasure  now  to  introduce  to  you. 
I  hope  our  good  friend  Mr.  Murray  will  be  able  to  give  you 
a  more  unprejiidiced  idea  of  the  place  called  Aden  than  I 
have  in  my  own  mind.  I  have  passed  through  that  hot  port 
many  and  many  a  time  from  India,  China  and  Japan.  I 
had  the  pleasure  in  Bombay  of  meeting  an  old  officer — 'Liv- 
ingston— -nith  whom  I  lived  for  two  weeks.  Going  through 
the  Red  Sea  we  went  into  Asia,  and  stopped  at  that  exe- 
crated place — I  think  it  is  the  worst  I  have  ever  been  in.  It 
is  called  by  many  travelers  the  last  place  that  the  Almightv 
made,  and  that  the  cindei-s  and  refuse  that  was  left  over  were 
thrown  in  a  heap  about  the  country  of  Aden,  and  this  port 
was  raised  on  the  top  of  them. 

At  the  time  of  my  last  trip,  in  1887,  they  were  then  ar- 
ranging to  get  water  other  than  from  tanks.  The  water  that 
they  had  was  not  very  good,  and  the  water  that  they  have 
to-day  is  entirely  from  the  sea.  that  has  been  made  over  into 
fresh  water.     I  am  quite  sure  there  has  been  a  great  im- 


provement since  that  time.  I  am  also  sure  I  will  myself 
learn  something  about  Aden  that  I  do  not  know  now.  Per- 
haps many  of  you  will  he  placed  in  the  same  position. 

I  have  much  pleasure  no^'  in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  E. 
Somerville  Murray,  delegate  from  the  Chamlier  of  Commerce 
at  Aden,  who  will  speak  to  you  on  "The  Surroundings  and 
Trade  of  Aden." 

Mr.  E.  Somprrille  Murray: 

The  SijheoundinCtS  and  Tr.-vde  of  Aden. 

The  British  settlement  of  Aden  is  situated  in  Southern 
Arabia,  latitude,  twenty  degrees,  forty-seven  minutes  north; 
longitude,  forty-tive  degrees  ten  minutes  east,  about  one 
hundred  miles  east  of  the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb,  the  south- 
ern entrance  to  the  Red  Sea.  It  is  a  rocky  peninsula  of  vol- 
canic origin,  in  form  irregularly  oval,  about  fifteen  miles  in 
circumference,  and  joined  to  the  mainland  by  a  narrow  neck 
of  land  which  is  at  one  place  nearly  covered  by  the  sea  at 
liigh  spring  tides,  in  fact,  would  be  but  for  a  raised  roadway 
which  leads  to  the  village  of  Shaikh  Othman,  seven  miles  in- 
land, which  was  purchased  from  a  neighboring  Sultan  in 
1881,  and  which  is  the  northern  limit  of  actual  British  ter- 
ritory. 

To  the  west  of  Aden,  across  the  harbor,  lies  the  peninsula 
of  Jebel-Ihsan,  or  Little  Aden,  which  is  of  very  similar  size, 
shape  and  formation  to  Aden  proper;  but,  although  this  piece 
of  territory  was  acquired  by  purchase  in  1863,  it  has  not  been 
utilized  and  tlie  only  inhabitants  are  a  very  few  native  fisher- 
men. 

Vessels  visiting  the  port  lie  either  in  the  outer  roadstead 
or  the  inner  harbor  of  the  Bunder  Tawahi,  otherwise  called 
Aden  West  Bay,  at  Steamer  Point,  where  are  to  be  found  the 
shipping  offices,  the  port  officials  and  a  certain  proportion  of 
the  garrison.  Five  miles  distant  over  the  hills  is  the  old  town 
of  Aden,  better  known  by  the  name  of  Camp,  so  called  be- 
cause the  troops  were  originally  all  stationed  there.  Most  of 
the  merchants  have  their  offices  and  warehouses  in  this  vicin- 
ity, and  it  is  there  too  that  the  flag  of  the  stars  and  stripes 
may  daily  be  seen  floating  over  the  United  States  Consulate. 

The  climate  of  Aden  is  trying  to  Europeans,  more  espec- 
ially during  the  hot  season,  which  extends  from  April  to 
October.  The  months  of  May  and  September  arc  particu- 
larly disagreeable,  these  being  the  periods  of  the  change  of 
monsoons,  when  the  wind  almost  entirely  ceases  and  the  air 
is  close  and  oppressive. 

Brackisih  water  is  to  be  had  from  wells;  and  when  rain  falls, 
wliich  is  neither  often  nor  to  be  depended  upon,  it  is  collected 
in  a  series  of  tanks  of  very  ancient  origin,  thirteen  of  which, 
with  a  capacity  of  8,000,000  gallons,  have  been  restored,  but 
they  have  only  been  full  on  one  or  two  occasions,  and  are  by 
no  means  to  be  depended  upon.  Most  of  the  water  supply 
is  obtained  from  the  Indian  Ocean,  the  sea  water  being  passed 
through  elaborate  condensers  and  fresh  water  of  practically 
unlimited  quantity  thus  manufactured  and  supplied  to  resi- 
dents and  the  ship^  frequenting  the  port.  Ice,  which  is  one 
of  the  necessaries  of  life  in  that  climate,  is  also  made  by 
machinery.  For  food  supplies  the  settlement  depends  to  a 
large  extent  on  sheep  and  cattle  imported  from  the  British 
Somali  coast  on  the  other  side  of  the  Gulf  of  Aden.  Vege- 
tables and  fruits  come  from  Suez,  from  Zanzibar,  from  Cey- 
lon; and  most  of  the  other  necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life 
are  imported  and  sold  by  the  store  dealers  and  native  shop- 
keepers. 

The  ancient  history  of  Aden  is  interesting,  but  lengthy, 
and  I  will  pass  it  over  and  come  to  the  year  1839,  when  the 
British  took  possession  of  the  peninsula.     At  that  time  it  be- 


12(5 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEENA  TloN  Al.  CO^^KltClAL  COXCiHKSS 


joiigcd  to  the  Abdale  Sultan  of  Ltilieji.  In  cousequeuce  of 
an  outrage  committed  on  the  passengers  and  crew  of  a  vessel 
wrecked  near  Aden,  an  expedition  was  dispatched  by  the 
tiovenmient  of  Bombay  and  the  j)ort  was  blockaded.  In 
January,  1839,  a  force  consisting  of  two  ships  of  war,  with 
three  hundred  English  and  four  hundred  native  troops,  bom- 
barded and  took  the  place  by  assault.  Aden  thus  became  the 
first  new  accession  of  temtory  in  the  reign  of  Her  Majesty, 
(^ueen  Victoria,  and  treaties  of  peace  and  friendship  were 
entered  into  with  the  surrounding  tribes.  For  many  years 
subsequently,  liowever,  disturbances  were  constantly  breaking 
out  among  these  restless  Bedouins  and  had  to  be  quelled  liy 
force  of  arms. 

Jleyond  Shaikh  Othman,  already  referred  to,  the  British 
sphere  of  influence  embraces  eight  independent  Aral)  tribes 
whose  territory  lies  between  Aden  and  the  Turkish  Yemen. 
The  Sultans,  or  Chiefs,  of  these  states  receive  annual  sub- 
sidies from  the  Britisih,  and  are  officially  tenned  as  being  "in 
subsidiaiy  alliance."  The  great  aim  of  the  British  authori- 
ties is  to  keep  open  the  caravan  routes  through  all  of  these 
districts,  and  to  see  that  any  duties  levied  on  goods  passing 
tlirough  are  not  exorbitant,  as  such  would,  of  course,  inju- 
■  riously  all'ect  the  trade  of  Aden. 

The  inhabitants  of  Aden  numljer  aliout  :ii),000,  the  great 
majority  of  whom  are  Arabs,  Jews,  and  Somalis  of  the  coolie 
or  laboring  class.  The  remainder  of  the  population  consists 
of  government  officials,  the  garrison  and  merchants  and 
traders. 

The  settlement  is  presided  over  by  a  civil  governor,  who  is 
styled  a  Political  Eesident,  and  is  politically  subject  to  the 
(ii)vernment  of  India.  He  is  also  military  commander  of  the 
garrison,  and  as  such,  holds  the  rank  of  brigadier-general. 
For  administrative  purposes,  there  are  several  Assistant  Resi- 
dents with  magisterial  powers,  and  the  laws  in  force  are  those 
of  British  India. 

The  chief  fortifications  of  Aden  are  on  the  seaward  side, 
the  land  defences  commanding  the  interior  being  now  dis- 
used. All  the  very  latest  improvements  in  engineering  and 
artillery  have  been  steadily  applied  within  recent  years — and 
it  is  a  dangerous  place  to  quaiTel  \vith.  A  writer  of  recog- 
nized authority  descrilies  Aden  as  a  "link  in  the  chain  of 
British  fortified  coaling  stations;"  and  it  is  an  exceptionally 
strong  link.  Whatever  its  future  may  be  as  regards  the  trade 
of  the  neighborhood,  it  is  bound  to  remain  for  all  time  an 
Imperial  coaling  station  and  harbor  of  refuge.  The  British 
navy  and  foreign  ships  of  war  are  constant  visitors,  and  I  am 
pleased  to  be  able  to  state  that  in  late  years,  many  vessels  of 
the  United  States  navy  have  found  their  way  to  the  port. 
Wlule  the  defences  have  been  thoroughly  modeniized,  the 
harbor  has  not  been  neglected.  The  outer  roadstead  has  a 
safe  entrance,  three  and  one-third  miles  wide,  and  ample  an- 
ciiorage  ground  for  a  large  fleet;  and  for  several  years  past, 
the  inner  harbor  has  been  steadily  dredged  until  now  there  is 
a  depth  of  twenty-six  feet  of  water  at  the  lowest  tides  at 
nearly  all  the  mooring  berths.  In  other  words,  there  is  water 
enough  for  all  vessels  jiassing  through  the  Suez  Canal.  Dur- 
ing the  southwest  monsoon,  the  shelter  is  Found  of  great 
advantage,  as  the  work  of  coaling  and  loading  cargo  can  be 
gone  on  with  nuub  more  expedition  than  outside,  where 
file  heavy  swell  renders  such  operations  difficult  and  tedious. 
Among  others,  the  vessels  of  the  Peninsular  and  Oriental  S. 
N.  Co.,  British  India,  S.  N.  Co.,  Messageries  Maritimes  Co., 
Russian  Volunteer  fleet,  and  (iernuin  F;ast  Africa  Co.,  make 
constant  and  increasing  n.se  of  the  inner  mo  jriiig  basin. 

'I'he  arrangements  for  coaling  at  this  port  are  exeellenl.  and 
vessels  visit iji?  the  harbor  receive  (juick  dispntch.  There  are 
old  established  linns  with  all  the  necessary  ]>lant  laid  down. 
and  fleets  of  steam  tugs  and  lighters,  the  latter  loaded  and  in 
readiness  at  all  hours  of  tlu'  ilav  and  niglit.    Vessels  entering 


are  jjromptly  signaled,  and  no  time  is  lost  in  sending  oft-  to 
ascertain  their  requirements.  Ample  facilities  exist  for  re- 
pairs to  steamers  and  their  engines,  and  many  cases  have 
occtirred  of  vessels  putting  in  with  damaged  hulls  or  machin- 
ery broken  down,  wliich  have  been  repaired  and  the  voyage 
thereafter  proceeded  with. 

The  geographical  position  of  Aden  always  gave  it  special 
advantages  as  a  trade  centre,  and  in  earlier  times,  its  rulers 
fumed  this  to  account  by  levying  very  heavy  imposts.  The 
rapacity  of  its  successive  possessors  impoverished  the  place  and 
its  trade,  so  that  when  it  was  taken  by  the  Brittsh,  its  former 
prosperity  had  long  gone.  After  its  occupation  in  1839,  until 
the  year  18-50,  customs  dues  were  levied  as  in  India;  but  the 
settlement  did  not  at  first  fulfill  the  promise  its  geographical 
position  warranted  in  regard  to  the  development  of  trade,  and 
it  was  found  impossil)le  to  take  away  traffic  from  the  channels 
to  which  it  had  been  diverted,  notwithstanding  the  increased 
safety  to  the  persons  and  property  of  the  merchants  frequent- 
ing Aden.  Mocha  and  Hodeidah  continued  to  monopolize 
the  valuable  trade  of  Arabia  and  Africa,  and  to  remedy  this, 
Aden  was  declared  a  free  port  in  1850  by  an  act  of  govern- 
ment of  India.  The  result  of  this  free  trade  policy  was  a 
steady  increase  in  the  trade  of  the  port. 

The  mercantile  community  of  Aden  may  be  divided  into 
three  classes;  the  first  class  belongs  to  the  old  established, 
well-known  and  comparatively  wealthy  English,  American, 
French,  German,  Italian  and  Indian  firms.  They  carry  on 
mercantile  business,  according  to  the  u.stial  practice  of  civil- 
ized countries.  Through  the  medium  of  the  Aden  Chamber 
of  Commerce  they  keep  in  touch  with  each  other,  and  discuss 
common  grievances  and  mutual  interests.  The  great  bulk 
of  the  importing  and  exporting  business  is  carried  through 
by  these  firms.  The  second  class  of  merchants  are  almost  all 
Arabs.  They  are  sometimes  very  wealthy  men  and  their 
principal  business  is  the  importation  of  coffee  and  products 
to  the  first  described  class.  The  third  class  may  be  more 
popularly  termed  "petty  traders."  It  consists  of  Arabs,  So- 
malis and  Indians,  who  travel  round  to  the  small  ports  in  the 
neighborhood,  taking  goods  of  various  kinds  to  exchange  for 
products  of  the  country,  which  they  send  to  Aden  by  means 
of  native  crafts. 

Aden  is  not,  to  any  extent,  either  a  producing  or  a  con- 
suming port,  btif  is  merely  headquarters  for  the  distribution 
of  goods  received  by  deep  sea  steamers  from  all  parts  of  the 
world,  and  for  the  collection  of  products  from  the  neighboring 
countries  for  shipment  chiefly  to  Euro])e  and  America.  Be- 
sides the  overland  traffic  of  Southern  Arabia,  there  is  regular 
communication  both  by  coasting  steamers  and  by  native  ves- 
sels with  the  Red  Sea  ports,  such  as  Mocha,  Hodeidah,  Jed- 
dah,  Massowah  and  Suakim,  and  with  the  ports  of  Berberah, 
Zaila,  Bulbar  and  Kurim,  in  the  British  Somali  Coast  Pro- 
tect(U-ate. 

The  principal  exjiorts  and  imports  are: 

(_'oal. — Imported  from  England  and  disposed  of  in  bunker 
su])plies  to  steamers. 

Oil. — Kerosene  in  cases  from  both  the  TTnited  States  and 
Russia.  Tliere  is  a  limited  local  demand,  but  considerable 
iiuantifies  go  to  the  interior. 

Piece  goods  and  domestics  are  largely  iiii|iorfed  from  Eng- 
land, India  and  the  United  States,  and  find  their  way  far 
up  country  in  Arabia,  Somali  land  and  Abyssinia. 

Sugar. — There  is  a  good  market  I'oi-  (lilferent  i|uaniities 
from  .Austria,  Mauritius  and  China. 

.•^iiks  are  iuipoited  both  from  (jhina  and  Bombay,  the  latter 
mo.stly  juade  by  hand  loom  at  Sural,  having  a  large  sale 
auHuig  the  Arabs. 

Salt  is  manufactured  by  evaporation  in  the  neighborhood 
ol'  .Xili'u.  and  exported  largely  to  Caleulta  :u\'\  Singa])oiv. 

Dry  Sl<ius  and    Hides, — Large  <iuantilies  arrive   from  the 


SEVENTH  .MAY'S  SESSION,  UCTOBEK  19,   1899 


127 


Somali  Coast  and  the  interior  of  Arabia,  mostly  from  the 
former,  which  is  a  pastoral  country  with  large  Hooks  of  sheep 
and  goats.  The  raw  skins  undergo  a  simple  process  of  salting 
and  drying  in  the  sun,  after  which  they  are  dusted  over  with 
naphthaline,  as  a  preservative,  and  shipped  mostly  to  the 
United  States  and  England  in  large  bales. 

Coffee. — The  world  famed  Mocha  coffee  is  grown  in  the 
Yomen  district  of  Arabia  and  formerly  came  through  the 
port  of  Mocha,  from  which  circumstance  it  derived  the  name. 
Mocha  is  now  virtually  a  dead  port,  and  the  coffee  either 
arrives  in  Aden  overland  from  the  interior,  or  by  sea  from 
the  port  of  Hodeidah.  Owing  to  the  high  position  this 
coffee  holds  in  the  market,  Aden  merchants  take  great  pains 
to  keep  the  quality  up  to  the  standard,  which  can  only  be 
done  by  carefully  separating  and  grading  the  original  con- 
signments from  the  coffee  growing  districts.  This  coffee  is 
nearly  all  bought  by  the  United  States,  France  and  London. 

Gums  and  Resins. — The  following  are  obtained  in  some 
quantity: 

Gum  arabic,  frankincense,  myrrli,  gum  mastic,  copal,  ben- 
jamin, aloe  and  dragons'  blood. 

Sliells. — Considerable  quantities  of  mother-of-pearl-shells 
are  to  be  had  chiefly  from  the  Red  Sea:  also  tortoise,  turtle 
shell  and  cowries. 

Besides  the  foregoing,  there  are  many  other  kinds  of  mer- 
chandise dealt  with  in  small  quantities.  As  I  have  already 
pointed  out,  the  local  trade  of  Aden  is  limited  and  the  sur- 
rounding countries,  for  which  it  forms  a  commercial  centre, 
do  not  appear  at  present  to  be  capable  of  much  expansion. 
Up  to  the  last  financial  year  the  trade  returns  had  shown  a 
steady  annual  increase,  but  the  official  returns  for  the  year 
ending  the  31st  of  March,  1898,  show  a  decrease  as  compared 
with  the  preceding  year  of  one  erore  and  twenty  lakhs  of 
rupees;  in  other  words,  the  total  value  of  imports  and  ex- 
ports fell  from  nine  crores  and  thirty-eight  lakhs  to  eight 
crores  and  eighteen  lakhs.  Tn  give  its  equivalent  in  English 
money,  the  falling  oif  was  £S00,()00,  the  total  trade  having 
dropped  away  from  £6,200,000  to  f  .5,400,000.  The  more  im- 
mediate causes  of  this  were  the  drought  and  famine  in  the 
Yemen,  and  the  unsettled  .state  of  that  country,  owing  to  the 
protracted  rebellion  against  Turki-sh  rule. 

It  is  worth  while  keeping  an  eye  on  the  British  Somali 
Coast  Protectorate  in  East  Africa,  which  was  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  India  until  the  end  of  1898,  when  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  British  Foreign  Office,  with 
a  view  to  further  opening  up  the  promising  trade  there.  Its 
chief  port  is  Berherah,  which  is  in  regular  communication 
with  Aden  by  c^iasting  steamers.  Zailah,  another  port  in  the 
same  territory,  is  in  close  and  constant  touch  with  Harrar, 
the  frontier  town  of  Abyssinia.  This  is  a  kingdom,  or  rathei- 
empire,  of  which  a  good  deal  has  been  heard  in  recent  years. 
Political  missions  from  various  nations  have  visited  the  Em- 
peror Menelik,  and  exploring  parties  have  partially  pene- 
trated the  country,  but  so  far,  increase  of  trade  with  the  out- 
side world  does  not  seem  to  have  resulted.  It  would  appear 
that  it  is  a  fertile  agricultural  country,  and  the  people  are 
content  with  producing  very  little  more  tlian  enough  to  sat- 
isfy their  own  modest  wants.  Probably  in  the  near  future 
the  advance  of  civilization  and  further  contact  with  the  white 
races  will  mean  the  opening  up  of  this  neighborhood  and  in- 
creased requirements  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants. 

When  I  return  to  Aden,  two  months  hence,  it  will  be  my 
pleasant  duty  to  report  to  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  there 
regarding  the  cordial  and  courteous  reception  I  have  met 
W'ith  from  the  Commercial  Museum  and  from  the  people  of 
Philadelphia.  As  we  can  never  hope  to  have  a  Congress  in 
that  neighborhood,  and  thu<  i-eciprocity  is  otiI  of  the  ques- 
tion, I  can  only  place  on  record  in  this  manner  my  warm 


appreciation  of  all  that  has  been  done  for  me  during  my  visit 
to  this  great  flourishing  city.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

Gentlemen. — I  am  sure  that  we  have  all  been  much  pleased 
to  know  Mr.  Murray.  We  have  for  our  next  speaker,  Mr. 
Virchand  R.  Gandhi,  of  Bombay,  who  will  address  us  on 
■'Trade  Relations  Between  the  United  States  of  America  and 
India.""  I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  our 
friend,  Mr.  Gandhi,  who  will  now  address  you. 

.)//■.  Vircliaiul  I!.  Gandhi: 

Mr.  Chairniiui,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen. — On  behalf  of  my 
people,  especially  the  Bombay  Piece  Goods  Merchants'  Asso- 
ciation, and  the  Society  for  the  Encouragement  of  Commer- 
cial and  Industrial  Education  in  India,  I  offer  my  heartfelt 
tlumks  to  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  for  the  invi- 
tation they  sent  us  to  participate  in  the  deliberations  of  this 
Congress.  Dr.  Wilson,  you  did  invite  us,  not  because  you  are 
kings  and  emperors,  who  have  an  authority  to  command  us, 
but  because  you  recognize  the  principle  that  nations  should 
once  for  all  stop  the  barbarous  practice  of  war  for  deciding 
political  problems  of  the  day,  and  that  commerce,  pre-emi- 
nently international  commerce,  is  the  harbinger  of  peace 
among  nations.  An  international  conference  in  matters  com- 
mercial has  been  the  dream  of  philosophers,  and  it  is  highly 
creditable  to  your  genius  that  that  dream  has  been  realized. 
It  is  an  event  unique  in  the  history  of  the  world  and  the  Phil- 
adelphians  justly  deserve  the  credit  of  having  consummated  it. 

During  a  residence  of  six  years  in  this  country,  through  the 
hospitable  facilities  afforded  on  every  hand,  I  have  learned 
much  of  your  commercial  and  industrial  institutions.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  great  pleasure  to  me  to  address  you  to-day  on 
"The  Trade  Relations  between  the  United  States  and  India." 

Since  the  early  beginning  of  history,  India  has  been  the 
Klondyke  of  the  world.  The  Persians,  the  Greeks,  the  Mon- 
golians, the  Mohammedans,  had  each  their  days  in  India,  and 
the  last  and  latest  are  the  British  people,  who  rule  over  that 
vast  continent.  In  international  commerce,  India  is  an  an- 
cient country.  Long  before  the  Christian  era,  its  commodities 
and  works  of  art  had  found  their  way  to  the  shores  of  the 
^lediterranean.  In  modern  days,  international  commerce  has 
linked  India  with  all  the  countries  of  the  civilized  world. 

Our  commercial  relations  with  other  countries  deserve  a 
close  study.  The  annual  imports  of  foreign  merchandise  in 
India  are  "about  $300,000,000.  Its  exports  are  from  350  to 
395  millions.  Of  all  the  countries  that  pour  forth  their  com- 
modities into  India,  Great  Britain  stands  first.  Straits  Settle- 
ments, Germany,  Belgium,  C-hina,  Austria-Hungary,  Russia 
and  Mauritius  come  next  in  order.  United  States  comes  after 
them  all.  In  1897-98,  the  exports  from  this  countiT  to  India 
amounted  to  about  $4,800,000.  which  is  only  1.6  per  cent,  of 
the  total  imports  of  India.  You  will  be  surprised  at  the 
smallness  of  your  export  trade  with  India.  But  I  ask  you  to 
examine  the  causes  of  this  state  of  affairs.  In  the  first  place, 
most  of  your  trade  is  done  through  England  and  English 
houses.  Naturally,  therefore,  it  is  only  when  the  English 
manufacturers  will  not  suit  the  requirements  of  our  markets 
and  all  the  ways  and  means  have  been  tried  for  their  introduc- 
tion, but  failed,  that  your  mauufacturers  will  have  a  chance. 
This  is  not  the  true  method  of  export  trade.  If  you  want  to 
succeed,  therefore,  approach  the  consumers  in  India  direct. 
Secondly,  if  you  want  to  establish  trade  with  India, people  over 
there  shoidd  be  given  the  opportunity  of  seeing  your  goods  be- 
fore huying  them.  In  fact,  you  must  establish  a  sample  ware- 
house for  your  goods  or  a]i]ioint  agents  in  India  to  do  the 
same  work  for  you.  Thirdly,  the  English  and  German  manu- 
facturers having  already  secured  the  markets  in  India,  you 


128 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


must  meet  their  competition  in  prices  and  terms.  I  am  much 
amused  when  your  manufacturers  quote  prices,  so  many  dol- 
lars cash  f.  o.  b.,  on  cars  in  Cleveland  or  railroad  station.  New 
York.  You  take  for  granted  that  the  export  manufacturer  on 
this  side  is  perfectly  reliable  as  to  his  standing,  and  capability 
of  executing  the  order,  while  the  importer  on  the  other  side 
has  no  standing  and  has  no  commercial  integrity.  In  fact, 
there  is  no  reciprocity  between  exporters  and  importers.  1, 
as  an  individual,  or  my  house  as  a  firm,  have  no  diiRculties 
with  you,  for  many  of  you  have  knowTi  me  and  I  have  known 
you  for  several  years.  But  what  I  mean  to  say  and  do  say 
now,  is  that  the  United  States  manufacturers  as  a  class  will 
not  be  able  to  compete  with  other  manufacturers  until  they 
adopt  the  true  methods  of  export  trade,  the  first  requirement 
of  which  is  reciprocity. 

With  these  few  preliminary  remarks,  I  now  wish  to  go  into 
details  of  American  manufactures  and  commodities  which  can 
Ik!  profitably  introduced  into  India.  I  shall  give  them  in 
alphabetical  order. 

Agricultural  Implements. — You  know,  doubtless,  tbat 
India  is  mainly  an  agricultural  country.  Eighty  per  cent,  of 
its  population  is  engatred  on  farms  and  fields.  For  keejiiug 
their  bodies  and  souls  together  they  depend  entirely  on  what 
the  Mother  Earth  will  yield  in  crops  with  the  primitive  imple- 
ments they  use.  What  a  boon  it  will  be  to  them  if  they  could 
only  use,  and  use  intelligently,  American  agricultural  imple- 
ments! In  the  year  ending  June,  1898,  your  total  exportf^ 
in  that  one  line  to  all  foreign  countries  were  about  7^  million 
dollars,  out  of  which  India  received  only  $8,300  worth  of  im- 
plements. What  is  the  cause  of  this  state?  Those  through 
whom  you  now  prefer  to  do  your  export  business  do  not  come 
in  contact  with  agriculturists  in  India,  do  not  speak  their  lan- 
guage and  have  little  knowledge  of  the  agricultural  require- 
ments of  my  counti-y.  In  this  line  alone,  you  have  an  im- 
mense field  for  expirt  trade. 

Aluminum  and  Manufacture  of  Aluminum. —  V(jur  cxpurls 
to  India  last  year  were  only  $3,500.  The  metal  here  is  very 
expensive,  and  for  some  time  to  come  it  will  be  difficult,  if 
not  impossil)le,  to  use  it  in  India  for  domestic  ])urposes.  It 
has  been  tried  in  Southern  India  and  the  experiment  has  been 
successful.  Hut  there  will  be  a  limited  C(msuuij)tian  so  long 
as  it  is  a  costly  commodity.  To  some  extent  novelties  madf 
of  aluminum  may  be  introduced. 

Blacking. — With  the  spread  of  Western  education  in  India, 
we  have  learned  western  methods.  The  western  boots  and 
shoes  are  fast  displacing  the  country  shoes  and  are  bringing 
with  them  the  blacking  and  various  kinds  of  shoe  polishes. 
You  sent  last  year  to  India  blacking  worth  about  $!I(I0.  More 
can  be  profitably  introduced. 

Books,  Jlaps,  etc. — Only  a  snuiU  percentage  of  our  popu- 
lation know  the  English  language,  Imt  the  total  population 
being  about  300,000,000,  that  small  percentage  comes  to  ho 
a  large  number.  Last  year,  India  imported  $600,000  wortli  of 
books  and  printed  matter  from  foreign  countries;  our  statis- 
tical records  show  that  only  $6,000  worth  were  imported  from 
the  I'nited  States;  some  more  came  through  Great  Britain. 
Your  statistics  .show  that  you  sent  about  $13,000  worth  of 
book.s,  etc.,  to  our  counti^.  That  is  only  one-fiftieth  of  our 
total  imports  of  books.  The  fact  is  that  your  books  are  very 
high  priced,  more  expensive  than  English  books.  Your  book 
manufacturcirs,  I  know,  have  to  sell  their  books  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, at  a  price  lower  than  in  the  United  States.  1  do  not  see 
any  great  future  in  this  line,  as  long  as  your  manufacturer 
who  produces  a  book  for  20  cents  expects  the  reader  or  st>i- 
dent  in  India  to  pay  100  cents.  Your  sy.stem  of  distribution  is 
wrong  somewhere.  You  maintain  too  many  distril)utors  and 
auxiliary  ])ersons  in  trade.  We  cannot  alTord  to  maintain 
them  all. 

Brass  and  Mantifaetures  of  Brass. — By  far  the  largest  part 


of  brass  and  brass  manufactures  comes  to  India  from  or 
through  Great  Britain.  Last  year  the  United  States  exported 
to  us  about  $6,500  worth.  You  exported  to  Great  Britain 
$430,000  worth,  to  Germany  $150,000  worth,  to  Australia 
$23,000  worth,  to  France  $55,000;  certainly  there  is  a  good 
prospect  for  your  trade  with  India.  Lack  of  shipping  and 
banking  facilities  are  oljstacles,  you  will  have  to  realize  this 
fact.    1  shall  refer  to  it  in  the  sequel. 

Brushes. — This  is  a  line  in  which  you  have  a  good  field 
in  India  in  my  opmion.  LTnfortunately  some  of  your  manu- 
facturers who  are  just  now  very  busy  on  account  of  abnormal 
conditions  in  this  country,  do  not  care  for  export  trade..  When 
the  temporary  causes  shall  disappear  (and  they  are  bound  to 
disappear),  you  will  slowly  but  surely  turn  your  faces  towards 
the  East.    Let  it  not,  I  hope,  be  too  late. 

Candles. — Your  export  trade  in  candles  is  limited.  Your 
total  exports  to  all  foreign  countries  is  only  $230,0011,  while 
we  in  India  alone  import  from  foreign  countries  $36O,(iO0,  a 
good  market  indeed. 

Carriages,  Cars,  etc. — Railway  cars  were  exported  to  India 
last  year  to  a  value  of  about  $1,800;  railway  companies  in 
India  being  under  P^iiglish  management,  and  shipping  facili- 
ties being  greater  from  England  tjuin  from  New  York,  there 
is  no  great  ho})e  for  this  trade.  American  cycles,  however, 
will  have  an  increased  demand  in  India,  with  the  lowering  of 
prices  every  year.  Carriages  also  eaii  be  introduced,  if  handled 
by  proper  parties  in  India. 

Chemicals,  Drugs  and  Medicines. — In  chemicals,  acids  for 
instance,  you  have  been  able  to  do  very  little  with  Great  Bri- 
tain; much  less  therefore  you  will  do  with  India.  There  is 
the  same  initial  difficulty  of  direct  shipping.  Some  trade  has 
been  done  in  patent  medicines  with  which  your  country  is  now 
oveirflowing. 

Clocks  and  Watches. — American  clocks  have  had  a  good 
I'eputation  in  India.  About  $50,000  worth  were  sold  last  year, 
b'rom  Europe  we  get  more  clacks  than  from  the  United  States. 
1  am  personally  interested  in  this  trade.  With  the  establish- 
ment of  proper  agencies,  there  is  a  good  prospect.  American 
watches  have  been  exported  in  a  limited  quantity.  Greater 
eft'orts  are  necessary. 

Cotton. — India  is  a  cotton  produeing  eouutry,  but  your 
cotton  is  stiperior  to  ours.  From  our  cotton  we  can  spin  yarn 
up  to  No.  36.  For  higher  counts  we  depend  on  Lancashire. 
With  the  increasing  progress  of  cotton  mills  in  India,  Ameri- 
can cotton  will  have  a  good  market  in  India,  only  that  you 
must  be  able  to  supply  us  at  a  rate  a  little  lower  than  Liver- 
pool. This  you  cannot  do  unless  you  establish  direct  ship- 
ping with  India  with  comparatively  lower  rates  of  freight. 

( 'otton  Manufacture. — This  is  my  hobby.  I  do  not  wish 
to  tire  you  with  details.  But  I  shall  be  glad  to  furnish  par- 
ticulars to  those  who  dessire.  f^nly  this  I  will  say,  that  we  can 
ireate  a  good  market  for  certain  lines  of  your  cotton  goods. 

Iron  and  Steel  and  Manufactures  thereof. — The  United 
States  is  already  doing  some  business  in  this  department.  Just 
at  present  on  account  of  abnormal  conditions  here  very  little 
is  possible.     The  future  is  great,  however. 

Flardware  and  Cutlery. — Y(ni  manufacture  better  and  bet- 
ter lookiui;-  goods.  In  1897-98,  our  total  imports  in  this  line 
were  aljout  $5,000,000.  You  sent  only  $40,000  worth.  Most 
of  y<Hir  trade  in  this  line  is  done  through  commercial  trav- 
elers. They  go  to  India,  stay  there  for  a  few  weeks,  hut  being 
uiuible  to  speak  (Uir  language,  are  not  able  to  accomplish 
nnich.  The  tnily  way  of  successful  business  is  the  appoint- 
\nvut  of  good,  energetic,  local  agents.  My  house  has  under- 
taken to  do  this  work  for  some  of  your  manul'aet  urers.  We 
expect  better  results  in  the  future. 

Machinery. — In  this  you  beat  the  whole  world.  .A.  foleiubly 
large  quantity  comes  to  India.  Unprejiidiced,  well  informed 
agents  in    India  can   do  much   more  for  trade  in  this  line. 


C.()\T:PMMI:MT  DI:LI:C.ATC5. 


SIR  HORACE  T02ER, 

Queensland. 

HON.  DR.  J.  A.  COCKBURN, 

South  Australia. 


SIR  ANDREW  CLARKE, 

Victoria 

COL.  GEO.  W.  BELL, 

New  South  Wales. 


DR.   MARTIN  GARCIA  MEROU  ALBERT  G.   BERRY, 

Argentine  Republic.  Secretary,  Australian  Delegation. 


HON.  W.  P.  REEVES, 

New  Zealand. 

J.  H.  ROGERS, 

Queensland. 

ENRIQUE  WULFF, 
Bolivia. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEK  19,  1899 


129 


Metal  working  machines,  wood  working  machines,  printing 
presses,  pumps  and  pumping  maeliinery,  sewing  machines  of 
your  country  are  already  known  in  India.  With  more  ener- 
getic eiiorts  there  is  a  better  prospect  for  them  and  others 
also.  Steam  engines  are  being  manufactured  here  for  a  rail- 
way company  in  India.  Typewriting  machines  are  becoming 
more  popular  every  day. 

Pipes. — A  large  quantity  goes  to  India. 

Saws,  Files,  Hasps  and  Tools,  will  have  a  better  market 
there  than  present,  with  increasing  knowledge. 

Lamps,  Chandeliers,  etc. — About  $31,000  worth  were  ex- 
ported last  year. 

Leather,  Boots  and  Shoes. — American  boots  and  shoes  are 
just  beginning  to  appear  before  the  public  in  India.  Very 
little  effort  is  made  in  this  country  for  their  introduction.  Ex- 
port manufacturers  will  do  well  in  communicating  with  us  if 
they  wish  to  introduce  their  goods  into  our  markets. 

Musical  Instruments. — In  this  line  I  am  sorry  to  say  that 
your  manufacturers  have  little  information  as  to  the  require- 
ments of  India.  American  organs  and  pianos  are  much  better 
in  construction  and  tone  than  many  others  of  foreign  make. 
But  to  introduce  them  into  India,  the  manufacturer  here 
must  know  something  about  the  music  of  India,  and  the 
climatic  condition  of  that  country. 

Oils. — American  petroleum  oil  is  a  well-known  commodity 
in  India.  Sales  are  increasing  every  year.  Lubricating  oil 
is  also  introduced.  With  greater  effort  much  more  can  be 
done. 

Paints  and  Colors. — Very  little  has  been  tried  in  this  line. 
We  have  undertaken  to  push  the  trade  in  India  and  hope  to 
do  something  for  your  manufacturers. 

Perfumery  and  Cosmetics. — They  are  introduced  in  a  mod- 
erate way.  Exporters  must  put  forth  greater  energy.  The 
same  remarks  apply  to  soaps,  toilet  especially. 

Tobacco  and  Manufactures. — They  are  already  introduced 
and  the  sale  will  be  increasing  every  year. 

Wood  and  Furniture  has  been  introduced  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent. Local  agents  should  be  appointed  to  create  a  larger 
demand. 

Shipping  and  Banking  Facilities. — In  reference  to  all  that 
I  have  said  before,  there  are  obstacles  in  the  way  of  your  ex- 
port trade.  You  have  no  direct  shipping  of  your  own,  and 
there  are  no  good  banking  facilities.  You  have  no  idea  as  to 
how  much  you  lose  by  not  having  your  own  merchant  ships. 
In  1897-98,  the  total  exports  to  India  from  the  United  States 
amounted  to  six  millions  of  dollars.  Freight  to  India  comes 
about  ten  per  cent.;  this  means  that  you  paid  to  foreign  ship- 
owners about  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  for  freight  to 
India.  If  you  had  your  own  ship.s,  the  whole  amount  would 
have  come  to  you.  Besides,  those  very  steamers  would  have 
earned  freight  for  carrying  goods  from  India  to  this  country; 
for  the  same  year  your  imports  from  India  were  27  millions 
of  dollars;  you  would  have  earned  two  million  seven  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  In  fact  you  have  lost  more  than  three  mil- 
lions of  dollars  in  trade  with  India  alone  so  far  as  transpor- 
tation is  concerned.  Add  to  it,  the  amount  of  freight  you  pay 
for  export  and  import  trade  with  many  other  countries,  and  it 
comes  to  be  a  tremendously  large  sum.  I  hope  this  fact  alone 
will  induce  you  to  establish  your  own  merchant  marine.  Fur- 
ther, lack  of  facilities  in  shipping  has  hampered  your  trade 
with  my  country.  It  is  a  great  obstacle  in  the  way  of  its  devel- 
opment. The  freight  rates  of  foreign  shipowners  from  the 
United  States  to  India  are  in  some  cases  so  exorbitant  that 
it  is  impossible  for  you  to  successfully  compete  with  English 
and  German  manufacturers  in  many  lines.  A  national  mer- 
chant marine  is  the  mainstay  of  foreign  commerce. 

I  now  wish  to  say  a  few  words  in  reference  to  banking. 
It  is  a  surprise  to  me  that  a  nation  so  rich,  so  energetic,  so 
smart,  so  enterprising  as  yours  should  not  establish  its  own 


banks  in  foreign  countries.  London  to-day  is  the  financial 
center  of  the  world,  as  you  all  know.  Almost  ail  your  drafts 
in  connection  with  foreign  trade  pass  through  London  banks. 
KeaJize  how  much  of  your  money  in  the  form  of  discounts 
and  commissions  finds  its  way  to  Lombard  Street,  and  also  the 
fact  that  just  because  London  is  several  thousand  miles  distant 
from  you,  many  of  your  manufacturers  cannot  have  suffi- 
ciently induceable  facilities  for  reimbursement.  This  is  also 
a  great  obstacle  for  your  foreign  trade. 

Before  concluding  I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  in  reference 
to  your  import  trade  with  India.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties  in 
direct  shipping  and  banking  facilities,  more  than  27  mil- 
lions of  dollars'  worth  of  merchandise  came  here  from  India 
in  1897-98.  Most  of  your  purchases  of  Indian  goods  take 
])lace  through  Great  Britain.  With  better  an-angements  you 
can  save  the  profits  of  middlemen,  and  we,  over  in  India, 
would  get  better  prices.  Adoption  of  better  methods  is  sure 
to  increase  this  trade. 

In  conclusion  I  wish  to  assure  you  that  conferences  like 
this  will  place  us  in  better  relations  and  will  establish  reci- 
procity that  will  result  to  mutual  advantage.  Whatever  the 
future  may  await  for  you  or  for  us,  the  hospitality  you  have 
accorded  us  touches  our  hearts,  and  that  alone  will  strengthen 
the  bonds  of  union  between  the  East  and  the  West.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

There  is  one  more  name  on  our  programme,  that  of  Mr. 
Wiliam  Grant  Clark,  of  Queensland,  who  was  to  have  read  a 
paper  on  '"Eecent  Conditions  in  the  Philippines."  The  paper 
not  being  forthcoming  we  shall  have  to  pass  it  by. 

There  are  two  other  matters  I  want  to  bring  before  you. 
A  letter  has  been  received  from  Mr.  F.  A.  Brockelmann,  a 
delegate  from  Canton,  China,  enclosing  a  paper  which  was  to 
have  been  read  yesterday,  but  which  arrived  too  late.  It  will 
1)6  printed  in  the  official  proceedings. 

Our  friend,  Mr.  Kahe  Otani,  hands  in  an  extra  paper  on 
packing  and  immigration. 

Remarks  About  Packing. 

Mr.  Kahe  Otani: 

It  is  almost  unnecessary  to  say  that  packing  must  be  suited 
to  the  geographical  condition  as  well  as  the  transportation 
facilities  of  the  country  to  which  goods  are  exported.  The 
development  of  trade  to  a  great  extent,  depends  upon  how 
merchandise  is  packed.  Generally  speaking,  there  is  not  any 
merchandise  better  fitted  to  the  coimtry  than  that  imported 
from  Europe.  As  regards  American  merchandise,  it  is  some- 
thing to  be  wondered  at  that  more  attention  has  not  been  paid 
to  this  point. 

The  fact  that  American  packing  is  much  inferior  to  Euro- 
pean can  be  well  proved  by  the  report  made  by  some  American 
merchants,  who  visited  the  Central  American  States  a  few 
years  ago,  which  says,  "the  preference  for  English  and  Ger- 
man articles  to  American  articles  must  be  due  to  much  better 
packing  of  the  former;  otherwise  the  latter  being  more 
favorably  situated  geographically  must  naturallv  surpass  the 
other."  ■ 

It  is  well  worth  paying  particular  attention  to  the  growing 
demand  for  American  articles  in  Korea,  North  China  and 
Vladivostock. 

At  present,  the  demand  being  comparatively  limited  there, 
all  cargoes  destined  for  those  countries  are  at  once  imported 
to  Japan  to  be  re-exported  or  transhipped  at  Japanese  ports. 

In  all  these  cases,  it  would  be  a  great  assistance  and  benefit 
to  the  trade  if  the  packing  were  made  suitable. 


130 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEKNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS. 


About  Immigration. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  immigration  has  close  con- 
ui'ction  with  import  and  export  trade.  Since  Gray's  Act  came 
into  force,  all  sorts  of  severe  and  unbearable  restrictions  have 
l>een  enforced.  It  may  be  well  for  the  United  States  to  keep 
l)ad  elements  aloof  by  enforcing  the  act,  but  at  the  same  time 
it  must  be  remembered  that  this  act  excludes  good  immi- 
grants too.  Furthermore,  special  caution  should  be  exorcised 
in  the  appointment  of  immigrant  inspectors,  as,  in  many  cases 
even  the  character  of  the  otficers  appointed  is  questioned. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  if  some  modification  be  made  in  the 
law,  it  will  benefit  not  only  the  country  that  sends  the  emi- 
grants, but  also  that  which  receives  them. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

No  doubt,  gentlemen,  you  will  appreciate  the  information 
aboiit  packing,  in  our  American  markets,  when  goods  are  to 
l)e  sent  East.  It  is  an  important  subject,  and  I  can  speak  upon 
it  from  knowledge  that  goods  must  be  packed  in  a  certain 
way  to  go  to  the  Far  East.  Packing  is  a  matter  that  is  called 
to  our  attention  constantly,  and  our  American  manufacturers 
are  reluctant  to  change  their  regular  standard  course  of  pack- 
ing, such  as  they  have  been  following  for  many  years. 

You  have  heard  our  friend  from  Bombay  and  you  must 
form  your  ideas  of  the  conditions  of  India.  There  the  pur- 
chaser holds  the  money,  and  you  cannot  get  his  money  unless 
yo.u  accommodate  him  in  the  way  he  asks  you  to  do.  If  you 
"do  not  want  to  accommodate  him  he  will  go  to  England  and 
get  his  goods. 

I  will  ask  if  any  gentleman  has  any  .paper  or  anything  else 
to  say  further  on  matters  pertaining  to  the  Asiatic  question 
to-day. 

Qaptain  J.  Cordeiro  da  Grai;a  (Brazil): 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  would  like  to  know  if  to-morrow  there 
is  to  be  any  discussion  on  these  papers  that  we  have  heard, 
because  I  am  prepared  to  take  part  if  there  is  to  be  a  general 
discussion.  If  there  is  to  be  such  a  discussion  I  think  Dr. 
Wilson  could  inform  me. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

T  will  say  to  Captain  da  Graqa,  the  official  delegate  from 
Brazil,  that  it  may  be  possible  that  the  papers  will  come  up 
to-morrow  for  discussion  late  in  the  afternoon;  if  not,  they 
may  come  up  at  a  later  date,  and  I  shall  take  pleasure  in  in- 
forming him. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith  (delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade, 
Bridgeton,  N.  J.) : 

I  have  some  resolutions  bearing  upon  the  immigration  laws 
between  China  and  the  United  States  which  I  believe  under 
the  new  arrangement,  are  to  be  offered  to  the  committee  on 
resolutions  under  the  ruling.  The  resolution  was  passed  yes- 
terday a]i]iointing  a  commit  tec  of  seven  for  this  purpose. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

A  resolution  was  pro]iosed  l)y  Mr.  Straw,  a  delegate  from 
Wilkesbarrc,  Pa.,  seconded  by  Mr.  N.  B.  Kelly,  of  the  Trades 
Leagiie  of  Philadelphia,  for  the  appointment  of  a  committee 
of  seven,  to  whom  shall  be  referred  all  resolutions  for  future 
discussions  not  named  on  the  printed  program  of  the  day. 

The  chair  was  requested  to  appoint  a  committee  of  seven 
and  will  appoint  as  chairman,  E.  Tracy  Tobin,  John  B.  Jolin- 
.sfon,  Frederick  F.  Smith,  W.  H.  SchofF,  II.  Sell,  Mr.  Corbin 
and  N.  B.  Kelly,  of  Pliiladelphia. 

The  committee  will  meet  after  each  afternoon's  session 
and  all  resolutions  will  be  referred  to  this  conunittee  and  l)y 
them  to  the  meeting  just  previous  to  the  organization  in  the 
morning — other  resolutions  may  be  referred  to  the  chairman 
of  the  committee  just  before  the  opening  of  the  meeting. 


Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

I  wish  the  resolution  to  be  read  before  the  meeting,  before 
it  is  handed  to  the  committee. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

There  can  be  no  objection.  In  justice  to  the  delegate  who 
offered  the  resolution,  it  could  be  read  and  referred  to  the 
committee,  if  the  gentleman  wishes  it  to  be  read. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

The  resolution  was  framed  and  slightly  altered  afterwards. 
They  are  as  follows: 

"Whereas,  the  condition  of  affairs  have  changed  in  the 
United  States  since  the  passage  of  the  Chinese  restriction  act. 

"Whereas,  since  the  passage  of  the  said  act,  the  United 
States  has  acquired  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  the  Philippines, 
where  there  is  a  large  pojmlation  of  Chinese; 

"Wliereas,  it  now  becomes  necessary  for  the  United  States 
to  modify  the  said  (Jhinese  restriction  act,  in  order  to  have  a 
uniform  law  for  the  whole  of  the  United  States  and  territories 
or  possessions; 

"Whereas,  the  United  States  and  China  have  been  brought 
door  to  door  to  each  other,  and  a  great  fortune  in  trade, 
manufacture  and  commerce  is  opened  up  for  both  countries 
which  will  be  beneficial  to  both;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  Congi-ess  of  the  United  States  be  petiti- 
oned to  pass  an  act  modifying  the  said  Chinese  restriction  act, 
and  granting  the  Chinese' the  pri%'ileges  ofl;ered  to  other  coun- 
tries, the  said  privileges  shall  be  in  a  manner  to  bring  about 
a  harmonious  solution  of  the  question  of  labor  between  the 
I'nited  States  and  China  to  the  best  interests  of  both  coun- 
tries, excluding  pauper  labor  and  the  criminal  class. 

"Resolved.  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  presented  to 
the  Congress  of  the  ITnited  States." 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

What  is  your  pleasure  with  regard  to  the  resolutions?  Will 
some  gentleman  move  a  reference  to  the  committee? 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

I  move  that  the  resolutions  be  referred  to  the  committee. 

(This  motion  was  seconded.  The  question  being  on  the 
reference  of  the  resolution  to  the  standing  committee  they 
were  refeiTed.) 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

If  we  have  no  further  business  to  bring  fonvard  a  motion 
to  adjourn  will  be  in  order.  Dr.  Wilson  may  have  an  an- 
nouncement to  make. 

Director  ^Y.  P.  Wilson : 

I  want  to  announce  to  the  foreign  delegates  and  diplomatic 
representatives,  who  may  be  here,  that  His  Excellency,  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  will  give  a  reception  to  the 
foreign  delegates  at  three  o'clock  on  Saturday  afternoon  in 
Washington.  We  will  provide  a  special  train  from  Philadel- 
]ihia  to  Washington  and  return. 

.1  Delegate: 

Are  the  American  delegates  invited  also? 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

All  are  invited,  including  the  ladies.  We  will  take  the  train 
as  full  as  it  will  hold.  I  am  also  requested  to  announce  that 
tliere  is  a  smoker  here  to-night  for  the  foreign  delegates, 
given  liv  the  exhibitors.    1  understand  it  is  limited. 

Mr.  Everett  Frazar: 

As  there  is  no  further  business  to  come  before  this  mcfting, 
I  declare  the  session  adjourned. 

Adjniinu'd  at  5.20  p.  lu.  .    


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


EIGHTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadelphia,  Friday  Morning,  October  20,  1899. 
Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  11.10  a.  m.,  in  Conven- 
tion Hall,  Exposition  Building,  by  Director  W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Gentlemen:  I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  to  you  for  our 
presiding  officer  to-day  the  Honorable  Seth  Low,  President 
of  Columbia  University,  New  York.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Seth  Low: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  managers  of 
the  International  Commercial  Congress  have  done  me  the 
honor  to  ask  me  to  preside  over  this  session,  which  is  to  be  de- 
voted to  the  consideration  of  commercial  education.  I  count 
it  both  a  privilege  and  a  pleasure  to  be  here  to-day.  As  many 
of  you  know,  I  was  connected  for  more  than  ten  years  actively 
with  the  commercial  interests  of  the  country,  and  now  for 
almost  ten  years  I  have  been  connected  with  its  educational 
interests.  You  may  readily  understand,  therefore,  how  much 
this  theme  appeals  to  me.  H  is  very  characteristic  of  our 
times  that  this  Congress  should  arrange  for  a  session  upon 
commercial  education.  The  object  of  this  whole  imdertak- 
ing  is,  as  I  suppose,  to  enlarge  the  export  business  of  the 
United  States.  The  time  has  been  when  it  never  would  have 
entered  into  the  minds  of  any  one  connected  with  such  an 
undertaking  to  give  up  part  of  a  day  to  the  consideration  of 
commercial  education.  But  we  have  come  to  understand 
that  a  school  projierly  organized  with  reference  to  the  aim 
to  be  accomplished  may  fit  a  man  for  almost  any  occupation 
in  life.  Our  late  war  with  Spain  was  marked  by  wonderful 
achievements  on  the  part  of  the  American  navy.  It  is  liter- 
ally true,  I  think,  that  these  victories  were  the  triumph  of 
the  Naval  Academj^  at  Annapolis,  of  the  Naval  War  College 
at  Newport,  and  of  the  school-ships  for  the  training  of  sailors. 
No  school  can  fit  any  man  for  the  practice  of  his  profession 
or  his  occupation  independently  of  the  practice  itself,  but  a 
school  can  give  a  man  the  theory  and  the  principle  upon 
which  his  profession  or  occupation  must  rest.  It  can  give 
him  much  information  of  which  the  practice  of  the  profession 
or  his  occupation  will  give  him  the  opportunity  to  learn  the 
significance.  These  things  the  school  has  done,  as  I  have 
pointed  out,  for  war.  It  has  done  it  for  war  on  the  land  and 
on  the  sea.  It  has  done  it  still  longer  for  the  medical  pro- 
fession and  for  the  legal  profession,  li  is  doing  it  now  for 
all  of  the  applied  sciences,  and  there  is  no  manner  of  reason 
to  doubt  that  it  can  be  equally  serviceable  to  the  man  who 
has  spent  his  days  in  a  business  life.  The  one  thing — the  first 
thing — to  be  determined  is  the  aim,  and  when  that  is  once 
understood,  the  educator  may  be  trusted  to  develop  the 
method.  On  that  subject  we  shall  hear  on  the  educational 
side,  later  in  the  day,  from  the  President  of  Harvard  Uni- 


versity, than  whom  no  man  exists,  no  man  is  to  be  found  in 
this  country,  who  can  speak  with  more  authority. 

Before  that  address,  we  are  to  hear  from  other  men  who 
are  connected  with  the  practical  side  of  business  life.  I  be- 
lieve that  Mr.  Parsons  is  not  yet  here,  and,  therefore,  I  will 
call  first  upon  Mr.  W.  C.  Barker,  of  New  York  City,  who 
will  speak  on  the  subject  of  "American  Export  Methods  Com- 
pared with  European."    (Applause.) 

Mr.  William  C.  Barker: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Delegates:  Before  I  touch  upon 
the  subject  upon  which  I  am  prepared  to  address  you,  I  wish 
to  say  that  I  cannot  find  words  to  express  my  gratitude  and 
pleasure  at  being  permitted  to  address  you,  having  the  Hon- 
orable Seth  Low  as  the  presiding  officer  of  the  day  (applause). 
a  man  who,  above  all  others  in  this  country  to-day  is  the  ex- 
ponent of  the  highest  educational  qualities  that  we  possess. 
He  is  an  enthusiast  on  that  subject. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  came  under  my  notice  upon 
entering  this  building  upon  the  day  of  the  assembling  of  this 
Congress,  was  a  copy  of  the  "Exposition  Bulletin,"  in  which 
I  saw  this  remark: 

"It  is  no  small  matter  to  represent  millions  of  people, 
whose  bread  and  butter,  so  to  speak,  depends  upon  the  trade 
or  manufacture,  agriculture  or  mining." 

This  thought  has  been  growing  on  me  ever  since,  and  after 
having  listened  to  so  many  able  and  eloquent  addresses,  I 
begin  to  fear,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  two  mistakes  have  been 
made — one  by  the  directors  in  asking  me  to  deliver  an  address 
before  this  Congress,  and  the  other  by  me  in  accepting  that 
invitation,  but  I  find  consolation  in  the  remark  once  made  by 
Professor  Phelps,  who  said: 

"A  man  who  never  made  a  mistake,  never  made  anv- 
thing." 

Therefore,  Mr.  Chairman,  if  a  mistake  has  been  made, 
you  and  the  delegates  present  will  be  the  sufferers,  not  I.    .. 

European  ts.  American  Methods. 

The  range  of  thought  suggested  by  this  subject,  when  ap- 
plied to  foreign  trade,  is  so  wade  and  susceptible  of  being 
subdi\ided  into  so  many  auxiliary  branches,  that  I  shall 
briefly  refer  to  only  a  few  of  the  most  important  features.  I 
will  compare  the  methods  employed  by  manufactui-ers  in 
Europe  and  the  United  States,  pointing  out  the  good — criti- 
cising the  bad  in  both,  and  if  I  say  anything  that  is  not  very 
complimentary  to  either  class,  I  ask  them  to  pardon  me,  as 
I  do  it,  believing  that  it  will  only  be  necessary  to  bring  the 
defects  to  their  notice  for  them  to  profit  by  it. 

In  using  the  term  "European,"  I  mean  it  to  apply  to  all 
Trans-Atlantic  countries,  but  as  England  and  Germany  are 
the  two  most  prominent  ex])orting  countries,  we  will  use 
their  institutions  and  metliodg  as  models  for  corap^trisou, 


131 


132 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS. 


Education. 


As  education  is  the  fountain-head  of  all  commercial  growth, 
it  is  the  most  important  subject  to  consider.  In  Europe,  there 
are  several  schools  specially  equipped  for  educating  young 
men  as  foreign  commercial  travelers,  where  language,  coin- 
mercial  law.  international  law,  commercial  treaties,  tantl's 
of  different  countries  and  all  o^;her  subjects  that  tend  tn  fit 
the  student  for  his  calling,  are  taught.  We  find  sons  and 
other  relatives  of  the  members  of  manufacturing  firms  as 
students  in  these  schools.  •  j.         ■  , 

The  tariff  laws  of  different  countries  are  subjects  of  special 
study,  so  that  young  men,  fitting  themselves  for  commercial 
life  in  any  country,  can  learn  all  about  the  tariff  laws  of  that 
country  as  applied  to  the  class  of  goods  they  are  to  sell. 

The"  value  of  these  schools  cannot  be  estimated  in  money. 
I  think  they  have  contributed  more  toward  the  commercial 
success  of  European    manufacturers    than    any    other    one 

thing- 

What  are  we  Americans  doing  in  the  way  of  schools  for 
training  our  young  men  for  commercial  life  in  foreign  coun- 
tries? It  is  true  that  sons  of  rich  men  can  go  to  college  and 
learn  languages  as  taught  there,  that  is,  to  read  and  write, 
general  composition,  but  I  do  not  know  of  a  school  or  col- 
lege where  a  young  man,  who  wishes  to  fit  himself  for  a 
commercial  traveler  in  any  foreign  country,  can  learn  the 
commercial  language  of  that  country.  I  regret  to  say  that, 
as  a  rule,  the  sons  of  our  manufacturers  care  more  for  base- 
ball, golf,  rowing  and  other  athletic  sports  than  they  do 
about  international  law  or  commercial  languages.  If  an 
American  firm  wants  a  foreign  traveler,  are  they  able  to  find 
an  American  who  can  speak  the  Gemian,  French  or  Spanish 
languages,  who  is  competent  to  do  it?  They  may,  but  they 
are  verj'  scarce. 

I  know  of  a  firm  who  recently  advertised  for  a  traveler  for 
Europe.  They  stipulated  that  apjjlicants  must  be  able  to 
speak  and  write  German  and  French.  They  received  several 
hundred  applications,  but  not  one  per  cent,  of  them  were 
American-bom  citizens. 

The  question  is  often  asked.  Which  is  to  be  preferred,  a 
man  who  speaks  the  language,  knows  the  customers,  the  cus- 
toms of  the  country,  but  does  not  understand  American  ways 
of  doing  business,  "or  the  possibilities  of  American  goods,  or 
of  the  manufacturers  to  supply  goods  to  meet  all  require- 
ments, or  an  American  who  thoroughly  understands  the  goods 
he  is  to  sell,  their  possibilities,  American  ways  of  doing  busi- 
ness and  is  imbued  with  American  ideas  and  enterprise,  but 
who  is  not  able  to  speak  the  language  and  does  not  know 
the  customs  of  the  people?  Having  tried  both  in  connection 
with  the  sale  of  agricultuviil  mnchinery,  I  will  take  tlie  latter 
every  time. 

1  know  a  man  who  rejiresented  a  manufacturer  of  harvest- 
ing machines  in  Europe;  he  could  not  speak  anything  but  the 
English  language.  A  trial  of  different  makes  of  machines  was 
to  be  held.  All  the  other  representatives  were  foreign  born 
and  spoke  the  language,  but  their  machines  were  of  Aniericaii 
manufacture,  and  he  did  not  understand  their  language.  My 
friend,  being  an  American,  and  his  machine,  being  of  Ameri- 
can manufacture,  uiulerstood  each  other  so  well  that  the 
judges  employed  a  talking  machine  to  tell  him  that  he  had 
won  the  first  prize,  and  the  principal  dealer  employed  the 
same  talking  machine  to  secure  the  agency. 

The  American  commercial  traveler  has  nn  equal  in  any 
country;  his  enterprise,  hustle  and  acuteness  are  proverbial; 
lie  possesses  a  species  of  "contagious  enthusiasm,"  and  lias  the 
faculty  of  inoculating  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  ccmtiict, 
with  his  enthusiasm  for  American  goods. 

The  American  commercial  traveler  is  at  a  great  disiidvHU- 


tage  by  reason  of  not  having  the  proper  commercial  educa- 
tion, but  we  are  fast  realizing  the  advantage  of  travelers 
having  such  an  education,  and  I  predict  that  in  the  very 
near  future,  such  schools  will  be  established  and  equipped 
with  the  best  teachers  and  apparatus  the  world  can  supply. 

Give  American  commercial  travelers  the  advantages  of  such 
an  education  and  our  European  cousins  will  have  to  look 
closely  to  their  laurels  or  the  United  States  will  soon  become 
the  centre  of  the  world's  commerce. 

Business  Methods. 

There  is  a  marked  difference  in  the  methods  of  obtaining 
and  conducting  foreign  trade.  A  German  manufacturer 
sends  his  representative  to  a  foreign  country  to  learn  what 
kind  of  goods  are  sold,  to  obtain  samples  for  him  to  copy 
and  to  take  orders  for  imitations  at  prices  lower  than  those 
asked  for  the  originals;  he  then  imitates  them,  even  to 
original  manufacturer's  name,  trade  mark  or  patent  number. 
To  sell  such  goods  at  a  low  price  he  must  reduce  his  work- 
men to  the  lowest  plane  of  wage  earning;  this  course  does 
not  benefit  the  dealer  or  consumer,  for  an  "imitation"  is 
never  better  than  its  "original." 

An  English  manufacturer  insists  that  his  machinery  or 
goods  are  just  what  is  wanted;  he  will  not  entertain  the 
thought  that  they  should  he  modified  to  meet  the  require- 
ments. He  argues,  that  having  manufactured  them  in  their 
present  form,  for  so  many  years,  they  must  surely  be  perfect. 
Neither  of  these  methods  stimulate  inventive  genius  or 
the  development  of  new  ideas. 

An  American  manufacturer  sends  his  representatives  to 
study  the  requirements  of  the  trade  in  his  line,  and  report 
carefully  all  conditions  of  labor,  power  used,  et  cetera,  then 
he  makes  such  modifications  in  his  goods  or  machinery  as 
will  meet  those  requirements.  I  say  "modifications."  An 
American  manufacturer  seldom  changes  the  mechanical 
principles  of  his  goods.  As  a  rule  it  is  not  necessary,  as  we 
have  within  the  limits  of  these  United  States  every  kind  of 
soil,  grow  nearly  every  kind  of  grain  and  crop,  have  nearly 
every  class  of  labor  and  climate  to  contend  with  that  can  be 
found  in  the  world,  and  our  manufacturers  have  adapted 
their  products  to  meet  all  these  varied  demands.  Tliis  being 
the  case,  it  is  only  necessary  for  them  to  know  the  require- 
ments of  a  market  to  supjily  them.  They  will  not  make 
antiquated  articles,  neither  will  they  make  imitations.  They 
give  the  dealer  something  new  and  better,  put  into  the  hands 
of  the  user  an  article  that  will  enable  him  to  earn  more 
money,  live  better  and  be  a  better  man  or  woman;  for  such 
an  article  the  user  will  pay  a  better  price,  and  the  manufac- 
turer can  pay  better  wages  for  producing  it,  thus  the  dealer, 
user  and  producer  are  all  benefited. 

In  the  office  of  tlie  European  manufacturer,  you  will  find 
South  American,  Mexican,  Australian  and  American  depart- 
ments; in  each  of  these,  there  are  men  who  have  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  requirements  and  people  of  the  markets 
tliey  look  after,  speaking  and  writing  the  languages  of  the; 
same. 

All  foreign  countries  are  alike  to  a  majority  of  the  Ameri- 
can manufacturers,  and  only  the  English  language  is  spoken; 
there  are  exceptions  to  this,  however.  We  find  a  few  manu- 
facturers, each  making  some  special  class  of  goods,  forming 
a  co-operative  organization,  maintaining  offices  in  New  York, 
employing  competent  men  who  have  made  a  life  study  of  the 
export  trade,  where  the  languages  and  all  other  details  of  the 
trade  are  known,  and  a  thorough  and  efficient  organization 
maintained,  and  who  send  travelers  to  the  far  cornei-s  of  the 
worid,  thus  enabling  a  dealer  to  obtain  a  complete  line  of 
goods  direct  from  the  maker,  yet  all  through  one  ehannel. 


SEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


133 


Agencies. 

The  European  manufacturer  establishes  a  branch  house  and 
sends  out  S6me  one  from  the  home  office  to  manage  it,  sells 
his  goods  direct  to  the  small  mercliant  or  consumer,  thus 
ignoring  tlie  importer;  or  he  sends  his  goods  on  consignment 
to  an  agent,  fixes  his  price  for  the  consumer,  pays  his  agent  a 
small  commission  and  takes  the  profit. 

An  American  seeks  out  the  importers  in  the  various 
markets,  sells  them  his  goods  at  a  fixed  price,  leaves  them 
free  to  sell  to  the  merchant  or  consumer  and  make  their 
profit. 

I  think  those  of  our  friends  who  are  importers,  who  are 
here,  will  have  noticed  this  difference  and  appreciate  it. 

A  European  manufacturer,  as  a  rule,  is  also  a  merchant 
and  banker.  As  a  merchant  he  sells  to  the  consumer,  as  a 
banker  he  supplies  "credit." 

The  American  manufacturer  devotes  his  entire  time  and 
energies  to  the  production  of  his  goods,  leaving  the  trade  of 
the  merchant  and  consumer  to  the  importer,  and  the  supply 
of  credit  to  the  banker. 

Factory  Methods. 

In  Europe,  a  manufacturer  will  make  a  large  assortment 
of  different  classes  of  goods,  thus  necessitating  the  frequent 
shifting  of  his  men  from  one  class  of  work  to  another.  As 
the  result  they  are  not  experts  in  any  one  class  of  work. 

The  American  manufacturers  confine  themselves  to  one 
specialty  or  class  of  goods,  the  men  working  at  the  same 
machines  or  on  the  same  parts  continuously,  thus  becoming 
experts  in  that  particular  thing,  and  being  paid  by  piece  work, 
develop  special  tools  for  their  work,  premiums  often  being 
offered  by  the  proprietors  for  new  ideas  or  tools  for  this 
purpose. 

The  Em-opean  manufacturer  of  machinery  builds  on  the 
theory,  "weight  indicates  strength."  The  American  manu- 
facturers say  "weight  does  not  indicate  strength;"  therefore, 
the  reason  of  the  great  difference  in  weight  between  the 
European  and  American  machines.  As,  for  instance,  a 
European  agricultural  engine  developing  20  actual  horse 
power,  will  weigh  about  20,000  pounds;  an  American  of 
same  power  about  13,000  pounds.  A  European  mower 
weighs  about  1,000  pounds.  An  American  of  same  width 
of  cut  weighs  750  pounds. 

As  transportation  and  duty  are  based  on  weight,  this  ad- 
ditional weight  is  an  expensive  matter  for  the  importer,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  saving  in  motive  power  for  moving  them 
from  place  to  place. 

The  European  manufacturer  says,  "time  is  of  no  value." 
They  sacrifice  "time"  to  save  outlay  in  new  and  improved 
methods,  they  employ  old  machines,  tools  and  methods, 
speed  their  machines  to  suit  the  movements  of  poorly  paid 
workmen. 

An  American  manufacturer  says  "time  is  money" — ^they 
spend  money  to  save  time,  they  employ  the  latest  and  most 
improved  machines,  tools  and  implements,  they  speed  their 
machines  so  as  to  tiirn  off  the  greatest  possible  amount  of 
work  and  employ  the  best  men  money  can  hire  to  operate 
them. 

Governor  Stone,  in  his  address  of  welcome  the  other  day 
said,  "Our  manufacturers  economize  labor."  I  want  to 
emphasize  that  point,  and  say,  that  they  also  economize 
"time." 

I  once  had  the  pleasure  of  visiting  a  large  manufacturing 
establishment  in  Europe,  where  they  made  nearly  every 
article  known  in  the  line  of  agricultural  machinery.  I  was 
interested,  and  desired  to  go  through  their  works;  at  first 
the  general  manager  was  rather  doubtful  as  to  the  propriety 


of  pennibting  me  to  do  so,  but  when  I  assured  him  that  I 
would  give  him  the  benefit  of  suggestions  as  to  how  we  did 
things  in  the  United  States,  the  manager  concluded  that  pos- 
sibly he  might  get  some  ideas  from  me  that  would  be  as 
valuable  to  him  as  what  I  might  see  would  be  to  me,  so  we 
started  on  the  rounds  of  the  shops.  We  entered  the  wood- 
working shop,  there  I  saw  them  using  the  old  single  spindle 
boring  machine,  and  the  single  chisel  mortiser,  boring  one 
hole  and  cutting  one  side  of  a  mortise  at  a  time.  The  man- 
ager was  greatly  surprised  to  leam  that  American  manufac- 
turers used  gang  boring  machines,  boring  all  parallel  holes 
through  a  piece  at  one  movement,  and  gang  mortisers  cut- 
ting all  parallel  mortises  at  one  stroke.  In  the  forge  room 
I  found  them  using  rope  and  pulley  attached  to  a  drop  ham- 
mer, running  in  upright  guides,  worked  by  hauling  the 
liammer  up  by  hand  and  allowing  it  to  fall — this  was  their 
trip  hammer — it  was  a  "tripper"  in  earnest.  When  I  re- 
ferred to  our  power  hammers,  striking  100  to  150  blows  per 
minute  with  power  equal  to  1,000  to  2,000  pounds  per  stroke, 
the  manager  could  hardly  believe  it. 

I  saw  a  man  working  at  a  machine,  and  I  had  to  look 
twice  to  see  if  either  the  man  or  machine  was  in  motion.  I 
inquired  why  they  did  not  speed  the  machine  up  and  have 
it  turn  off  more  work;  his  reply  was,  that  the  machine  was 
set  to  suit  the  speed  of  the  man,  and  when  told  that  in  Amer- 
ican shops  the  machines  were  run  to -their  highest  efficient 
speed,  and  if  a  man  could  not  or  would  not  speed  his  move- 
ments to  correspond,  another  was  put  in  his  place  who  would; 
his  reply  was  that  their  workmen  would  not  do  so. 

When  asked  his  opinion  as  to  the  reasons  European  manu- 
facturers adhered  to  the  old  ways  and  principles,  while 
Americans  adopted  new  ones,  he  said,  "  The  European 
manufacturers  have  inherited  their  ideas  from  their  ances- 
tors, their  workmen  had  done  the  same,  and  they  could  not 
change  them  now,  while  the  ancestors  of  you  'Americans,' 
when  they  landed  with  William  Penn  on  American  soil, 
found  themselves  surroimded  with  new  conditions  that  re- 
quired new  methods  of  thought  and  action  to  meet,  so  every 
one  set  himself  to  thinking  in  his  own  way  along  different 
lines,  to  provide  the  means  and  methods  to  meet  these  new 
requirements;  they  accomplished  it,  and  their  descendants 
have  each  kept  on  thinking  out  new  ways  and  methods  of 
doing  things  ever  since — as  a  result  they  have  become  'a 
nation  of  inventors  and  mechanics.' " 

What  are  the  results  of  these  different  methods?  I  will 
not  tire  you  with  statistics  beyond  stating  that  in  1890  we 
exported  $151,102,370  worth  of  manufactured  goods.  In 
1899  we  exported  .$338,667,79-1  worth  of  manufactured  goods, 
an  increase  in  nine  years  of  $187,505,418. 

The  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works  of  this  city  received  on 
January  1,  1896,  an  order  for  thirty-two  large  passenger  loco- 
motives for  Russian  railways.  These  locomotives  were  re- 
quired for  transportation  purposes  during  the  festivities  at- 
tending the  coronation  of  the  Czar.  They  were  shipped  in 
two  lots,  sixteen  on  March  30  and  sixteen  on  April  3  of  the 
same  year.  They  reached  their  destination,  were  erectj?d  and 
put  into  operation  in  time  for  the  coronation  festivities.  One 
of  these  locomotives  was  run  by  Prince  Hillkoff.  Minister  of 
Ways  and  Communication,  of  Russia. 

The  same  company  received  in  January,  1898,  an  order  for 
four  locomotives  for  use  on  the  Egyptian  railroad  in  the 
Soudan.  Shipment  was  guaranteed  in  eight  weeks.  A 
liounty  was  offered  for  anticipating  the  contract  date,  and 
the  engines  were  completed  and  shipped  in  thirty-three  days 
from  time  order  was  placed. 

We  have  factories  building  grain  binders,  that  harvest  the 
world's  wheat  crop,  at  the  rate  of  one  complete  machine  in 
every  three  minutes. 

We  build  pumps  to  supply  water  for  the  deserts,  and  peo- 


134 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNA'I'IONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


])1(!  i)f  all  classes,  at,  the  rate  of  one  complete  pump  in  eaeh 
three- fourths  of  a  minute.  We  build  plows  to  turn  the  soils 
nf  nil  nations  and  climes  at  the  rate  of  two  per  minute. 

In  ISaO,  we  imported  from  Eiif;land  all  the  bicycles  used  in 
tills  country.  In  1899,  we  exported  more  bicycles  than  were 
made  in  all  other  countries  put  together. 

One  of  the  most  striking  illustrations  of  the  diiference 
between  l^uropean  and  American  ways,  and  the  truth  of 
the  axiom  that,  "time  is  money"  is  the  con.struction  of  the 
Atbara  bridge  in  Central  Egypt.  On  October  16,  1898, 
Lord  Cromer  made  a  requisition  upon  the  War  Department 
of  the  ]'-gyptian  Government  in  London  for  a  bridge.  Plans 
were  prepai-ed,  and  on  December  29,  1898,  report  was  made 
that  no  suitable  material  was  in  stock.  The  English  builders 
.^tid  it  could  not  be  completed  within  two  years.  Lord 
Cromer  urged  its  constniction,  saying  that  if  not  completed 
before  the  Hoods,  the  advance  on  Khartoum  would  be  delayed 
for  at  least  six  months.  Therefore,  bids  were  a.sked  for  froni 
two  different  American  firms.  The  Pencoyd  li-nn  Works  of 
this  city  offered  to  furnish  the  material  in  six  weeks,  there- 
fore, a  contract  was  signed  early  in  February  of  this  year, 
work  was  begttn  on  February  8th,  delayed  several  days  by 
reason  of  the  blizzard,  the  material  was  shipped  in  two  lots, 
one  lot  on  February  25th,  and  the  other  March  16th.  The 
liridge  was  erected  under  the  direction  of  American  fore- 
men, who  did  not  understand  the  language  of  their  laborers, 
and  turned  over  to  the  authorities  on  August  26.  1899 — 
()  months  and  18  days  after  the  contract  was  signed.  When 
we  consider  the  distance  which  this  material  was  transported, 
it  makes  one  of  the  most  notable  feats  of  American  enter- 
])rise  yet  on  record.  Another  notable  feature  of  this  trans- 
action was  the  price.  The  lowest  English  bid  was  $67,750 
and  two  j'ears'  time  to  erect.  The  American  firm's  bid  was 
$31,000,  or  a  trifle  over  two-fifths  of  the  English  price. 

Correspondence. 

As  nearly  75  per  cent,  of  the  international  trade  is  done 
through  correspondence,  I  take  the  liberty  of  calling  atten- 
tion to  a  few  points  relating  to  same. 

American  manufactitrers  want  full  details  of  the  require- 
ments of  their  correspondents.  As  I  have  before  stated, 
when  these  are  known,  they  are  able  to  give,  what  is  wanted. 
When  writing,  give  name  in  full  (printed  if  possible),  also 
atidress,  .state  whether  dealer  or  farmei-.  If  the  subject  in- 
quired about  is  not  of  sufficient  importance  to  write  on  a 
sheet  of  jiaper  with  name  and  address  printed  thereon,  and 
to  send  under  .seal,  then  save  your  postage  and  do  not  write 
at  all. 

If  you  have  not  had  previous  correspondence  with  the 
manufacturer  making  the  article  inquired  about,  then  take 
pains  to  state  clearly  the  following  facts: 

Ist.  The  class  of  business  you  do,  and  the  goods  you 
handle. 

2d.  What  the  requirements  are  which  you  wish  to  meet 
with  the  article  inquired  about. 

3d.  Give  your  references,  or  say  that  if  business  results 
satisfactory  references  will  be  given. 

These  three  features  clearly  and  fully  stated,  will  do  more 
towards  inspiring  confidence  in  the  writer,  than  promises  of 
large  orders. 

Labor  Conditions. 

In  Europe,  the  laborer  is  taught  that  bis  government  will 
provide  for  liim  in  old  age,  so  he  has  no  care  for  the  morrow. 
In  America,  the  laborer  knows  that  he  must  provide  for  his 
own  future,  and  does  it. 


In  Europe,  governments  enact  laws  compelling  employ- 
ers to  deduct  a  certain  amount  from  wages  earned  by  their 
employees  for  the  government  insurance  fund  for  their  em- 
ployees, thus  taking  away  all  incentive  to  provide  for  them- 
selves. 

In  Europe,  capital  rules  labor.  In  the  United  States,  labor 
rules  capital. 

In  America,  our  workmen  organize  building  and  loan  asso- 
ciations and  savings  banks  of  their  own;  by  this  means,  they 
soon  own  their  own  liomes  ami  lay  l>y  a  competency  for  the 
future. 

Home  builders  and  savings  banks  depositors  are  seldom 
found  in  the  ranks  of  strikers  or  of  labor  agitators. 

In  Europe,  workmen,  as  a  class,  are  poorly  paid,  poorly 
educated,  and  have  but  limited  voting  power.  In  America, 
we  have  manufacturing  establishments  that  maintain  free 
libraries,  lecture  rooms,  free  hosjiitals,  and  the  workmen  have 
their  societies  and  organizations,  officered  and  controlled  by 
those  chosen  from  their  own  ranks,  and  their  vote  has  the 
same  power  as  that  of  the  capitalist. 

Railway   Development  and  Cost  of  Traffic. 

I  think  the  railroads  of  this  country  have  done  as  much  as 
any  other  one  thing  to  increase  the  international  trade  of  this 
country. 

On  my  right  you  will  see  a  chart  illustrating  the  railway 
mileage  of  all  European  countries  and  the  United  States  in 
1870.  You  will  note  that  some  of  them  had  more  mileage 
at  that  time  than  the  United  States. 

On  my  left,  you  will  see  another  chart,  illustrating  the 
same  for  1897.  On  this  you  will  see  that  the  United  States 
has  nearl}',  if  not  quite,  as  much  mileage  as  all  the  countries 
of  Europe  combined. 

By  another  chart  on  my  left  you  will  see  illustrated  the 
relative  cost  for  transporting  goods. 

You  will  notice  that  the  cost  of  transportation  per  ton  in 
the  United  States  is  only  about  one-fourth  of  what  it  is  in 
some  of  the  European  countries.  In  Germany  it  is  nearer  to 
our  cost  than  in  any  other,  yet  you  will  notice  the  cost  in  the 
United  States  is  33  1-3  per  cent,  less  than  in  Germany. 

Our  railroads  have  no  support  from  governments,  and  in 
most  cases  pay  dividends  on  investments.  European  rail- 
ways are,  in  most  cases,  either  directly  owned  or  supported 
by  their  governments  or  enjoy  large  subsidies. 

I  predict  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant,  when  the  merchant 
marine  of  this  country  engaged  in  international  trade  will 
occupy  the  same  relative  position  on  the  high  seas  that  our 
railways  do  on  land  with  other  nations,  both  in  tonnage  and 
cost  of  transportation. 

Organizations. 

The  effect  on  international  trade  of  public  organizations  is 
far  greater  than  many  think.  In  Europe,  we  find  organiza- 
tions of  different  kinds,  but  in  no  country  have  they  such  an 
organization  as  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  or  the,. 
National  Association  of  Manufacturers  of  the  United  States 
of  America,  both  of  this  city. 

The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  undertakes  to 
supply  accurate  information  regarding  conditions  and  re- 
quirements in  all  lines  of  trade  from  every  part  of  the  world. 
Other  organizations  are  supplying  other  wants  equally 
important,  such  as  the  International  Freight  and  Transjwr- 
tation  P>ureau,  through  which  accurate  and  up-to-date  in- 
formation is  given  to  manufacturers  and  buyers,  and  all 
subjects  pertaining  to  cost  of  freight,  routes  of  shipment, 
etc.  .\s  a  result  of  these  differences  between  European  and 
.\merican  ways,  you  are  here  as  delegates  to  the  largest  in- 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


135 


ternational  commercial  congress  ever  assembled  in  any 
country,  and  to  attend  the  first  "National  Export  Exposi- 
tion'' ever  held. 

As  you  examine  tlie  products  of  our  factories,  brought 
together  in  this  Exposition  for  your  inspection,  you  will  see 
the  results  of  Amei-ican  methods,  and  believing  tliat  you  want 
to  be  leaders  in  your  respective  lines  of  trade,  you  will  realize 
that  to  do  so,  you  will  need  to  cultivate  a  closer  acquaintance 
with  American  manufacturers  and  American  ways,  and  will 
return  to  your  homes  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  progress, 
with  which  the  very  air  yon  breathe  while  here  is  charged. 
(Applause.) 

Mr.  Seth  Low: 

I  am  sure  that  no  one  could  have  listened  without  inter- 
est to  Mr.  Barker's  summaiy  about  some  of  the  differences 
between  American  and  European  methods.  There  is  one 
factor  in  the  development  of  American  manufactures  which 
is  very  pertinent  to  this  occasion  and  which  I  don't  often 
hear  mentioned.  As  I  told  you,  I  was  for  ten  years  engaged 
in  business  life.  During  that  time  I  came  into  very  close  con- 
tact with  the  silk  industry  of  the  country,  as  my  father's 
firm,  of  which  I  was  a  member,  was  a  large  importer  of  raw 
silk  for  manufacture.  I  think  that  the  silk  industry  has  ad- 
vanced in  this  country  more  because  it  was  always  willing 
to  leai'n  than  for  any  other  single  reason.  You  remember  it 
was  said  long  ago,  "whoever  shall  be  great  among  you  let 
him  be  as  little  as  a  child."  Undoubtedly  that  has  moral 
truth  in  it  when  spoken  in  its  first  application  from  that 
point  of  view,  but  there  is  no  characteristic  of  a  little  child 
greater  than  its  teachableness,  and  it  is  because  the  Ameri- 
can manufacturer  has  been  teachable  that  he  has  progressed 
so  far.  Now,  that  I  can  illustrate  from  the  silk  industry 
there  are  three  great  centres  of  silk  manufactures  in  Europe 
— Lyons,  in  France;  Crefeld,  in  Germany;  Zurich,  in  Switzer- 
land. The  people  of  Lyons  thought  they  knew  everything 
about  the  silk  manufacture  that  was  worth  knowing.  The 
manufacturers  of  Crefeld  and  Zurich  used  to  think  the  same 
thing.  The  result  was,  that  Crefeld  would  not  learn  from 
Zurich  and  Lyons,  and  that  Lyons  would  not  learn  from 
Crefeld  and  Zurich,  and  that  Zurich  would  not  learn  from 
Crefeld  and  Lyons.  But  our  American  manufacturers  under- 
stood that  they  did  not  know  all  that  could  be  known  on 
•the  subject  of  silk  manufacture,  and  they  sat  at  the  feet  of 
all  three  of  those  places  and  learned  constantly  from  every- 
one. That  is  the  reason,  that  is  the  one  great  reason,  why 
the  American  silk  manufacture  has  progressed  so  rapidly 
and  gone  so  far  in  a  short  time  in  the  United  States.  There 
is  danger  on  the  part  of  our  manufacturers  that  success  may 
cause  them  to  lose  sight  of  that  fact.  I  think  it  is  pertinent 
to  this  Congress  on  commercial  education  to  point  out  the 
bearing  of  teachableness  on  successful  manufacturing,  and 
to  express  the  hope  that  what  has  already  produced  such 
great  results  will  continue  to  operate  here  in  full  vigor  and 
efficiency.    (Applause.) 

I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  W.  H.  Par- 
sons, of  New  York,  who  will  speak  on  "Progress  in  Paper- 
making." 

Mr.  W.  H.  Parsons : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen. — The  invitation  I  received 
from  the  officers  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  to 
prepare  and  read  a  paper  on  this  occasion,  requested  that 
the  topic  should  relate  to  the  commercial  interest  with  which 
I  am  identified.  Hence,  the  subject  of  this  paper  is — "Pro- 
gress in  Paper  Making."  I  should  be  more  familiar  with  this 
subject  than  with  any  other,  although  I  am  willing  to  con- 
fess that  I  know  less  about  it  than  I  thought  I  did  twenty- 
five  years  ago. 


The  most  comprehensive  and  intelligent  description  of 
paper  and  paper-making  that  has  come  under  my  observa- 
tion is  nearly  one  hundred  years  old,  and  is  found  in  a  book 
published  in  1801,  of  which  Matthias  Koops,  of  Loudon,  was 
the  author.  The  volume  is  dedicated,  "To  His  Most  Ex- 
cellent Majesty,  George  The  Third,  King  of  the  United  King- 
doms of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland."    Mr.  Koops  states: 

"The  art  of  papermaking  ought  to  be  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  useful  which  has  ever  been  invented  in  any  age  or 
country;  for  it  is  manifest  that  every  other  discovery  must 
have  continued  useless  to  society,  if  it  could  not  have  been 
disseminated  by  manuscripts,  or  by  printing.  It  may  be  as- 
serted of  this  country  (England),  that  its  grandeur  and  com- 
mercial dignity  have  been  greatly  exalted  by  the  invention 
of  paper." 

The  position  which  paper  held  as  a  necessary  and  useful 
commodity  one  hundred  years  ago  it  still  holds  to-day,  and 
it  is  largely  due  to  the  improvements  which  have  been  made 
in  this  art  that  facilities  have  been  granted  for  the  dissemina- 
tion of  knowledge,  thereby  increasing  the  intelligence  of  the 
inhabitants  of  such  portions  of  the  world  as  use  paper  freely 
in  reading  and  writing. 

You  may  regard  the  claim  here  made  as  very  broad  and 
far-reaching.  If  so,  I  ask  you  to  consider  what  our  condi- 
tion would  be  to-day,  if  it  were  not  for  the  knowledge  which 
we  acquire  from  the  arts  of  paper-making  and  printing. 
While  these  two  are  separated,  they  are  twin  sisters  and 
closely  linked  together,  and  for  the  dissemination  of  intelli- 
gence, one  is  practically  dependent  upon  the  other.  Look- 
ing over  the  nations  of  the  world,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
where  we  find  the  largest  consumption  of  paper  for  printing 
purposes,  we  find  the  greatest  enlightenment,  intelligence, 
and,  I  may  add,  prosperity. 

Paper  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  the  first  paper 
of  which  we  have  any  record  was  made  in  Eg^pt  from  the 
fibre  of  the  papyrus  plant,  supposed  to  grow  only  on  that  soil. 
From  an  humble  and  almost  insignificant  beginning,  the  art 
of  paper-making  has  reached  its  present  proportions,  and 
stands  to-day,  in  this  country,  third,  I  think,  on  the  list  of 
its  manufactured  products. 

To  those  of  you  who  are  residents  of  this  vicinity,  it  will 
be  of  interest  to  know  that  the  making  of  paper  in  America 
first  had  its  inception  by  residents  of  this  city,  and  a  paper 
mill  was  built  in  Germantown,  in  the  year  1690,  by  William 
Kittinghuysen,  a  native  of  Holland,  with  whom  was  asso- 
ciated, William  Bradford,  a  printer.  The  paper  was  made 
from  linen  rags,  and  the  production  of  the  mill  was  about 
250  pounds  per  day. 

To  show  their  appreciation  of  the  benefits  derived  from 
the  construction  of  tlus  mill,  a  bill  was  introduced  into  the 
Legislative  Council  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  encourage 
William  Bradford  and  his  assigns  to  establish  a  paper  mill 
in  New  York,  by  prohibiting  all  other  persons  from  manu- 
facturing it  in  the  province  during  the  space  of  fifteen  years. 

The  public  spirit  which  found  expression  in  the  erection 
of  the  first  paper  mill  in  this  country,  has  found  expression 
in  the  establishment  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
in  the  erection  of  the  beautiful  exhibition  buildings,  in  the 
gathering  within  their  walls  samples  of  the  machinery  and 
manufactured  products  of  the  country,  and  the  convening  of 
this  International  Commercial  Con.gress.  It  may  be  assumed 
that  the  proprietors  of  the  paper  mill  had  due  regard  to  their 
own  personal  interest,  so  I  hope  that  to  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia will  come  a  greater  benefit  than  to  other  portions  of 
the  country,  and  thus  reward  its  citizens  for  the  effort  and 
expense  they  have  put  forth  in  the  conception  of  and  success- 
fid  carrying  out  of  the  comprehensive  plans  of  which  we  are 
witnesses. 

The  time  allotted  to  me  will  not  permit  more  than  a  brief 


136 


PROCEEDINGS  OP  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


review  ol'  tlie  progress  made  in  the  art  of  paper  making,  but 
to  give  some  idea  of  the  advance  that  has  been  made,  it 
would  seem  necessary  to  talce  a  rapid  glance  covering  a  period 
as  far  back  as  the  year  1290,  when  the  first  paper  mill  was 
erected  in  Germany.  During  the  succeeding  period  of  fifty 
or  sixty  years,  mills  were  built  in  France  and  Italy. 

Some  fifteen  years  ago,  it  was  my  privilege  to  spend  a 
winter  in  Italy,  and  in  the  course  of  my  travels  I  visited  a 
most  beautiful  spot,  Amalfi,  situated  on  the  Bay  of  Salerno. 
Taking  an  excursion  one  day  on  donkey  back  up  the  moun- 
tains to  an  ancient  city,  the  bridle  path  led  along  the  banks 
of  a  stream  upon  which  were  situated  several  paper  mills. 
The  volume  of  water  in  the  stream  at  that  time  would  cer- 
tainly not  bo  more  than  sufficient  to  fill  a  twelve-inch  pipe, 
but  the  fall  was  very  gi-eat. 

1  had  the  curiosity  to  alight  from  my  donkey  and  inspect 
one  of  these  mills,  and  whether  or  no  it  was  among  the  first 
built  in  Italy,  it  had  the  appearance  of  having  been  con- 
structed for  at  least  five  or  six  hundred  years.  The  entire 
space  covered  by  the  building  was  hardly  more  than  equal 
to  fifty  or  seventy-five  feet  square.  The  machinery  consisted 
of  an  engine  and  cylinder  macliine,  and  the  force  employed 
within  the  mill  seemed  to  be  two  men,  who  looked  almost  as 
ancient  as  the  mill  itself. 

The  raw  material  was  conveyed  up  the  mountain  to  the 
mill  upon  the  backs  of  two  women,  and  the  manufactured 
product  was  taken  down  the  mountain  side  in  the  same  man- 
ner. There  was  no  way  of  drying  the  paper  upon  the  ma- 
chine. It  was  taken  off  the  cylinder  in  a  wet  condition,  and 
either  put  upon  the  gi-ass  or  hung  upon  lines,  so  exposing  it 
to  the  sun  and  air  in  order  to  dry  it.  It  was  used,  I  was  told, 
for  wrapping  macaroni.  Its  appearance  was  most  venerable 
and  such  as  might  be  expected  from  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  manufactured. 

The  date  of  the  construct i(in  of  the  first  paper  mill  in 
England  was  probably  prior  to  the  year  1500,  and  while  it  is 
true,  that  long  before  this  date  the  Moors  had  a  method  of 
grinding  rags  and  other  substances  and  making  them  into 
paper,  it  is  not  clear  to  just  what  extent  machinery  was  in- 
troduced, either  in  the  preparation  of  the  stock  or  the  process 
of  converting  it  into  paper. 

It  has  been  generally  supposed — in  fact,  I  imagine  there 
are  some  people  among  those  present  on  this  occasion,  who 
entertain  the  idea — that  paper  must  be  and  is  made  from  rags. 
Such  is  not  the  case  to-day,  and  such  was  not  the  case  when 
Matthias  Koops  wrote  his  book  previously  referred  to,  for  the 
preface  contains  a  letter  addressed:    •  ,      . 

"Most  Gracious  Sovereign,  Sire: — Your  Majesty  having 
been  most  graciously  pleased  to  grant  me  Patents  for  ex- 
tracting printing  and  writing  ink  from  waste  paper,  fit  for 
writing,  printing  and  for  other  purposes;  and  also  for  man- 
ufacturing Paper  from  Straw,  Hay,  Thistles,  waste  and  refuse 
of  Hemp  and  Flax,  and  different  kinds  of  wood  and  bark,  fit 
for  printing,  and  almost  all  other  purposes  for  which  paper 
is  used. 

"And  Your  Majesty  having  in  September  last  year  con- 
descended to  permit  me  to  lay  at  Your  Feet  the  first  useful 
paper  which  has  ever  been  made  from  Straw  alone  without 
any  addition  of  rags;  the  Gracious  Reception  it  has  met  with 
from  Your  Majesty,  the  approliation  of  the  Poblick,  and  the 
encouragc^ment  which  the  Legislature  has  given  me  by  jDassing 
an  Act  of  Parliament  in  its  favour,  has  encouraged  me  to 
reprint  tliese  lines  on  Paper  manufactured  from  Straw  solely 
in  a  more  improved  state,  although  not  yet  brought  to  such 
a  state  of  perfection  as  it  will  be  made  in  a  regular  manu- 
facture, which  must  be  entirely  constructed  for  such  pur- 
poses, and  which  T  most  humbly  flatter  myself  will  now  much 
sooner  be  established  by  the  indulgence  which  Your  Majesty's 


Parliament  has  granted  me.  This  new  Essay  proves  there 
cajinot  be  any  doubt  that  good  and  useful  Paper  can  be 
made  from  Straw  alone. 

■'^\'ith  the  most  ardent  vrishes  for  Your  Majesty's  health 
and  longevity,  and  with  all  possible  deference  and  humility, 
I    beg  leave.  Most  Gracious  Sovereign,  to  subscribe  myself, 

"Your  Majesty's  most  devoted,  most  obedient,  and  most 
humble  servant,  .    - 

"Mattliias  Koops." 

The  book  referred  to  is  printed  partly  upon  paper  made 
from  straw,  which  is  of  a  yellowish  color,  and  partly  upon 
paper  made  from  wood,  as  it  appears  that  Matthias  Koops 
had  made  application  for  a  patent  to  make  paper  from  wood, 
in  addition  to  his  patent  for  manufacturing  it  from  straw, 
etc.,  etc. 

While  it  is  true  that  we  shall  have  to  waive  our  claim  that 
the  use  of  wood  as  a  paper-making  material  is  an  invention 
of  the  last  thirty  or  forty  ye;irs,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that 
it  is  only  within  this  period  that  the  art  of  preparing  wood, 
straw,  etc.,  has  reached  a  sufficiently  successful  development  to 
make  a  paper  to  meet  the  present  demands  or  to  be  of  com- 
mercial value. 

In  the  year  1750,  a  device  for  manipulating  rags  and  other 
stock  by  a  rotary  engine,  and  converting  it  into  paper  pulp, 
was  introduced  into  this  country.  It  was  invented  by  the 
Dutch  and  called  the  "Hollander."  It  bears  the  same  name 
still,  although  great  improvements  have  been  made  in  its 
construction  and  capacity.  In  consists  of  an  elongated  tub, 
the  material  rotating  under  metal  blades,  by  means  of  revolv- 
ing cylinders,  until  it  is  reduced  to  the  proper  consistency. 

It  is  stated  that  in  the  year  1790,  a  papermaker's  wife,  in 
washing  some  fine  linen,  accidently  dropped  her  bag  of  pow- 
dered blue  into  some  pulp.  The  husband  discovered,  in  great 
astonishment,  the  peculiar-  color  of  the  pulp,  and  it  was  from 
this  time  that  the  practice  of  blueing  paper  had  its  origin. 

In  1799,  Zenas  Crane,  a  resident  of  Massachusetts,  estab- 
lished a  paper  mill  in  Berkshire  County,  in  which  he  em- 
ployed five  workmen.  His  descendants  are  to-day  making 
})aper  on  an  extensive  scale  in  the  same  vicinity. 

The  year  1804  marks  an  important  era  in  the  progress  of 
pa}ier-making.  It  was  during  this  year  that  the  Fourdri- 
nier  machine  was  invented.  It  bears  the  name  of  two  broth- 
ers, wealthy  stationers  in  London,  who  purchased  the  patents 
and  made  extensive  improvements  in  the  invention,  but  at 
such  great  cost  to  themselves,  that  they  became  financially 
embarrassed.  They  state  that  the  expense  of  making  paper 
by  machine  at  that  time  was  3s.  6d.  per  cwt,  while  the  expense 
of  making  it  by  hand  at  the  same  period  was  16s.  per  cwt. 

As  late  as  1 850  to  1855,  a  Fourdrinier  machine  making  two 
to  three  tons  of  paper  per  day  was  a  marvel,  and  there  were 
but  few  mills  in  this  country  whose  product  exceeded  eight 
to  ten  tons  per  day.  Now  there  are  several  mills  of  a  capacity 
of  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  tons  per  day. 

In  1867,  the  widest  paper  machine  was  probably  not  more 
than  100  inches,  and  was  run  at  a  speed  not  to  exceed  100 
feet  per  minute.  When  in  1888  machines  were  constructed 
to  run  at  the  rate  of  300  feet  per  minute  and  make  twenty 
tons  of  paper  in  the  twenty-four  hours,  it  was  supposed  by 
many  that  the  maximum  speed  and  production  had  been 
reached.  To-day  there  are  machines  in  this  country  running 
at  a  speed  of  from  450  to  500  feet  per  minute,  making  a 
lu-ddiict  of  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  tons  per  day  of  news- 
])aper,  wound  continuously  in  reels,  from  three  to  seven  feet 
wide,  the  length  of  paper  contained  in  these  reels  being  from 
two  to  three  miles  long,  the  majority  of  them  without  breaks. 
The  widest  machine  at  the  present  time,  of  which  I  have  any 
knowledge,  is  162  iuclics,  wliile  there  are  many  from  MO  to 
150  inches  wide. 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


XZI 


Going  back,  for  comparison,  to  the  year  1828,  it  is  estimated 
that  the  newspapers  then  printed  in  New  York  City  con- 
sumed 15,000  reams  of  paper  per  year,  say  about  235  tons, 
not  equivalent  to  the  average  supply  for  three  days  of  some 
of  the  papers  of  the  largest  circulation  in  this  country  at 
this  time.  I  believe  that  the  maximum  amount  consumed 
upon  any  one  edition  of  a  newspaper  was  458  tons,  used  in 
the  publication  of  the  Christmas  number  of  the  New  York 
World  in  1897.  If  spread  out  in  single  sheets,  the  edition 
referred  to  would  make  a  pathway  21^  inches  wide,  8,518 
miles  long,  and  would  reach  from  New  York  to  Madrid, 
Spain,  and  back  again. 

In  1860,  it  appears  by  the  census,  that  the  United  States 
produced  annually  more  paper  than  either  Great  Britain  or 
France,  and  the  consumption  was  estimated  to  exceed  that  of 
both  those  countries.  There  are  at  present  no  reliable  statis- 
tics of  the  amount  of  paper  produced  in  this  country,  but 
the  government  compiled  and  published  a  table,  showing  the 
production  from  644  plants  to  have  been  944,087  tons,  from 
January  1  to  June  30,  1898. 

The  great  revolution  in  paper-making  in  this  country  com- 
menced about  the  year  1866,  with  the  introduction  of  wood 
as  a  material  from  which  paper  could  be  successfully  made. 
Two  machines  for  grinding  wood  wei'e  brought  over  here 
from  Germany  and  installed  at  Curtisville,  Mass.  The  pro- 
duct of  these  two  machines  was  about  a  half  a  ton  per  day. 

The  process  consists  of  putting  blocks  of  wood  on  the  face 
of  a  grindstone  being  held  by  hydraulic  pressure,  the  stone 
meanwhile  revolving  at  great  speed.  So  great  has  been  the 
improvement  in  pulp  grinders,  that  there  are  at  this  time 
machines  making  a  daily  product  of  from  five  to  six  tons,  and 
claims  are  made  by  some  manufacturers  of  even  a  much  larger 
production. 

In  1866,  wood  pulp  commanded  8  cents  per  pound,  but  de- 
clined very  rapidly  until  it  reached  about  4  cents  per  pound, 
at  which  point  it  remained  for  a  considerable  period.  The 
present  market  price  under  favorable  conditions,  is  f  to  1 
cent  a  pound.  As  a  consequence,  news  paper  has  declined 
in  price,  say  from  12  cents  per  pound  in  1870-71,  to  2  to  2| 
cents  per  pound. 

As  wood,  either  mechanically  or  chemically  prepared,  en- 
ters moi'e  or  less  into  the  manufacture  of  all  grades  of  paper, 
with  the  exception  of  the  finest  quality  of  writings,  there 
have  been  very  material  I'eductions  in  the  price  of  all  classes 
of  paper.  Book  papers,  which  in  1870-71  were  selling  at 
fourteen  to  sixteen  cents  per  pound,  can  be  purchased  to-day 
at  five  cents  per  pound,  or  less,  and  other  grades  at  corres- 
ponding reductions. 

Following  close  upon  the  introduction  of  the  process  of 
gi'inding  wood,  came  the  method  of  preparing  wood  chemi- 
cally, by  what  are  known  as  the  sulphite  and  soda  processes. 

The  first  named  process  was  invented  by  Benjamin  C. 
Tilghman,  of  Philadelphia  (who,  I  believe,  is  yet  alive),  but 
it  was  developed  in  Germany  and  finally  brought  back  to 
this  country. 

Soda  fibre  was  invented  hy  Hugh  Burgess  and  Charles 
Watt,  who  took  English  patents  in  1852.  the  first  American 
patent  being  granted  in  1853. 

"Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention."'  The  introduc- 
tion of  the  press  printing  paper  from  the  continuous  reel 
and  the  introduction  of  paper  made  from  wood  were  almost 
simultaneous.  It  would  be  quite  impossible  to  print  news- 
papers at  the  speed  at  which  presses  are  run  at  this  date,  if 
it  had  not  been  for  the  introduction  of  wood,  for  the  reason 
that  paper  made  from  wood  absorbs  the  ink  more  rapidly 
than  when  manufactured  from  any  other  material  yet  dis- 
covered. 

Mr.  Bullock  seems  to  have  been  the  first  inventor  of  the 
Webb  presses,  i.  e.,  a  machine  that  would  print  from  the 


continuous  reel.     Previous  to  its  introduction  paper  had  to 
be  cut  into  sheets  and  fed  to  the  press  by  hand. 

In  or  about  the  year  1873,  the  New  York  Times  imported 
from  England  a  Walter  press.  Its  capacity  from  one  set  of 
plates  was  about  12,000  to  15,000  copies  per  hour.  There 
are  presses  running  in  the  city  of  New  York  to-day  (and  I 
have  no  doubt  elsewhere  in  this  country)  that  print,  paste, 
fold  and  count  72,000  eight- page  copies  per  hour. 

While  paper  is  still  made  by  hand,  the  great  bulk  of  it  is 
made  by  machinery.  The  former  process  is  not  much  in 
vogue  in  this  country,  but  it  is  to  a  considerable  extent  in 
England  and  upon  the  Continent.  Great  skill  is  required 
in  this  process,  and  I  might  add,  in  all  paper-making  pro- 
cesses. I  am  informed  by  an  English  gentleman,  who  has 
been  connected  with  tlie  paper  industry  all  his  life,  that 
there  is  no  trade  union  so  carefully  guarded  by  the  work- 
men as  the  union  of  the  hand  paper-makers.  They  will  not 
admit  apprentices  outside  of  their  own  families,  but  the  art 
is  confined  to  their  sons,  and  in  some  of  the  English  mills 
to-day  the  third  and  fourth  generation  are  employed  as 
workmen. 

The  stock,  consisting  almost  entirely  of  cotton  and  linen 
rags,  is  prepared  in  the  engine,  run  out  by  pipes  into  a  stuff 
chest,  then  transferred  to  vats  or  tubs,  about  five  feet  in 
diameter  and  two  and  one-half  feet  deep.  The  operator,  who 
is  called  the  vat  man,  has  a  mould,  which  consists  of  a 
wooden  frame,  the  top  being  covered  with  a  wire  cloth  or 
screen,  the  mesh  varying  in  fineness  with  the  paper  to  be 
made.  The  pulp  being  reduced  to  the  proper  consistency, 
he  takes  it  up  on  his  mould,  and  so  great  is  his  skill  that  he  can 
form  a  sheet  so  nearly  rmiform  that  there  is  no  perceptible  var- 
iation in  the  thickness  of  the  ditferent  parts,  and  not  a  greater 
variation  thaji  15  to  20  per  cent,  in  the  weight  or  thickness 
in  sheet,s  made  by  one  man  during  a  tour. 

In  making  paper  from  rags  by  machinery  (and  the  pre- 
liminary process  is  the  same  when  made  by  hand),  the  rags 
are  separated  and  put  through  what  is  knowTi  as  the  railroad 
duster,  removing  the  dust  and  foreign  material.  From  the 
duster,  the  rags  are  carried  to  the  cutter  and  there  cut  into 
small  pieces  suitable  for  cooking.  Then  to  the  rotary 
Ideacher,  which  is  a  large  steel  boiler,  carrying  about  2\ 
tons  of  rags.  In  this  boiler,  the  rags  are  cooked,  or  boiled, 
under  press^jre  of  about  forty  pounds  to  the  square  inch  for 
from  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  in  a  liquid  composed  of  lime 
and  a  very  small  amount  of  soda  ash.  The  cooking  destroys 
the  colors  and  puts  the  rags  in  a  condition  for  washing. 
After  they  have  been  cooked,  the  rags  are  emptied  from  the 
boiler  and  the  liquor,  color  and  dirt  allowed  to  drain  off. 
They  are  then  in  condition  for  washing  and  are  carried  to 
the  washing  engines,  where  the  process  of  washing  and  beat- 
ing goes  on,  taking  from  six  to  twelve  hours,  depending 
upon  the  kind  of  paper  made.  The  rags  are  then  emptied 
into  drainers  and  bleached  to  the  necessary  color.  After 
being  suitably  bleached,  they  are  taken  from  the  drainers  and 
furnished  into  the  same  kind  of  an  engine  as  the  washer, 
with  the  exception  that  it  has  a  different  bed  plate.  In  this 
engine,  which  is  called  a  beater,  the  stock  is  beaten  very  fine, 
suitable  for  the  machines.  It  is  then  emptied  into  what  is 
known  as  the  stuff  chest,  and  from  this  chest  the  pulp  is 
pumped  through  a  refining  engine  and  carried  to  the  machine 
chest,  from  which  the  stock  is  pumped  to  the  machines. 

The  process  of  making  paper  from  wood  begins  in  the 
forest,  w'here  the  trees  are  cut  and  carried  to  the  river  or 
railroad  for  transportation  to  the  mills.  In  the  ground-wood 
process,  •^he  trees  are  sawed  into  two-foot  lengths,  the  wood 
prepared,  or  cleaned,  by  barkers  and  made  ready  for  the 
grinders.  Fi'om  the  grinders,  it  is  pumped  to  the  wet  machine 
and  the  water  removed,  so  the  pulp  can  be  conveniently 
handled. 


138 


PTfOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


The  lir^t  stages  of  Jiaiulliug  wood  to  hv  choiiiically  trcatuil 
by  the  f^ulphite  process  arc  practically  the  same  as  in  making 
niechanical  pulp,  except  that  the  blocks  of  wood  are  chipped 
by  means  of  a  chipper  into  small  pieces,  carried  by  conveyere 
into  the  digesters,  where  the  process  of  cooking  by  STilphur- 
ous  acid  goes  on.  After  cooking,  the  pulp  is  blown  from  the 
digesters  under  pressure  and  comes  out  a  white  substance. 
From  the  digesters,  it  is  carried  to  the  wet  machines  and 
handled  the  same  as  in  the  ground-wood  process. 

In  making  newspaper  from  wood,  a  certain  percentage  of 
each  sulphite  fibre  and  ground  wood  pulp  is  furnished  in 
the  engines  iu  the  same  way  as  rags,  hut  the  engine  is  dif- 
ferently constructed  so  as  to  handle  the  stock  more  rapidly. 
It  is  then  emptied  into  the  stuff  chest  and  treated  in  the  same 
wav  as  rags.  So  rapid  is  this  process  that  it  is  practicable, 
under  favorable  conditions,  to  cut  down  a  tree  in  the  forest 
one  day  and  convert  it  into  paper  the  same  or  the  next  day. 

I  have  a  clipping  from  a  western  paper,  which  states  that 
an  experiment  was  made,  and  a  tree  cut  doAvn  and  converted 
into  paper  in  two  hours.  It  was  in  the  west,  and  we  do  not 
do  things  here  quite  so  rapidly  as  they  do  in  that  section 
of  the  country.     (Applause.) 

"Quick  Papee  Making. 

"Growing  Trees  Converted  Into  Paper  in  Less  Than  Two 

Hours. 

"People  whose  business  takes  them  to  the  stock  yards  de- 
light in  telling  how  rapidly  a  live  hog  is  converted  into 
bacon,  sausage  and  tooth  brushes,  but  the  most  improbable 
stories  they  tell  do  not  equal  the  exploit  of  the  employees  of 
a  paper  mill  not  far  from  Chicago,  says  an  exchange.  Quite 
recently  three  trees  standing  near  the  mill  were  felled  at 
7.35  a.  m.,  and  hurried  to  the  manufactory,  "where  they  were 
sawed  into  pieces  about  one  foot  long,  which  were  further 
decorticated  and  split.  They  were  then  conveyed  by  the 
elevator  to  five  deliberators  to  do  their  worst  with,  and  the 
wood  pulp  which  resulted  from  the  contact  of  the  chips  with 
the  defiberators  was  run  into  a  mat,  mixed  with  the  not 
altogether  harmless  but  necessary  chemicals  and  the  process 
was  finished.  The  liquid  pulp  was  sent  to  the  paper  ma- 
chine, which,  at  9.34,  turned  out  the  firsit  completed  sheet 
of  paper,  one  hour  and  fifty-nine  minutes  after  the  tree  was 
felled. 

"The  manufacturers,  accompanied  by  a  notary  public,  who 
timed  and  watched  the  work  throughout,  then  took  the  paper 
to  a  printing  establishment  two  miles  away  and  by  10  o'clock, 
or  in  two  hours  and  twenty-five  minutes,  the  trees  had  been 
converted  into  newspaper  ready  for  delivery." 

There  are  four  important  conditions  necessary  to  success 
in  making  paper  from  wood: — 

First,  abimdant  water  power;  second,  mechanical  skill; 
third,  advantageous  transportation  facilities  to  desirable  mar- 
kets; fourth,  an  abundant  supjily  of  raw  material. 

I  think  I  may  safely  claim,  that  tliese  four  conditions  are 
combined  on  this  continent  tnore  advantageously  than  in  any 
other  country  of  the  world. 

Various  kinds  of  wood  are  used  in  paper-making.  Spruce 
has  the  best  fibre.  The  quesition  which  is  agitating  the 
minds  of  those  interested  in  paper-making  is,  whether  there 
is  a  sufficient  amount  of  spruce  and  other  paixir-making 
wood  to  supply  the  demand  for  any  consideralilc  period  of 
time,  and  I  append  some  few  facts,  furnished  by  an  acknuwl- 
cdged  expert  on  fore.stry: 

"The  growth  of  .spruce  is  mainly  confined  to  Northern 
New  England,  the  Adirondacks,  a  limited  area  in  West  Vir- 
ginia, and  small  area.s  in  Nortliern  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and 
Minnesota. 


"iMaine  and  New  Ilampslnre  gi'uw  more  spruce  than  all 
the  balance  of  tlie  United  States. 

"Less  than  ten  States  out  of  forty-five  grow  any  spruce. 

"New  Hampshire  grows  more  spruce  to  the  acre  and  of 
better  quality  than  any  other  State,  averaging  8,000  to 
10,000  feet  saw  logs,  or  fourteen  to  eighteen  cords  pulp  wood 
per  acre. 

"Maine  has  the  largest  spruce  area  of  any  State,  though 
about  4,000,000  acres  in  the  basin  of  the  upper  St.  John 
River  are  not  available  to  railroad  pulp  mills  without  ex- 
pensive railway  development. 

"Large  pulp  wood  areas  are  to  be  found  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Androscoggin,  Kennebec  and  Penobscot. 

"Ea.st  of  the  Androscoggin  Valley,  Maine,  spruce  lands 
will  not  average  over  2,000  feet  spruce  saw  logs  to  the  acre, 
which  is  also  about  the  average  yield  of  the  Adirondack 
forest. 

"The  Androscoggin  Valley  yields  double  the  spruce  per 
acre  which  may  be  found  in  other  parts  of  Maine. 

"Vermont  has  but  a  comparatively  small  area  of  spruce 
lands,  lying  largely  on  the  slopes  of  the  Green  Mountains, 
and  cutting  but  a  small  figure  in  the  aggregate  supply. 

"The  mature  spruce  tree  is  150  to  250  years  old. 

"Modern  forestry  demands  the  cutting  of  the  large,  fully 
grown  trees  to  promote  the  more  rapid  growth  of  scores  of 
half  grown  trees  shaded  and  starved  by  the  older  specimens. 

"Thus,  when  you  cut  down  one  overgrown  tree,  which 
may  be  starving  twenty  half  grown  trees,  you  immediately 
start  into  life  and  growth  the  twenty  trees  which  have  not 
had  a  fair  chance. 

"For  spruce  to  reproduce  themselves,  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  trees  should  be  left  upon  each  acre  when  cutting 
pulp  wood  or  saw  logs. 

"The  besit  spruce  grows  in  rich  soil  on  hillsides  where  each 
tree  has  its  share  ol  sunshine,  light  and  moisture,  at  an  alti- 
tude of  800  to  1,500  feet  above  the  sea." 

Of  course,  there  are  almost  unlimited  tracts  of  spruce 
timber  to  be  found  in  Canada.  Some  authorities  are  of  the 
opinion  that  spruce  grows  as  rapidly  as  it  is  consumed,  but 
on  this  point  there  is  a  great  difference  of  opinion,  and  it  is 
certainly  very  desirable  that  more  care  should  be  used  in 
cutting  spruce  timber  and  judicious  legislative  action  taken  in 
the  States  where  it  grows,  for  its  preservation  and  continuance. 

To  the  several  friends  who  aided  me  in  preparing  this 
paper,  by  furnishing  information  and  facts,  I  desire  to  ex- 
press my  thanks.  I  am  especially  under  obligations  to  the 
editors  of  the  publications  of  the  Lockwood  Press,  and  to  the 
editors  of  the  journal  entitled  Paper. 

I  have  had  recourse  to  a  valuable  book  entitled  "Paper 
and  Paper-making,"  Joel  Munsell,  of  Albany,  being  the  au- 
thor and  publisher,  and  also  one  published  by  Matthias  Koops 
(to  which  I  have  made  previous  reference),  "who,  though 
dead,  yet  speaketh." 

//()/(.  Seih  Low: 

A  year  or  two  ago  a  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance,  when 
returning  from  Europe,  said  the  trouble  with  the  European 
nations  was,  from  his  point  of  view  as  a  mechanical  engineer, 
that  they  did  noit  know  junk  when  they  saw  it.  His  illus- 
tration was  rather  striking.  He  said  that  he  went  from 
London  to  Edinburgh  on  a  train  weighing  300  tons,  wliich 
was  dragged  liy  two  locomotives.  He  said  he  thought  of 
the  two  locomotives  and  two  engineeiis  and  two  firemen  to 
haul  a  train  weighing  (mly  300  tons — why,  he  said  that  those 
locomotives  would  jump  the  track,  if  they  would  know  it. 
I  thought  of  that  remark  when  listening  to  this  interesting 
jjajier  which  Mr.  Parsons  ha.s  just  read,  and  any  one  who 
listened  to  this  interesting  paper  of  Mr.  Parsons  must  have 
realized  how  important  it  would  be  for  any  ninnufacturer  1o 


ETOHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


139 


compete,  with  any  prospect  of  success,  ulicii  he  was  con- 
stantly contriving  his  machineiy  to  keep  pace  with  every 
invention.  That,  I  take  it,  is  one  of  the  greatest  lessons  to 
be  learned  in  the  manufacturing  industry,  and  perhaps  in 
all  business,  that  it  is  economy  to  keep  up  with  the  times. 

Our  universities  have  two  functions,  one  is  to  discover 
natural  laws,  to  discover  the  principles  which  underlie  in- 
vention, and  the  other  is  the  teaching  function.  I  can  illus- 
trate the  first  rather  happily,  in  this  way:  A  few  years  ago, 
during  the  Chicago  Exposition  in  1893,  when  Von  Helm- 
holtz,  the  great  Gennan  physicist,  was  in  this  country,  and 
when  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  the  inventor  of  the  telephone, 
heard  that  Von  Helmholtz  was  in  New  York,  he  came  all 
the  way  from  his  home  to  shake  him  by  the  hand,  as  he 
said  himself,  in  order  to  say  to  this  great  physicist  that  it 
was  his  investigation  of  the  laws  of  sound  which  had  made 
the  telephone  possible.  I  speak  of  that  in  order  to  point 
out,  that  investigation  of  invention  in  the  university,  while 
it  is  removed  one  step  or  two  or  three  from  the  application 
of  principles  to  industry  and  commerce,  is  nevertheless  vitally 
involved  in  the  subjects  which  are  before  this  Congress.  It 
is  the  teaching  function  which  is  more  closely  involved,  as  I. 
said  before;  and  where  will  we  iind  one  more  competent  to 
speak  on  the  educational  side  of  the  question  that  President 
Charles  W.  Eliot,  of  Harvard  University,  whom  I  now  have  the 
pleasure  of  presenting  to  you. 

President  Eliot: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  very  interest- 
ing papers  to  which  I  have  hstened,  must  have  satisfied  you 
all  that  we  as  a  nation  have  already  made  encouraging  prog- 
ress towards  successful  competition  in  the  markets  of  the 
world  for  our  manufacturing  products  as  well  as  for  our  own 
materials. 

The  problem  of  commercial  education  in  this  country  is 
the  problem  how  to  facilitate  further  progress  in  this  country. 

How  may  education  develop  the  power  of  the  American 
people  to  occupy  and  compete  successfully  in  the  markets  of 
the  whole  world?  One  answer  to  this  question  is  given  by 
the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum.  An  institution  prom- 
inent in  its  nature,  offering  admirable  facilities  for  instruct- 
ing the  people  in  the  needs  of  commerce  and  the  means  of 
promoting  it. 

Another  answer  is  by  this  Exposition  which  we  are  now 
attending. 

There  must  be  the  production  of  systematic  commercial 
education  in  its  higher  range,  I  think.  That  particular  sub- 
ject was  assigned  to  me  at  this  time. 

The  phrase  commercial  education  is  likely  to  remind  an 
American  of  the  commercial  course  in  a  high  school,  or  of 
the  fictitious  banks,  offices,  and  shops  of  the  private  school, 
called  a  commercial  college.  The  so-called  commercial 
course  in  an  American  high  school  is  almost  universally  a 
course  hopelessly  inferior  to  the  other  courses,  being  made 
up  by  substituting  bookkeeping,  stenography,  typewriting, 
and  commercial  arithmetic  for  some  of  the  language,  history, 
mathematics,  or  science  of  the  classical  or  English  scientiiic 
course.  This  course  exists  in  our  public  schools  because  it 
has  for  committeemen  and  parents  a  practical  sound.  It 
seems  as  if  the  child,  who  had  learned  a  little  about  these 
technical  subjects,  might  be  better  able  to  earn  its  living 
earlier  than  the  child  who  has  only  studied  languages,  historv, 
mathematics  and  science.  Eor  the  purposes  of  mental  train- 
ing, this  course  is  never  to  be  recommended,  and  it  is  rare 
that  the  slight  knowledge  of  these  arts  acquired  by  pupils 
in  the  public  schools  proves  to  be  of  much  use  to  them  in 
winning  a  livelihood.  The  so-called  commercial  schools  sup- 
plement for  many  young  people  a  defective  elementary  edu- 


cation, but  they  seldom  train  anybody  for  service  above  that 
of  a  clerk.  It  is  not  of  any  such  training  that  I  propose  to 
speak. 

I  ask  your  attention  for  a  few  moments  to  the  chief  features 
of  a  commercial  education  capable  of  preparing  men  and 
women  for  much  more  than  clerical  service  and  much  more 
than  narrow  retail  trading.  An  indispensable  element  in  the 
training  I  have  in  view  is  a  sound  secondary  education;  ihat 
is,  an  education  in  a  first-rate  school,  public,  endowed,  or 
private,  which  occupies  the  whole  school  time  of  the  pupil 
fom  tliirteen  or  fourteen  till  eighteen  years  of  age.  This 
secondary  education  should  include  the  modern  languages 
— an  essential  part  of  a  good  preparation  for  the  higher  walks 
of  business  life.  It  may  or  may  not  include  Latin,  or  Latin 
and  Greek.  Thus  the  German  non-classical  secondary  edu- 
cation is  a  very  substantial  preparation  for  business  life, 
although  it  includes  no  technical  subjects  whatever.  It  deals 
with  modern  languages,  including  the  native  tongue,  the 
elementary  mathematics,  history  and  science  both  pure  and 
applied.  For  international  commercial  life  in  English- 
speaking  countries,  a  good  knowledge  of  three  languages  be- 
sides English  is  desirable — namely,  French,  German  and 
Spanish.  A  reading  knowledge  of  the  languages  will  ordin- 
arily suffice  for  principals;  but  for  traveling  agents,  or  agents 
resident  abroad,  a  speaking  knowledge  of  at  least  two  of  these 
language  is  desirable.  This  knowledge  should  he  acquired 
at  the  secondary  school. 

Let  us  imagine  a  boy  equipped  at  eighteen  with  these 
broad  fundamental  acquisitions,  and  let  us  then  ask  our- 
selves what  additional  subjects  should  be  treated  in  an  upper 
commercial  school.  The  following  list  of  subjects  is  by  no 
means  complete,  but  may  serve  to  give  a  fair  idea  of  the 
diversity  and  difficulty  of  the  subjects  appropriate  to  superior 
commercial  education:  economics,  statistics,  banking,  cur- 
rency, exchange,  arbitrage,  insurance,  government  tariffs, 
transportation  by  land  and  water,  commercial  geography, 
climates,  ethnology,  commercial  products  by  region  and  by 
nationality  or  race,  consumption  by  region  and  by  race,  mari- 
time legislation,  blockage  rights,  neutrals'  rights,  commercial 
law,  industrial  combinations  of  capital,  labor  unions  and — if 
I  may  use  a  new  but  convenient  word — financing  new  under- 
takings. Some  of  these  subjects  are  already  taught  elaborately 
in  universities,  and  the  elements  and  general  principles  of  all 
of  them  can  be  taught  systematically  to  groups  of  pupils  and 
enforced  by  examples  and  problems  just  as  well  as  styles  in 
architecture,  rules  of  evidence  in  law,  or  the  diagnostic  value 
of  blood  examinations  in  medicine  are  now  taught  and  en- 
forced in  special  schools.  That  a  given  subject  has  practical 
applications,  and  it  to  be  really  mastered  only  by  much  prac- 
tice, is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  be  taught  systematically 
in  its  elements  by  teachers  skilled  in  expounding  principles 
and  guiding  practice. 

It  is  obvious  from  the  mere  enumeration  of  these  subjects 
that  no  young  man  could  master  any  large  proportion  of  the 
list  in  two  or  three  years,  which  might  wisely  be  allotted  to 
such  studies.  A  system  of  choice  among  these  studies  would 
therefore  have  to  prevail  in  any  well-conducted  commercial 
school.  The  variety  of  business  occupations  in  the  modem 
world  is  immense,  some  of  them  being  very  broad,  and  others 
very  narrow,  and  for  these  various  occupations  widely  differ- 
ent bodies  of  informaition  or  knowledge  are  needed.  We  can 
classify  these  occupations,  and  say  that  some  of  them  are 
trade,  others  are  manufacturing  and  others  are  transporta- 
tion; but  there  are  many  business  occupations  which  are  con- 
cerned with  all  these  three  gi-oups,  or  with  portions  of 
them.  The  youth  who  enters  the  upper  commercial  school 
knowing  what  the  business  is  which  he  is  subsequently  to 
pursue  would  have  sure  guidance  in  the  selection  of  his 
studies:  the  vouth  who  had  no  such  knowledge  would  do  well 


140 


PEOCEEDKCGS  OP  THE  INTEENATIONAL  COMMEECIAL  CONGRESS 


to  acquaint  liimself  with  the  general  principles  of  the  most 
tuudameutcil  subjects. 

For  wliat  classes  of  persons  would  such  a  training,  extend- 
iu"-  oii  the  average  through  the  twenty-first  year,  be  appro- 
priate and '  desii'able  ?  Let  me  first  exclude  two  classes  of 
young  men.  An  elaborate  training  of  this  deseriptiou  is 
not  necessary  for  men  whose  occupation  through  life  is  to  be 
purely  clerical.  Eor  that  class  the  investment  of  time  and 
money  would  be  unreasonably  large.  Neither  would  it  be 
the  best  course  for  the  sons  of  men  who  are  carrying  vn  a 
well-established  business,  and  are  able  to  introduce  their  sous 
into  their  already  organized  business,  and  push  them  up 
rapidly  through  all  its  grades.  For  a  specific  busiuess, 
selected  l>eforehand  and  entered  upon  with  sure  prospect  of 
rapid  advancement,  tlie  best  training  is  to  work  up  through 
all  the  grades  or  departments  of  that  particular  business. 
But  it  is  only  exceptional  youths  who  have  such  oppor- 
timities  of  acquainting  themselves  thoroughly  with  the  de- 
tails of  a  complicated  business  which  later  they  are  to  direct. 
The  thousands  who  every  year  come  forward  into  business 
life  have  no  access  to  a  family  business,  but  must  take  their 
chances  of  employment  and  advancement  in  whatever  com- 
mercial occupation  may  become  accessible  to  them.  To  what 
business  careers,  then,  might  young  men  carefully  trained  in 
an  upper  commercial  school,  parallel  with  a  college  or  scien- 
tific school,  look  forward  with  confidence?  For  what  careers 
higher  than  that  of  a  clerk  might  they  be  trained?  Eemem- 
Jx>ring  that  such  a  school  would  not  provide  one  uniform 
curriculum  for  all  its  pupils,  but  permit  selection  of  studies 
among  a  great  number  of  important  subjects,  we  may  confi- 
dently enumerate  the  occupations  of  the  following  classes  of 
persons  as  appropriate  to  young  men  so  trained:  Consuls,  or 
government  agents  in  foreign  parts,  actuaries,  public  account- 
ants and  auditor.*,  managers  of  departments  in  a  large  busi- 
ness, buyers  abroad  for  home  use,  and  sellers  of  home  pro- 
ducts in  foreign  parts,  state,  city  and  corporation  officials  in 
great  variety,  merchants  engaged  in  international  trade, 
junior  officials  in  banks  and  insurance  companies,  and  in 
transportation  companies  by  sea  and  by  land.  In  all  these 
eases  the  instruction  received  at  the  commercial  school  would 
have  to  be  supplemented  by  practical  experience  in  an  actual 
industry,  office  or  trade;  but  this  sul)sequent  requirement 
would  not  be  at  all  peculiar  to  this  school.  No  school  of  en- 
gineering, or  of  applied  chemistry  or  physics,  nowadays  un- 
dertakes to  turn  out  students  fit  at  graduation  for  responsible 
posts.  They  simply  graduate  young  men  well  fitted  to  enter 
upon  the  novitiates  of  these  several  professions,  well  fitted, 
that  is,  to  begin  to  learn  rapidly  and  well  the  practical  details 
of  an  actual  busiuess  in  these  several  departments.  That  is 
precisely  what  might  reasonably  be  expected  of  an  upper  com- 
mercial school — that  its  graduates  should  be  fitted  to  loam 
rapidly  and  well  the  practical  details  of  any  mercantile  pursuit 
in. which  they  might  engage. 

It  would  not  be  the  avowed  object  of  such  a  school  to  train 
heads  of  great  houses  or  of  great  corporations,  although  i( 
might  easily  happen  that  such  persons  might  later  be  found 
among  those  who  had  received  its  training.  The  qualities 
which  make  captains  of  industry  or  of  commerce  are  in  large 
Tneasuie  natural  gifts.  Such  leaders  must  possess  extraordi- 
narj'  energy,  good  judgment,  insight  in  choosing  subordin<;tes, 
vivid  imagination,  and  firm,  upright  characler;  and  if  I  were 
asked  what  education  would  he  best  for  a  young  man  known 
to  possess  these  gifts  and  destined  for  commercial  life,  I 
should  .say,  give  him  the  best  attainable  college  education  and 
tlien  let  him  travel.  In  attempting  to  estimate  the  value  of  an 
upjjcr  commercial  school  we  should  not,  however,  have  such 
persons  as  these  in  mind,  for  tliey  are  highly  exceptional.  An 
upper  commercial  school  should  serve  young  men  of  fair  parts 
by  the  hundred  and  the  thousand.    Nevertheless,  we  shall  do 


well  to  recognize  the  fact  that  international  trade,  and  indeed, 
domestic  trade  also,  is  becoming  more  and  more  complex, 
competition  is  growing  keener,  the  percentage  of  profits 
smaller,  the  transactions  larger,  and  the  decisions  of  the  prin- 
cipal necessarily  quicker.  The  successful  merchant  has  to 
know  more  to-day  than  he  ever  did  before,  and  he  has  to  be 
more  alert  and  more  inventive.  Hence  his  preliminai-j'  train- 
ing should  be  both  more  ample  and  more  a]ipropriate  than  it 
has  been  in  the  past. 

I  may  illustrate  the  various  classes  of  young  men  to  whom 
an  U])per  commercial  school  could  be  useful  by  stating  briefly 
some  of  the  uses  of  foreign  languages  in  biisiness.  And, 
first,  to  buyers.  The  conditions  of  many  industries  and  trades 
have  now  become  international.  The  raw  materials  of  an 
industry  of  commerce  may  come  from  various  parts  of  the 
globe  in  different  qualities;  and  he  is  the  best  buyer  who  gets 
his  material  at  the  e.xact  spot  where  it  is  best  produced,  or 
procures  the  cultivation  in  many  places  of  that  best  plant  or 
best  animal  which  has  heretofore  i>een  developed  only  in  one 
place.  The  best  cotton  for  a  given  fabric  must  be  either 
bought  in  the  one  district  where  it  is  raised,  or  the  cotton 
plants  of  this  district  must  be  spread  throughout  other  cot- 
ton-growing countries.  If  China  has  a  better  tea  plant  than 
Ceylon,  tea  mu.st  be  bought  in  China,  or  the  better  tea  plant 
must  be  transferred  to  Ceylon.  A  chocolate  industry  estab- 
lishment in  Boston  must  seek  its  cocoa  wherever  cocoa  best 
gi'ows,  and  must  be  always  inquiring  in  what  other  parts  of 
the  world  cocoa  can  be  well  produced.  This  means  that  good 
buyers  for  great  interests  must  often  be  polyglot  men.  As 
for  the  drummers  or  runners  who  solicit  business,  it  is  obvi- 
ous that  they  need  to  speak  the  language  of  the  people  with 
whom  they  would  trade  and  among  whom  they  must  study 
on  the  spot  the  existing  commercial  conditions.  The  man- 
agers of  great  international  industries  need  to  be  able  to  study 
foreign  trade  conditions  in  foreign  newspapers  and  books, 
to  understand  the  eonunercial  intelligence  in  a  foreign  paper, 
besides  knowing  all  the  complications  of  local  currencies, 
weights  and  measures.  Year  by  year,  as  ocean  carriages  be- 
come securer  and  quicker,  and  as  business  is  done  more  and 
more  all  over  the  world  by  telegi'aph  and  telephone,  the 
individual  merchant's  needs  of  overcoming  the  obstruction 
to  comnuu'ce  caused  l^y  the  variety  of  languages  spoken  and 
written  in  the  business  world  becomes  more  and  more  press- 
ing. We  Americans  are  at  a  great  disadvantage  in  learning 
foreign  languages.  We  cannot  pass,  like  Dutch  or  Belgian 
boys,  in  a  few  hours  to  a  nation  speaking  French,  or  Ger- 
man, or  English.  We  have  to  learn  the  modern  languages 
by  main  force,  as  it  were,  without  the  advantage  of  immersing 
ourselves  on  occasicm  in  the  foreign  speech. 

Time  does  not  permit  me  to  dwell  upon  the  specific  prepa- 
ration that  might  be  obtained  in  an  upper  commercial  school 
for  a  variety  of  interesting  callings.  I  can  only  mention  two 
callings  for  which  very  definite  preparation  might  be  made 
in  such  a  school.  The  first  is  the  calling  of  correspondent, 
traveling  or  stationary,  for  the  commercial  press.  This  func- 
tion of  the  press,  in  maintaining  fresh  correspondence  with 
all  parts  of  the  commercial  world,  is  becoming  more  and  more 
important  as  international  trade  spreads  and  fructifies,  and 
it  is  obvious  that  this  function,  if  it  is  to  be  well  discharged, 
implies  in  the  coTTespondent  discrimination,  insight,  lingu- 
istic skill  and  a  thorough  understanding  of  commercial  con- 
ditions. The  other  calling  I  wish  to  mention  is  the  service 
of  governnu'ut  as  consuls,  or  of  intelligence  de])artments  con- 
ducted by  trade  organizations.  AVo  have  so  long  regarded 
consulships  as  mere  political  prizes  that  we  have  lost  sight 
of  their  real  function  as  commercial  agencies.  If  this  country 
is  to  enter  seriously  into  competition  for  international  trade 
tlie  world  over,  the  very  first  administrative  reform  needed 
in  our  government  is  the  conversion  of  consulships  into  com- 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  20,  1899 


141 


mercial  intelligence  bnreans.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  the 
men  who  are  to  discharge  this  function  should  have  a  first- 
rate  training  in  several  of  the  subjects  which  I  have  enumer- 
ated as  appropiiate  to  an  upper  commercial  school.  A  gov- 
ernment school  for  consuls  would  be  just  as  legitimate  as  a 
government  school  for  the  anny  or  the  navy,  and  would  be 
hkely  to  lead  to  correspondingly  good  results.  Such  a  school, 
however,  would  imply  a  life  career  for  its  graduates  as  do  West 
Point  and  Annapolis. 

An  upper  commercial  school  should  possess  the  means  of 
keeping  its  knowledge  of  commercial  conditions  absolutely 
fresh.  N"o  salted  provisions  or  canned  goods  would  be  useful 
in  its  larder.  Its  teachers  would  have  to  live  at  a  commercial 
centre,  and  breathe  every  day  a  wholesome  commercial  atmos- 
phere. Boards  of  trade' woiild  be  better  supervisors  for  such 
a  school  than  any  bureau  of  education.  Men  actively  en- 
gaged in  foreign  commerce  ought  to  oversee  it.  I  can  hear 
the  objection  of  the  old-fashioned  merchant  to  this  whole 
prospect  of  a  commercial  school  .  He  is  saying,  "Business 
cannot  be  learnt  in  a  school;  it  must  be  learnt  in  a  counting- 
room  or  a  real  shop."  He  is  saying,  "The  only  way  to  bring 
up  a  boy  for  business  is  to  set  him  to  sweeping  thfe  office  and 
running  errands."  In  answer,  I  can  only  say  that  I  believe 
commerce  and  industry  in  their  higher  ranges  to  be  eminently 
intellectual  pursuits,  and  that  I  know  no  other  intellectual 
calling  for  which  a  professional  school  is  not  now  provided. 
It  used  to  be  the  fashion  to  study  medicine,  by  cleaning  the 
doctor's  horse  and  buggy,  grinding  his  drugs,  and  driving 
round  with  him  to  make  his  calls,  and  to  study  law,  by  copy- 
ing deeds  and  briefs  in  a  la^vyers  office  and  reading  books 
taken  from  the  lawyer's  library  in  the  intervals  of  clerical 
labor;  but  the  world  ha.s  now  learned  that  there  are  better 
ways  of  studying  medicine  or  law,  namely,  by  going  to  a  profes- 
sional school,  where  progressive  systematic  instruction  rapidly 
developed  is  to  be  had.  The  intending  physician  or  lawyer 
who  does  not  go  to  a  medical  school  ot  a  law  school  condemns 
himself  nowadays  to  hopeless  inferiority,  even  if  he  ultimately 
gets  into  his  chosen  profession. 

To  deny  that  young  men  may  be  systematically  trained 
for  industry  and  commerce  is  to  assert  that  industry  and 
commerce  are  merely  imitative  ai-ts,  to  be  acquired  only  by 
seeing  other  people  do  the  tricks  and  then  practicing  them. 
The  gypsy  in  Asia  Minor  makes  iron  nails  one  at  a  time  with 
a  hammer  on  an  anvil,  just  as  his  ancestors  did  before  him 
for  hundreds  of  years.  I  have  seen  him  doing  it;  but  I  also 
observed  that  his  small  children  were  stark  naked  and  that 
his  larger  ones  had  only  one  garment.  In  short,  he  was  not 
making  much  of  a  living.  Moreover,  not  one-thousandth 
part  of  the  nails  we  use  in  this  country  could  possibly  be 
made  in  that  way.  In  industry  and  commerce  all  things  are 
becoming  new  and  new  methods  of  preparing  young  men  for 
these  occupations  must  be  invented  with  discriminating  fore- 
sight, established  with  prudence,  and  maintained  with 
liberality. 

BIr.  Seth  Low: 

I  have  the  privilege  of  calling  upon  two  or  three  gentle- 
men to  discuss  this  subject  upon  which  you  have  heard  the 
paper.  I  believe  that  the  rule  is  that  the  speakers  are  limited 
to  five  minutes.  I  have  the  pleasure  now  of  calling  first  upon 
Dr.  S.  M.  Lindsay,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Dr.  S.  M.  Lindsay: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  think  perhaps  it 
is  only  fair  to  say  that  in  accepting  the  invitation  to  the  Con- 
gress to  discuss  this  subject,  I  had  prepared  what  I  have  to 
say  without  any  knowledge  of  the  contents  of  the  excellent 
address  to  which  we  have  just  listened. 


The  Liberal  Ctjltuee  Element  in  Commercial 
Education. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen;  The  adjustment  of 
educational  facilities  to  the  needs  of  a  progressive  people  and 
to  the  increasingly  complex  character  of  a  democracy 
is  an  intricate  and  delicate  problem.  Assembled  as  we  are 
to-day  in  this  splendid  gathering  of  representatives  of  the 
commerce  of  the  world,  I  take  it  that  the  proposition  needs 
no  demonstration  that  there  is  a  crying  and  present  need 
everywhere  for  the  broadest  and  best  education  that  can 
be  specially  adapted  to  the  special  need  of  the  business  man. 
So  many  of  the  addresses  to  which  you  have  listened  were 
characterized  by  a  breadth  of  view,  a  largeness  of  purpose 
and  a  reaching  out  after  plans  of  commercial  activity  of 
world-wide  scope,  that  I  am  sure  that  you  will  welcome  all 
efEorts  to  train  up  men  equal  to  these  things.  Wien  we  stop 
to  think  that  in  our  countiy,  it  is  not  a  titled  nobility  nor  a 
small  leisured  and  cultured  class  that  controls  our  govern- 
ments, forms  public  opinion,  rules  in  school,  college  and 
church;  but  that  it  is  the  banker,  the  merchant,  the  indus- 
trial magnate,  the  business  man  and  man  of  affairs  who 
really  exercises  the  supreme  power  in  government,  in  the 
formation  of  public  opinion,  yea,  even  in  school,  college  and 
church,  we  realize  how  important  the  question  is:  How  are 
such  men  educated?  Are  they  broad-minded,  liberal,  keen 
to  recognize  the  far-reaching  consequences  of  their  acts,  pub- 
lic spirited,  and  filled  with  high  ideals  concerning  their  voca- 
tion and  calling? 

Commercial  education,  of  course,  appeals  primarily  only 
to  one  class  in  the  community.  Notwithstanding  its  import- 
ance, therefore,  no  appeal  for  higher  commercial  education 
should  mean  the  closing  of  doors  now  ojjen  for  intellectual 
equipment  in  other  directions,  but  rather  the  opening  of  new 
doors.  The  true  educational  system  in  a  democracy  must 
provide  for  the  specific  wants  of  all  classes.  It  is  certainly 
one  of  the  most  pressing  problems  of  higher  education  at 
present  in  this  country  how  far  this  may  be  done.  How  can 
we  open  up  new  subjects  and  regroup  old  ones  in  the  pre- 
scribed studies  of  the  high  schooX  college  and  university  to 
meet  the  specific  needs  of  definite  gi-oups  of  students  with  more 
or  less  well-defined  aims  so  far  as  their  careers  in  life  are  con- 
cerned? The  high  school,  college  and  university  have  until 
very  recently  catered  almost  exclusively  to  the  wants  of  a 
few  classes  in  the  community;  namely,  for  groups  of  students 
in  training  for  one  of  the  liberal  professions  and  for  no  others. 
How  many  young  men  with  natural  bent  and  special  endow- 
ments' for  a  business  career  in  which  they  might  have  suc- 
ceeded admirably  have  been  turned  a.side  by  the  influences  of 
a  college  course  into  one  of  the  professions  in  which  they 
have  miserably  failed,  none  can  compute  statistically,  but 
the  number  is  doubtless  a  large  one.  If  our  colleges  offered 
suitable  training  for  the  development  of  the  natural  tenden- 
cies of  the  future  business  man,  not  only  might  many  of 
these  WTCcks  in  professional  life  be  avoided,  but  thousands 
who  now  leave  the  school  at  an  early  age  to  go  into  Uie 
office  or  shop  might  be  kept  for  years  under  the  refining 
infiuences  of  a  liberal  education. 

This  brings  me  to  my  main  proposition.  It  has  to  do  with 
the  question  of  who  shall  provide  the  training  that  is  both  a 
part  of  liberal  culture  and  specifically  adapted  to  the  natural 
inclinations,  qualifications  and  aims  of  him  who  is  destined 
for  a  career  in  the  marts  of  the  world  and  is  at  the  same 
time  "to  the  manor  born."  Special  schools,  from  the  busi- 
ness college  so  called,  w'hich  teaches  arithmetic,  penmanship, 
bookkeeping,  type^^Titing  and  stenography  to  the  highly 
specialized  schools  of  commerce,  are  all  performing  perhaps 
useful  serrice  and  have  their  place,  but  they  do  not  meet  the 
supreme  need.     Only  the  special  school  that  is  in  vital  con- 


142 


PKUCEEDINGS  OF  TllE  LXTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


tact  with  the  larger  equipment  of  a  modern  college  or  uni- 
versity and  is  drawing  constantly  from  its  life  and  spirit, 
partaking  of  its  ideal,  breathing  its  atmosphere,  and  sharing 
iu  its  intellectual  riches,  traditions,  aspirations  and  power, 
can  provide  the  best  kind  of  special  training  for  business  men, 
training  that  promises  to  make  men  first,  and  then  lay  the 
foundations  for  expert  and  technical  knowledge  afterwards, 
lictter  still,  if  the  special  school  for  this  purpose  is  an  inte- 
gi-al  department  of  the  college,  which  implies  that  my  propo- 
sition would  then  mean  that  such  a  department  should  have 
its  counterpart  in  the  preparatory  school  and  high  school, 
in  order  that  the  student  entering  college  could  carry  on  the 
studies  of  this  special  department  in  quite  as  advanced  a 
stage  as  the  studies  in  the  other  departments  of  the  college. 
It  would  mean  also  that  such  special  department  should  be 
a  special  department  of  the  university  as  well,  and  offer  facili- 
ties for  graduate  insti-uction  to  enable  one  to  carry  such 
studies  to  a  high  degree  of  specialization.  Until  some  such 
ideal  is  realized  on  a  larger  scale  than  at  present,  those  truly 
interested  in  higher  commercial  education  must  feel  that  the 
business  man  is  being  legislated  against  and  is  not  offered, 
in  our  educational  system,  opportunities  for  culture  com- 
mensurate with  those  enjoyed  by  the  professional  classes  in 
the  community. 

What  group  of    subjects  then  may  properly  constitute,  in 
a  modern  college,  a  special  department  of  the  character  in- 
dicated?   It  is  well  to  remind  ourselves  that  the  college  and 
university  stand  primarily  for  culture,  that  certain  subjects 
have  been  proven  by  experience  to  have  a  high  culture  value. 
Moreover,   certain   subjects,   by  reason  of  the  rigid   college 
course  of  the  past,  are  better  taught  than  newer  subjects.    It  is 
easier  to  find  good  text  hooks,  to  get  the  results  of  a_  larger 
teaching  experience,  embodied    in    the    average    individual 
teacher  in  many  of  the  older  subjects  represented  in  the  col- 
lege curriculum,  than  it  is  in  the  newer  ones  or  in  those 
clamoring  for  admission.     These  are  weighty  considerations, 
yet  the  special  training  demanded  for  the  business  man  re- 
quires, I  take  it,  the  introduction  of  many  new    subjects. 
Economy  of  time  and,  in  fact,  the  physical  possibilities  of 
the  case  make  necessary  some  sirbstitution  of  new  subjects 
in  the  place  of  old  and  tried  ones.     We  must  therefore  sec 
to  it  that  the  new  course  of  study,  whether  required  or  elec- 
tive, offers  ample  representation  of  courses  that  are  primarily 
cultural  as  well  as  those  which  are  primarily  technical  and 
practical,  or  are  chiefly  what  has  been  termed  "information 
studies."     The  cultural  studies  will  be  those  which  furnish 
the  best  training  in.  correct  reasoning,   which   develop   the 
critical  faculties,  enlarge  the  powers  of  observation,  broaden 
the  sympathies  and  require  intellectual  exertion  to  grasp  and 
ma.ster  their  fundamental   truths.     For  the   special   depart- 
ment for  which  I  am  pleading,  such  studies  would  consist 
of  courses,  first  of  all,  in  economics,  considered  as  pure  theory, 
u'hich  opens  up  some  of  the  most  fundamental,  complex  and 
subtle  problems  underlying  all  human  conduct;  (2)  sociology, 
considered  as  social  ethics,  the  history  of  social  evolution  and 
the  principles  of  social   organization  and   control;   and    (3) 
political  science,  comprising  a  study  of  the  principles  of  gov- 
ernment and  an  analysis  of  the  fundamental  concepts  of  in- 
teniational  and  public  law.     Certainly  these  three  disciplines 
offer  amj)lo  op[)ortunity,  in  varying  flegreos,  for  the  dcvcloji- 
ment  of  logical  power  and  mental  discipline  while  at  the  same 
time  opening  up  a  wide  range  of  phenomena  which  the  coni- 
mercial  man  aiul  th^  intelligent  citizen  must  sooner  or  later 
face  in  their  sterner  realities.     On  the  technical   side,  and 
concerning  the  infonuation  studies,  I  need  only  say  briefly 
that  a  special  department  of  the  college,  designed  for  com- 
mercial educatiiin,  jnust  needs  offer  a  wide  range  of  courses 
in    ])oliti(al   economy   in   the  narrow  sense   in   business  and 
coniniorcia)  law,  in  money,  trade  and  banking,  in  the  ihcoi-y 


and  practice  of  international  exchanges,  in  economic,  physi- 
cal and  commercial    geography,   in  transportation,   finance, 
accounting,  in  English  and  modem  foreign    languages,   in 
general,  industrial  and  economic  history,  etc.,  etc.     It  is  the 
combination  of  these  two  groups  of  subjects,  theoretical  and 
practical,  which,   I   believe,   constitutes  liberal    culture   for 
one  who  will  pursue  them  for  four  years  under  the  direc- 
tion and  regulation   of  a   college   faculty  and   according  to 
college  methods  of    work,  presupposing,  of  course,  adequate 
preparation  to  begin  most  of  them  in  the  college  on  a  some- 
what advanced  plane  from  the  start.    It  is  this,  I  say,  which 
makes  a  trae  and  liberal  college  education  specifically  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  one   who  is  to  enter  commercial  pursuits. 
Such  a  course  of  study  will  not  turn  out  ready-made  mer- 
chants nor  full-fledged  bankers,  industrial  kings  and  public 
men,  but  it  will  lay  broad  foundations  in  these  particular 
directions.     It  should  not  be  supposed  that  such  a  couree  was 
an  equivalent  for  the  actual  experience  of  business  life,  but  it 
should  enable    one   and,  in  fact,  such  training   has    enabled 
many  men  to  get  subsequently  business  experience  on  less 
costly  terms  than  the  boy  who  leaves  the  elementary  school 
for  the  counting-house,  and  with  vastly  greater  final  results. 
I  should  scarcely  venture  to  speak  with  so  much  boldness 
if  I  were  discussing  a  purely  abstract  proposition  in  educa- 
tional reform.     It  has  been  my  good  fortune,  however,  dur- 
ing the  past  fifteen  years  to  be  connected  both  as  student  and 
instructor  with  such  a  special  school,  which  has,  in  a  meas- 
ure, carried  out  in  its  eighteen  years  of  existence  many  of  the 
plans  and  aims  about  which  I  have  spoken.     I  refer  to  the 
Wliarton  School  of   Finance  and  Economy,  founded  by  Jos- 
eph Wharton,  one  of   Philadelphia's   leading   business   men. 
The  Wharton  School  is  an  integi-al  part  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  whose  grounds  adjoin  those  of  this  Exposition. 
I  do  not  know  that  I  can  make  any  better  contribution  to  this 
discussion  than  to  give  a  very  brief  description  of  the  courses 
offered  in  the  Wharton    School  and  a  few  facts  concerning 
its  history.     The  objects  of  the  foundation  is  to  give  young 
men  a  collegiate  training  which  will  fit  them  for  good  citizen- 
ship and  practical  business  life.     The  course  covers  four  years 
and  leads  to  the  degree  of  B.  S.  in  economics.     For  the  full 
regular  course  the  studies  are  prescribed  in  the  first  and  sec- 
ond year,  partially  elective  in  the  third  year  and  almost  wholly 
elective  in  the  fourth  year,  thus  permitting  of  considerable 
specialization  looking  toward  special  careers  in  law,  banking, 
journalism,  the  public  service,  business,  railway  service  and 
commerce. 

In  addition  to  the  regular  four  years'  course,  two  special 
courses  have  been  established — a  two  years'  course,  including 
the  studies  of  junior  and  senior  year,  and  a  three  yeai-s'  course, 
including  the  studies  of  sophomore,  junior  and  senior  years. 
Students  completing  these  courses  receive  a  certificate  of  pro- 
ficiency. 

Students  who,  for  good  reasons,  can  take  neither  a  regular 
nor  a  special  course  may  be  admitted  to  a  partial  course  if 
they  give  satisfactory  evidence  of  fitness  for  the  studies  which 
they  wish  to  pursue. 

The  plan  of  instraction  embraces  recitations,  lectures  and 
the  preparation  of  papers.  The  endeavor  is  made  to  ti-ain 
t;he  students  to  think  independently  on  the  topics  that  form 
the  subjects  of  instruction.  An  earnest  effort  is  made  to 
exclude  all  dogmatism  in  political  or  economic  teaching,  to 
present  fairly  all  aspects  of  disputed  ([uestions.  and  to  put 
the  students  in  a  position  to  form  intelligently  their  own 
opinions.  To  heighten  the  interest  of  students  at  present  in 
political  and  economic  problems,  lectures  are  given  at  inter- 
vals by  men  prominent  in  public  life. 

Original  research  by  the  students,  imdci  llie  dircciion  of 
the  professors,  is  a  part  of  the  work  of  tiie  school.     The  re- 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSIOX,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


143 


suits  of  some  of  this  investigation  have  been  published  as 
follows: 

"The  Recent  Development  of  American  Iiidustries,"  by  the 
Class  of  '91,  pp.  111. 

"The  City  Government  of  Philadelphia,"  bv  the  Class  of 
'93,  pp.  278. 

Now  let  me  summarize  most  briefly  what  I  shall  .submit  in 
greater  detail  as  an  appendix,  for  insertion,  if  you  please,  in 
your  printed  proceedings;  namely,  some  account  of  the  ac- 
tual subjects  studied  in  this  four-year  course.  In  the  first 
year,  two  hours  per  week  throughout  the  year  are  devoted 
to  English  composition,  two  to  physical  and  economical  geog- 
raphy, two  to  Roman  history,  two  to  constitutional  law,  three 
to  German,  three  to  accounting,  two  to  mathematics  or  four 
to  chemistry,  and  one  to  P^nglish  language  and  one  to  jour- 
nalism. In  the  second  year,  we  have  two  to  English  litera- 
ture, two  to  practical  finance  and  foreign  exchange,  two  to 
theory  and  geography  of  commerce,  two  to  political  economy, 
two  to  joitrnalism,  three  each  to  Gennan  and  European  his- 
tory, and  one  each  to  business  law,  legislative  procedure  and 
public  speaking.  In  the  third  year,  two  hours  each  are 
required  in  logic  and  ethics,  English  literature,,  economics, 
sociology  and  modern  legislative  problems,  and  then  the  stu- 
dent must  elect  four  of  the  following  two-hour  courses: 
American  history,  English  constitutional  history,  elemcntaiy 
common  law,  Roman  law,  banking,  statistics,  journalism  and 
sociology.  In  the  fourth  year,  three  two-hour  courses  are 
required;  namely,  in  European  history,  finance  and  public 
administration,  and  the  student  is  required  to  make  a  total 
of  sixteen  hours  per  week  from  electives  in  advanced  econo- 
mics, sociology',  American  history,  monetary  history,  trans- 
portaition,  commerce  and  commercial  relations,  political  sci- 
ence, international  law,  municipal  government,  English  legal 
institutions,  court  decisions  on  the  Federal  Constitution,  and 
journalism. 

From  this  you  can  readily  see  the  way  in  which  we  have 
tried  to  combine  the  theoretical  and  practical  elements  in 
what  we  claim  constitutes  a  liberal  cotirse  of  study.  I  wish 
I  could  describe  some  of  these  courses  and  give  you  a  clearer 
idea  of  their  context  and  the  sort  of  training  they  furnish, 
but  time  forbids.  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  referring  to 
this  particular  practical  experiment  rather  than  to  similar 
schools  and  departments  in  other  colleges,  because  I  know 
more  about  this  one,  and  also  because  I  have  been  asked  many 
questions  by  the  delegates  to  this  Congress  about  the  Wharton 
School  of  Finance  and  Economy.  Inasmuch  as  many  of  you 
have  visited  or  will  visit  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  before 
you  leave  the  city,  there  seems  to  be  additional  appropriate- 
ness in  referring  to  that  department  in  which  you  are  likely 
to  be  most  interested.  The  Wharton  School  was  the  pioneer 
in  this  tj'pe  of  education  in  this  counti-y  and  it  has  had  many 
imitators.  Excellent  department?  similarly  constnicted  now 
exist  in  many  of  our  large  colleges  and  universaties.  We 
have  at  the  present  moment  about  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  students  in  the  Wliarton  School.  With  a  somewhat  larger 
equipment,  which  will  enable  us  to  offer  additional  groups 
of  subjects,  groujjs  made  up  on  the  cultural  side  of  the  same 
fundamental  studies,  but  on  the  practical  side  of  additional 
special  studies  appealing  to  the  interests  of  still  other  phases 
of  business  and  commercial  life,  we  might  have,  in  a  large 
city  like  Philadelphia,  several  times  that  number  of  students.' 
We  are  not  discouraged  by  the  results  of  our  educational  ex- 
periment. We  have  now  in  public  life  in  several  departments 
of  government  service,  at  the  bar  and  in  important  positions 
in  business,  in  banking,  in  financial  and  commercial  institu- 
tions and  in  positions  of  power  and  influence,  in  practical 
journalism,  many  worthy  representatives  of  the  Wharton 
School  who  are  more  than  sufficient  encouragement  to  go 
forward.    T  want  to  say,  however,  that  in  the  last  analysis  it 


rests  with  the  representatives  of  business  and  commerce,  such 
as  are  gathered  together  in  tliis  Congress,  it  rests  with  you 
who  really  control  public  opinion,  to  say  how  much  you  want 
the  colleges  and  higher  schools  of  the  country  to  do  for  higher 
commercial  education.  This  Congress  seems  to  me  to  be  a 
sign  of  the  times,  and  an  indication  of  an  aroused  public 
interest  in  the  importance  and  \vide  possibilities,  and  signifi- 
cance of  commercial  pursuits.  It  can  scarcely  result  in  less 
than  an  increased  demand  on  your  part  and  on  that  of  the 
classes  you  represent  for  suitable  preparation  of  the  youth  of 
the  land  to  enter  into  your  labors. 

College  education  can  never  again  be  of  one  single  type. 
It  must  appeal  to  all  classes  and  develop  all  manner  of  talents. 
To  quote  a  sentence  from  the  distinguished  authority  on 
American  education  to  whom  we  have  listened  this  morning; 
President  Eliot  has  said,  that  "a  high  school  or  academy  with 
a  single  limited  progi'am,  or  a  college  with  a  uniform  pres- 
cribed curriculum, nixist  suppress  individual  differencesinstead 
of  developing  them,  and  must  leave  individual  capacities  un- 
discovered and  untrained,  thus  robbing  the  individual  of 
happiness  and  serviceableness,  and  society  of  the  fruits  it 
might  have  enjoyed  from  the  special  endowments  of  thous- 
ands of  its  members,"  Higher  commercial  education  of  any 
sort  must  mean  the  utilization  of  much  material  that  now  goes 
to  waste  to  the  permanent  enricliment  of  democratic  society 
and  to  the  increased  happiness  and  usefulness  of  many  indi- 
viduals. If  we  see  to  it  that  higher  commercial  education  in 
this  country  is  provided  on  a  plane  that  will  make  it  liberal 
culture  on  a  par  with  the  liberal  culture  of  the  old-fashioned 
college,  as  well  as  a  training  in  the  mere  facilities  of  routine 
business,  then  we  shall  have  at  the  strongest  centres  of 
influence  broad-minded  men,  liberal  and  charitable  men, 
public-spirited  men,  and,  most  important  of  all,  men,  those 
who  are  men;  first,  devoted  to  the  ideals  of  lofty  democratic 
citizenship,  and,  secondly,  able  merchants,  bankers  and 
leaders  in  all  manner  of  commerce  and  trade. 


Appendix, 

Description  of  a  Practical  Experiment  in  Higher 
Commercial  Education  at  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Philadelphia,  U.  S.  A. 

The  Courses  in  Finance  and  Economy. 

Wharton  School. 

The  AYhai-ton  School:  The  Wharton  School  of  Finance  and 
Economy  was  founded  in  1881  by  Joseph  Wharton,  Esq.,  of 
Philadelphia,  to  give  young  men  a  collegiate  training  which 
will  fit  them  for  good  citizenship  and  practical  business  life. 
It  constitutes  one  of  the  departments  in  the  college  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  its  students,  upon  graduation, 
receive  the  degree  of  Bachelor  of  Science  in  Economics.  The 
tuition  fee  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  ($150)  dollars  per  annum. 

The  founder  of  the  school  expressed  the  desire  thnt  it 
should  offer  facilities  for  obtaining: 

(1)  "An  adequate  education  in  the  principles  underlying 
successful  civil  government." 

(2)  "A  training  suitable  for  those  who  intend  to  engage 
in  business  and  to  undertake  the  management  of  property." 

Scope  of  Instruction:  It  is  in  accordance  with  these  ideals 
that  the  curriculum  of  the  school  has  been  arranged.  Its 
groundwork  lies  in  the  study  of  politics  and  economics. 
Aroimd  this  basis  have  been  grouped  history,  logic,  languages, 
commerce,  banking,  journalism,  and  kindred  topics.  The 
growth  in  recent  years  of  the  political  and  social  sciences,  and 


144 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


of  history  has  fumislied  a  store  of  knowledge  which  forms  an 
appropriate  basis  for  collegiate  instruction — a  fact  which  has 
found  expression  in  the  increased  attention  now  given  to  these 
topics  in  our  educational  institutions. 

To  give  young  men,  through  the  study  of  the  social  sciences, 
the  intcllect:ual  discipline  of  a  college  education,  is  not  the 
whole  purpose,  however,  of  the  course  in  finance  and  econ- 
omy. The  couree  aims  to  make  its  graduates  broad-minded 
and  practical  men  of  affairs,  furnished  not  only  with  a  general 
knowledge  of  the  complex  problems  of  modern  life,  but  equip- 
ped also  in  some  measure  for  various  practical  careei-s.  Its 
studies  and  methods  are  designed  to  be  of  value  to  young  men 
who  intend  to  go  into  business,  whether  banking,  commerce, 
transportation,  or  manufacturing;  and  to  those  who  look  for- 
ward to  journalism,  to  the  study  of  law,  to  the  civil  or  con- 
sular service,  to  teaching,  or  to  work  in  connection  with 
organized  charities. 

Curriculum:  An  outline  of  the  cumculum  of  the  Whartnn 
School  will  be  found  following.  A  detailed  description  of 
the  course  there  mentioned  will  be  mailed  to  any  address 
upon  request.  In  their  development  in  the  class  and  lecture 
rooms  many  questions  of  public  interest  are  discussed,  such, 
for  example,  as  the  following: 

Money  and  currency  (including  coinage  laws,  greenbacks 
and  the  "endless  chain,"  national  banking  system,  bank  note 
issTies  based  on  assets,  free  coinage  of  silver,  monometallism, 
etc.);  tariff  (including  a  survey  of  the  tariff  history  of  the 
United  States,  regarded  as  a  special  phase  of  its  industrial 
history;  an  examination  of  the  arguments  advanced  for  pro- 
tection and  for  free  trade;  and  an  analysis  of  the  causes  which 
have  lessened  the  importance  of  the  tariff  question  as  a  na- 
tional issue);  labor  (including  trades-unions,  strikes,  lockouts, 
wages);  taxation  (single  tax,  corporation  taxes,  excise,  laud, 
income,  inheritance,  property  taxes);  civil  service  (organiza- 
tion of  public  service  in  Nation,  State  and  city,  civil  service 
examinations,  removal  from  office,  pensions):  electoral  laws 
(ballot  reform,  corrupt  practices  laws,  gerrymandering,  quali- 
fications of  voters);  municipal  government  (organization  of 
cities,  regulation  and  ownership  of  public  works,  gas,  water, 
street  cars,  constitution  of  legislative  bodies,  power  of  the 
executive);  railroads  (economic  and  social  aspects,  competi- 
tion, combination,  public  regulation,  relation  to  waterways); 
criminal  classes  (prison,  reformatory  schools,  convict  labor, 
penal  reforms);  charities  (support  of  the  poor,  indoor  and  out- 
door relief,  hospitals.  State  aid);  education  (relation  of  the 
State  to  primary,  secondary  and  higher  education). 

Business  Educaition:  The  conditions  of  success  in  business 
have  greatly  changed  during  the  last  fifty  years.  Markets 
have  widened,  competition  has  increased,  and  the  scale  of 
operations  has  been  enlarged.  These  changes  have  raised  the 
.standard  of  intelligence  for  success  in  the  business  world,  and 
education  has  become  as  necessary  to  the  man  of  affairs  as 
for  a  lawyer,  clergyman  or  ]ihysician.  It  must  be  both  broad 
and  special  in  character,  not  only  producing  intelligent,  well- 
poised  men,  but  also  acquainting  them  with  the  laws  and 
forces  of  the  business  world.  Economics,  economic  history, 
the  geography  and  dcvelo)7inent  of  conimeree,  business  law, 
banking  and  iransporlalioii  are  all  inipmiant  components  of 
such  an  education. 

The  civic  and  political  res])onsil)ilities  of  the  business  man 
were  never  greater  than  they  are  to-day.  lie  has  l)ecome  an 
important  factor  in  public  affairs.  Many  of  the  questions 
at  issue  concern  him  mo-st  closely,  and  his  opinions  have 
weight.  It  is  a  familiar  fact  that  the  complexion  of  legisla- 
tures and  of  Congress  is  steadily  changing,  voters  manifesting 
an  increased  inclination  to  select  their  lawniakci-s  from  among 
men  of  affairs.  An  adequate  education  for  l)usiness  life  must 
recognize  these  new  responsibilities  of  business  men.  It  mu.st 
include  a  thorough  study  of  the  principles  of  government, 


of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  of  social  and  legal 
institutions,  and  of  the  political  and  con.stitutional  history 
of  his  own  and  other  countries.  Such  an  education,  Iji-oad 
and  generous  in  its  scope,  yet  special  and  practical  in  its  appli- 
cation, the  Wharton  School  is  designed  to  give. 

Banking:  The  magnitude  of  modern  business  undertak- 
ings, and  the  intimate  financial  relationship  established  by 
the  cable  and  telegi-aph  between  all  parts  of  the  earth,  as  well 
as  the  relation  of  banking  to  great  issues  of  national  politics, 
have  made  a  wide  intellectual  horizon  essentia]  to  a  banker's 
safety  and  prosperity.  The  theoi^  and  histoi-y  of  money, 
credit,  and  banking,  lianknotes  as  issued  in  the  United  States, 
Canada,  England,  France  and  Germany,  the  experience  of 
State  banks  prior  to  1860,  the  economic  and  financial  causes 
affecting  the  rate  of  interest,  the  nature  and  history  of  panics, 
stock  exchange  operations,  investments,  the  mechanism  of 
foreign  and  domestic  exchange,  the  international  movements 
of  gold,  commercial  law — all  these  topics,  which  are  promi- 
nent in  the  Wharton  School  curriculum,  are  indispensable  to 
any  adequate  preparation  for  the  business  of  banking. 

Railway  Service:  Those  now  in  the  railway  service,  and 
those  intending  to  enter  it,  will  find  the  Wliarton  School 
courses  directly  related  to  their  vocation.  The  course  on 
transportation  deals  with  the  theory  and  history  of  railway 
transportation,  with  the  relation  of  railways  to  one  another, 
to  other  transportation  agencies,  to  the  public  and  to  the  gov- 
ernment. C'ourses  in  physical,  economic  and  commercial  geo- 
graphy aim  to  give  the  student  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
resources,  industries  and  conunerce  of  the  United  States. 
These  courses,  together  with  the  study  of  accounting,  busi- 
ness law,  business  practice,  and  the  nature  and  organization 
of  corporations,  will  give  a  young  man  special  fitness  for  work 
in  the  railway  service. 

Commerce:  The  growth  of  our  industries  and  the  recent 
territorial  expansion  of  our  coimtry  have  greatly  emphasized 
the  importance  of  geographical  and  commercial  studies.  In 
many  lines  of  industry  special  efforts  are  being  made  to  de- 
velop trade  in  foreign  countries,  and  there  is  a  demand  for 
young  men  who  possess  a  knowledge  of  the  industrial  condi- 
tions existing  in  the  LTnited  States  and  in  other  countries, 
who  are  informed  regarding  the  commercial  needs  of  foreign 
countries,  and  who  have  studied  the  methods  by  which  those 
needs  can  be  met  and  our  commerce  developed.  The  Wharton 
School  curriculum,  particularly  in  its  courses  in  physical  and 
commercial  geography,  the  hii'tory  of  commerce,  and  commer- 
cial law,  meets  the  educational  requirements  of  young  men 
intending  to  engage  in  commercial  pursuits. 

Journalism:  The  'ducational  needs  of  the  journalist  are 
probably  broader  an. I  more  varied  than  those  of  any  other 
intellectual  worker.  No  information  is  worthless  to  him. 
The  more  he  knows  of  the  sciences,  of  medicine,  of  law,  of 
business?,  of  history,  of  religion,  of  politics,  of  literature,  the 
1  letter  his  equijmient  for  elficient  work  upon  a  news]iaper. 
Manifestly  no  college  course  can  in  four  years  fully  round  out 
a  young  man's  preparation  for  journalism.  It  does  not  follow, 
however,  that  one  kind  of  education  is  as  good  for  the  jour- 
nalist as  another.  The  particular  subjects  he  can  least  afford 
to  neglect  arc  the  great  and  common  interests  of  the  people, 
for  it  is  chiefly  upon  topics  connected  with  these  that  he  must 
write.  In  matters  which  concern  the  ])eo])le  as  a  .  whole — 
which  affect  national  and  social  welfare — 'the  journalist  needs 
the  training  and  knowledge  of  a  specialist.  lie  must  know 
well  the  history  of  his  own  country,  must  understand  its  con- 
stitution, must  have  clear  ideas  about  the  origin  and  purpose 
of  its  political,  legal  and  social  institutions,  must  be  pre- 
pared to  discuss  intelligently  all  topics  that  concern  the  com- 
mercial and  industrial  welfare  of  the  people;  must  be  familiar 
with  the  principles  and  recent  platforms  of  ]iolitical  parties: 
he  should,  in  short,  know  more  than  most  educated  men  about 


(.()\'r:I^N 

NliNT  l)l:LI:(i/AI  r 

:-S, 

CAPT.  J.  CORDEIRO   da   GRACA, 

NICANOR   BOLET    PERAZA, 

FEDERICO   A.  BEELEN, 

Brazil. 

Honduras. 

Chile. 

CHOW   TSZ   CHI, 

YUNG    KWAI, 

D.    N.   HARPER, 

China. 

China. 

Ecuador. 

G.  D.  WAET20LDT, 

S.  UCHIDA, 

ALFRED   J.  OSTHEIMER, 

Germany. 

Japan. 

Japan. 

EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


145 


the  important  issues  upon  which  public  opinion  divides. 

In  the  Wharton  School,  a  special  effort  is  made  to  give  a 
young  man  wishing  to  take  up  newspaper  work  the  kind  of 
training  and  education  that  will  be  most  helpful  to  him.  A 
course  in  journalism  was  established  in  1893.  It  aims  not 
only  to  give  the  student  an  extensive  and  thorough  train- 
ing in  history,  politics  and  economics,  but  also  to  make  him 
ready  and  accurate  in  the  application  of  his  knowledge  to  the 
discussion  of  current  problems.  He  studies  the  law  of  libel 
and  the  history  and  art  of  newspaper  making;  and  in  addition 
to  work  in  English  composition  and  literature,  is  required 
throughout  the  course  to  practise  writing  upon  topics  of  live 
interest.  The  purpose  of  the  course  is  not  to  turn  out  ready- 
made  editors,  but  to  make  intelligent  beginners. 

Preparation  for  Law. — The  need  of  thorough  preliminary 
training  for  the  study  of  law  is  more  and  more  widely  recog- 
nized by  our  law  schools,  which  are  pressing  for  a  collegiate 
education  as  a  requisite  for  admission  to  their  courses. 
Among  the  studies  which  fit  men  for  legal  study,  economics 
and  polities  have  a  prominent  place.  They  are  particularly 
valuable  to  those  who  look  upon  the  practice  of  law  as  a 
stepping-stone  to  public  life. 

Public  Service:  A  slow  but  steady  progress  in  the  devel- 
opment of  our  civil  service  is  assuring  more  permanent  tenure 
of  office,  and  thus  increasing  the  attractiveness  of  this  career. 
The  public  service  of  other  nations  is  recruited  from  a  highly- 
trained  element  of  the  population.  The  constantly  rising 
standard  of  requirements  in  our  system  will  create  an  in- 
creased demand  for  men  with  special  preparation. 

With  the  extension  of  our  commercial  relations,  the  stand- 
ard of  qualifications  for  consuls  and  commercial  agents  has 
been  steadily  rising.  The  business  community  has  awakened 
to  the  fact  that  the  possibility  of  opening  new  markets  de- 
pends largely  upon  the  efficiency  of  this  branch  of  the  public 
service.  In  those  regions  in  which  our  commercial  expansion 
is  likely  to  be  most  marked,  responsibilities  of  an  exceptional 
nature  rest  upon  our  consuls.  A  knowledge  of  the  principles 
of  international  law,  and  of  the  rules  of  intercourse  in  inter- 
national relations  is  absolutely  essential  to  efficiency  in  public 
service  at  home  and  aliroad.  Courses  in  such  subjects,  com- 
bined with  work  in  modern  languages,  commerce  and  bank- 
ing, will  be  in  the  nature  of  direct  preparation  for  such  a 
career. 

Sociology:  The  opportunities  for  specially  trained  men 
for  careers  in  connection  with  large  philantlu-opic  societies, 
charity  organization  societies,  social  settlements,  and  reform 
organizations  are  increasing  rapidly.  The  courses  in  the 
Wharton  School  aim  to  prepare  for  such  careers  by  offering 
training  in  the  foundation  theories  of  such  work  and  in  its 
historical  development. 

An-angement  of  Studies:  The  course  of  study  for  regular 
students  who  receive  the  bachelor's  degree  covers  four  years. 
Part  of  the  work  of  the  senior  year  is  elective,  so  that  a  stu- 
dent may  give  special  attention  to  subjects  bearing  directly 
upon  his  future  work. 

Special  Coui-ses:  In  addition  to  the  regular  four-year 
course,  two  special  courses  have  been  established — a  two-year 
course,  including  the  studies  of  junior  and  senior  year,  and  a 
tliree-year  course,  including  the  studies  of  sophomore,  junior 
and  senior  years.  Students  completing  these  courses  receive 
a  certificate  of  efficiency. 

Students  who,  for  good  reasons,  can  take  neither  a  regular 
nor  a  special  course,  may  be  admitted  to  a  partial  course,  if 
they  give  satisfactoi7  evidence  of  fitness  for  the  studies  which 
they  wish  to  inirsue. 

Outline  of  Studies:  An  outline  of  the  curriculum  is  given 
below.  In  this  statement,  the  number  is  given  by  the  year, 
though  some  of  the  one-hour  courses  are  arranged  in  actual 
instruction  as  two  hours  for  half  a  year,  and  some  of  the  two- 


hour  courses  as  four  hours  for  the  half  year.  Students  taking 
journalism  are  allowed  to  omit  certain  other  subjects. 

Methods  of  Instruction:  The  plan  of  instruction  embraces 
recitaitions,  lectures  and  the  preparation  of  papers.  The  en- 
deavor is  made  to  train  the  students  to  think  independently 
on  the  topics  that  fonn  the  subjects  of  instruction.  An  earn- 
est effort  is  made  to  exclude  all  dogmatism  in  political  or 
economic  teaching,  to  present  fairly  all  aspect  of  disputed 
questions,  and  to  put  the  students  in  a  position  to  form  in- 
telligently their  own  opinions.  To  heighten  the  interest  of 
students  in  present  political  and  economical  problems,  lectures 
are  given  at  intervals  by  men  prominent  in  public  life. 

Original  research  by  the  students,  under  the  direction  of  the 
professors,  is  a  pari;  of  the  work  of  the  school.  The  results 
of  some  of  this  investigation  have  been  published  as  follows: 

"The  Eecent  Development  of  American  Industries,"  by  the 
Class  of  '91,  pp.  111. 

"The  City  Government  of  Philadelphia,"  by  the  Class  of 
'93,  pp.  278. 

Feeshman  Yeah. 

Hours. 

English  Composition 2 

English  Language 1 

German 3 

Mathematics,  or 2 

Chemistry 4 

Roman  History   2 

Accounting 3 

Physical  and  Economical  Geography 2 

Constitutional  Law 2 

Journalism   1 

Sophomore  Year. 

Hours. 

English  Literature 2 

German 3 

European  History 3 

Practical  Finance  and  Foreign  Exchange 2 

Business  Law 1 

Theory  and  Geography  of  Commerce 2 

Political  Economy 2 

Legislative  Procedure   1 

Journalism   2 

Public  Speaking  (Optional) 1 

Junior  Year. 

Logic  and  Ethics 2 

p]nglish  Literature 2 

Economics    2 

Sociology    2 

Modem  Legislative  Problems 2 

American  History   2 

English  Constitutional  History 2 

Elementary  Common  Law 2 

Roman  Law 2 

Banking    2 

Statistics 2 

Journalism   2 

Charities  and  Correction 1 

Race  Traits  and  Distribution 1 

Senior  Year. 

European  History   2 

Finance 2 

Public  Administration   2 

English  Civilization  .• 2 

Social  Reformers ^ 


146 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


American  History 2 

Monetaiy  History  2 

'ri-fuisportation 2 

t'ommerce  and  Commercial  Relations 2 

I'rinciples  of  Government 1 

JIunicipal  Government 1 

International  Law 2 

English  Legal  Institutions 2 

Court  Decisions  on  the  Federal  Constitution 2 

Journalism  2 

Mr.  Seth  Low: 

1  will  now  call  upon  a  gentleman  who  is  a  delegate  from 
South  Australia  to  discuss  this  question. 

Hon.  Dr.  Jolni  A.  Cod-burn: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen — I  came  here  this 
morning  to  be  a  listener  only,  and  I  have  listened  with  a  great 
deal  of  pleasure  and  profit  to  the  most  excellent  addresses, 
until  I  suddenly  received,  a  few  moments  ago,  a  mandate  from 
Dr.  Wilson  which  immediately  arrested  the  process  of  mental 
digestion,  and  I  feel  myself  called  upon  at  short  notice  to  say 
a  few  words  to  you,  so  1  am  at  a  loss  somewhat  in  what  way  to 
express  the  thoughts  that  first  arise  in  my  mind. 

Let  me  say  though,  that  as  one  who  for  many  years  has  been 
in  a  position  connected  with  education  in  a  young  country,  I 
have  long  recognized  that  the  paramount  need  of  all  nations 
is  for  a  technical  education,  to  give  direction  in  national 
affairs.  Technical  education  for  the  merchant  is  just  as  neces- 
sary as  it  is  for  the  physical  engineer,  or  any  other  profes- 
sional branch. 

I  should  like  to  say  in  this  connection,  that  we  should  avoid 
the  danger  of  lieginning  the  specialties  too  early.  First  of 
all  a  certain  amount  of  general  education  must  he  given  to 
making,  as  Dr.  Lindsay  suggested,  the  man,  just  as  the  potter 
has  to  temper  the  clay  to  a  certain  degree,  no  matter  what 
shape  the  vessel  may  take  when  the  clay  has  heen  placed  on 
the  wheel.  1  think  Dr.  Eliot  has  warned  you,  in  globing 
words,  against  this  danger,  so  that  there  is  no  fear  that  any 
one  who  has  had  the  honor  of  listening  to  his  remarks  will 
ever  fall  into  tliis  mistake. 

Above  all,  let  us  avoid  the  danger  of  looking  at  commercial 
education,  as  in  any  degree  qualified  to  take  the  place  of  the 
primary  and  secondary  schools. 

President  Eliot  has  also  uttered  an  emphatic  warning 
against  the  danger  of  reverting  to  the  old  commercial  schools. 
I  have  had  a  great  deal  of  experience  with  old  commercial 
schools,  in  which  bookkeeping  and  clerical  work  generally  are 
attended  to  at  the  time  when  the  mind  should  simply  be  form- 
ing, instead  of  receiving  any  technical  training,  and  I  can 
:,speak  from  experience  in  this  matter  that  these  schools  turn 
out  the  most  incompetent  citizens  any  school  could  possibly 
manufacture. 

Between  the  old  commercial  school  and  the  old  classical 
school,  however  deficient  tlie  latter  may  be  on  any  subject, 
it  made  far  better  men  and  turned  them  out  with  a  much 
better  education  and  higher  character  than  the  old  commercial 
Bchool. 

Mr.  Parker  said,  wlial  commerci'  lU'cded  was  to  have  men 
of  enterprise  and  hustle  and  full  of  enthusiasm.  I  agree  with 
him.  A  man  of  action  is  neeik'd  in  commerce  as  in  every 
other  call  in  life.  A  man  of  action  should  also  have  an  edu- 
cation such  as  will  enable  him  to  convert  his  thoughts  rapidly 
into  action,  and  you  have  gone  a  great  way  toward  imparting 
a  commercial  education  when  that  is  done. 

I  hope  this  movement  towards  commercial  edneatinn  will 
do  nothing  to  disturb  the  movement  in  primary  and  secondary 
schools,  towards  practical  education,  which  has  been  going  on 
of  late  years.  .    ,  ■ 


I  don't  know  that  I  have  anything  further  to  say  on  this 
subject.  It  has  been  a  great  boon  to  listen  to  the  remarks  of 
one  who  is  better  qualified  than  any  one  else  in  the  world  to 
speak  on  such  a  topic.  President  Eliot.  I  believe  his  words  are 
worthy  of  being  graven  on  our  minds.  I  do  not  think  that, 
bearing  his  warning  in  mind,  we  shall  run  much  danger  in 
incurring  risks  which  lie  in  this  direction.  I  think  we  all 
recognize  now  the  fact,  that  in  inaugurating  a  system  of  com- 
mercial education,  we  are  inaugurating  another  form  of  tech- 
nical education,  and  that  we  will  recognize,  that  in  no  wise 
shall  we  commence  specialization  too  early,  and  by  that  pre- 
mature specialization  destroying  the  preliminary  mental  train- 
ing which  eve:-y  man  should  undergo  before  his  attention  is 
directed  to  one  particular  branch. 

Let  me  say  one  word  in  regard  to  modern  languages.  To 
learn  the  grammar  of  the  language  before  learning  to  speak 
the  language  is  entirely  wrong,  and  that  is  not  the  way  a 
native  learus  his  own  language.  I  am  bound  to  say  that  very 
few  of  us  who  speak  the  English  language  learned  it  in  that 
way  from  the  grammar.  It  is  very  interesting  to  know  all 
ab<iut  the  gi-ammar,  but  the  way  to  learn  a  language  is  not 
to  study  the  grammar  first.  In  saying  this  I  may  he  saying 
something  contrary  to  the  accepted  theory,  but  it  is  true. 

-I  hope  that  the  extension  of  the  teaching  of  modern  lan- 
guages will  accompany  this  movement  of  commercial  educa- 
tion, and  when  it  does  I  hope  that  that  mistake  of  systematic 
grammar  will  not  be  repeated.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Seth  Low: 

T  now  have  the  pleasure  of  calling  upon  Dr.  R.  P.  Falkner, 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  to  discuss  the  subject. 

Are  Current  Ob.jections  to  Higher  Commercial  Educa- 
tion Well  Founded. 

Dr.  R.  P.  FaJl-ner: 

To  the  urgent  appeal  of  a  few  men  interested  in  educa- 
tional affairs  that  our  colleges  and  universities  should  do  some- 
thing for  commercial  education,  the  most  frequent  and  most 
depressing  ohjection  is  that  it  cannot  be  done.  This  objec- 
tion is  heard  in  the  mouths  both  of  business  men  and  edu- 
eatoi-s.  To  both  I  am  tempted  to  rejily  that,  however  impos- 
sible in  their  eyes,  something  has  l)cen  done  and  more  is  plan- 
ning. 

To  dismiss  the  contention  with  this  assertion,  is  to  give  rise 
to  the  counter  assertion  that,  while  we  may  delude  ourselves 
into  thinking  that  we  have  taken  up  this  problem  at  the  right 
end,  yet  our  pretense  is  a  sham,  our  achievement  a  moekeiy. 
It  behooves  us,  therefore,  to  examine  into  the  grounds  on 
wliich  the  ohjection  rests. 

The  bu.siness  man  concedes  o\ir  aim  to  be  admirable,  but 
ridicules  our  methods.  The  successful  man  of  business  is  a 
product  of  life,  not  of  schools.  No  school  can  teach  a  young 
man  the  maxims  of  success  so  that  they  become  part  of  his 
mental  fibre  and  impel  him  onward  to  achievement.  There  is 
no  school  for  business  they  tell  us,  except  that  of  experience. 
They  would  have  all  follow  in  the  path  which  they  have  trod. 
They  remind  me  of  that  self-educated  and  sturdy  pamphleteer, 
William  Cobett,  who  in  his  advice  to  young  men  tells  them 
that  the  way  to  learn  a  foreign  language  is  to  read  the  gram- 
mar three  times,  copy  it  ofT  twice  and  then  from  memory  write 
it  off  again.  A  laborious  process,  but  one  which  he  practised 
and  one  which  he  therefore  commends. 

The  business  men  of  this  generation  have,  as  a  rule,  had 
their  entire  training  in  the  school  of  experiencr.  We  cannot 
wonder  that  they  commend  it  to  their  sons.  College  men  be- 
lieve a  love  for  .Mma  IMater  to  be  one  of  the  first  instincts  of 
a  gentleman,  and  they  must  applaud  when  men  of  affairs  look 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  UCTOBEK  aO,  1899 


147 


back  with  admiration,  upon  that  grim  but  efficient  school 
mistress,  Dame  Experience,  who  has  guided  their  steps.  But 
tliis  natural  and  commendable  feeling  should  not  blind  them 
to  the  fact  that  new  times  bring  new  schools,  and  that  those 
which  excelled  in  the  past  often  fail  in  the  present. 

We  must  briefly  examine  what  it  is  that  the  business  man 
has  gained  in  the  school  of  expeiience,  before  we  determine 
that  it  can  or  cannot  be  duplicated  in  the  college  or  univer- 
sity. Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  we  are  proposing  to 
substitute  college  work,  not  for  the  entire  school  of  exper- 
ience, whose  session  never  ends,  but  for  four  years  at  the  most 
for  the  initial  stages.  Our  program  is  a  modest  one  to  start 
a  man  in  life. 

In  liis  business  experience  a  man  gains  at  once  power  and 
knowledge.  Power  reveals  itself  in  his  ability  to  grasp  a  busi- 
ness situation,  to  see  opportunities  for  profit,  to  embark  in  en- 
terprises at  the  proper  moment,  to  control  men,  gaining  their 
confidence,  and  associating  them  in  his  purpose.  These  are 
the  qualities  of  mastery  wherever  it  is  found.  And  these,  I 
frankly  admit,  no  college  can  guarantee  to  its  graduates.  It 
umy  make  masters  of  arts  but  cannot  insure  that  all  shall  be- 
come masters  of  men. 

But  power,  unless  reinforced  by  knowledge,  is  vain  and  im- 
potent. What  is  the  knowledge  which  supplements  the  skill 
of  the  successful  man  of  business?  The  knowledge  of  the 
laws  of  trade,  the  mechanism  of  commerce,  the  conditions  of 
production  and  exchange  of  the  products  in  which  he  is  in- 
terested. To  give  a  detailed  statement  of  what  the  business 
man  must  know  to  insure  success  would  be  presumptuous, 
but  there  are  some  things  so  obvious  that  all  will  agree  that 
they  form  a  part  of  his  necessary  equipment. 

First,  he  must  know  the  legal  principles  which  govern  the 
common  business  transactions.  He  must  know  what  con- 
stitutes a  contract,  and  what  makes  a  sale  binding,  he  must, 
if  in  partnership,  have  no  misunderstanding  of  his  own  rights 
and  duties  and  those  of  his  associates.  If  interested  in  cor- 
porate activities,  he  must  know  the  limits  of  powers  which  law 
confers  on  officers  and  directors.  He  should  freely  under- 
stand the  ins  and  outs  of  the  legal  forms  used  in  ordinary 
business  transactions  and  the  rights  and  obligations  which 
ensue  from  them. 

Secondly,  if  he  is  engaged  in  foreign  trade,  the  business 
man  miist  know  the  functions  and  duties  of  consuls.  He  must 
know  how  far  these  commercial  agents  can  protect  and  aid 
him  in  the  transactions  of  his  affairs. 

Thirdly,  he  must  know  the  money  market  and  its  practices. 
He  must  be  intimately  familiar  wth  the  functions  of  banks 
and  be  able  to  enlist  their  aid.  He  must  know  how  to  gauge 
the  money  market,  must  be  alert  to  the  symptoms  of  strin- 
gency and  be  ready  to  meet  it.  He  should  understand  the 
functions  of  foreign  exchange,  the  meaning  of  gold  ship- 
ments, and  how  they  rea.ct  upon  business.  All  this  involves 
a  knowledge  of  accounts,  an  understanding  of  commercial 
statements,  which  are  the  barometer  of  business  affairs. 

In  the  fourth  place  he  must  understand  the  industrial  or- 
ganization of  the  countiT.  The  histoi-y  of  the  past  is  the 
key  to  the  present.  He  should  know  the  industrial  organi- 
zation of  the  different  parts  of  the  country,  know  where  he 
can  look  for  markets,  and  seethe  opportunities  for  developing 
business  relations. 

Fifthly,  and  in  intimate  connection  with  the  foregoing,  he 
should  know  the  resources  of  his  country.  He  should  be 
familiar  with  the  relative  advantages  of  one  section  or  an- 
other for  this  or  that  enterprise.  He  should  be  able  to  fore- 
cast the  severity  of  competition  in  new  sections.  If  engaged 
in  the  foreign  trade,  his  knowledge  must  be  even  wider,  for  it 
must  embrace  many  countries. 

These  are  a  few  things  which  the  business  man  must  know. 
It  is  our  simple  contention  that  through  iugitruotion  in  polit- 


ical economy  and  its  applications,  in  industrial  history,  in 
monetary  practice  and  financial  history,  in  the  theory  and 
geography  of  commerce,  in  accounting  and  kindred  topics, 
they  can  be  taught  in  our  colleges  and  universities.  We 
claim  indeed  that  some  of  us  are  already  teaching  them.  We 
do  not  pretend  to  finish  a  business  man's  education,  but  to 
begin  it.  We  hold  that  we  can  give  him  in  four  yeai-s'  teach- 
ing a  better  equipment  than  he  would  gain  in  the  same  period 
in  actual  business  experience. 

In  offering  the  college  as  a  substitute  for  the  school  of  ex- 
perience, we  further  contend  that  the  latter  is  not  what  it 
used  to  be.  At  one  time  it  offered  a  real  apprenticeship  to 
the  young  man,  with  supervision  and  instruction  by  the  em- 
])loyer.  With  the  growth  of  lai-ge  enterprises,  this  personal 
relation,  for  better  or  worse,  has  passed  away.  The  young 
man  must  be  his  own  teacher  far  more  than  ever  before.  He 
k'arns  what  he  can  pick  up  in  a  haphazard  way.  Doubtless 
he  learns  it  well,  perhaps  better  than  he  could  learn  it  in 
college,  but  he  runs  the  danger  of  learning  very  little. 

The  business  man's  contention  thart,  colleges  and  univer- 
sities can  do  nothing  for  education,  we  believe  to  be  overborne 
not  only  by  experience,  but  by  argument.  We  are  doing 
sometliing,  and  as  far  as  it  goes  we  are  doing  it  well,  with  a 
distinct  purpose  and  by  adequate  methods. 

But  a  like  objection,  that  it  cannot  be  done,  is  heard  not 
infrequently  from  the  mouths  of  educational  authorities. 
They  tell  us,  and  it  appears  self-e\adent,  that  they  cannot 
obtain  the  teachers,  that  men  capable  of  teaching  business 
affairs,  will  be  actually  engaged  in  business,  earning  incomes 
with  which  the  college  treasury  cannot  compete.  But  it  is 
an  error  to  suppose  that  the  alternative  lies  between  success- 
ful business  men  who  are  unattainable  and  unsuccessful  men 
who  are  not  wanted.  We  want,  first  of  all,  teachers.  Expe- 
rience has  shown  that  great  lawyers  do  not  make  a  great  law 
school,  nor  great  physicians  a  great  medical  school.  A  great 
school  is  made  by  great  teachers,  and  these  are  by  no  means 
men  who  could  earn  large  incomes  in  the  competitive  strug- 
gle of  the  outside  world.  The  successful  man  of  business 
may  know  nothing  of  teaching  what  he  knows.  Practical  ac- 
countants make  poor  teachers  of  bookkeeping. 

The  difficulty  of  obtaining  a  suitable  teaching  force  is  not 
peculiar  to  this  type  of  education,  nor  is  it  insuperable  here. 
It  is  less  to-day  than  it  was  fifteen  years  ago.  The  men  who 
teach  are  not  necessarily  the  men  who  do.  There  is  a  type 
of  mind  which  perceives  without  acting,  just  as  there  is  one 
which  acts  without  perceiving.  In  earlier  days  this  type  was 
represented  in  business  matters  by  the  financial  editors  of  the 
daily  press,  the  editors  of  trade  and  commercial  journals,  the 
secretaries  of  commercial  bodies.  To-day  it  is  represented 
further  by  an  ever-growing  flood  of  young  men  who  leave  our 
colleges  and  universities  trained  in  the  principles  of  economic 
thought,  but  capable  of  mastering  the  mechanism  of  economfc' 
processes.  Men  can  be  found  to-day,  and  will  be  found  iii 
the  future,  in  even  greater  numbers,  capable  of  giving  the 
instruction  which  an  intelligent,  enlightened  and  progressive 
higher  commercial  education  demands. 

Side  by  side  with  tJie  objection  that  colleges  can  do  noth- 
ing directly  for  the  business  man,  goes  the  objection  that  they 
ought  not  to  do  anything  in  this  direct  fashion.  This  ob- 
jection comes  from  the  college  authorities  who  are  prone  to 
claim  that  they  are  already  doing  for  the  business  man  some- 
thing better  than  commercial  studies  could  do.  They  tell  us 
that  they  are  making  not  business  men,  but  men  in  the 
broadest  sense,  nolile  types  of  manhood:  that  character  is  far 
l)eyond  intellectual  attainment,  while  general  education  and 
mental  maturity  are  of  greater  value  than  specific  knowledge. 
This  is  a  large  question  and  I  can  only  Cfill  attention  to  two 
considerations. 

In  the  first  place,  we  should  be  the  last  to  UJi<leresti(uate 


148 


TROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  importance  of  either  character  or  mental  training.  These 
are  the  i^nb-structure  of  all  enduring  success.  But  is  it  not 
a  dubious  assumption  that  there  is  only  one  way — the  old  way 
— of  building  up  character  and  strengthening  mental  power? 
Must  it  not  appear  strange  that  men  strengthen  character 
and  g-ain  mental  power  through  the  sitress  and  strain  of  com- 
mercial ijursuit.s,  and  that  the  knowledge  which  they  acquire 
possesses  no  talisman  to  produce  kindred  results  when  it  be- 
comes a  part  of  college  instruction? 

In  the  second  place,  I  am  met  wntli  the  objection  that  tlie 
function  of  the  college  is  not  to  train  men  for  any  special 
place  in  life,  but  to  fit  them  for  leadership  anywhere.  To  this 
I  would  answer  that  the  purpose  of  the  college  must  respond 
to  the  needs  and  capacities  of  its  students.  The  age  of  grad- 
uation has  so  much  advanced  in  the  last  half  century  that  we 
are  dealing  with  prolilems  other  than  those  which  confronted 
our  predecessors.  Advance  this  age  as  it  has  been  done,  and 
the  need  of  a  definite  relation  to  the  future  life  work  becomes 
more  and  more  pressing.  Men  of  twenty-two  are  not  con- 
tent to  begin  life  where  boys  of  nineteen  were  wont  to  do  in 
former  years.  Fnwittingly,  and  under  the  plea  of  giving  a 
preparation  for  life  in  its  broadest  sense,  our  colleges  have  for 
a  long  time  been  giving  an  education  which,  whatever  its  gen- 
eral excellences,  has  been  in  a  special  sense  a  preparation  for 
professional  studies.  The  objections  to  higher  commercial 
education,  which  I  have  reviewed,  seem  to  be  the  most  serious 
which  have  been  brought  forward.  I  trust  I  have  succeeded 
in  demonstrating  that  they  rest  upon  a  misapprehension  of 
the  purposes  and  methods  of  commercial  studies  and  are  not 
tenable. 

My  conclusion  would  be  that  the  colleges  and  universities 
can  do  something  for  commercial  education,  and  that  they 
ought  to  do  it.  If,  as  President  Harper  contends,  the  uni- 
versities of  the  country  are  the  symbols  of  its  democracy, 
they  cannot  hold  aloof  from  the  most  potent  forces  of  our 
modern  democracies,  their  commercial  and  economic  inter- 
ests. To  do  so  is  suicidal.  It  relegates  them  to  a  secondary 
place.  For  the  better  or  for  worse,  the  rising  star  on  our  social 
horizon  is  the  business  man,  and  I  hold  that  I  do  honor  to 
the  Sage  of  Concord  when  I  earnestly  commend  to  our  col- 
leges and  universities  not  to  neglect  that  star  when  they  are 
hitching  up  their  wagons.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Seih  Low: 

I  believe  that  Dr.  Wilson  has  some  announcement  to  make, 
and  I  believe  there  is  an  invitation  to  a  reception  in  Houston 
Hall. 

Dr.  S.  M.  Lindsay: 

I  would  hke  to  remind  the  delegates  to  this  Congress  that 
they  have  been  invited  by  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  to 
a  luncheon  tluit  will  lie  served  in  Houston  Hall.  It  is  the 
large  l)lue  stone  building  on  Spruce  street,  between  Thirty- 
fourth  and  'i'hirty-sixtb.  ^'ou  are  invited  to  that  place  after 
the  adjourninent — Houston  Hall. 

Director  W.   I'.   Wilson: 

I  would  like  to  read  a  notice  to  wliicli  I  call  the  attention 
of  foreign  delegates  and  others. 

Tha  President  of  the  United  States  sends  his  coiupliments 
to  the  delegates  of  the  International  Commercial  Congress 
and  invites  their  presence  at  a  rece])tion  to  he  given  l>y  him 
in  their  honor  at  three  o'clock  on  Saturday  afternoon,  at  the 
White  House,  aT\d  through  the  courtesy  of  the  lialliniore  and 
Ohio  Ikilroad  Company,  a  special  train  has  been  provided  to 
convey  delegates  to  Washington  to  attend  the  reception.  The 
train  will  leave  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  station  at 
Twenty-fourth  and  Chestnut  streets,  at  8.50  a.  m.,  Saturday 
morning. 


The  ladies  accompanying  the  delegates  are  included  in  the 
invitation,  and  it  is  earnestly  requested  that  all  delegates  who 
can  possibly  do  so  will  attend.  A  special  train  will  leave 
Washington  at  4.30  p.  m.,  arriving  here  at  7.30  p.  m.  Dur- 
ing our  stay  in  Washington  it  will  be  possible  to  visit  the 
public  library,  the  Capitol  and  several  other  interesting  places 
to  which  arrangements  have  been  made  for  us  to  go.  This 
includes  the  foreign  delegates  and  their  ladies  in  attendance, 
and  the  delegates  from  the  United  States  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce. Our  session  this  afternoon  wiU  open  just  a  trifle  later, 
at  three  o'clock  sharp. 

Mr.  Seth  Lotv: 

The  session  is  now  closed. 

Philadelphia,  October  30,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  3.25  p.  m.,  by  Dr.  W. 
P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Will  the  gentlemen  come  forward?  Will  the  gentlemen 
in  the  rear  and  others  who  cannot  hear  come  forward  a  little? 
You  will  be  able  to  hear  much  better. 

Will  the  gentlemen  who  are  to  speak  this  afternoon  kindly 
come  on  the  platform?     There  are  several  present  here. 

Is  Mr.  J.  M.  Keith,  of  Costa  Rica,  here?     (No  response.) 

Is  Mr.  Eutis?     (No  response.) 

Now,  Captain  da  Graga,  will  you  kindly  come  on  the 
platfoiin?  (Captain  da  Graga  steps  forward  on  the  plat- 
form.) 

We  have  for  discussion  this  afternoon  parcels  post.  I  re- 
gret to  say  that  we  have  been  informed  that  the  Hon.  Charles 
Emory  Smith,  Postmaster-General,  who  had  intended  to  lead 
this  subject  and  preside  this  afternoon,  is  unable  to  be  here. 
The  suljject  is  one  of  unusual  interest  to  commerce,  and  one 
which  claims  thorough  study,  a  subject  which  should  natur- 
ally receive  the  attention  of  every  majiufaoturer. 

I  am  going  to  call  first  upon  Mr.  Milton  Jackson,  president 
and  treasurer  of  the  Miller  Lock  Company,  a  large  manufac- 
turing concern  of  this  city.     (Ajiplause. 

Mr.  Milton  Jackson : 

However  men  differ  in  opinion  upon  subsidies  and  tariffs, 
there  are  some  propositions  upon  which  all  agree.  To  what- 
ever country  we  belong,  we  do  not  object  to  receiving  free 
samples  of  the  products  of  any  other  nation  on  earth  accom- 
panied by  descri]ition  and  price  quotation.  We  all  prefer  to 
[)urchase  only  of  what  our  eyes  have  beheld.  Confidence 
must  be  felt  liefore  we  can  consent  to  make  an  investment. 

The  merchant  or  producer,  who  cannot  present  a  sample 
of  the  goods  offered,  is  at  a  great  disadvantage  in  competi- 
tion with  his  competitor  who  has  samples  on  exhibition  aiul 
who  carries  them  to  his  prospective  market. 

Ilngland,  through  her  colonial  ju-ogress,  has  already  her 
mercantile  agents  in  almost  every  market.  The  world's  great 
markets  have  been  placed  at  her  command.  Her  fleets  cover 
the  seas.  Her  commercial  travelers  cover  the  earth.  Her 
bankers  and  capitalists  see  to  il  that  London  is  made  the 
cleai-ing  house  for  all  nations  and  that  every  nation  pays  its 
tolls  and  tithes  to  the  British  pocket. 

To  facilitate  this  immense  traffic,  the  luiglish  have  devised 
what  is  called  tlic  pan-els  post.  As  a  department  of  the  Brit- 
ish mail,  it  was  created  simply  to  aid  Rnglish  domestic  and 
colonial  trade. 

Witliout   attempting   to   st«itc   with   historic   accuracy   the 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


149 


order  of  this  development,  it  is  plain  that  at  a  small  cost  to 
the  national  treasury,  British  merchants  were  enabled  by  this 
simplest  of  devices  to  keep  easily  in  touch  with  their  friends 
in  the  colonies  and  with  those  in  all  countries  consenting  to 
a  parcels  post  convention  with  Great  Britain. 

How  important  this  is  to  the  British  merchant,  the  vast 
value  of  articles  ajnply  attests. 

In  1898,  the  people  of  Great  Britain  exported,  by  parcels 
post,  goods  to  enormous  value,  millions  of  pounds. 

Her  exports  by  parcels  post  were  to  a  very  large  propor- 
tion of  the  world  market, — the  chief  exceptions  being  the 
United  States,  Brazil  and  Russia.* 

That  the  German  merchant  was  not  slow  to  copy  this 
British  device  of  trade  is  well  known. 

The  mercantile  policy  of  Germany  as  to  foreign  trade,  since 
the  unification,  has  been  astute.  Her  agents  and  her  sons 
are  in  every  land,  availing  themselves  of  every  opening,  train- 
ing for  every  fray.  In  a  protected  market,  she  opened  free 
ports.  In  foreign  lands,  her  merchants  and  bankers  have 
established  branches,  and  to  enable  her  to  compete  to  the  last 
degi-ee  with  the  British,  she  negotiated  her  parcels  post  treat- 
ies, so  that  her  samples  can  go  at  but  trifling  expense  from 
the  producer  to  the  foreign  distributor  or  consumer.  Where 
the  British  trader  fails  the  German  gets  in.  He  is  a  most 
aggressive  competitor. 

Germany  has  parcels  post  conventions  with: 

All  Europe,  save  a  few  towns  in  Turkey  and  in  Greece. 

In  Asia,  the  same  as  England. 

In  Africa,  every  civil  State  and  all  the  English,  German 
and  Belgian  dependencies. 

In  America,  with  Argentina,  Bolivia  (cities).  Canada, 
United  States,  Mexico,  Peru,  Salvador,  Brazil,  Chile,  Guiana, 
Guatemala,  Uruguay,  Colombia,  Nicaragua,  Honduras,  Para- 
guay, Venezuela  (cities),  etc. 

It  is  therefore  evident  that  the  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants of  these  United  States  must  be  permitted  to  expoi-t 
by  parcels  post  if  they  are  to  compete  on  fair  terms  with  the 
gi'eat  exporting  nations  of  Europe,  with  the  great  pioneers 
of  modern  trade. 

Commerce  is  made  up  of  trade  in  two  important  classes  of 
products, — staple  goods  and  specialties.  What  may  be  staple 
in  one  market  may  be  a  rare  specialty  in  another. 

Wliile  staples  form  the  greater  volume,  specialties  educate 
those  who  receive  them.  Specialties  are  the  product  of  the 
latest  thought.  Specialties  sell  at  the  greatest  per  cent,  profit. 
It  is  for  the  producer  of  specialties  we  speak,  and  not  less  for 
the  consumer  of  them.    This  is  a  reciprocal  matter. 

And  again,  we  speak  for  the  products  of  the  small  manu- 
facturer. In  these  United  States  we  have  thousands  of  these, 
none  of  whom  can  individually  afford  to  bear  the  expense  of 
sending  capable  salesmen  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Thou- 
sands of  products  and  tens  of  thousands  of  producers  desire 
to  reach  your  markets.  Thousands  of  your  merchants  de- 
sire these  for  their  tens  of  thousands  of  customers. 

The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  is  able  to  present 
to  every  American  merchant  or  producer  of  goods  suited  to 
a  given  market,  the  address  of  every  well  accredited  mer- 
chant therein.  And  likewise  this  Museum  has  on  file 
similar  information  available  to  you  through  its  correspond- 
dents  abroad,  that  would  enable  your  great  merchants  and 
your  producers  of  specialties  to  procure  the  name  of  every 
reliable  American  dealer  in  goods  of  a  given  class. 

Other  agencies  are  prepared  to  supply  the  same  information. 

*Great  Britain  has  parcels  post  conventions  with  .^ustro-Hung.iry  in  Europe 
France  (and  French  dependencies  ,  Germany  (and  German  dependencies),  Turkey 
Eoumania,  Switzerland,  Belsium,  Italy,  Portugal,  Sweden,  Norway,  Spain,  Holland 
Denmark,  Bulgaria.    Practically  all  of  Europe  save  Russia  and  Greece. 

In  Asia,  with  Turkey,  Persia,  Siam,  Japan,  Chinese  Ports,  Dutch  East  Indies,  etc. 

In  Africa,  with  Egypt,  Morocco,  Zanzibar,  Liberia,  etc. 

In  America,  with  Argentina,  Chile,  Colombia,  Coata  Rica,  Honduras,  Mexico,  Peru, 
Salvador,  Uruguay,  etc. 


It  is  not  proposed  that  everybody  should  trade  with  every- 
body. Not  so  by  any  manner  of  means.  Trade  will  find 
its  legitimate  channels.  It  will  run  where  it  can  run  deepest. 
But  advertising  is  a  matter  not  far  ajjart  from  trade  and  not 
to  be  separated  from  it. 

All  specialties  must  be  advertised,  must  be  sampled  by  the 
purchaser  before  he  will  buy,  and  the  producer  must  bear 
the  expense  of  introducing  his  specialty  and  of  rendering  it 
a  staple  in  the  market. 

We  claim  that  the  simplest  and  most  effective  foreign  ad- 
vertisement is  by  sample,  and  that  by  parcels  post  these  may 
often  be  most  easily  distributed. 

By  this  means,  remote  nations  may  discover  mutual  inter- 
est in  the  products  of  the  other,  and  friendly  and  more  inti- 
mate relations  would  naturally  follow. 

Send  from  Brazil,  to  a  hundred  selected  names  taken  from 
the  Blue  Book  of  Philadelphia,  one  hundred  samples  of  some 
extra  delicious  coffee,  duly  labelled,  and  a  demand  for  that 
brand  of  coffee  would  instantly  create  orders  for  stocks  of  it 
for  our  leading  grocers.  These  orders  would  follow  the  usual 
course  of  trade.  No  disturbance  of  business  relations  would 
ensue. 

The  matter  of  import,  or  of  export  duty  may  be  refen'ed  to 
the  oversiglit  of  the  consular  service,  and  can  be  easily  adjusted 
in  each  individual  case  according  to  the  law  of  the  country 
interested. 

The  parcels  post  is  not  new  to  the  people  of  these  United 
States.  As  a  domestic  institution  it  is  quite  familiar.  With 
us  it  is  a  beneficent  provision.  It  matters  not  whether  our 
citizen  resides  in  a  remote  mountain  region,  or  upon  the  vast 
plains  of  the  central  West,  or  yet  upon  the  shores  by  the 
sea.  Moimtains  and  rivers  alike  are  quickly  passed  and  in 
point  of  rations  and  supplies,  whether  for  body  or  mind,  we 
are  made  one  people. 

Has  not  the  time  arrived  when  this  blessing  should  be- 
come international?  When  our  people  should  be  pei-mitted 
to  extend  their  acquaintance  to  the  peoples  of  everv  friendly 
nation  abroad?  And  unll  not  the  citizens  of  almost  every 
friendly  nation  gladly  reciprocate?  Intelligence  has  spread 
over  the  earth.  Vast  populations  of  remote  nations  now 
watch  the  daily  progress  of  each  other.  The  Australasian 
Continent  is  now  closer  in  point  of  time  than  was  Europe 
before  the  cables  were  laid,  and  every  American  article  of 
necessity,  luxury  or  convenience  is  appreciated  to-day  by  mil- 
lions who  gave  us  hardly  a  passing  thought  not  fifty  years  ago. 

The  success  or  the  failure  of  this  movement  for  interna- 
tional parcels  post  conventions  rests  largely  upon  you  who 
are  our  distinguished  guests.    Will  you  rheet  us  part  way? 

Let  us  Join  in  a  proposal.  Let  this  Congress  declare  for 
a  universal  parcels  post — as  universal  as  the  Latin  Postal 
Union!  What  nation  wishes  to  abrogate  the  Postal  Union 
and  cut  off  its  intimacy  with  the  world?  By  your  presence 
and  participation  here  you  can  accomplish  what  a  decade 
would  fail  to  produce  had  you  remained  at  home. 

Let  us  unite  the  forces  here  represented;  let  us  request  the 
authorities  of  our  respective  governments  to  take  these  ele- 
mentary steps  towards  a  generous  intercourse. 

It  has  taken  the  development  of  centuries  to  bring  us  up 
to  our  present  friendship.  Centuries  to  bring  about  such  a 
Congress  as  this. 

As  for  the  people  of  these  United  States,  now  that  they 
are  about  to  develop  a  colonial  policy — now  that  Americans 
have  discovered  in  themselves  the  spirit  of  colonization. — 
now  that  they  have  in  part  learned  that  we  may  not  safely 
depend  upon  our  home  markets  to  keep  the  wheels  of  ouV 
industries  moving  and  our  laborers  well  paid, — shall  we  not 
accept  the  lessons  and  examples  set  by  England  and  by  Ger- 
many, and  copied  (as  to  parcels  post)  within  the  limits  of  our 
own  coimtry? 


i.-,o 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Ours  is  an  era  of  great  awakening.  JSIever  before  was 
there  sikJi  stir  among  the  peoples.  Tlie  machinery  of  the 
modern  world  has  startled  the  nations.  Jove  has  proclaimed 
iis  at  Santiago  and  .Manila,  gaining  for  us  a  mighty  prestige. 
Shall  we  not  step  forward  and  embrace  the  opportunity? 

Never  were  conditions  so  generally  favorable  to  Intman 
progress.  It  is  safe  to  predict  that  this  International  Con- 
gress will  be  a  forerunner  of  friendly  trade,  of  reciprocal 
conventions,  of  international  banks,  of  American  lines  of 
ships,  of  inter-oeeanic  canals  and  of  greater  social  and  com- 
mercial inteniational  friendships.  Let  us  adopt  every  facil- 
ity, remove  every  unjust  barrier,  and  cement  our  friendship 
by  treaties  that  shall  bind  our  common  interests  and  enable 
the  people  of  the  nation  most  remote  from  these  Unit-ed 
States  to  share  with  us  and  we  with  them  in  all  gifts  that  can 
be  transported,  that  make  for  Innnan  comfort  and  the  pro- 
gress of  the  race.     (Applause.) 

Director  IF.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  ne.xt  in  this  discussion 
Captain  da  Graca,  the  government  delegate  from  Brazil. 
(Applause.) 

I'dpl.  J.  Ciirdi'ini  da  Graga: 

Mr.  t'hairman,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  What 
we  just  heai'd  from  the  gentleman  who  preceded  me  was  suffi- 
cient, so  that  I  have  to  add  very  little.  They  touch  upon 
a  point  that  is  of  great  interest  to  your  country  and  to  ours. 
One  of  the  gentlemen  spoke  about  samples  of  cofl'ee  which 
we  send  to  this  country,  not  by  the  hundreds,  but  by  the 
thousands.  It  is  very  difficult  to  send  from  our  country  to 
yours  samples  not  only  of  coffee,  but  of  fibres  and  other  pro- 
ducts which  we  export. 

The  lack  of  communication — that  is  my  Cheval  de  Bataille 
(Battle  Horse),  as  the  French  say, — is  a  serious  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  our  producers  in  general.  Our  country  has 
alwayts  been  represented  at  every  Congress,  and  especially  at 
this  Congress  where  postal  matters  are  discussed;  and  the 
Brazilian  Government  would  receive  with  great  pleasiu'e  and 
satisfaction  any  suggestions  or  proposals  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  parcels  post  agreement. 

Moreover,  this  should  be  preceded  by  better  facilities  for 
communication.  If  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  do  not  object,  I  will 
read  in  the  presence  of  this  assembly  an  article  which  was 
)nibli.slied  years  ago  by  one  of  the  leading  newspapers  of  this 
city:  and  what  was  published  then  is  now  the  principal  ques- 
tion of  the  day.  It  is  an  article  published  by  the  Philadelphia 
PuUic  Ledger  of  August  13,  1897,  just  after  this  gi-eat  insiti- 
tion,  which  is  known  all  over  world,  and  is  called  the  Phila- 
delphia Co'ramercial  Museum,  had  been  founded,  at  the  time 
of  the  Pan-American  Congress.  This  is  an  article  which  will 
prove  of  great  interest  to  all  Americans. 

'{''his  article  is  signed  by  a  gentleman  very  well  known  in 
the  United  States,  and  I  made  his  acquaintance  while  in 
Washington.  The  initials  are  J.  M.  C. — Major  John  M. 
Carson. 

"There  is  food  foi-  thought  in  a  recent  despatch  from  Lon- 
don in  reference  to  the  energy  and  activity  being  manifested 
by  the  Bureau  of  American  I!e])ublics  in  the  matter  of  bring- 
ing to  the  attention  of  .\nicrican  manufacturers  opjiortunities 
for  trade  development  in  South  and  Central  America.  Ac- 
cording to  the  despatch  in  question,  voluminous  reports  con- 
cerning the  operations  of  the  American  Bureau  have  been 
received  in  London  from  the  British  Ambassador  at  Wasii- 
ingion,  and  as  a  result,  the  London  Board  of  Trade  has  ap- 
pointed a  special  committee  on  the  development  of  foreign 
trade,  of  which  Sir  (Courtney  Boyle  is  the  chairman.     The 


committe*;  is  instructed  to  consider  and  advise  as  to  the  best 
means  of  bringing  to  the  knowledge  of  the  home  trades  the 
information  furnished  by  consuls  and  commercial  attaches 
and  other  represeirtatives  of  the  government  througliout 
South  America  as  to  the  supply  and  demand  and  other  con- 
ditions of  the  market  in  their  respective  districts,  and  as  to 
the  opportunities  which  they  afford  for  the  introduction  and 
development  of  British  trade.  Also  to  report  whether  it  is, 
in  their  opinion,  desirable  that  consuls  and  agents  should  be 
instructed  to  remit  home,  from  time  to  time,  samples  of  goods 
most  in  demand  in  such  market.?,  and,  if  they  should  be  of 
that  opinion,  to  advise  what  arrangements  .should  be  made 
for  the  exhibition  of  such  samples  in  London,  or  for  their 
circulation  with  the  aid  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  through 
the  provincial  trade  centres  with  information  as  to  price  and 
other  conditions  under  which  they  are  supplied. 

"The  London  Board  of  Trade. 

"Commenting  on  this  action  of  the  London  Board  of  Trade, 
Mr.  Smith,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics,  said: 
*l^ic  London  Board  of  Trade  is  the  most  powerful  agency 
of  the  English  Government  for  the  promotion  of  its  foreign 
commercial  affairs,  and.  unlike  this  modest  bureau,  em- 
bfiices  several  important  departments  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment.' 

"Its  annual  appropriations  in  the  line  in  which  this  bureau 
is  engaged  appear  to  be  somewhere  in  the  neighborhood  of 
$325,000,  while  those  of  this  bureau  for  the  current  year  for 
all  purposes  only  amount  to  $33,000.  However,  we  seem 
to  be  occupying  their  attention  somew-hat,  and  I  feel  bound 
to  say  that  if  the  business  men  of  the  United  States  will  give 
the  Ijureau  of  American  Republics  the  support  and  active 
co-ojieration  which  they  seem  everywhere  disposed  to  give, 
it  we  will  make  a  great  difference  in  our  trade  in  the  countries 
to  the  south  of  us,  and  ultimately  secure  the  prestige  and 
supremacy  there  which  we  ought  now  to  enjoy.  The  nations 
of  Europe  are  selling  annually  to  Mexico.  Central  and  South 
America  and  the  West  Indies  from  $100,000,000  to  $150,000,- 
000  worth  of  goods,  the  gTcat  bulk  of  which  ought  to  be  sold 
to  those  countries  by  the  United  States.  We  have  hitherto 
largely  neglected  this  great  natural  market,  and  apparently 
taken  to  these  countries  only  such  of  our  surplus  manufac- 
tured ])roducts  as  we  could  find  a  market  for  nowhere  else. 
In  the  past  year  or  two,  however,  we  have  begun  to  manufac- 
ture goods  in  great  volume,  especially  adapted  to  the  Central 
and  South  American  countries,  and  have  already  demon- 
strated that  we  can  meet  our  European  competitors  upon  the 
unfavorable  conditions  at  present  existing,  and,  on  anything 
like  equal  terms,  meet  them  and  beat  them  in  these  neutral 
markets  of  the  world. 

"The  Communion  of  Interests. 

"The  communion  of  interest  between  the  American  States 
is  great  and  striking,  and  must  be  apparent  to  all.  The 
Soufh  and  Central  American  Republics  are  fashioned  like 
unto  the  United  States,  and  there  can  be  no  clashing  of 
interests  between  us.  For  many  years  they  are  not  likely 
to  be  manufacturing  countries,  but  will  be  mainly  devoted 
to  agriculture,  foresting  and  mining.  They  will  naturally 
exchange  their  gold,  silver,  lumber,  dye  stuffs,  sugar,  coffee, 
iropical  fruits,  guano  and  other  sources  of  wealth  for  the 
manufactures  and  productions  of  the  United  Statets.  Tlierc 
is  no  good  reason  why  we  ought  not  to  sell  them  the  major 
porlion  of  the  flour,  cured  meats,  clothing,  cottons,  woolens, 
agricultural  imi)lements,  milling  machinen',  steam  engines, 
lioilors,  locomotives  and  the  tiumeroiis  other  articles  of  iron 
and  wooden  machinery  which  we  make,  but  which  as  yet  they 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


151 


do  not  inamifacture  in  sufficient  quanitities  to  provide  for 
their  own  necessities.  Every  maker  must  have  a  taker,  and 
surely  there  is  no  field  so  rich  in  results  for  the  future  to  the 
laborers  and  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  as  those 
vast  and  undeveloped,  but  immensely  rich  countries  to  the 
south  of  us.  If  this  great  Yankee  nation  shall  devote  but  a 
small  part  of  its  immense  energies  to  the  development  of  a 
trade  at  once  advantageous  to  North  and  South  America  as  it 
has  devoted  to  the  internal  development  of  the  United  States, 
we  will  soon  enjoy  an  ascendency  in  the  trade  which  they 
offer  us  on  terms  fair  and  advantageous  to  all  countries  in- 
terested.'' 

Now,  two  words  to  this  point.  We  are,  in  Brazil,  produ- 
cers of  raw  material.  In  business  they  say  there  is  no  senti- 
ment, only  self-interest.  But  if  we  are  producers  of  raw 
material  and  look  to  your  country  to  supply  us  with  manu- 
factured goods,  it  is  because  there  is  a  great  deal  of  sympathy 
in  our  countrj'  for  yours.  You  obtain  business  from  us  and 
we  receive  none  from  you,  which  is  not  a  })roof  of  frie'ndship 
and  no  fault  of  ours. 

My  mission  here  as  official  representative  of  my  govern- 
ment is  to  cement  closer  the  friendly  relations  between  the 
two  countries.  We  want  your  manufactured  products,  and 
we  buy  them  with  pleasure,  but  you  must  also  do  something 
to  give  us  better  facilities  for  communication.  You  can  do 
so  easily,  because  you  build  so  many  ships,  and,  moreover, 
the  establishment  of  communication  is  a  matter  of  self-in- 
terest and  not  of  sentiment.  If  we  export  to  the  United 
States  our  raw  materials,  and  import  from  you  your  manu- 
factured goods  represented  by  samples,  it  brings  you  into 
competition  with  other  manufacturers;  Europe  will  bid  for 
our  products  and  will  offer  us  her  goods,  .so  we  will  have  to 
buy  them  where  they  are  the  cheapest;  and  as  they  are  cheaper 
here,  we  would  like  to  buy  them  in  this  country,  if  you 
would  take  our  products  in  exchange  and  have  tire  proper 
shipping  facilities. 

Apart  from  our  friendship,  which  we  offer  you,  we  also 
have  our  interests  in  mind.  It  is  for  us  to  show  that  we,  in 
Brazil,  are  not  indifferent  to  this  great  institution,  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum,  whose  representative  attended 
the  opening  of  the  Commercial  Museum  at  Rio  de  Janeiro— 
a  branch  of  the  Philadelphia  Museum,  and  our  desire  for 
closer  relations  is  so  great  that  my  government  is  passing  a 
bill  in  our  Congress  which  I  hope  may  be  received  favorably, 
that  the  goods  you  wish  to  send  for  our  permanent  exposi- 
tion will  be  entered  free  of  duty  in  our  country.  I  cannot 
add  more  to  this,  because  the  facts  will  speak  for  me.  Now, 
to  continue  Major  Carson's  article: 

"Events  Tending  to  Our  Favor. 

"Events  seem  to  be  tending  in  our  favor  toward  a  great 
gain  in  this  Southern  trade.  Improved  and  continuous 
water  commimicafion  may  be  classed  as  the  first  essential  of 
commerce,  as  speedy  navigation  is  the  second  and  safe  tran- 
sit the  third.  In  a  modern  commercial  view,  necks  of  land 
such  as  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  were  created  but  to  be  cut 
through,  that  fleets  of  steamers  may  be  rushed  the  quicker 
to  and  forth,  and  the  nations  thus  put  in  command  of  mar- 
kets are  growing  rich.  We  have  a  good  example  of  the  great 
advantage  of  such  a  canal  as  oug'ht  to  be  constructed  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama  in  the  wonderful  Suez  Canal,  which 
has  given  C4reat  Britain  such  a  commanding  advantage  in 
the  trade  of  India,  The  need  of  such  a  canal  as  the  pro- 
posed Nicaragua  route  has  been  recognized  from  time  im- 
memorial, and  the  further  rapid  development  of  our  Pacific 
Coasit  commerce  is  of  itself  a  sufficient  inducement  to  our 
manufacturers  and  traders  to  complete  this  great  natural 
waterwav. 


"Progeess  Made. 

"Independent  of  the  canal,  sensible  progress  has  been  made 
in  creating  important  agencies  for  stimulating  and  directing 
the  export  trade  on  the  present  inadequate  lines  of  transpor- 
tation, such  for  example  as  the  National  Association  of 
Manufacturers,  the  Philadelphia  Museum  and  the  export 
associations  of  Ne\v  York  and  other  cities,  but  it  is  too  soon 
as  yet  to  reap  large  results  from  their  efforts.  The  fact  that 
manufacturers  now  constitute  a  notable  feature  of  our  export 
trade,  is,  therefore,  of  some  significance  and  it  becomes  even 
more  impressive  when  we  consider  that  the  United  States  is, 
with  the  exception  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  at  present  with- 
out any  treaty  arrangement  which  secures  to  it  the  advan- 
tages other  countries  enjoy  in  trade  with  each  other.  It 
would  seem  clear  that,  with  a  thorough  organization  and 
equipment  of  the  industries  and  trade  bodies  of  the  United 
States  for  the  purpose  of  extending  ouriselves  abroad,  and 
with  the  conclusion  of  commercial  agreements,  wisely 
guarded  to  permit  of  the  introduction  of  certain  classes  of 
foreign  goods  without  injury  to  our  domestic  manufacturers, 
the  gain  would  be  wonderfully  exhilirating,  and  to  the  im- 
mense advantage  of  all  the  leading  lines  of  our  establis:hed 
industries,  with  incidental  benefits  to  our  producers  of  raw 
materials. 

"Tributary  to  Us  Geographically. 

"The  opportunities  afforded  to  the  coimtries  south  of  us 
naturally  first  present  themselves  in  the  work  of  foreign 
trade  expansion.  These  countries  are,  geographically,  tribu- 
tary to  us.  Their  political  forms  are  modeled  upon  those 
of  the  United  States.  They  look  to  this  country  more  than 
to  any  other  for  support  and  protection.  They  are  anxious 
to  trade  with  us  on  terms  of  mutual  advantage.  The  whole 
of  the  West  Indies  may  be  said  to  be  dependent  on  the 
United  States,  not  only  for  the  sale  of  its  products,  but  also 
for  the  supply  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  Our  trade  with 
the  Antilles  follows  the  natural  law,  and  only  artificial  obsta- 
cles can  check  its  development.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
Mexico  and  Central  America.  The  countries  of  South  Amer- 
ica are  more  independent.  Their  commercial  relations  with 
Europe  are  a  matter  of  habit,  and  time  will  be  required  to 
counteract  the  adverse  influences  now  existing. 

"The  First  Steps. 

"But  the  first  great  steps  to  our  closer  intercourse  with 
them  as  with  the  rest  of  the  Latin-American  Repiiblics,  are 
better  means  of  transportation,  better  methods  of  banking, 
a  better  system  of  commercial  ratings,  so  that  longer  credits 
may  be  safely  extended,  and  a  safer  and  more  satisfactory 
business  intercourse  established.  These  are  great  questions, 
and  may  properly  occupy  the  attention  of  another  American 
International  Conference  in  1900.  The  Bureau  of  American 
Republics,  established  by  the  lasif  conference,  will  continue 
its  work  with  all  the  vigor  its  resources  admit,  upon  the  line 
that  no  true  reciprocity  in  trade  can  be  secured  without  a 
reciprocity  of  information,  so  that  the  manufacf:urers  and 
merchants  of  North  and  South  America  shall  become  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  one  another,  and  gradually  adjust 
themselves  to  the  close  relations  of  equitable  and  amicable 
business.  The  British  Board  of  Trade  is  certain  to  do  all  it 
can  to  exclude  us  from  this  and  from  other  markets,  yet  the 
advantages  we  enjoy  are  so  great  and  so  easily  increased 
that  it  will  be  our  fault  if  we  do  not  gain  very  rapidly  in  the 
fields  from  w-hich  they  have  so  long  practically  excluded  us." 

A  few  words  more.  Brazil,  since  it  became  a  republic,  did 
not  enjoy  very  much  the  sympathies  of  the  world,  even,  I 


152 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


may  say,  of  this  republic  until  a  few  years  ago.  I  will 
explain" till'  reason  why  we  became  a  republic,  and  every  one, 
I  am  sure,  will  then  do  us  justice. 

When,  on  November  15,  1889,  we  proclaimed  a  republic 
in  Brazil,  our  emperor — I  never  say  ex-emperor — the  late 
Emperor  l)om  Pedro,  was  very  ill.  He  was  not  capable  of 
governing  us;  he  knew  nothing  of  what  was  going  on.  The 
government  was  disintegrating  the  army  and  navy,  officers 
were  banished  from  the  country  on  the  strength  of  anony- 
mous letters  received  so  that  they  never  returned  or  were 
able  to  see  their  families.  You  will  excuse  me,  but  as  the 
representative  of  the  Brazilian  Government  I  shall  endeavor 
to  explain  our  position.  On  November  15,  1889,  we  knew 
that  the  emperor  would  abdicate  in  favor  of  his  daughter, 
who  had  married  a  Frenchman.  But  it  is  not  safe  to  be 
governed  by  a  foreigner,  and  we  would  not  submit  to  the 
government  of  Elizabeth,  his  daughter,  because  no  matter 
how  able  a  man  her  French  husband  might  be,  we  could  not 
accept  a  foreigner's  rule,  just  as  you  citizens  of  the  ITnited 
States  would  not  allow  a  foreigner  to  be  President  even  if  he 
could  be  elected  to  the  office. 

We  knew  that  on  December  2,  1897,  Dom  Pedro  would 
abdicate,  and  the  battalion  of  the  Rio  de  Janeiro  garrison 
was  sent  away  aljout  that  time,  and  after  that  another  bat- 
talion was  sent  to  the  far  off  boundary.  We  protested  against 
it.  We  said  no  more  battalions  or  ships  shall  be  shifted 
from  Rio  de  Janeiro.  On  November  15th,  when  General 
Deodoro  went  to  the  chief  of  the  government,  he  was  not 
received  by  Dom  Pedro,  but  we  could  not  recede  from  our 
demands.  We  are  now  a  republic,  as  you  very  well  know. 
Our  government  is  modeled  after  yours,  and  if  we  are  a 
republic  it  is  because  we  have  served  the  interests  of  our 
people  instead  of  the  interests  of  a  single  man.  This  is  the 
reason  why  our  government  is  being  transformed,  and  it  is 
certainly  worthy  of  the  sympathy  of  the  world.  We  receive 
every  one  that  comes  to  our  shores  with  the  same  great  hos- 
pitality, and  give  him  the  same  liberty  that  we  wish  to  find 
in  other  countries  and  therefore  we  have  a  claim  to  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  world.     (Applause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  ^have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Jacques 
Schuk,  of  Budapest,  Himgaij,  who  will  also  present  a  paper. 

Mr.  Jacques  Schuk: 

Mr.  Chainuan,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Being  the  delegate 
of  one  of  the  most  important  Chambers  of  Commerce  of 
Hungary,  that  of  Nagyvarad,  I  would  like,  as  all  the  other 
delegates  have  done,  to  give  you  some  idea  of  my  country, 
but,  knowing 'that  one  of  my  fellow  delegates — and  a  more 
c-apable  speaker  than  I  am — ^will  do  this,  I  will  only  give 
you  my  ideas  about  the  question  which  is  now  before  us. 

When  T  accepted  the  invitation  of  the  Museum  to  speak 
on  this  subject,  in  spite  of  my  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
English  language,  I  did  so  only  because  I  felt  sure  that  you 
would  take  into  consideration  t^he  fact  that  it  is  very  difficult 
for  a  Hungarian,  who  has  never  been  a  politician,  but  only 
ft  merchant,  to  make  a  speech  in  a  foreign  language,  and 
especially  in  English,  which  we  have  so  rarely  an  opportunity 
to  use;  for  I  regret  to  say  that  our  commercial  I'elations 
with  England,  as  well  as  with  the  United  States,  are  not  as 
yet  extensive. 

When  I  came  here,  I  eami.^ — like  Tny  fellow-delegates — with 
the  intention  and  with  the  desire  of  increasing  the  business 
relations  between  my  country  and  the  United  States.  Con- 
trary to  the  other  delegates  who  have  already  spoken,  T  do 
not  intend  to  hold  a  lecture  about  my  own  countrj',  nor  to  give 
you  such  interesting  descriptions  of  the  political,  geographi- 


cal and  commercial  situations  of  Hungary,  as  some  of  the 
most  prominent  delegates,  such  as  Hon.  Reeves,  have  already 
given  you  of  their  countries.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
publication  of  the  data  collected  from  the  papers  which  have 
already  been  read,  will  prove  the  most  valuable  hand-book 
of  commercial  geography  which  has  ever  been  produced  in 
our  commercial  circles. 

I  adopted  another  way  to  fulfill  my  task.  In  order  to 
show  American  manufacturers  the  great  importance  of  our 
markets,  in  order  to  acquaint  them'  with  the  customs  of  our 
country,  and  with  the  progress  we  have  made,  I  came  six 
weeks  before  the  Congress  began,  and  have  endeavored  to 
establish  direct  connections  between  American  manufactur- 
ers and  our  importing  houses.  In  the  meantime,  I  have  not 
declined  to  buy  at  once  articles  which  I  deemed  saleable  in 
our  country,  and  I  think  that  I  can  say  that  my  endeavors 
Iiave  been  successful,  and  that  hundreds  of  manufacturers 
with  whom  I  have  come  into  contact,  or  with  whom  I  have 
corresponded,  now  have  a  correct  impression  of  our  country. 
1  hope  that  my  efforts  in  this  behalf  will  prove  as  beneficial 
to  you  and  the  extension  of  your  trade  as  to  ourselves,  and 
that  it  will  induce  my  fellow  delegates  to  do  the  same. 

Speaking  of  the  question  of  parcels  post,  I  can  only  view 
it  from  my  own  .standpoint  and  from  the  experience  I  have 
had  in  my  own  business,  which  is  pi'obably  the  only  practi- 
cal way.  I  think  it  is  a  fair  comparison  to  state  that  the 
shipping  of  goods  by  the  parcels  post  is  to  the  .shipping  of 
goods  by  common  freight  as  the  telegTaph  and  telephone  are 
to  communication  through  letters.  In  former  years  every- 
body was  satisfied  to  communicate  and  transact  business 
through  letters,  now  there  is  no  important  transaction  which 
does  not  require  a  telegraph  message  or  the  use  of  the  'phone. 
So  it  is  with  the  shipment  of  goods  by  common  freight  and 
shipping  by  the  parcels  post.  In  this  way,  the  goods  can 
be  forwarded  more  rapidly;  there  is  no  necessity  of  going 
through  the  minor  details  which  cause  so  much  delay,  and 
the  consignee  receives  the  goods  without  further  annoyance. 
Moreover,  the  parcel  is  small  and  does  not  require  the  pack- 
ing which  goods  sent  in  the  ordinary  way  by  rail  would 
need.  No  bills  of  lading  are  necessary,  detention  in  the  cus- 
tom house  is  avoided;  in  short,  this  is  the  greatest  time- 
saving  device  for  sending  goods.  If  business  is  to  be  done, 
samples  are  required,  and  we  cannot  wait  the  length  of  time 
that  these  would  take  to  reach  their  destination  if  for- 
warded by  common  freight.  The  parcel  thus  acts  as  a  mis- 
sionary in  a  foreign  country,  and  is  the  peacemaker  of  for- 
eign trade. 

If  we  leave  the  parcels  post  to  the  management  of  private 
individuals  or  com])anies,  its  most  important  object  will  not 
be  attained.  That  is,  if  this  method  of  transportation  is  left 
to  five,  ten  or  even  more  firms,  their  business  would  not 
require  them  to  send  a  carload  of  parcels  each  day,  but  they 
must  wait  one.  two  and  sometimes  four  weeks  before  they 
would  have  suflicient  parcels  to  make  it  profitable  for  them 
to  send  them  to  their  destination.  On  the  other  hand,  if 
the  parcels  post  is  put  into  the  hands  of  the  po.stoffice,  and 
the  parcels  from  the  whole  universe  were  sent  by  this  means, 
carloads  would  be  shipped  each  day  and  the  delivery  of  goods 
would  be  as  expeditious  as  the  delivery  of  letters. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  facilities  of  the  parcels  post 
make  it  one  of  the  most  important  devices  for  increasing 
trade.  In  looking  over  the  statistics  of  my  country,  I  find 
that  our  exports  have  always  increased  with  those  countries 
with  whom  we  have  parcels  post  agreements.  Thus,  Hun- 
gary itself,  in  the  year  1897,  received  no  less  than  five  million 
of  parcels  from  Austria,  nearly  six  hundred  thousand  from 
Germany,  whereas  the  parcels  which  came  from  America  did 
not  rcaih  the  amount  of  f(Uir  thousand. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  American  nuuiufacturers,  as  well  as 


EIGHTH  DATS  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


153 


the  Government  of  the  United  States,  realize  the  great  im- 
jjortance  of  this  question,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
agreement  with  Germany  in  regard  to  this  has  been  tlie  out- 
come of  this  need.  If  I  now  claim  that  the  same  i^rivileges 
which  you  have  given  Germany  in  this  agreement,  are  not 
only  due  to  my  own  country,  Hungary,  but  also  to  the  mon- 
archy of  Austria-Hungary  and  all  the  other  comitries  of 
Europe,  it  is  not  because  we  are  jealous  of  our  German 
competitors.  I  think  that  the  generous  and  broad-minded 
American  people  should  not  give  to  one  country,  and  that 
country  which  is  their  greatest  competitor,  the  facilities  of 
the  parcels  post.  If  this  partiality  is  shown,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  all  the  surrounding  countries  of  Central  Europe  will 
use  the  German  postoffice  for  forwarding  all  their  parcels 
not  only  to  the  Ignited  States,  but  also  for  sending  parcels 
frona  the  United  States  to  all  the  different  countries  of 
Europe.  In  other  words,  Germany  will  be  the  centre  of, 
and  control  the  trade  of  all  Europe.  I  feel  confident  that 
this  will  l)e  as  injurious  to  your  own  trade  as  to  ours,  and 
that  the  only  way  to  profit  by  the  great  advantages  offered 
by  the  facilities  of  the  parcels  post,  is  to  give  the  same  facili- 
ties to  all  the  other  countries  in  the  world.     (Applause.) 

Director  If.  P.  Wilson: 

I  will  call  upon  Mr.  A.  A.  Rutis,  of  Brazil,  delegate  from 
Sao  Paulo.  (Not  present.)  Mr.  Rutis  is  not  here  at  the 
present  moment. 

I  will  call,  therefore,  upon  Mr.  Virchand  R.  Gandhi,  dele- 
gate from  India  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
Philadel2)hia.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Virchand  B.  Gandhi: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  This  afternoon  I 
intend  to  speak  on  two  important  subjects;  one  is  the  parcels 
post  and  the  other  is  commercial  education  in  America. 
Both  of  these  subjects  are  of  more  importance  to  your  manu- 
facturers than  to  my  people  in  India.  In  the  first  place,  the 
prime  object  of  this  Commercial  Congress  is  the  extension  of 
American  export  trade.  Now,  there  are  two  great  factors  in 
a  nation  of  foreign  commerce  which  must  be  attended  to  if 
the  manufacturers  of  the  country  wish  to  succeed.  The 
fiLrst  is,  that  they  themselves  must  have  a  competent  knowl- 
edge of  the  methods  of  business,  of  the  conditions  and  re- 
quirements in  the  countries  with  which  they  wish  to  deal. 
I  find -in  this  country  that  the  manufacturers  are  educated; 
they  have  a  knowledge  of  mechanics  and  various  other  sci- 
ences. They  also  have  a  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  algebra 
a,nd  other  mathematical  sciences,  but  so  far  as  commercial 
geography  is  concerned,  so  far  as  the  economics  of  trade  are 
concerned,  so  far  as  tlie  requirements  and  conditions  of  trade 
in  foreign  countries  are  concerned,  I  find  a  wonderful  ignor- 
ance. A  manufacturer  in  this  country  would  talk  to  me 
about  his  article  for  a  half  hour;  would  give  a  beautiful 
description  as  to  how  it  is  made  and  how  it  would  sell  in 
India.  But  ultimately,  I  would  tell  him  that  he  is  utterly 
ignorant  of  the  conditions  of  trade  in  my  country.  It  just 
reminds  me  of  a  judge  in  England  before  whom  a  lawyer 
cited  many  authorities,  especially  in  the  form  of  statutes  and 
acts,  and  he  took  two  hours  in  doing  that.  Ultimately  the 
judge  said:  "My  good  friend,  those  statutes  and  acts  were 
repealed  twenty  years  ago." 

Now  that  is  just  the  case  with  many  of  your  manufactur- 
ers. I  know  it  would  he  most  polite  or  politic  to  speak  to  you 
only  of  the  most  pleasant  and  agreeable  things,  but  we  know 
we  .are  all  here  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  better  relations 
between  the  different  civilized  countries  of  the  world,  and 
therefore  we  must  actually  face  the  problems  that  are  before 
u.s — the  two  problems  of  commercial  education  and  parcels 


post  are  the  most  important.  Unless  your  manufacturers, 
your  merchants,  your  agents,  your  shippers  know  something 
about  commerce  in  general,  about  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  the  conditions  and  requirements  of  foreign  countries, 
you  cannot  extend  your  export  trade.  We  must  all  admit 
that  a  commercial  education  cannot  be  thoroughly  given  in 
a  school — ^in  an  ordinary  school — nor  can  it  be  thoroughly 
given  in  a  college  or  university.  So  far  as  commerce  is  con- 
cerned, you  learn  it  simply  by  being  engaged  in  it,  but  then 
there  are  certain  scientific  aspects  of  commerce  that  must  be 
studied  and  known  by  all  who  wish  to  take  part  in  inter- 
national commerce.  You  must  understand  how  the  wealth 
of  a  country,  say,  for  instance,  India — how  the  wealth  of 
India  passes  from  that  country  into  England,  or  how  the 
trade  balance  of  India  is  equalized  by  the  trade  balances  of 
other  countries.  You  must  study  all  those  things;  you  must 
also  know  sometliing  about  finance  and  then  about  the  eco- 
nomic uses  of  the  various  products  of  the  countries  of  the 
world.  You  must  also  know  something  about  the  chemistry 
of  the  various  products,  and  finally  you  must  know  some- 
thing about  the  currencies  of  the  various  countries.  The  very 
fact  that  all  your  price  lists  sent  to  foreign  countries — ex- 
cept to  South  America — are  sent  with  quotations  in  the  cur- 
rency of  the  United  States,  and  the  terms  "f .  o.  b.  New  York,' 
show  that  the  manufacturers  or  the  agents  here  have  no 
knowledge  of  the  countries  from  which  we  come.  Those  price 
lists  are  of  no  use  in  our  country.  They  are  simply  a  waste 
of  money  and  energy  and  time  on  your  part.  I  laiow  that 
time  is  of  value  to  you,  although  it  is  not  of  so  much  value 
in  my  country.  Still  we  do  not  like  that  your  time  and  energy 
should  be  wasted  away  at  that  rate. 

So  far  as  commercial  education  is  concerned  I  will  say  one 
word  in  conclusion,  and  that  is,  that  you  have  in  this  country 
a  wonderful  institution  that  is  willing  to  give  you  this  educa- 
tion. Of  course,  in  the  young  age,  we  may  be  able  to  attend 
schools  and  colleges  and  learn  everything  there;  in  the  ad- 
vanced age  it  is  impossible — but  here  you  have  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum  (applause),  which  is  willing  and 
ready  to  give  you  all  the  information  you  want,  information 
about  the  character  of  India.  If  you  want  any  information 
concerning  the  condition  of  trade,  or  trade  in  dry  goods  in 
Sicily,  they  are  willing  to  give  you  that  information,  and 
the}'  take  much  trouble  in  getting  that  information  for  you. 
I  only  wish  that  all  the  trade  organizations,  the  commercial 
organizations,  and  organizations  of  manufacturers  would 
largely  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity  which  is  offered 
to  them. 

Now,  I  have  come  to  the  other  point,  and  that  is  the  parcels 
post — commercial  education  with  reference  to  the  personal 
capabilities  and  capacities  of  the  manufacturers,  merchants 
and  agents.  The  parcels  post  is  an  instrument  that  facilitates 
the  extension  of  export  trade.  Now,  for  instance,  when  I 
am  in  this  country  I  may  like  to  send  a  few  watches  to  India. 
I  know  that  some  of  my  friends  would  like  them,  and  I 
would  like  to  send  them,  but  your  post  office  is  not  willing 
to  send  them.  The  only  way  for  me  to  do  is  simply  to  go  to 
England  and  buy  those  things  there,  and,  of  course,  as  I  can- 
not go  there  and  get  them  as  cheaply  as  I  could  biiy  them  here, 
I  have  to  go  without  my  watches,  and  so  with  many  other 
articles. 

It  is,  therefore,  entirely  to  your  interest  to  present  this 
matter  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  extend  the 
system  of  the  parcels  post  to  all  the  countries  that  are  within 
the  postal  union.  I  do  not  see  any  reason,  I  do  not  under- 
stand why  this  parcels  post  has  not  been  extended,  and  the 
only  reason  that  I  can  think  of  is  simply  this,  that  some  of 
your  express  companies  or  steamship  agents  or  the  owners 
might  not  be  willing  to  create  a  demand  for  them,  or  that 
they  may  be  jealous  of  the  fact  of  their  trade,  and  that  busi- 


154 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


ni'ss  would  be  rlimiiiis^hed.  i>ut,  if  their  trade  and  activities 
would  be  diminished,  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  advantages 
would  ho  returned  in  favor  of  the  people  (applause);  all  the 
money  that  the  post  office  would  get  would  be  used  by  the 
^rovernment,  and  to  that  extent  your  taxes  would  be  lower. 
Tliereforc,  it  would  be  wisdom  on  the  part  of  the  govern- 
ment, on  the  part  of  the  people,  on  the  part  of  the  manu- 
facturers, to  urge  this  matter  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
and  Senate,  and  I  am  quite  sure  that  if  the  parcels  post  is 
extended  tn  all  the  countries  of  the  world,  trade  in  many 
lines  will  I>e  opened.  I  was  just  thinking  only  a  few  days 
ago — I  had  an  inquiry  from  India — as  to  whether  cotton  and 
wheat  could  be  exported  to  India.  One  of  my  customers  was 
willing  to  export  to  India  large  quantities  of  cotton.  I  found 
that  I  could  not  send  to  India  five  pounds  of  cotton  liy  parcels 
post.  Well,  what  shall  1  do?  I  shall  have  to  go  to  Liver- 
|i  )ol  and  send  the  cotton  from  that  place.  If  1  could  send 
cotton  from  here,  you  can  see  my  friend  in  India  would  be 
able  to  say  whether  he  would  like  it  or  not.  and  whether  it 
was  suitable  or  not  for  his  cotton  mill.  But  then  there  would 
br  diniculties  in  my  way  which  cannot  be  surmounted.  I 
can  only  send  it  through  an  express  agent,  through  a  steam- 
ship line  that  will  charge  a  very  high  rate,  in  fact,  these 
difficulties  are  an  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  American  ex- 
port trade,  and  the  sooner  you  remove  them  the  better  it  is  for 
y.iur  interests.    (Applause.) 

Dirertor  W.  P.  Wilsfm: 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  H.  Rotherham, 
delegate  from  Melbourne,  Australia,  who  will  now  address  you. 

Afr.  H.  Rntherhnm: 

I  do  not  know  why  I  have  been  selected  to  speak  on  this 
subject,  unless  it  is  because  I  have  suffered  from  the  lack  of 
propel  and  efficient  postal  exchange  between  this  country  and 
Australia,  in  regard  to  the  transmission  of  samples  and  small 
packages. 

It  has  always  been  a  matter  of  great  surprise  to  me  that  a 
country  so  enterprising,  so  progressive  and  aggressive  as  the 
United  States  undoubtedly  is,  should  allow  the  present  state 
of  postal  exchange  in  this  regard,  between  the  Australian 
Colonies  and  this  country,  to  remain  in  operation. 

T  believe  that  one  of  the  noblest  and  greatest  objects  of 
this  Congress  is  to  remove,  or  endeavor  to  do  so,  any  and  every 
restriction  which  hampers  trade;  the  one  great  idea  being  to 
make  it  easy  rather  than  difficult  for  the  quick  and  safe 
metliod  of  commercial  exchange  and  transit  of  goods  between 
this  country  and  foreign  markets, — to  break  down  all  barriers 
which  place  an  embargo  on  commercial  relationship. 

One  can  scarcely  believe,  that  in  this  progressive  age,  the 
liovernment  of  the  ITnited  States  has  not  adopted  a  parcels 
post  system  with  the  Australian  Colonies.  To  show  you  what 
ibis  want  of  quick  parcels  connection  means,  to  the  business 
man  on  the  other  side,  let  me  give  you  an  instance. 

Some  few  months  ago,  I  had  occasion  to  forward  a  few  small 
samples  of  a  certain  manufactured  prodiict,  weighing  a  few 
pounds,  to  the  Fnited  States,  and  I  had  the  pleasure  of  pay- 
ing no  less  a  sum  than  $8.50  freight  for  their  transmission,  he- 
sides  the  cost  of  making  out  bill  of  lading  and  other  docu- 
ments. Now  I  could  have  sent  the  same  parcel  to  anv  city 
in  England  for  $1.00. 

The  limit  of  weight  of  any  sample  that  can  be  transmitted 
between  Australia  and  the  ITnited  States  is  10  oz.  Wliile  be- 
tween those  Colonies  and  almost  any  other  country  a  parcel 
3  feet  G  inches  in  length  and  6  feet  in  girth  and  length  com- 
bined. witli  a  weight  of  11  pounds,  can  be  forwarded  at  a  very 
low  rntc.  The  charges  for  the  carnage  of  parcels  from  Aus- 
trnlin  to  England  are  as  follows:    1  shilling  for  the  first  pound. 


and  <i  pence  for  every  additional  pound.  The  maximum 
weight  allowed  by  the  government  is  11  pounds  for  one  parcel. 

I  sincerely  trust  that  a  recommendation  will  go  forth  from 
this  Congress  to  the  Government,  asking  it  to  seriously  con- 
si. Kr  tills  matter,  and  bring  into  ojjeration  the  great  benefits 
irt  commerce,  which  arc  possible  under  a  liberal  parcels  post 
system.  It  is  to  me,  sir,  an  outrage  on  the  commercial  com- 
munity of  this  great  country  that  such  conditions  as  these 
should  be  allowed  to  exist. 

This  is  a  mo.st  important,  matter  for  the  manufacturers  of 
this  country,  who  arc  cultivating  export  business.  America 
cannot  afford  to  remain  in  this  isolated  position.  It  is  an  in- 
jury to  commerce,  and  an  insult  to  the  progressive  manufac- 
turers who  have,  and  are,  upholding  the  commercial  interests 
of  this  gi'eat  Republic,  or  foreign  markets.  I  ask,  gentlemen, 
that  you  take  this  matter  up  with  vigor,  let  not  political 
movements  impede  your  progress,  but  go  right  on,  leading 
rather  than  slowly  follow'ing  in  the  wake  of  other  nations. 

I  am  told  that  the  cost  of  the  transmission  of  parcels  from 
the  seaboard  would  l>e  too  costly  to  make  the  undertaicing  a 
paying  one — that  the  labor  and  necessary  machinery  would 
be  enormous.  W'hy,  sir,  do  the  American  people  admit  failure 
before  trial?  Are  they  overcome  before  making  the  attempt? 
Surely  not.  If  necessary,  why  not  charge  an  additional  mile- 
age rate  from  the  seaboard  to  the  interior.  I  cannot  believe 
any  undertaking  is  too  difficult  or  too  vast  for  this  enter- 
prising nation  to  grapple  with  to  evolve  a  successful  issue. 

Director  W.  F.  Wilson: 

I  have  to  introduce  Mr.  J.  M.  Keith,  of  Costa  Rica,  who  will 
also  speak  to  us  on  the  subject  of  "Parcels  Post." 

Mr.  J.  M.  Keith: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen. — I  was  informed  when  I 
arrived  here  this  afternoon  I  was  to  hear  a  discussion  and 
that  I  was  to  take  part  in  it.  I  take  great  pleasure  in  giving 
my  testimony  to  the  efficiency  of  "parcels  post"  between  the 
United  States  and  the  country  I  represent,  Costa  Rica.  We 
have  had  a  parcels  post  arrangement  w'ith  the  United  States 
for  about  five  or  six  years.  Part  of  that  time,  we  were  forced 
to  send  out  packages  by  means  of  the  International  Express 
Company,  which  charged  us  anywhere  from  tw'o  dollars  to 
five  dollars  for  the  most  insignificant  packages.  At  the  pres- 
ent time,  we  can  send  a  package  weighing  five  kilos  into  the 
United  States  from  Costa  Rica  and  vice  versa.  This  is  of 
great  advantage  to  our  merchants,  who  avail  themselves  of 
the  parcels  post  in  bringing  novelties  in,  and  a  thousand  and 
one  other  things  which  they  do  not  care  to  send  by  the  regu- 
lar steamship  routes.  We  also  have  the  advantage  of  for- 
eigners being  able  to  receive  their  remembrances  on  Christ- 
mas and  on  their  birthdays,  which  is  a  connecting  link  be- 
tween themselves  and  those  at  home.  It  is  difficult  for  them 
to  secure  in  any  other  way  the  advantage  of  the  parcels  post. 
This  is  really  of  great  use  to  the  foreign  colony  abroad.  Wlien 
the  United  States  Government  makes  parcels  post  treaties 
throughout  South  America,  by  which  the  United  States  is 
really  helping  the  American  colony  as  much  as  by  any  other 
provisions  of  treaty,  they  will  prove  to  be  an  enduring  link 
between  Americans  abroad  and  friends  at  home. 

We  have  also  in  Costa  Rica  great  facilities  for  clearing 
goods  through  the  custom  house  when  they  come  by  jiarcels 
post.  Such  packages  reach  us  from  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia in  about  eight  days,  and  on  their  arrival  are  sent  im- 
mediately to  the  interior,  being  cleared  at  the  custom  house  by 
a  special  officer  detailed  for  that  purpose.  Therefore,  in  nine 
days,  at  the  utmost,  we  are  able  to  receive  our  packages, 
which,  if  they  came  to  us  by  any  other  means,  would  not  reach 
us  for  a  fortniijht  or  three  weeks. 


MGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


155 


While  speaking  on  this  subjeci;,  I  wish  to  call  your  atten- 
tion to  another  tiling  we  have  in  Costa  Eica,  which  is  an 
example  of  the  liberality  of  our  government,  and  that  is  the 
practice  of  sending  newspapers  and  literary  matter  free 
through  the  mails.  In  this  matter,  I  think  Costa  Rica  has 
excelled  every  other  country,  both  in  liberality  of  treatment 
and  accommodation  to  foreigners. 


Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  now  the  pleasure  of  calling  upon  R.  N.  Fairbanks, 
to  make  some  remarks  on  this  question. 

Mr.  B.  N.  Fairhanhs: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  will  be  rather 
difficult  to  add  to  the  very  excellent  paper  that  was  first  read, 
and  the  remarks  that  have  been  made  since,  but  I  will  be 
very  glad  to  give  a  little  cumulative  evidence,  gathered  from 
residents  of  foreign  countries,  as  to  the  necessity  of  a  United 
States  parcels  post  system. 

It  would  be  absurd  if,  while  other  government's  were  giving 
us  a  postal  service,  this  country  should  still  be  clinging  lo 
tlie  old  method  of  sending  letters  by  freight  and  express.  The 
United  btates  has  the  same  rule  as  otlier  countries  with  re- 
gard to  all  other  foreign  matters,  except  as  to  newspapers 
alone.  We  are  pursuing  m  that  respect  the  method  of  ii89, 
instead  of  the  methods  m  use  at  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  1  am  able  to  say,  from  my  own  personal  experience 
with  tne  matter  of  parcels  post,  that  it  greatly  handicaps  the 
American  merchant  abroad. 

1  have  from  lime  to  time  sat  at  the  desk  of  the  merchant 
in  Aubtraha,  J\ew  Zealand  and  India,  and  uniformly,  there 
would  come  to  him  hrst  the  letters,  tnen  by  succeeding  mes- 
senger, tiu'ough  parcels  post,  the  samples,  packages  and  adver- 
tising matter,  wiuch  are  sent,  following  tne  letters.  To  illus- 
trate: borne  things  woiUd  come  from  Uermauy  and  some  from 
the  United  States,  but  m  those  from  the  latter  country,  there 
would  be  no  method;  while  those  from  Germany  would  closely 
follow  the  letters  regai'diug  the  same.  Articles  are  not  sent  in 
that  way  from  the  Umted  fcJtates,  they  come  by  a  separate 
service  altogether,  and  sometimes  they  are  lost;  this  happens 
in  many  cases,  and  they  do  not  reach  the  merchant  for  whose 
beneht  they  are  sent. 

If  any  member  of  this  Congress  has  not  traveled  widely 
and  extensively  and  used  the  parcels  post,  he  cannot  conceive 
of  the  beneht  of  an  arrangement  of  this  kind  as  the  means  of 
sending  samples  by  the  mails.  Parcels  post  is  used  for  the 
transportation  of  actual  merchandise;  still  its  use  as  such  is 
not  so  important.  But  1  have  noticed  its  use  as  a  matter  of 
great  convenience,  especially  by  the  American  colony,  as  sug- 
gested by  the  delegate  from  Costa  Rica.  Th'ere  is  one  other 
point  with  regard  to  some  statements  which  have  been  made, 
which  I  desire  to  quite  emphatically  deny,  and  that  is,  that 
there  is  any  great  difficulty  in  the  collection  of  duties  under 
the  customs  tariff.  I  have  found  that  the  matter  seems  to 
be  attended  to  by  a  special  service,  and  I  do  not  know  that 
there  is  any  hesitation  in  extending  the  reciprocity  treaty  on 
this  account. 

Then  I  can  assure  you  a  new  parcels  post  arrangement 
with  the  Republic  of  Mexico  had  not  been  in  force  a  week, 
before  it  was  found  to  be  of  great  practical  value,  and  this 
will  be  found  to  be  the  case  in  every  country  where  the  sys- 
tem is  adopted,  and  the  system  should  be  recommended  by 
this  International  Congress  for  universal  adoption  by  this  gov- 
ernment, and  the  delegates,  both  American  and  foreign, 
should  put  themselves  emphatically  on  record  for  its  speedy 
adoption.    (Applause.)  


Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  would  like  to  ask  whether  there  are  other  delegates  pres- 
ent who  wish  to  speak  on  this  question.  Mr.  Rutis  is  here  now. 

Mr.  A.  A.  Rutis  (Sao  Paulo,  Brazil): 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Although  my 
mission  to  this  Congress  consists  only  in  bringing  my 
State,  Sao  Paulo,  briehy  and  reliably  described,  to  the  atten- 
tion of  a  large  number  of  business  people,  I  am  very  much 
gratified  to  be  invited  by  Dr.  Wilson  to  make  a  few  remarks 
on  the  parcels  post  service. 

For  several  years  I  have  studied  this  question  in  Brazil, 
with  a  view  of  finding  a  method  that  could  be  generally  and 
successfully  used  by  the  public  at  large,  to  whom  the  import- 
ance of  such  a  service  is  obvious. 

I  do  not  merely  speak  of  the  parcels  post  system  for  use  as 
a  domestic  institution,  but  from  the  standpoint  of  interna- 
tional commerce  as  well.  If  the  system  has  not  developed 
gi'eatly  up  to  the  present  time,  the  principal  reason  may  be 
found  in  the  stringent  tariff  laws,  which  hamper  the  service, 
making  it  so  difficult  that  in  many  cases  it  is  not  possible  to 
utilize  it.  During  many  years  of  observation  in  Europe,  I 
had  suflicient  opportunity  to  turn  my  attention  to  this  matter, 
and  I  found  that  there  are  only  two  countries  in  which  the 
service  has  reached  a  stage  of  perfection  satisfactory  to  the 
manufacturers  and  the  public,  namely,  in  Germany  and  in 
Switzerland.  In  other  countries  the  service  is  discouraged 
by  the  proliibitive  measures  of  certain  postal  statutes,  and  be- 
cause of  failure  to  collect  the  money  on  delivery. 

I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  systematizing  of  the 
parcels  post  service  for  international  use  should  be  carried  out 
exactly  in  the  same  manner  in  which  the  postal  and  tele- 
graph service  was  established  by  the  International  Bureau  in 
Berne,  Switzerland,  for  all  the  countries  belonging  to  the  In- 
ternational Postal  Union.  If  the  principal  countries  could 
agree  on  a  certain  plan  to  promote  the  parcels  post  service 
under  the  laws  governing  the  international  postal  service,  the 
first  consequence  would  be  that  the  railroads,  which  are  now 
obliged  to  cari-y  the  mail  without  government  compensation, 
would  have  to  make  new  provisions  for  the  construction  of 
extra  cars  to  carry  the  parcels,  on  account  of  the  new  service 
being  for  the  public  welfare.  In  many  countries  where  the 
railroads  are  owned  by  the  government  there  would  be  noth- 
ing to  hinder  the  realization  of  this  project,  but  in  countries 
where  this  is  not  the  case,  laws  and  decrees  would  have  to  be 
enacted  to  insure  its  being  carried  out. 

With  the  progress  of  civilization,  and  the  underlying  con- 
stantly growing  conviction  of  the  people  that  private  in- 
terest must  give  way  to  the  public  w'eal,  the  parcels  post  ser- 
vice stands  a  fair  chance  in  the  near  future  of  developing  into 
an  international  service,  regulated  and  managed  with  the  same 
perfection  that  characterizes  our  mail  service. 

Entirely  different,  however,  is  the  outlook  regarding  the 
handling  of  this  service  when  we  come  to  consider  the  trans- 
mission of  parcels  across  the  ocean.  As  is  well  known,  the 
large  steamship  companies,  such  as  the  Royal  Mail  Line,  the 
German  Lloyd,  the  Italian  Company  Florio-Rubattino,  the 
Austro-Hungarian  Lloyd,  etc.,  undertake  to  carry  the  mail 
free  of  charge  in  consideration  of  the  subsidy  granted  them 
by  the  respective  governments  for  running  their  lines  on  time 
according  to  shipping  schedules  agreed  upon. 

As  most  of  my  fellow  delegates,  as  well  as  the  audience, 
are  surely  familiar  with  the  manner  in  which  the  trans- 
Atlantic  mail  is  handled  on  shipboard,  I  shall  not  attempt  a 
description  of  it.  No  matter  how  large  the  mail  may  be  it  is 
invariably  transmitted  to  the  steamers  with  comparative  facil- 
ity, but  the  conditions  would  change  if  a  large  and  extensive 
parcels  post  service  were  to  be  accommodated  at  the  same 
time.    It  is  hardly  imaginable  that  the  present  acconunoda- 


156 


peoceedinttS  of  the  inteknational  commercial  congress 


Hons  afforded  by  the  trans-Atlantic  mail  steamers  would  be 
sufficient  to  meet  the  requirements  of  a  thorough  system  of 
parcels  post;  on  the  contrary,  it  would  probably  develop  to 
sucli  au  c.xlent  that  additional  space  on  shipboard  wouJd  be 
necessary. 

Now,  in  order  to  realize  the  project  in  a  practical  way, 
it  is  my  opinion  that  the  parcels  post  service  must  be  placed 
on  the  same  basis  as  the  existing  International  Postal  Union, 
and  be  made  binding  between  all  the  nations,  which  by  virtue 
of  the  Union,  are  already  bonded  together.  The  details  of 
the  management  and  the  terms  could,  of  course,  be  arranged 
between  the  governments  and  the  steamship  owners,  and  as 
the  subsidies  arc  granted  by  the  governments,  they  would 
constantly  have  a  weapon  against  the  steamship  companies  for 
exacting  favorable  terras  of  transmission. 

For  example,  the  space  occupied  by  parcels  coiild  be  paid 
for  on  the  basis  of  so  many  cubic  yards  or  metres,  or  by 
weight,  and  the  freight  rate  for  parcels  on  each  vessel  could 
be  about  one-half  the  rate  of  other  freight  abroad.  A  cer- 
tain amount  of  free  space  could,  of  course,  be  obtained  by 
the  governments,  and  if  a  beginning  were  once  made,  agree- 
ments could  be  favorably  renewed  from  time  to  time  for  the 
benefit  of  the  nations. 

I  therefore  wish  that  my  fellow-delegates  on  their  return 
home,  as  well  as  those  who  are  interested  in  this  question  here, 
would,  by  word  and  pen  and  deed,  exert  their  influence  toward 
urging  the  various  governments  to  adopt  the  idea  of  sub- 
sidizing steamship  companies. 

As  I  said  at  the  outset,  I  find  that  there  is  a  second  obstacle, 
which,  however,  may  be  considered  as  only  momentary, 
namely,  the  extra  work  which  a  parcels  post  service  would 
entail  in  the  custom  house.  It  is  clear  that  once  properly 
developed,  the  parcels  service  would  enormously  augment  the 
labors  of  the  custom  house  officials  since  a  verification  of 
every  parcel  woiild  be  necessarv';  but  even  if  this  would  be 
the  case,  great  progress  could  be  made  by  the  practical  appli- 
cation of  good-will  on  the  part  of  the  officials  to  the  exclusion 
of  bureaucratic  measures. 

Each  country  has  its  own  peculiar  customs  regulations, 
which  differ  as  widely  as  day  and  night,  and  I  hardly  think 
that  an  agreement  tending  to  level  these  differences  could 
be  effected  at  present;  or,  in  other  words,  that  this  service 
could  be  comprised  and  managed  by  a  general  international 
law. 

From  the  standpoint  that  "unity  brings  strength,"  I  be- 
lieve I  may  suggest  a  method  by  which  this  obstacle,  at  least, 
can  be  removed,  relying,  however,  as  I  do  on  those  interested 
to  persistently  agitate  the  adoption  of  the  parcels  service  be- 
fore their  respective  local  authorities. 

To  open  every  parcel  at  the  custom  house  of  the  respective 
country  is  absolutely  impossible,  as  too  much  time  would  be 
wasted,  -just  as  it  would  be  ludicrous  to  reqiiire  receiving 
clerks  to  read  the  full  address  on  a  letter,  instead  of  merely 
reading  the  place  of  destination,  as  is  the  rule. 

The  following  method,  however,  might  be  conveniently 
adopted  to  surmount  the  obvious  obstacles  the  introduction 
of  the  parcels  service  would  have  to  meet. 

Having  fixed  the  various  classifications  of  forms,  weights, 
measures,  etc.,  by  international  law,  every  country  should  have 
the  power  to  require  securily  from  the  shipper,  thnf  is,  those 
firms  which  would  avail  themselves  of  the  parcels  service 
should  funiish  security  in  confomiify  with  the  regulations 
l)rovided,  and  the  security  should  bo  proportionate  to  the 
size  of  the  shipment. 

A  similar  system  of  handling  freight  already  exists  in  the 
custom  houses  of  several  countries,  including  the  United 
States,  and  it  is  e\idcnt  that  it  could  be  carried  out  by  the 
postal  authorities  with  much  greater  facility.    Of  course,  I  do 


not  pretend  to  enter  into  details,  and  merely  confine  myself  to 
outline  my  ideas. 

The  firm  or  person  sending  parcels  having  furnished  the 
required  security,  the  country  of  the  forwarder  would  be  in  a 
position  to  guarantee  the  counti-y  of  destination,  that  the  con- 
tents of  the  parcels  are  identical  vnth  the  list  of  contents 
marked  on  the  forwarding  label  of  the  package,  so  that  when 
it  reaches  its  destination  it  may  promptly  be  disposed  of  by 
the  customs  official  at  sight  of  invoice. 

Since  the  customs  officials  would  be  required  to  open  par- 
cels now  and  then  to  vei'ify  the  contents  listed  on  the  invoice, 
any  irregularity  occurring  might  easily  be  covered  by  the 
payment  of  the  difference  and  a  fine,  since  the  sliipment  is 
secured.  Besides,  it  is  doubtful  if  respectable  people  would 
ever  risk  their  reputation  by  dispatching  parcels,  the  contents 
of  which  could  not  correspond  with  the  invoice. 

"Modus  est  in  rehus,"  said  the  ancient  Romans,  and  fol- 
lowing their  line  of  thought  I  should  be  veiy  happy  if  these 
incompletely  expressed  ideas  of  mine  would  appeal  to  my 
fellow  delegates  and  all  practical  people,  with  a  view  of  per- 
fecting and  applying  the  methods  for  adopting  the  parcels 
post  system  on  an  international  scale. 

Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  your  kind  attention. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  will  now  call  upon  Mr.  William  C.  Barker,  of  New  York 
City,  to  make  a  few  remarks  on  this  question. 

Mr.  Wm.  C.  Barl-er: 

With  your  permission,  I  -mW  say  what  I  have  to  say  right 
here.  I  did  not  intend  to  say  anything  on  tliis  subject  this 
afternoon  for  the  reason  that  there  are  others  so  much  bet- 
ter posted  on  the  subject  than  I  am,  but  as  the  Chairman  has 
invited  me,  I  have  thought,  sir,  that  I  might  say  a  word  or 
two,  which  might  possibly  l)e  an  explanation  to  the  delegates 
present,  and  throw  a  little  light  on  this  subject. 

I  have  had  the  honor  of  being  on  scientific  committees 
with  a  good  many  national  organizations  which  have  had  this 
question  of  parcels  post  imder  consideration  and  investigation 
for  the  last  three  or  four  years.  It  is  not  a  new  question  to 
ask  here  in  the  United  States,  as  it  may  seem  to  be  to  many 
of  you  gentlemen  from  foreign  countries.  We  have  gone 
into  this  matter  further,  perhaps,  than  you  think,  biit  when 
we  are  about  to  go  to  our  government  in  reference  to  it,  we 
find  there  are  things  that  have  stood  in  the  way  of  the  parcels 
post,  which  the  private  individual  never  understood,  and 
which  citizens  of  foreign  countries  cannot  understand. 

Now,  I  am  not  here  to  agitate  or  defend  any  system  that  is 
at  present  in  vogiie  in  this  country  for  the  transportation  of 
small  parcels,  neither  am  I  here  to  uphold  or  defend  the 
lethargy  of  the  officials  at  Wasliington;  but,  gentlemen,  we 
have  a  condition  here  in  this  country  that  does  not  exist  in 
any  other  country  that  I  know  of.  In  all  conferences  which 
I  iiave  attended  with  the  post  office  officials  at  Washington, 
in  reference  to  this  foreign  parcels  post  system,  we  have  been 
confronted  with  this  fact:  that  if  the  parcels  post  or  package 
]iost  came  to  our  shores  from  a  foreign  country,  then  we  have 
to  carry  that  parcel  to  the  furthest  extremity  of  Alaska,  or 
beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Now  the  percentage  or  rule 
that  is  involved  in  all  the  conventions  that  are  in  force  be- 
tweeii  this  country  and  foreign  countries  on  parcels  post,  is 
that  the  country  of  origin  receives  the  cost  of  transpartation. 
That  is  to  say,  if  the  parcels  post  originates  in  Germany, 
under  the  present  postal  system,  Gennany  retains  all  the 
revenue  that  is  to  be  derived  for  tr;msporting  that  parcel, 
and  when  it  reaches  our  shores  this  government  has  got  to 
take  it  and  forward  it  over  the  railroad  throughout  this 
country. 


EIGHTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  20,  1899 


157 


Now,  these  are  the  conditions  that  the  joint  officials  of  the 
postal  system  in  foreign  countries  do  not  have  to  contend 
witli.  There,  the  lines  over  which  these  systems  extend, 
and  the  parcels  post  are  limited  as  compared  with  what  they 
are  here.  Onr  officials  at  Washington  have  been  diligently 
searching,  and  they  have  had  conferences,  and  convention 
after  convention,  with  delegates  from  foreign  countries  try- 
ing to  find  some  equitable  basis  upon  which  this  can  be 
arranged,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  we  are  making  rapid  pro- 
gress. For  it  is  not  more  than  three  weeks  ago  that  I  was 
at  Washington  on  this  very  business,  and  I  was  quite  aston- 
ished to  see  what  was  being  accomplished,  and  what  foreign 
nations  were  urged  to  do  in  bringing  about  the  adoption  of  a 
universal  parcels  post,  with  this  object  in  view  that  we  will 
have  in  time,  I  hope,  a  parcels  post  system  that  will  be  as 
conunon  as  the  postal  union  of  to-day. 

Now,  Mr.  President,  I  have  simply  made  these  remarks, 
as  I  want  these  gentlemen  to  go  home  and  feel  that,  as  Ameri- 
cans we  would  like  to  take  hold  of  this,  but  that  we  have 
conditions  here  to  provide  for,  that  they  do  not  have,  and 
that  we  are  ready  to  reach  our  hands  across  the  ocean,  and 
across  the  Southern  countries,  and  welcome  anything  you 
can  give,  aud  meet  you  at  your  own  shores,  and  we  are  going 
to  do  it.    (Applause.) 


Director  W.  P.  Wilson  : 

Does  any  other  gentleman  desire  to  say  a  word  on  this 
question?  I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Prof. 
Carlo  Betoechi,  delegate  from  Chambers  of  Commerce, 
Naples,  Ban,  Messina  and  Catania,  Italy. 

Prof.  Carlo  Betoechi: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  been  very  much 
pleased  in  hearing  the  remarks  of  the  other  speakers  before 
the  Congress  to-day,  and  as  1  listened  to  the  remarks  of 
the  other  gentlemen  I  thought  that  it  wouldn't  be  long 
before  the  United  States  of  America  would  come  into  this 
line,  and  that  it  would  not  be  many  years  before  both  the 
systems  would  be  in  use  here,  but  I  felt  almost  sure  that  this 
would  be  introduced  some  day  or  other.  And  the  gentle- 
man speaking  before  me,  assured  me  that  steps  were  going 
to  be  taken  in  that  direction  by  the  authorities  in  Wash- 
ington. 

I  want  to  point  out  to  you  one  or  two  points  in  relation  to 
this  matter.  The  parcels  post,  as  you  know  of  course,  has 
been  in  existence  but  a  short  time  in  Europe.  It  began  only 
in  the  shape  of  a  short  run,  very  timid  and  modest,  say  only 
with  a  limit  of  three  kilos,  and  this  was  supposed  to  be  at 
first  more  than  would  be  wanted,  and  it  was  a  surprise  when 
these  three  kilos  were  extended  to  ten  kilos  at  the  very  low 
price  of  fifty  or  sixty  centimes,  from  Spain  to  Russia.  The 
use  of  the  system  became  very  extensive.  For  the  first  few 
years  it  was  thought  that  these  three  kilos  would  be  a  suffi- 
cient amount.  It  was  said  the  three  kilos  would  afford  all 
the  help  that  was  wanted,  .but  it  was  soon  brought  up  to  five 
kilos.  And  I  am  glad  to  saj',  only  a  few  months  before  my 
leaving  Italy,  the  Italian  government  had  taken  the  initia- 
tive for  a  ten  kilos  parcels  post,  and  it  has  spread  over  all  the 
States  of  Europe. 

It  is  used  now  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  what  we 
call  agricultural  parcels  post,  that  is  to  say,  for  the  products 
of  the  soil,  giving  the  limit  up  to  ten"  kilos,  which  I 
think  would  be  about  twenty-three  pounds  here,  which  is  con- 
sidered the  right  measure  for  sending  the  principal  products 
of  the  soil.  This  system  has  been  extended  and  accepted 
by  the  whole  of  Europe.     At  first  they  did  not  send  over 


three  kilos,  then  it  was  extended  to  five,  and  now  they  have 
raised  it  to  ten  kilo.?.  Ten  kilos  is  the  maximum  figure.  The 
agi-icultural  parcels  post  system  is  extending  all  over  Italy, 
and  will  very  soon  extend  throughout  Europe.  I  advise  the 
United  States  to  adopt  the  system. 

I  would  say  this,  that  if  the  United  States  should  intro- 
duce this  parcels  post  system,  they  should  not  begin  by  a 
small  attempt,  but  should  introduce  it  on  a  large  scale.  When 
it  was  first  introduced  in  Europe,  as  I  have  said,  it  was 
three  kilos,  then  five  kilos  were  recognized  as  being  suffi- 
cient. Now  it  is  a  common  rule  to  send  five  kilos  by  par- 
cels post.  By  the  ten  kilos  they  send  dry  goods,  fruits, 
grapes,  and  especially  produce  which  is  not  subject  to  de- 
terioration, and  can  only  be  sent  in  large  amounts.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Is  there  any  one  else  who  would  care  to  say  a  word  on  this 
question? 

A  Delegate: 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  a  resolution  I  would  like  to  offer, 
which  can  be  referred  to  the  committee,  in  reference  to  the 
parcels  post. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  think  it  had  better  be  referred  to  the  committee. 

A  Delegate: 

It  is  in  reference  to  parcels  post. 

Whereas,  It  has  been  demonstrated  in  various  foreign  coun- 
tries that  the  parcels  post  system  is  one  that  is  of  incalculable 
advantage  to  the  respective  countries. 

Whereas,  By  means  of  the  parcels  post,  a  far  more  direct 
and  eff'ective  means  of  introducing  samples  of  commerce  can 
be  established  in  the  countries  of  the  world. 

Whereas,  This  International  Commercial  Congress  is  pri- 
marily for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  such  matters  as  will 
tend  to  further  the  mutual  commercial  interests  of  the  United 
States  and  foreign  countries,  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
do  recommend  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  be  re- 
quested to  establish  such  a  system. 

Referred  to  the  standing  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Mr.  Creasy  John  Whellams: 

Mr.  Chairman:  Before  we  adjourn,  I  have  a  motion  to  put 
before  the  Congress. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  motion  is  on  the  invitation  to  Washington. 

Mr.  Creasy  John  Whellams: 

Mr.  Chairman:  Yesterday  there  was  a  question  put  as  to 
who  was  to  be  the  spokesman  for  the  delegation  which  has 
been  invited  to  visit  the  Hon.  WilUam  McKinley,  at  Wash- 
ington, to-morrow.  It  is  the  wish  of  the  delegates  that 
this  motion  should  be  put.  and  that  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  the 
Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  be  the 
spokesman  at  the  reception  given  by  Hon.  William  McKinley, 
to-morrow.  I  think  I  can  say  for  all  the  delegates  that  I 
do  not  tliink  there  is  any  one  better  able,  or  better  fitted 
than  our  Director,  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  to  speak  on  that 
occa,sdon. 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Capl.  J.  Cordeiro  da  Graca  (official  delegate  of  the  Brazilian 
Government,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil): 

Mr.  Chairman:  1  have  listened  mth  a  good  deal  of  atten- 
tion to  what  has  been  said,  and  I  can  say  that  it  is  the  desire 
of  all  the  foreign  delegates  that  Director  W.  P.  Wilson  shall 
be  the  spokesman  of  the  Congress. 

You  know  that  there  are  differences  in  regard  to  the  people 
of  South  America  as  to  communication  with  foreign  coun- 
tries. They  have  not  the  same  facilities  of  commtinieating 
with  the  British  people  or  other  nations.  Therefore,  I  should 
like  to  say,  speaking  on  behalf  of  the  nations  represented  (for 
1  know  the  foreign  delegates  would  not  be  jealous  of  each 
other),  that  they  all  desire  that  Director  W.  P.  Wilson  be  the 
spokesman  of  the  (Congress,  and  we  are  sure  that  what  he  says 
will  be  sufficient.     (Applause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Of  course,  I  have  not  in  the  slightest  degree  outlined  what 
the  proceedings  will  be  on  the  part  of  the  delegates  who  will 
make  the  visit,  and  who  will  attend  the  President's  reception 
to-morrow.  If  it  is  the  desire  of  the  Congress  that  I  should 
make  known  to  the  President  the  purposes  for  which  the  dele- 
gates to  this  Congress  have  come  together,  I  will  do  it  to  the 
best  of  my  ability. 

I  think  it  is  perhaps  time  to  close  our  session,  and  I  have 
one  or  two  notices  which  I  should  like  to  give.  I  want  to 
repeat  again,  so  that  you  will  all  understand,  as  there  may 
be  some  delegates  here  who  did  not  hear  the  former  announce- 
ment, that  I  shall  deem  it  a  great  favor  to  have  you,  as  pre- 
viously notified,  go  to  Mr.  Gntekunst,  at  No.  712  Arch  street, 
and  have  your  photographs  taken.  I  wish  them  to  be  placed 
in  a  frame  in  the  large  room  in  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum.  I  believe  that  this  Congress  fifty  years  later,  when 
written  up,  will  have  a  history  that  will  be  appreciated,  and 


that  important  results  mil  grow  from  it,  such  as  cannot  be 
surmised.  What  is  entered  on  the  record  will,  I  believe,  show 
the  beginning  of  many  a  reform  in  commerce  and  in  interna- 
tional relations. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

May  I  ask  whether  any  report  has  been  made  before  this 
Congress  by  any  committee  as  to  the  taking  of  a  photo- 
graph of  the  whole  assembly  with  one  of  these  buildings  as 
a  background — taking  a  group,  which  I  think  is  much  better 
than  taking  separate  photographs?  This  could  be  preserved 
as  a  souvenir. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

We  would  be  very  glad  if  Mr.  Smith  should  take  that 
matter  in  charge  and  see  that  it  is  done. 

1  wish  that  you  would  not  forget  the  special  train  to-mor- 
row morning  for  the  President's  reception,  which  will  leave  at 
8.50  from  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  depot. 

I  do  not  wish  you  to  forget,  and  you  will  kindly  notify 
your  associates,  that  on  Monday  evening  there  will  be  a 
social  business  meeting  between  the  delegates  to  the  Congress, 
and  the  business  men  of  the  Exposition,  in  this  room  and  the 
next  room.  It  will  be  like  the  meeting  we  had  a  week  ago  last 
Monday. 

I  have  asked  the  foreign  delegates  to  give  a  little  account 
of  themselves  in  writing,  to  be  placed  on  record  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum.  I  shall  feel  personally  obliged 
to  you,  therefore,  if  you  will  give  me  a  brief  statement  of  your 
lives  and  business. 

We  will  now  consider  ourselves  adjourned. 

(Adjourned  at  5.20  p.  m.) 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


RECEPTION  OF  DELEGATES  BY  THE   PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES 


Philadelphia,  Saturday,  October  21,  1899. 
The  Washington  Cebemonies. 

On  Saturday  morning,  October  21,  three  hundred  delegates 
from  the  International  Commercial  Congress,  now  in  session 
in  Philadelphia — representing  the  nations  of  the  world — were 
conveyed  to  Washington  by  special  train  over  the  Baltimore 
&  Ohio  Railroad,  for  the  purpose  of  greeting  the  President 
of  the  United  States  and  taking  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the 
Capital  city. 

The  train,  which  was  composed  of  five  vestibuled  coaches, 
left  Pliiladelphia  at  9  o'clock  a.  m.,  arriving  in  Washington 
ait  11.56.  By  ten  minutes  after  12  o'clock  the  delegates  were 
all  comfortably  seated  in  open  carriages  and  driven  to  the 
Capitol,  which  was  reached  at  12.20.  Small  parties  were  then 
formed,  each  in  charge  of  a  guide,  and  were  thus  able  to  be- 
come familiar  with  the  most  important  points  of  interest  in 
the  nation's  capital  biuldings. 

It  was  an  ideal  October  day  and  Washington  was  par- 
ticularly picturesque,  with  the  gently-rolling  Virginia  hills  in 
the  distance  and  the  placid  Potomac  in  between. 

From  the  Capitol  the  party  walked  to  the  Congressional 
Library,  a  square  away,  arriving  there  about  1  o'clock.  On 
the  steps  of  this  building  the  delegates  were  photographed. 
After  reviewing  the  methods  in  vogue  in  the  library'  and  the 
handsomely  decorated  interior,  the  party  left  in  carriages 
for  the  Hotel  Arlington,  reaching  there  at  ten  minutes  of 
two.  A  few  minutes  after  two  a  luncheon  was  served  in  the 
banquet  hall. 

After  tliis  pleasant  refreshment,  the  delegation  again  took 
carriages  and  were  driven  directly  to  the  t\niite  House,  ar- 
riving there  a  few  minutes  before  three  o'clock,  the  appointed 
hour  for  the  reception  by  the  President.  All  assembled  in 
the  east  room,  at  3  o'clock  the  President  entered.  Then  Di- 
rector General  W.  P.  Wilson,  turning  to  the  President,  said ; 

"It  is  my  pleasant  duty  to  recall  the  impressive  occasion 
when  two  years  ago  you  honored  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
with  your  presence  and  officially  pronounced  the  Philadel- 
phia Commercial  Ifuseum  open  for  the  transaction  of  busi- 
ness. Since  that  time  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum has  thoroughly  organized  and  exteiuled  its  work  and 
enlarged  its  sphere  of  action  from  the  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce, Boards  of  Trade  ajid  trade  organizations  of  the 
United  States,  to  the  leading  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  for- 
eign nations.  One  of  the  plans  looking  toward  this  end  was 
the  organization  and  holding  of  a  great  International  Trade 
Congress,  which  should  have  for  its  direct  object,  the  thought- 
ful consideration  of  the  mutual  interests  in  commerce  which 
exist  Ijctween  every  nation  and  the  United  States. 


"I  leave  you,  Mr.  President,  to  judge  of  the  success  of  this 
undertaking  when  I  present  here  to-day  300  thoughtful  dele- 
gates who  have  traveled  from  everj'  quarter  of  the  globe  to  the 
United  States  to  bring  messages  of  peace  and  good  will,  for 
this  is  what  commerce  always  does. 

"As  his  Honor,  the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  and 
the  executive  head  of  tlie  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
greatly  regrets  his  inability  to  be  with  us  to-day,  1  present 
ex-Mayor  Warwick,  who  ^v^ll  represent  him." 

Mr.  AVarwick  then  addressed  the  President,  as  follows: 

"Mr.  President:  W^e  regret  exceedingly  that  his  Honor, 
the  Mayor,  is  not  with  us  to-day.  Engagements  of  a  public 
nature  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  leave  Philadelphia.  His 
absence,  however,  gives  me  the  pleasure  and  privilege  of  pre- 
senting to  you  the  delegates  to  the  Commercial  Congress. 

"In  many  respects  this  Congress  is  the  most  remarkable 
convention  ever  assembled  in  the  history  of  the  world.  The 
delegates  are  messengers  of  peace  and  they  meet  in  the 
interest  of  commerce,  to  bind  the  nations  together  in  the 
bonds  of  friendship  and  peaceful  intercourse.  They  come 
from  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  the  Tigris  and  the  Nile,  as 
well  as  from  the  Thames,  the  Seine  and  the  Danube.  They 
come  from  Europe,  Asia,  Africa,  Australa.sia  and  from  every 
section  of  our  beloved  countrv-.  And  many  of  them  come 
from  the  most  remote  parts  of  the  earth,  and  some  of  them 
from  States  that  preceded  and  have  survived  the  glory  of 
Athens  and  Eome.  The  influence  of  this  Congress  will  be 
felt  for  ages  to  come. 

"It  gives  me  gi'cat  pleasure,  Mr.  President,  to  present  in  a 
body  the  members  of  the  Commercial  Congress  of  Phila- 
delphia." 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Warwick's  speech.  President 
McKinley  bowed  generally  to  the  delegates  and  said  that  he 
prefeiTed  welcoming  them  individually  to  making  a  speech. 
This  he  did.  The  representatives  of  different  nations,  some 
with  their  wives,  were  then  personally  presented  to  the 
President.  He  evinced  much  interest  and  had  a  pleasant 
word  of  greeting  for  each  one,  being  especially  gracious  to 
the  ladies. 

The  ceremonies  were  over  by  3.30.  The  party  re-entered 
the  caniages  in  waiting  and  were  driven  by  circuitous  routes 
to  the  station,  in  order  to  afford  an  opportunity  to  see  inter- 
esting parts  of  the  city.  The  special  train  left  Washington 
at  4.20,  arriving  at  Philadelphia  shortly  after  7.00,  making 
the  run  of  135  miles  in  two  hours  and  forty-seven  and  a  half 
minutes,  including  four  stops,  one  of  six  minutes. 

In  lioth  directions  refreshments  were  served  on  the  train. 


159 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


NINTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadelphia,  Monday,  October  23,  1899. 

Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  11.18  a.  m.,  in  Conven- 
tion Hall,  Exposition  Building,  by  Dir€ctor  W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 

Will  those  in  the  rear  of  the  room  kindly  come  forward? 

I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  as  our  presiding  officer  this 
morning,  the  Hon.  Henry  H.  Bingham,  member  of  Congress. 
(Applause.) 

General  H.  II.  Bingham  : 

Director-General,  Gentlemen  of  tlie  Congress:  I  am  re- 
minded this  morning,  looking  upon  your  limited  gathering, 
that  it  is  Monday  morning  (a  ripple  of  laughter),  and,  having 
been  for  a  long  time  the  representative  in  the  American 
Congress  from  the  first  district  of  this  city  and  State,  I  am 
free  to  admit  that  in  the  limited  number  present,  it  brings 
to  my  mind  many  Monday  mornings  in  the  American  Con- 
gress. (Laughter.)  The  reason,  however,  always  given  by  the 
member  because  of  his  temporary  absence,  appearing  later  in 
the  day,  is  that  he  has  either  been  to  the  de]iartments  in 
Washington  concerning  the  interests  of  his  constituency,  or 
that  he  had  a  long  wait  at  the  AVhite  House,  in  order  to  secure 
his  interview  with  the  President.  I  presume,  therefore, 
gentlemen,  that  in  your  recent  visit  two  days  ago  to  Washing- 
ton, many  of  the  representatives  and  gentlemen  who  accom- 
panied you,  having  had  one  visit  to  the  President,  were  so 
charmed  with  the  sweet  radiance  of  that  magnificent  person- 
ality, William  McKinley,  President  of  the  United  States,  that 
they  are  desirous  of  making  a  second  call  at  the  White  House. 
(Applause.) 

We  are  very  proud  of  our  President — the  people  are — with- 
out regard  to  ])arty.  Ho  represents  the  best  type  of  American 
manhood.  Starting  in  life  in  the  walks  common  to  our  peo- 
ple, as  a  youth  he  entered  the  army  in  defence  of  the  Union, 
and  from  that  day  to  this  his  work  has  been  dedicated  to  the 
welfare  of  his  people,  and  so  pronounced  has  been  his  splendid 
character,  that  they  have  lifted  him  up  to  the  highest  gift  in 
their  power,  the  highest  honor  of  the  rejuiblic.  (Applause.) 
Carry  with  you  to  your  distant  homes  the  pleasant  recollection 
of  your  Saturday  in  Washington',  remembering  that  that  beau- 
tiful city  presents  its  delightful  suroundings  and  its  works 
of  architecture,  as  well  as  beauty  and  development,  all  having 
been  built  during  the  bust  thirty-fiv(!  yeai's.  Washington  to- 
day represents  the  growth  it  ha.s  attained  since  the  war.  J'rior 
to  the  war  it  lacked  and  needed  many  of  the  conveniences  for 
governmental  administration  that  it  now  posses.ses. 

You  are  to  be  congratulated,  gentlemen,  upon  the  good 
work  you  have  been  doing.    Your  utterances  have  gone  from 


one  length  of  this  land  to  the  other,  and  our  press  has  made 
your  papers  household  reading,  embodying  as  they  do  your 
best  thought,  your  best  judgment  and  your  best  conclusions 
for  developing  international  commercial  relations.  I  con- 
gratulate you  upon  the  work  of  the  Congress  and  trust  that 
you  will  all  feel,  as  I  am  sure  the  representatives  of  this 
Museum  feel  that  we  are  glad  to  have  had  you  in  our  midst, 
and  that  you  go  from  us  with  tlie  satisfaction  and  feeling,- not 
only  of  our  good  will  for  you  in  the  futiu-e,  but  also  that  your 
presence  here  has  done  us  much  good.  (Applause.)  You 
come  to  us  at  a  period  in  our  history  unexampled  in  our  pros- 
perity. To-day  from  one  end  of  our  laud  to  the  other  happi- 
ness, contentment  and  industry  reign.  I  do  not  tliink  in  the 
history  of  this  country  we  have  ever  enjoyed  such  blessings 
as  we  are  now  enjoying.  God,  in  liis  wisdom  and  in  his  provi- 
dence, has  made  our  land  a  land  of  plenty  for  years,  and  from 
the  industi-y  that  enters  the  soil  has  come  forth  richness  and 
fullness.  To-day  our  land  is  a  blessed  one,  and  we  want  you 
to  carry  to  your  homes  the  knowledge  and  the  fact  that  you 
saw  us  during  your  short  sojourn  here  in  our  very  best  in- 
dustrial development.    (Applause.) 

We  are  a  government  of  parties.  In  our  contentions  from 
almost  the  commencement  of  the  government,  there  ha.s 
been  a  radical  difference  in  the  judgment  of  the  suft'rairists 
and  of  the  people  on  great  economic  question.*,  as  well  as 
political  national  questions,  especially  as  to  what  should  be 
the  policy  of  the  government  in  its  method  of  securing  main- 
tenance by  taxation,  as  well  as  the  best  industrial  protection 
of  the  people.  What  has  been  called  "free  trade"  and  a 
"revenue  only  for  government  e.xpenditure."  and  administra- 
tion has  been  the  dominant  controlling  thought;  the  test  of 
one  side  in  the  competition  of  parties  for  the  control  of  gov- 
ernment. Another  party  believes  that  the  revenues  of  the 
government  should  not  only  be  able  to  meet  its  expenditures, 
but  in  connection  with  these  revenues  there  should  be  a  pro- 
tection of  the  industrial  conditions  and  enterprises  of  the 
country,  so  that  they  might  develop  a  growing  strength,  se- 
cure a  home  market,  and  later  enter  into  competition  for  the 
mai'kets  of  the  world.  That  antagonism  has  been  the  an- 
tagonism of  parties  from  the  commencement  of  the  govern- 
ment. I  am  of  that  ]iarty  representing  this  industrial  State, 
and  this  great  city  of  manufacture  and  enterprise,  who  liave 
always,  during  a  long  career  in  public  life,  labored  to  vindi- 
cate the  policy  of  my  party  in  its  identification  with  a  rev- 
enue that  maintains  the  government  and  fosters  the  industries 
of  the  people.  (Applause.)  ITpou  that  position  my  party 
claims  the  conditions  of  to-day;  the  other  i^arty  would  claim 
that  had  their  jiolicies  been  C(nitinued  and  accepted,  a  larger 
nu<asuro  of  jirosperity  would  follow.  However,  the  ]ieople 
clia.nge  vei-}'  frequently  in  their  jiopular  elections.  Our  House 
of  Representatives,  which  comes  directly  from  the  people,  has 
its  election  every  two  years.  We  go  before  our  constituencies 
to  render  to  them  an  accounting  of  our  stewardship  and  our 
work;  they  pass  judgment  upon  us.     It  is  often  a  matter  of 


160 


(.OVIll^NMCNT   DELEGATUS. 


M.   DE   ROUTKOWSKY. 
Russia. 


CARLOS    R.  SANTOS, 
Paraguay. 


GENARO    RAIGOSA. 

Mexico. 


W.  T.  JAMES, 
Bermuda.  W.  I. 


MIGUEL   J.   ROMERO, 
Venezuela. 


PRUDENCIOde  MURGUIONDO, 
Uruguay. 


C.  ARTHUR   SHAND, 
Leeward  Islands,  W.  I, 


GEN.    EMILIO    NUNEZ. 

Cuba. 


DR.  JAMES   JOHNSTON, 
Jamaica. 


NINTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


161 


surprise  that  the  judgment  of  to-day  by  the  people  is  reversed 
radically  iu  two  years,  but  such  is  our  history. 

In  order  to  illustrate,  let  me  briefly  say  to  you  that  within 
the  fourteen  years  just  passed  from  1885 — the  incoming  of 
Mr.  Cleveland's  administration,  who  was  elected  by  the  vote 
of  the  people  to  the  Presidency — at  that  same  election  a 
House  was  elected  to  aid  him  in  the  administration  of  public 
affairs,  and  that  congress  showed  in  return  to  have  in  the 
Senate  six  majority  Republican  and  in  the  House  a  Demo- 
cratic majority  of  thirty-nine.  Therefore,  it  became  impos- 
sible for  the  people  who  had  sent  their  representatives  under 
our  system  to  Congress — the  House — to  formulate  upon  in- 
dustrial questions  or  political,  any  legislation  that  could  pass 
a  Republican  Senate  and  reach  the  Executive  for  his  approval. 
At  the  close  of  that  Congress,  the  representatives  went  before 
the  people  and  under  our  system  the  result  was  a  Senate 
Republican  by  two  and  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  House 
reduced  from  thirty-nine  to  fifteen.  Therefore,  you  may  say, 
that  the  Democratic  majority  in  the  House  by  virtue  of  the 
Republican  majority  in  the  Senate  with  an  Executive  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  Democratic  side,  could  consummate  no  posi- 
tive question,  either  upon  political  or  upon  domestic  lines  in 
connection  with  tariff  legislation.  Mr.  Harrison  goes  into 
power  after  Mr.  Cleveland's  four  years  and  he  finds  a  Senate 
with  a  majority  of  ten  and  a  House  with  a  Republican  ma- 
jority of  sixteen  able  to  consummate  legislation,  because  the 
two  branches  of  the  government  were  in  common.  At  his 
next  election,  to  show  you  how  the  people  pass  judgment  for 
themselves  on  public  questions,  we  find  the  Senate  majority 
reduced  to  six  and  that  the  sixteen  Republican  majority  in  the 
House  has  been  revolutionized  and  the  129  Democratic  ma- 
jority made  their  successors.  We  follow  again  and  we  see 
that  in  the  next  administration  the  people  have  elected  Mr. 
Cleveland.  They  give  him  for  that  administration  a  majority 
of  three  in  the  Senate  and  a  majority  of  thirty-four  in  the 
House.  He  has  during  tliat  Congress  free  opportunity  for  the 
consummation  of  what  may  be  called  the  ''legislation  de- 
mands" of  his  party. 

But  the  eighty-four  Democratic  majority  in  that  house 
comes  before  the  people  for  a  re-endorsement  of  their  action. 
What  follows?  The  Senate  continues  with  a  Democratic  ma- 
jority of  two,  but  the  people  have  taken  that  Democratic 
majority  of  eighty-four,  and  again  revolutionized  and  made 
it  a  RepvTblican  majority  of  138,  and  so  I  might  go  on.  But 
what  I  specially  desire  to  illustrate  is  that  to-day,  in  the 
administration  of  our  public  affairs  for  the  consummation  of 
not  only  what  may  be  called  ])olitieal  but  industrial  legisla- 
tion, the  House  and  the  Senate,  in  conjunction  with  Presi- 
dent McKinley,  as  the  Execiitive,  will  have  ten  Republican 
majority  in  the  House,  and  thirteen  Republican  majority  in 
the  Senate,  so  that  during  the  two  remaining  years  of  this  ad- 
ministration the  legislative  branch  of  the  government  will 
be  in  accord  with  the  Executive. 

The  Congress  that  will  assemble  in  December  next  ■will, 
perhaps,  have  before  it  the  most  important  public  questions 
that  a  Congress  has  ever  been  called  upon  to  consider  in  our 
history.  Perhaps  in  the  early  days,  after  the  adoption  of  our 
constitution,  or  the  days  of  the  War  of  the  Rebellion,  from 
1861  to  1865,  during  that  period  as  important  problems  were 
submitted  for  the  attention  of  the  Congress  and  the  Execu- 
tive. To-day,  we  are,  as  a  people,  confronted  with  new  propo- 
sitions unthought  of  by  the  fathers,  unthought  of  a  generation 
ago.  That  the  representatives  of  this  nation  in  their  work, 
thinking  only  of  the  people,  and  our  Executive,  looking  only 
to  the  welfare  of  this  great  country,  will  act  wisely  and  well, 
is  the  confident  hope  every  American  has  the  right  to  en- 
tertain. 

We  are  confronted  with  a  government  for  Hawaii;  we  are 
confronted   with  government  for  Porto   Rico;  we   are   con- 


fronted with  the  conditions  in  Cuba,  now  under  military 
control,  but  which  will,  in  accordance  with  the  solemn  utter- 
ances of  the  American  Congress  and  the  Pi-esident  of  our 
Republic,  enjoy  "their  freedom  and  their  independence" 
whenever,  as  a  people,  through  their  suffrages,  they  show  the 
ability  to  control. 

There  will  be  no  wavering  on  the  part  of  the  representa- 
tives of  tlie  people  or  of  the  Executive.  There  will  be  no 
wavering  on  the  part  of  the  American  people  in  the  fulfill- 
ment of  their  legislative  declaration  that  the  people  of  Cuba 
shall  have  their  "freedom  and  independence."  The  Philip- 
pine question  must  also  be  considered.  In  recognition  of  in- 
ternational understanding  the  treaty  of  peace  of  Paris,  in  its 
every  stage,  has  been  accepted  by  the  civilized  world.  The 
Philippines  have  been  given  to  this  republic  for  government 
and  control.  That  flag  was  placed  there  by  the  guns  of 
Dewey.  That  flag  has  been  maintained  there  by  American 
soldiery,  with  their  bravery  and  their  undaunted  courage. 
That  flag  will  remain  there,  and  wherever  it  floats  it  gives 
secui-ity  and  protection.  It  gives  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness,  the  same  as  it  promises  to  the  forty-five  States 
of  this  Union.    (Applause.) 

The  money  question  will  be  acted  upon.  These  are  ques- 
tions on  which  it  is  not  my  purpose  to  elaborate,  but  simply 
to  show  to  you  how  important  will  be  the  session  of  Con- 
gress about  to  convene  a  few  weeks  hence.  The  money  ques- 
tion and  necessary  legislation  for  a  few  years  past  has  been 
a  dividing  line  in  the  parties  of  the  country.  The  last  Con- 
gress appointed  a  committee  of  each  body,  or  rather  not  the 
Congi-ess,  but  the  representatives  of  the  Republican  party 
in  the  two  bodies,  appointed  a  committee  in  the  Senate  and  a 
committee  in  the  House,  to  consider  the  money  question  dur- 
ing the  period  of  the  sine  die  adjournment  of  one  Congi'css, 
and  the  commenc.ement  of  its  successor.  That  committee  has 
met  and  has  had  its  deliberations.  Their  conclusion  will 
be  presented  in  the  early  stages  of  the  56tli  Congress,  that 
is  Republican,  and  that  committee's  report  will  pass  the  two 
Houses  and  receive  the  sanction  of  the  Executive.  The  legis- 
lation will  be  that  the  dollar  of  this  nation  shall  be  a  dollar 
of  intrinsic  value  throughout  the  civilized  world.  (Applause.) 
Honesty  not  because  it  is  policy,  but  honesty  because  it  is 
right. 

Our  navy,  brilliant  and  magnificent  in  the  great  work  of 
a  year  past,  will  receive  for  its  development  and  enlarge- 
ment, careful  and  wise  attention.  It  is  not  necessary  for 
me  to  jjav  trilnite  to  the  great  work  which  the  officers  and 
the  men  behind  the  guns  have  done.  It  is  sufficient  to  know 
that  the  American  people  applaud  its  many  victories  and  ac- 
cept the  responsibilities  of  the  victories,  whatever  and 
wherever  they  may  be. 

The  army  also,  in  the  United  States  Congress  will  have  a 
large  measure  of  careful  examinations,  but  upon  that  ques- 
tion the  American  people  are  largely  divided.  It  is  neither 
common  to  our  institutions  nor  common  to  our  experience  in 
connection  with  our  isolated  and  independent  territorial  con- 
ditions, and  in  our  relation  to  the  nations  of  the  world,  that 
the  American  people  should  have  a  large  army.  We  needed 
something  of  an  army  on  our  frontier  during  the  Indian 
troubles,  but  the  American  people  well  remember  that  during 
the  war  of  the  rebellion,  from  1861  to  1865,  the  armies  of 
the  Union  carried  into  the  field  nearly  three  millions  of 
men.  Four  years  they  labored  and  bravely  fought,  recruit- 
ments coming,  enlistments  concluding,  and  men  retiring  again 
to  the  walks  of  life.  So  that  at  the  close  of  the  war  we 
mustered  out  a  million  men,  who  quietly  melted  into  the 
daily  vocations  of  home  and  industrial  enterprise.  From 
186.5  until  we  entered  the  recent  war,  we  have  had  at  the 
maximum  but  an  army  of  about  twenty-five  thousand.  There- 
fore, it  would  seem  that  all  of  our  past  history  and  instructioix 


162 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


go  to  the  conclusion  that  the  American  people  believe  a  lim- 
ited, small  army  will  meet  every  requirement  of  public  and 
international  relations,  should  danger  threaten  us.  We  will 
also  be  confronted  with  a  question  that  has  loomed  up  into 
almost  colossal  importance  during  the  past  year  or  year  and  a 
half;  what  is  called  trust  combinations,  in  contradistinction 
to  corporate  combinations,  or  corporate  rights.  The  question 
is  largely  new  with  us;  where  the  line  is  drawn  between  cor- 
porate power  and  trust  power  is  not  clearly  defined.  It  will 
be  a  subject  ol  .'iearchiug  investigation,  but  it  is  a  well  known 
fact  among  our  people  that  whenever  monopolies  trench  upon 
either  the  industry  of  labor  or  the  necessaries  of  life,  the 
strong  arm  of  government  intervenes;  for  the  basis  of  our 
institutions,  our  liberty  and  security  rest  in  the  fact  that 
this  is  a  government  for  the  people,  and  it  is  a  government  ad- 
ministered by  the  votes  of  the  people. 

I  read  but  a  few  days  ago  in  an  address  by  Mr.  Dawes, 
who  is  the  Comptroller  of  the  Currency,  a  very  able  and 
clear  explanation  of  the  trust  question.  A  few  lines  I  will 
quote  to  you,  showing  the  position  that  every  American 
citizen  shoiild  take  upon  this  great  and  serious  proposition, 
coming  up  to  lis  in  its  immensity  and  in  its  colossal  conditions 
more  forcibly  to-day  than  ever  in  our  history. 

"Rather  tlian  have  in  the  hands  of  any  corporation  the 
power  to  absolutely  fix  the  price  of  a  necessity  of  life  at  an 
arbitrary  figure,  the  people  of  the  United  States  will  event- 
ually and  rightfully  do  one  of  two  things — they  will  enact 
legislation  for  the  protection  of  the  people  from  extortion  by 
a  governmental  legislation,  more  or  less  extended  as  public 
necessity  may  require,  or  they  will  enact  legislation  for  the 
enforced  creation  of  competition  by  the  disintegration  of 
trusts.  With  nothing  less  than  one  of  these  two  things  will 
or  should  the  people  of  this  counti-y  be  satisfied.  The  right 
of  government  to  interfere  with  and  regulate  monopolies  is 
well  recognized  in  law  and  practice."' 

This,  gentlemen,  is  a  subject  that  might  be  discussed  from 
this  platform  hour  in  and  hour  out.  I  have  adverted  to  it 
only  for  the  reason  that  I  am  submitting  to  you  the  great 
work  the  next  American  Congress  will  have  before  it,  and  in 
many  cases  its  conclusive  action.  The  inter-oceanic  canal 
or  waterway  will  reach  some  form  of  action.  It  has  been 
the  subject  of  investigation  for  years,  and  in  our  midst  we 
have  the  adherents  of  the  Panama  and  Nicaragua  Canals,  as 
well  as  the  declaration  that  we  can  reach  the  trade  of  East- 
ern Asia  through  the  Suez  Canal  as  quickly  and  economically 
as  we  can  from  the  expenditure  of  a  hundred  million  or  more 
in  either  one  or  the  other  enterprises.  To-day  a  most  intelli- 
gent commission  has  this  subject  under  examination,  and  it 
will  be  reported  before  the  conclusion  of  the  Fifty-sixth  Con- 
gress. 

The  question,  however,  whii'li  seems  more  directly  con- 
nected with  your  gathering  is  "our  merchant  marine."  You 
see  us  in  the  midst  of  industries  unexampled.  You  find  us 
to-day  in  conditions  looking  to  the  development  of  our  wealth, 
the  handling  of  the  products  of  the  soil  and  our  manufac- 
tures in  every  foreign  market,  and  yet,  in  the  vital  connec- 
tions between  our  home  industry  and  our  export  trade  we  are 
almost  ])osse.ssed  of  the  weakness  of  an  infant.  We  are  pow- 
erless in  the  competition  of  ocean  carrying  trade  with  the 
other  nations  of  the  world.  They  have  pursued  policies  that 
have  strengthened  their  merchant  marine,  we  have  had  no 
consistent  policy  that  has  ever  strengthened  ours,  but  a 
policy  that  has  made  it  weaker  and  weaker  as  the  years  go  by. 
During  our  colonial  period  and  about  ilie  lime  of  the  adop- 
tion of  our  constitution,  we  were  able  to  build  the  cheapest 
ships  in  the  world,  and  at  that  period,  and  before  the  year 
1800,  we  carried  ninety  per  cent,  of  our  foreign  Irade  in 
American  built  bottoms.  In  ISlf)  and  1828  legislation  so 
followed  that  there  was  a  gradual  weakening  and  decreas- 


ing of  our  carrying  capacity.  From  the  almost  ninety  per 
cent,  we  enjoyed  in  1800 — in  18.j8  we  had  been  reduced  to 
seventy-five  per  cent.  The  introduction  of  iron  and  steel  in 
ship-building  at  an  earlier  period  was  being  monopolized  by 
Great  Britain,  and  gradually  we  were  losing  our  tonnage. 
The  war  came  upon  us,  ancl  the  privateers  drove  from  the 
ocean  more  than  one-half  of  our  tonnage,  and  from  that  day 
to  this,  we  have  never  been  able  to  build  up  our  merchant 
marine  and  carry  the  great  trade  this  nation  has  with  the 
world  and  the  world  with  us.  We  find  ourselves  capable  of 
handling  every  other  economic  proposition;  but,  strange  as 
it  may  seem,  we  can-y  but  eleven  per  cent,  of  our  foreign 
trade.  You  have  doubtless  a  full  appreciation  of  what  that 
trade  is.  Our  exports  in  1898 — fiscal  year — were  $1,231,- 
482,330;  our  imports,  $616,049,654,  making  a  sum  total  of 
$1,847,-531,984.  In  1899  we  exported  $1,227,210,419,  and 
our  imports  were  $697,116,854,  the  sum  total  being  $1,924,- 
337,373,  and  of  that  great  export  and  imf>ort  trade  but  eleven 
per  cent,  is  carried  in  American  bottoms. 

Foreign  governments — England,  Germany,  France,  Italy, 
all  the  great  foreign  commercial  nations — make  annual  con- 
tributions in  some  form  or  another  in  amount  almost  twenty- 
five  million  dollars  annually.  They  are  not  only  doing  that 
in  1899,  but  have  for  many  years  past.  Such  benefactions 
from  our  governments  have  not  been  rendered  to  our  can-y- 
ing  trade.  At  the  next  Congress  the  bill  called  the  "Payne- 
Hanna  Bill"  will  come  before  the  two  houses  for  action.  The 
bill  is  the  best  judgment,  after  two  years  of  examination  on 
the  shipping  question  by  the  Boards  of  Trade  and  Commerce, 
our  Bureau  of  Navigation,  and  the  best  statesmanship  of  many 
of  our  pul)Iic  men.  AVhether  it  will  consummate  what  we  hope 
is  a  question  for  further  determination.  I  will  read  you  the 
preamble  of  the  bill,  and  explain  to  you  briefly  its  main 
features. 

"Whereas,  The  profitable  employment  of  the  sui-jjlus  pro- 
ductive power  of  the  farms,  factories,  mines,  forests  and  fish- 
eries of  the  United  States  imperatively  demands  the  expansion 
of  its  foreign  commerce;  and 

"Whereas,  The  merchant  vessels,  officers,  engineers,  ma- 
chinists, electricians  and  seamen  necessary  to  the  expansion 
of  the  commerce  of  the  United  States  are  also  essential  as 
auxiliary  to  the  forces  of  the  I'nited  States  in  time  of  war 
and  otherwise,  and  to  the  better  security  of  the  nation  and 
the  protection  of  its  possessions;  and 

"Whereas,  It  is  deemed  especially  expedient  to  make  im- 
mediate provision  to  these  ends." 

The  paragraphs  which  follow  go  into  the  details  of  the  bill. 
It  is  based  upon  tonnage.  It  is  based  upon  the  frequency  of 
interchange  between  port  and  port.  I  will  read  the  important 
sections  that  are  the  essential  parts: 

"The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  hereby  authorized  and 
directed  to  contract  with  the  owner  or  owners  of  any  vessel 
of  the  United  States  hereinbefore  descrilied  and  registered 
for  foreign  trade,  for  the  payment  to  said  owner  or  owners 
for  a  period  of  twenty  years,  and  subject  to  the  provisions 
of  this  act,  out  of  any  money  in  the  Treasury,  not  otherwise 
apjiropriated,  the  sums  following." 

Remember  the  contract  is  for  twenty  years. 

The  total  compensation  to  be  paid  out  of  the  Treasui7 
as  provided  in  this  section,  shall,  in  no  fiscal  year,  exceed 
the  sum  of  nine  million  dollars,  and  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  shall  make  such  regulations  for  the  payment  of  the 
said  compensation  as  will  cause  any  excess  in  the  total  amount 
of  compen.sation  iNinicd  under  tliis  section  in  any  one  fiscal 
year  over  and  alunc  niiu'  niillions  of  dollars  to  be  deducted 
pro  rata  from  llic  lolal  comjiensation  due  each  individual 
oi-  corporation  entitled  to  such  c(nn]iensation  hereunder  dur- 
ing said  fiscal  year." 

In  other  words,  the  contribution  from  the  Treasury  cannot 


NESTTH  DAY'S  SESSI  ON,  OCTOBEE  23,  1899 


16:: 


exceed  nine  millions  annually,  and  should  there  be  an  inflow 
of  tonnage  or  shipping  that  would  come  under  the  provisions 
in  this  bill,  and  should  it  exceed  nine  millions  of  dollars,  then 
it  will  be  pro-rated  to  all  who  come  under  the  benefactions. 

"That  no  contract  shall  be  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  after  ten  years  next  following  the  passage  of  this 
act;  and  Congress  may  at  any  time  amend  or  repeal  this 
act,  subject  to  the  obligations  of  the  contracts  existing  at 
the  time  of  such  amendments  or  repeal." 

Those  are  the  distinctive  features  of  the  legislation  pro- 
posed. It  is  believed  the  bill  would  have  passed  the  last  Con- 
gress but  our  Congress  has  in  its  sessions  what  are  called  the 
long  and  short  sessions.  The  session  which  will  convene  the 
first  Monday  in  December  next,  this  coming  December,  will, 
perhaps,  run  continuously  into  the  August  following.  The 
recess  is  then  taken.  The  December  session  again  convenes, 
but  under  the  constitution  the  Congress  expires  on  the  foiirth 
of  the  following  March.  Therefore,  in  what  we  call  the 
second  session  of  Congress  but  three  months  are  given  to 
us  for  a  vast  mass  of  legislation,  most  important,  of  course, 
being  the  great  appropriation  bills  for  the  conduct  of  the 
Government  for  the  following  fiscal  year.  The  bills  were  re- 
ported favorably,  but  fell  because  of  the  shortness  of  the 
session.  We  will  again  be  confronted  with  this  well-digested 
and  carefully  prepared  proposed  legislation.  Whether  it  will 
pass  or  not,  or  whether  it  will  meet  the  approval  of  a  new 
Congress,  which,  in  the  House  of  Eepreseutatives  has  thirty- 
three  per  cent,  of  new  members,  is,  of  course,  a  question  for 
the  future. 

Mr.  Frye,  and  perhaps  no  man  is  more  familiar  with  the 
subject  of  our  merchant  marine  than  that  honorable  gentle- 
man, from  the  State  of  Maine,  makes  this  statement:  "That 
the  volume  of  our  foreign  commerce  is  approximately  some 
fifty  million  tons  annually.  He  estimates  that  the  average 
cost  of  carrying  this  is  four  dollars  a  ton — two  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars  a  year.  He  estimates  that  the  ships  that  our 
people  will  build  as  a  result  of  this  bill  will  effect  a  reduction 
in  freight  rates  of  25  per  cent.;  will  effect  a  saving  of  fifty 
million  dollars  a  year.  So,  for  the  expenditure  of  nine  mil- 
lions a  year  in  compensation  to  our  ship  o-miers,  our  people 
will  save  fifty  millions  a  year  in  the  cost  of  transporting  the 
foreign  products  they  buy  and  the  American  exports  they 
will  sell  abroad." 

Certainly,  gentlemen,  this  is  a  fair  field  for  American  en- 
terprise. By  our  protective  system  we  have  built  up  our 
manufactures  that  compete  with  the  manufactures  of  the 
world  in  like  products,  and  a  distinguished  writer  states: 
"This  nation's  policy  for  forty  years  has  been  to  protect  such 
of  its  industries  as  are  subject  to  foreign  competition,  barring 
our  ships.  Lacking  protection,  our  shipping  in  foreign  trade 
has  declined  from  2,500,000  tons  in  1861  to  700,000"tons  in 
1898,  althousrh  the  value  of  our  foreign  trade  has  increased 
from  $500,000,000  in  1861  to  nearly  $2,000,000,000  in  1898." 

Gentlemen,  your  labors  here  in  the  interchange  of  infor- 
mation have  been  wholesome  and  instructive.  I  know  you 
have  expressed  in  your  discussions  many  suggestions,  sub- 
mitted many  facts  that  will  be  used  in  the  debates  in  the  com- 
ing American  Congress.  While  you  doubtless  regard  your 
measures  of  great  importance,  you  can  readily  understand 
the  magnitude  and  the  im])ortance  of  the  measures  that  will 
confront  the  American  Congress  when  it  assembles,  in  a  few 
months  hence.  Whether  we  can  ever  reach  the  solution  of  the 
proposition  of  doing  our  own  foreigii  carrying  trade  is  a  ser- 
ious question — that  we  handle  a  carrying  trade  in  greater 
proportions  in  our  internal  commerce  is  a  fact  known  to  all. 
It  is  a  problem  that  must  be  met  and  must  be  solved.  Our 
own  merchant  marine  must  carry  our  foreign  commerce. 
We  want  to  build  up  and  strengthen  this  great  Republic  in 
this,  its  generation  of  labor,  in  its  future  of  greatness,  in  its 


humanity  to  man,  and  its  brotherhood  in  the  human  family. 
We  want  to  build  it  up  that  it  may  go  on  in  its  future  as  it 
has  gone  on  in  its  past,  with  light,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of 
happiness  common  to  every  man  within  its  magnificent  con- 
fines and  under  the  protecting  folds  of  our  Stars  and  Stripes. 
(Applause.) 

General  11.  H.  Bingham: 

I  am  requested  by  the  Director  to  introduce  to  you  Mr. 
H.  Llewell}Ti  Smith,  representing  the  British  Government, 
who  will  submit  to  you  a  paper  on  the  need  of  greater  uni- 
fonnity  in  the  trade  statistics  of  the  different  countries. 

Uniformity  in  Teade  Statistics. 

Mr.  H.  Llewellyn  Smith: 

In  inviting  the  attention  of  the  Congi'ess  to  the  need  of 
greater  uniformity  in  the  commercial  statistics  of  various 
countries,  I  approach  the  suliject  rather  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  statistician,  than  of  the  practical  commercial 
man.  I  am  addressing,  however,  an  audience  largely  com- 
posed of  representatives  of  practical  commerce  and  industry, 
from  whose  returns  and  for  whose  benefit  commercial  statis- 
tics are  mainly  collected,  and  who  should  therefore,  above  all 
others,  be  in  a  position  to  throw  light  on  their  deficiencies 
and  offer  useful  suggestions  for  their  improvement. 

In  order  to  economize  time,  I  shall  confine  myself  in  the 
main  to  the  question  of  unifomiity  of  basis,  leaving  to  the 
paper  which  follows,  any  full  discussion  of  the  equally  im- 
portant question  of  uniform  classification.  Commercial  sta- 
tistics bear  to  national  industry  a  relation  not  unlike  that 
which  bookkeeping  and  accounts  bear  to  individual  busi- 
ness— they  serve  two  purposes,  one  temporary  and  one  per- 
manent. They  are  at  once  a  test  of  the  condition  of  trade 
at  a  given  moment  and  a  record  of  its  progress  over  a  period 
of  time. 

All  civilized  countries  collect  and  publish  some  figures, 
more  or  less  detailed,  and  at  more  or  less  frequent  and  regu- 
lar intervals,  showing  the  state  of  their  business  relations 
with  other  countries;  but  there  is  the  great  possible  varia- 
tion in  the  period  covered  by  these  publications,  the  details 
which  they  contain,  the  basis  on  which  the  figures  are  col- 
lected and  the  method  of  their  classification. 

As  regards  the  period,  the  most  usual  system  among  the 
principal  commercial  countries  is  to  publish  accounts  both 
annually  and  monthly — the  annual  figures  being  the  more 
complete  and  detailed  for  the  purpose  of  a  permanent  record, 
while  the  monthly  summaries  are  intended  to  serve  the  prac- 
tical needs  of  the  moment.  Some  countries,  however,  only 
issue  their  summaries  at  quarterly  intervals,  and  some  issue 
nothing  but  annual  statements.  It  would  be  a  very  great 
advantage  if  an  approach  could  be  made  to  unifoimity  of 
practice  in  this  matter,  and  if  the  monthly  and  annual  sys- 
tem which  has  commended  itself  to  so  many  of  the  leading 
countries,  that  it  may  be  said  to  hold  the  field,  could  be 
adopted  universally. 

Possibly  some  representatives  of  South  American  countries 
which  do  not,  as  a  rule,  issue  monthly  statistics,  could  tell 
us  what  chance  there  is  of  such,  a  suggestion  meeting  with 
favorable  consideration. 

Countries  differ  among  themselves  not  only  as  regards  the 
frequency  of  their  returns,  but  as  regards  the  exact  period 
included  in  their  annual  statistics.  In  some  (e.  g.,  the 
United  Kingdom)  the  calendar  year  is  taken.  In  others  (e.  g., 
the  United  States)  the  period  is  from  July  to  June.  Here 
unifonnity,  though  highly  desirable,  is  no  doubt  difficult  to 
attain,  because  the  period  covered  by  the  statistics  may  some- 
times be  affected  by  the  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  finan- 
cial year. 


164 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


It  is  not.  however,  nec-essary  tliat  these  two  years— the 
financial  and  statistical  years  respectively — should  coincide, 
as  is  sho-ira  hy  the  practice  of  the  United  Kingdom,  where 
the  financial  vear  is  from  April  to  March,  and  the  statistical 
year  is  the  ea'londar  year.  There  can  be  no  question  of  the 
liTcat  convenience  that  would  result  from  the  adoption  of  the 
same  period  tor  their  statistics  by  all  the  chief  commercial 
countries. 

If  we  pass  from  the  period  to  the  contents  of  the  trade 
accounts,  I  do  not  think  that  it  will  be  disputed  in  tlie  ab- 
stract, that  so  far  as  practicable,  it  is  desirable  that  foreign 
trade 'statistics  should  be  collected  and  presented  by  each 
country  in  such  a  way  as  to  admit  of  ready  comparison  with 
those  of  other  countries,  without  the  risk  of  the  fallacious 
inferences  from  the  comparison  of  unlike  quantities. 

I  say  so  far  as  [U-acticable,  because  fhe  objects  for  which 
trade  statistics  are  obtained  are  manifold,  and  of  these  the 
comparison  of  one  country  with  another,  though  an  import- 
ant object,  is  not  perhaps  the  principal  one. 

It  might,  therefore,  be  that  a  well  meant  attempt  to  force 
the  method  of  one  country  into  a  fonnal  uniformity  with 
that  of  another,  might  involve  the  sacrifice  of  something 
for  which  the  gain  would  not  compensate.  Wo  must  recog- 
nize that  each  country  has  its  own  special  commercial  char- 
acteristics, and  we  must  not  be  pedantic  or  become  victims 
of  a  passion  for  logical  uniformity. 

Moreover,  we  must  remember  that  one  of  the  greatest  ob- 
jects of  commercial  statistics  is  to  establish  a  record  of  the 
progress  of  trade  from  year  to  year,  and  that  hasty  changes 
of  classification  of  basis  tend  to  disturl)  this  most  important 
kind  of  comparison. 

I  make  these  reservations  at  once  that  I  may  not  be 
thought  to  have  overlooked  the  difliculties  of  the  case,  when 
I  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  chief  points  in  which 
uniformity  is  now  lacking,  and  the  disadvantages  which  re- 
sult therefrom. 

AVlien  these  drawbacks  have  been  fully  realized  the  ques- 
tion of  removing  them  without  introducing  greater  evils  re- 
mains to  be  considered  in  each  case  on  its  merits. 

It  will  be  agreed  that  whether  or  not  uniformity  of  prac- 
tice is  possible,  it  is  essential  that  the  present  divergence  of 
practice  should  be  fully  understood,  and  that  it  should  be 
continually  before  the  minds  of  all  who  handle  the  stati-stics 
of  foreign  trade. 

1.  ]\Iy  first  example  of  want  of  uniformity  in  the  basis  of 
trade  statistics  is  the  difference  of  methods  of  valuing  imports 
and  exports. 

In  the  United  Kingdom,  and  I  believe  throughout  the 
British  Empire  (though  on  this  point  I  speak  under  correc- 
tion from  the  representatives  of  some  of  the  British  Colonies), 
the  values  of  imports  and  exports  are  based  on  declarations 
of  the  importer  and  exporter,  checked,  of  course,  where  ne- 
cessary by  the  customs,  and  they  refer  to  the  values  of  the 
commodities  at  the  point  where  they  reach  or  leave  the  coun- 
try respectively.  Thus  the  import  value  includes  freight  and 
insurance  but  not  custom  duty.  The  export  value  does  not 
include  freight  or  insurance. 

In  the  United  States  I  understand  tliat  tbe  import  values 
stated  in  the  consular  invoices  on  which  the  statistics  are 
based,  represent  the  wholesale  market  prices  ruling  in  tbe 
country  whence  the  imports  come,  thus  not  including  insur- 
ance and  freight. 

Here  at  once  is  a  sufficiently  iinporlani  divergence — the 
value  of  imports  in  the  Britisli  returns  including  cost  of 
carriage,  which  is  excluded  in  the  United  Slates  returns — 
a  dilferente  which  tends  to  vitiate  comparisons,  and  which, 
until  remedied,  should  be  carefully  borne  in  mind  in  using 
the  official  figures  to  illustrate  discussions  of  the  relations 
of  imports  and  exports  in  the  two  countries  respectively. 


But  there  is  also  another  point  of  divergence  which  is 
perhaps  not  so  generally  known,  and  which  may  serve  as  an 
interesting  illustration. 

United  States  import  values  are  based,  as  I  said,  on  the 
values  current  in  the  market  of  the  exporting  country. 
Thus  in  the  case  of  articles  which  are  subject  to  internal 
taxation,  in  the  country  from  which  the  goods  are  received, 
the  amount  of  that  internal  tax  should,  according  to  the  in- 
structions of  the  United  States  Treasury,  be  included  in  the 
value  stated  in  the  consular  invoices,  on  which  the  import 
statistics  of  the  United  States  are  based.  For  example, 
whiskey  exported  from  Scotland  to  the  United  States  must 
be  valued  at  its  wholesale  price  in  Scotland,  including  the 
excise  that  it  would  have  paid  had  it  been  put  on  the 
Scottish  market,  but  which  in  fact  it  never  paid,  having 
been  exported  from  bond.  This  procedure,  which  follows 
from  certain  recent  Treasury  decisions  supported  by  a  deci- 
sion of  the  Supreme  Court,  must,  if  uniformly  adopted,  have 
a  marked  result  on  the  statement  of  import  values  of  excis- 
able articles.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  it 
is  generally  followed  in  practice. 

I  should  like  to  know,  for  example,  whether  it  is  applied 
to  sugar,  imported  say,  from  Germany  into  the  United 
States.  Is  the  German  internal  excise  included  in  the 
recorded  value  of  this  imported  sugar?  If  so,  the  compari- 
son of  that  value  with  the  corresponding  figures  for  previous 
yenrs  before  the  date  of  the  Treasury  decisions,  and  also 
with  those  for  other  countries,  will  be  seriously  affected. 

Possibly  the  present  state  of  the  matter  is  that  the  excise 
is  included  in  the  case  of  articles  subject  to  ad  valorem  du- 
ties, and  not  in  the  case  of  artioles  subject  to  specific  duties. 
If  so,  confusion  is  worse  confounded. 

If  we  turn  to  Germany,  France  and  other  European  coun- 
tries, we  find  ourselves  in  the  presence  of  yet  a  third  method 
of  valuing  imports  and  exports,  viz.,  by  official  scales  of 
values  revised  annually  by  an  expert  commission.  This 
method  of  official  values  is  common  to  many  countries,  both 
in  Europe  and  in  South  America,  though  the  frequency  of 
revision  varies  greatly. 

In  one  South  American  country  at  least,  the  official  v;iJu- 
ations  in  use  up  to  a  very  recent  date,  had  been  employed 
without  revision  for  twenty  years.  Under  such  conditions 
it  will  be  evident  that  the  official  returns  of  the  values  of 
imports  and  exports  must  often  diverge  ver\'  widely  from 
the  true  values. 

In  the  case  of  countries  like  Germany  and  France,  in 
which  the  official  values  are  annually  revised,  the  chief  point 
to  notice  is  that  their  statistics  will  ])e  less  immediately  sen- 
sitive to  a  rise  or  fall  of  prices,  and  hence  to  inflations  and 
depressions  of  trade,  than  those  of  countries  in  which  de- 
clared or  market  values  are  employed.  For  a  certain  period 
the  monthly  accounts,  being  still  based  on  official  valuations 
made  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  wll  show  no  trace  of 
I'lianges  of  price,  and  then  suddenly  when  the  new  valuations 
come  into  force,  the  full  effect  of  the  year's  changes  will 
be  shown  in  a  single  month. 

Thus  the  changes  shown  in  the  statistics  will  both  lag 
behind  the  actual  changes,  and  will  appear  as  sudden  steps 
upward  or  downward,  instead  of  as  continuous  fluctuations. 

A  diagram  of  the  course  of  trade  of  countries  using  actual 
values  in  their  returns,  woulil  lend  to  lie  a  flowing  curve — 
that  of  countries  using  official  valuations,  would  rather  re- 
semble the  steps  of  a  staircas<'. 

A  good  example  of  this  difVerence  is  alTorded  by  a  com- 
parison of  the  monthly  trade  accounts  of  various  countries 
which  impoi't  wheat  during  I  lie  jieriod  of  the  rajud  rise  in 
the  price  of  wheat  last  year. 

Lastly,  we  have  some  countries,  of  which  I  may  quote 
Belgium  as  an  example,  which    adopt    a    mixed    system    of 


NINTH  DAY*S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


165 


oMcial  and  declared  values.  In  Belgium,  goods  shown  by 
value  are  recorded  at  their  declared  values,  and  all  others 
are  estimated  according  to  olheial  valuations. 

I  have  indicated  one  or  two  of  the  fallacies  to  which  this 
want  of  uniformity  in  the  valuation  of  imports  and  exports 
may  lead — fallacies  in  comparing  imports  and  exports,  and 
fallacies  in  estimating  the  relative  effect  at  a  given  time  of  an 
inflation  or  depression  of  trade  on  the  various  commercial 
countries. 

I  am  not  so  sanguine  as  to  expect  the  attainment  of  ab- 
solute uniformity  in  this  matter  in  the  near  future,  especially 
as  none  of  the  competing  methods  can  claim  perfection,  and, 
of  course,  each  country  considers  its  own  way  the  best. 

Moreover,  the  interest  of  countries  with  "ad  valorem" 
duties  is  not  quite  the  same  as  in  those  with  specific  duties. 
But  it  is  highly  desirable  that  the  nature  of  the  existing 
differences  should  at  least  be  continually  borne  in  mind,  and 
that  evei-y  opportunity  should  be  taken  to  advance  toward 
uniformity. 

2.  The  second  point  of  divergence  to  which  I  draw  atten- 
tion, is  one  with  regard  to  which  I  shall  only  say  a  very  few- 
words,  because  it  is  well  known  and  has  been  repeatedly  dis- 
cussed, viz.,  the  registration  of  imports  and  exports  accord- 
ing to  the  countries  of  true  origin  and  ultimate  destination 
on  the  one  hand,  and  the  countries  from  which  and  to  which 
the  goods  are  immediately  shipped  on  the  other. 

In  this  matter,  the  nominal  difference  among  countries  is 
pTobably  somewhat  greater  than  the  actual  difference  in 
practice.  Thus  in  the  United  Kingdom,  we  only  profess  to 
state  the  countries  from  which  the  goods  are  received  and 
to  which  they  are  sent,  but  where  possible  exporters  are  re- 
quired to  state  the  country  of  ultimate  destination,  and 
when  this  is  done  that  country  is  regarded  as  the  coimti-y  to 
which  the  goods  are  exported.  Moreover,  even  as  regards 
imports,  as  to  which  the  problem  is  more  difficult,  the  coun- 
try of  true  origin  is  entered  where  clearly  indicated  in  the 
papers. 

The  United  States  classify  their  foreign  trade  according  to 
the  country  in  which  the  goods  are  invoiced — the  practice 
being  thus  in  the  main  identical  with  that  of  the  United 
Kingdom. 

In  Germany,  France  and  some  other  countries  an  effort  is 
made  to  show  the  true  countries  of  origin  and  ultimate  des- 
tination, but  in  some  cases  this  must  be  very  difficult  to 
carry  out  in  practice,  and  the  origin  of  some  classes  of  goods, 
made  in  one  country  and  marketed  and  perhaps  packed  and 
slightly  altered  in  another,  is  in  reality  ambiguous. 

Here,  perhaps,  we  may  say  that  there  is  hardly  a  question 
of  principle  involved,  the  matter  being  one  of  practical  difR- 
culty,  and  the  difficulty  of  following  an  article  back  to  its 
place  of  origin  is  naturally  greater  in  countries  which  dis- 
pense with  certificates  of  origin,  than  in  those  in  which  these 
documents  are  required. 

Most  countries  either  adopt  the  principle  of  countries  of 
shipment,  or  of  countries  of  origin  and  destination,  in  their 
statistics,  and  I  have  suggested,  whichever  be  the  nominal 
principle,  the  current  practice  will  usually  be,  perforce,  a 
mixture  of  the  two  methods.  But  I  have  heard  that  in  Chile, 
and  perhaps  some  other  South  American  States,  a  third 
practice  used  to  be  followed,  and  perhaps  to-day  is  not  en- 
tirely disused,  viz.,  the  classification  of  imports  according  to 
the  flag  of  the  carrying  vessel — an  entirely  different  princi- 
ple and  one  which  it  is  not  easy  to  defend. 

While  speaking  of  the  classification  of  exports  as  regards 
destination,  I  may  allude  to  a  point  which  affects  considera- 
bly the  value  of  the  returns  of  some  countries,  viz.,  the  prac- 
tice of  dispatching  cargoes  for  orders. 

In  the  case  of  the  Argentine  Eepublic,  I  am  informed  that 


over  20  per  cent,  of  exports  sometime  appear  in  the  returns 
with  no  definite  destination,  but  are  described  as  "for  orders." 

The  natural  suggestion  that  occurs  to  one's  mind  is,  that 
this  proposition  might  be  very  largely  reduced  in  the  annual 
returns,  if  exporters  who  describe  their  consignments  in  this 
way  were  required  to  make  a  second  declaration  later,  show- 
ing the  actual  destination  of  the  goods. 

I  should  like  to  learn  what  practice  other  countries  follow 
in  this  matter. 

3.  I  pass  now  to  a  third  point  of  divergence,  which  has, 
perhaps,  attracted  less  attention,  viz.,  differences  of  practice 
regarding  the  treatment  of  transit  and  trans-shipment  trade, 
and  of  so-called  temporary  imports  and  "improvement 
trade." 

To  take  the  last  point  first:  Countries  which  levy  no  duties 
on  raw  material,  as  for  example,  the  United  Kingdom,  have  no 
special  reason  for  taking  separate  account  of  the  "improve- 
ment trade" — i.  e.,  of  goods  imported  to  be  re-exported  after 
undergoing  some  further  process  of  manufacture, — it  is  all 
included  in  the  general  statistics  of  imports,  though  foreign 
and  colonial  goods  re-exported  without  being  changed  by 
manufacture  are  separately  shown  in  the  exports. 

Thus,  raw  cotton  figures  among  our  imports,  and  cotton 
fabrics  made  therefrom  figure  in  our  exports,  including  in 
their  value  the  full  value  of  the  raw  material  imported. 

There  is,  however,  no  uniformity  in  the  practice  of  vari- 
ous countries  in  this  respect.  Germany,  I  imderstand,  now 
includes  the  improvement  trade  in  the  statistics  of  its  "special 
trade,"  while  Austria  omits  it;  and  Switzerland  excludes  it 
both  from  its  "special"  and  "general"  trade  accomits. 

Thus  we  have  every  variety  of  usage,  with  con-esponding 
results  in  the  trade  returns  of  the  different  countries. 

For  example,  a  rise  in  the  price  of  raw  cotton  will  appear 
to  raise  the  value  not  only  of  British  imports,  biit  also  of 
British  exports,  although  the  actual  value  of  the  produce  of 
the  industry  of  the  United  Kingdom — the  spinning,  weaving 
and  dyeing— may  have  actually  decreased.  Countries  which 
keep  the  improvement  trade  separate  in  their  accounts  would 
not  show  a  similar  result. 

Turning  to  transit  and  trans-shipment,  the  United  States 
appear  to  exclude  both  from  their  statistics.  The  United 
Kingdom  excludes  trans-shipment,  but  includes  transit. 
France  and  Germany  include  both  in  their  statistics  of  "gen- 
eral trade. 

These  differences  of  method  are  partly  explicable  by  the 
different  positions  and  circumstances  of  various  countries 
in  relation  to  these  branches  of  trade,  but  they  are  highly 
calculated  to  mislead  the  nnwaxy,  and  it  would  be  a  great  ad- 
vantage if  a  uniform  practice  could  be  introduced. 

4.  My  last  example  of  divergence  as  regards  the  collection 
and  basis  of  trade  statistics,  is  one  which  has  not  attracted 
very  much  attention,  but  which  is  of  growing  importance, 
and  which  has  become  a  veritable  trap  for  the  statistical 
amateur.  I  refer  to  the  treatment  of  the  statistics  of  free 
ports.  Are  the  goods  arriving  at  or  despatched  from  these 
ports  to  be  included  in  the  statistics  of  trade  of  the  country  to 
which  the  free  port  belongs?  In  Copenhagen  and  Genoa, 
they  are  so  included,  but  as  regards  parts  of  Hamburg,  I  be- 
lieve that  the  figures  axe  not  included  in  the  Imperial  German 
returns. 

Thus,  a  part  of  the  goods  sent  from  Germany  to  various 
countries  via  Hamburg,  appear  in  the  imperial  returns  as  ex- 
ports to  Hamburg,  while  a  quantity  of  goods  manufactured 
in  Hamburg  itself  for  export,  will  not,  I  take  it,  figure  in  the 
imperial  returns  at  all.  Anyone  not  alive  to  this  point  will  be 
most  seriously  misled  in  attempting  to  arrive  at  the  exports, 
say  of  sugar  from  Germany,  to  various  coimtries,  from  an  ex- 
amination of  the  imperial  returns  alone. 


166 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Hore  ihe  adoption  of  some  uniform  practice  is  highly  to  be 

desired. 

I  have  lingered,  perhaps,  too  long  over  questions  of  the  col- 
lection of  statistics,  and  I  must  only  say  a  few  words  as  to 
their  classification.  As  regards  this  there  seems  to  me  to 
be  three  main  points — (1)  the  great  classes  in  which  the  com- 
modities .shall  be  grouped;  (3)  the  items  whicli  shall  be  in- 
cluded in  each  of  tliese  classes;  (3)  the  nomenclature  and 
units  of  weight,  measure  and  value  in  which  the  statistics  shall 
be  expressed. 

As  regards  the  last  mentioned  point,  it  is  clear  that,  as 
the  primary  objects  of  the.se  statistics  is  to  give  information 
to  persons  within  tlie  country,  the  terms  and  units  employed 
must  in  the  main  follow  the  current  practice  in  that  country, 
even  at  the  risk  of  being  less  readily  used  for  international 
comparison. 

Thus,  the  (|uestion  of  imiformity  of  trade  statistics  in  this 
respect  is  only  part  of  the  wider  question  of  the  adoption  of 
common  standards,  and  of  uniform  terminology  in  commer- 
cial language.  This  is  a  most  interesting  and  important 
question  of  the  Congress,  but  to  discuss  it  in  this  paper  would 
lead  us  too  far  afield. 

I  pass  then  at  once  to  the  question  of  clas.sification.  At 
present,  there  is  a  great  divergence  both  in  the  classes  and 
in  the  distribution  of  articles  among  these  classes. 

The  most  generally  adopted  classes  in  European  statistics 
are  food,  raw  materials,  and  manufactured  articles,  ^vith  some- 
times an  intermediate  cla.ss  of  semi-manufactured  articles. 

Sometimes  two  of  these  headings  are  run  together,  viz., 
Hussia  unites  raw  and  semi-manufactured  articles.  Austria 
groups  food  with  raw  materials.  Sometimes  the  classes  are 
subdivided,  viz.,  in  the  United  Kingdom,  where  imports  are 
classed  under  nine  heads,  and  the  United  States,  which  also 
departs  from  the  usual  arrangement  by  introducing  a  special 
class  for  articles  of  voluntary  use. 

Now,  while  it  is  not  necessary  that  the  classes  should  be 
absolutely  the  same  in  all  countries,  it  is  at  least  desirable 
that  the  groujiing  or  subdivision  shoidd  be  performed  in  such 
a  way  as  not  to  cut  across  the  usual  or  "standard"  classes,  so 
that  by  addition  or  subtracticm  the  person  who  wishes  to 
make  international  comparisons  may  be  in  a  position  to  con- 
struct comparable  totals. 

For  this  purpose,  to  take  a  single  example,  the  separation 
of  alcoholic  drinks  from  the  food  class  in  which  they  are 
usually  inchided,  and  their  statement  as  a  separate  class  (as 
in  New  South  Wales),  is  less  perplexing  than  the  merging 
of  them  in  another  class  as  "articles  of  voluntary  use"  (as 
in  the  United  States). 

Wlien  we  examine  in  detail  the  contents  of  the  main  classes, 
we  find  a  bewildering  variety  of  practice,  of  which  I  need 
only  give  a  single  example,  tak(!n  at  random;  in  fact,  the  first 
tliat  fell  under  my  notice.  With  the  food  class  is  usually 
combined  a  class  of  live  animals,  seeing  that  such  animals 
form  an  important  item  in  food  supply.  What  is  to  be  done 
with  the  horses,  however?  They  are  clearly  live  animals,  but 
not  (at  lea.<t  primanly)  animals  for  food.  If  they  are  in- 
cluded, the  special  food  cliaracter  of  the  class  is  upset,  if  ex- 
cluded, where  are  they  to  go?  Every  variety  of  practice  has 
been  followed.  In  the  United  States,  Germany,  Russia  and 
Holland,  horses  are  live  animals.  In  the  United  Kingdom,  I 
find  them  under  the  safe,  if  ambiguous,  heading  of  "miscel- 
laneous articles."  In  France,  Austria,  Italy,  and  Switzeriand, 
they  are  boldly  claissified  as  "raw  materials."  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  multiply  examples.  In  this  matter  any  approach  to 
uniformity  must  necessarily  be  slow,  but  the  desirability  of 
an  approximation  to  uniformity  should  be  always  before' our 
minds. 

Lastly,  though  perhaps  it  does  not  very  strictly  come 
within  my  scope,  I  would  like  to  allude  to  a  point  of  difficulty 


which  all  statisticians  must  have  experienced  who  have  had 
to  do  with  the  issue  of  official  trade  statistics — a  matter  not 
arising  from  conflicting  methods  as  between  different  coun- 
tries, but  from  conflicting  wants  on  the  part  of  different  sec- 
tions of  the  public,  and  the  multiplicity  of  objects  which  the 
statistics  are  designed  to  serve. 

I  .said  at  the  beginning,  that  trade  statistics  are  intended 
both  as  indications  of  conditions  at  the  moment,  and,  as  a 
record  of  industrial  changes  over  a  period,  to  afford  the  prac- 
tical business  man  information  as  to  the  state  of  the  import 
and  export  trade  in  the  particular  commodities  in  which  he 
is  interested,  and  to  afford  the  general  public,  the  government, 
and  men  of  affairs  generally,  information  as  to  the  progress  of 
the  national  industries  as  a  whole. 

For  the  first  oljject  the  practical  man  demands  two  things 
which  are  not  always  easy  to  combine — promptitude  of  pub- 
lication and  minuteness  of  detail.  He  is  interested  in  one 
or  a  small  number  of  articles  only,  and  he  chafes  if  he  finds 
them  merged  in  the  trade  accounts  with  other  articles  or  even 
other  qualities  of  the  same  article,  and  he  wants  his  informa- 
tion red  hot.  We,  in  the  United  Kingdom  have  continually 
had  to  consider,  and  sometimes,  reluctantly  to  refuse  re- 
quests "from  business  men  to  give  more  minute  details  in  our 
monthly  trade  accounts,  requests  wlaicli  singly  could  be  com- 
plied with  at  no  very  great  trouble,  but  which,  if  generally 
acceded  to,  would  have  the  effect  of  postponing  the  issue  of 
the  accoimts  for  an  appreciable  period. 

1  lielievc  in  the  United  States  the  mode  adopted  of  over- 
coming the  dithculty,  is  to  give  very  minute  details  in  the 
montlily  statistics,  and  meet  the  demand  for  promptitude  by 
the  issue  of  preliminary  advance  sheets  subject  to  correction. 

With  us,  the  method  adopted  has  been  somewhat  different. 
The  publfshed  monthly  accounts  do  not  pretend  to  give  the 
minute  detail  contained  in  the  United  States  statistics  that  is 
reserved  for  the  annual  volume,  and  the  governing  considera- 
tion in  the  preparation  of  the  monthly  accounts  is  prompti- 
tude of  issue.  Our  monthly  accounts  appear  about  the  8th 
of  the  following  month,  earlier,  I  think,  than  in  the  case  of 
any  other  country.  To  meet  the  demand  of  business  men 
for  more  minute  detail  in  certain  branches  of  trade,  there  is 
attached  to  the  bill  of  entry  office  at  the  Customs  House,  a 
branch  which  supplies  to  subscribers  on  payment  of  a  fee  the 
more  detailed  particulars  respecting  special  articles.  Perhaps 
someone  here  could  tell  the  Congress  whether  anything  of  this 
kind  exists  in  any  other  country. 

I  have,  I  think,  said  enough  to  show  that  this  question  of 
the  uniformity  of  trade  statistics  deserves  your  careful  atten- 
tion. I  may  conclude  with  repeating  the  warning  with  which 
I  began,  that  in  making  any  changes  with  a  view  of  obviating 
the  evils  to  which  I  have  alluded,  the  greatest  possible  care 
should  be  taken  not  lightly  to  destroy  the  sequence  of  statis- 
tics over  a  period  of  years. 

Important  as  are  international  comparisons  at  a  given  time, 
they  are  not  usually  so  important  as  comparisons  of  the 
trade  of  the  same  country  with  its  amount  at  some  previous 
period.  To  preserve  continuity  may  be  of  more  importance 
than  to  secure  comparability,  and  when  once  the  thread  of 
continuity  is  broken,  it  may  be  that  the  loss  can  never  be 
repaired. 

I  am  aware  that  in  this  jmpcr  T  have  left  a  lai'ge  number 
of  ini]iorfant  points  uiitoiu-hcd. 

It  has  been  my  object  ratlier  to  indicate  sonic  of  the  points 
which  seem  to  me  to  deserve  the  further  attention  of  this 
Congress,  than  to  offer  any  cut  and  dried  scheme  of  my  own. 
I  venture,  however,  in  concluding,  to  express  a  hope  that 
some  way  may  be  found  either  through  the  appointment  of 
a  special  committee,  or  otherwise,  to  take  advantage  of  this 
unique  gathering  of  re]ircscntatives  of  the  commerce  of 
nations  to  set  in  motion  some  machinery  for  pronioting  the 


NlNT^H  i)AY>S  SESSt  ON,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


167 


introdiiction  of  greater  uniformity  into  trade  statistics,  wliicli, 
when  we  separate,  may  be  sul>niitted  to  the  consideration  of 
the  various  governments  represented  at  this  Congress.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

General  II.  H.  Bingham: 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  the  Hon.  Carroll 
D.  Wright,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  who  will 
present  a  paper  on  "The  Need  for  Greater  Uniformity  in  the 
Trade  Statistics  of  DifEerent  Countries." 

Advantages  of  a  Uniform  Classification  of  Commer- 
cial Statistics  by  Different  Countries. 

Ron.  Carroll  D.  WriijU  (U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor): 

Whenever  the  student  or  the  writer  or  the  legislator,  and 
especially  the  latter,  consults  official  statistical  publications 
he  has  a  right  to  assume  that  what  he  finds  there  has  been 
properly  classified.     He  probably  will  not  concern  himself 
with  the  question  as  to  whether  statistics  is  a  science,  but  he 
will  conclude,  in  any  event,  that  it  is  a  scientific  method  of 
presenting  accumulated  data,  and  that  classification,  wliich  is 
the  essence  of  all  science,  is  essentially  the  distinguislung  fea- 
ture of  statistics.    As  a  rule  there  will  be  no  difficulty  under 
this  assumption  when  aggregated  statistics  are  used,  such  as 
those  for  population;  nor  will  he  find  any  material  difficulty 
when  he  uses  commercial  statistics  for  the  purpose  of  present- 
ing the  volume  of  foreign  trade  of  a  single  country.     When, 
however,  he  undertakes  comparisons  of  international  trade  to 
determine  the  volume  of  trade  of  one  country  as  against  that 
,of  another,  he  will  find  the  difliculties  increase  to  such  an 
,  extent  that  he  cannot  arrive  at  a  clear  idea  of  the  facts.    His 
;  very  first  difficulty  will  be  found  when  he  uses  the  statistics  of 
,  exports  of  one  country   to  another  country  in   comparison 
■  with  the  statistics  of  imports  of  the  latter  from  the  former. 
..As  an  item  for  illustration:  The  exports   of   flour   from   the 
.United  States  to  the  United  Kingdom,  as  shown  by  the  export 
.  statistics  of  the  United  States,  will  not  agree,  though  the 
,  difl;erence  is  here  less  than  in  other  cases,  with  the  statistics 
,  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  imports  of  flour  from  the  United 
.  States.    He  will  find,  furthermore,  a  great  variety  of  classifi- 
,  cation  followed  by  different  nations,  and  various  other  differ- 
.  ences  that  will  confuse  his  study  and  invalidate  his  compari- 
sons.   My  purpose  at  the  present  time  is  to  present  some  of 
the  advantages  of  a  uniform  classification  of  commercial  sta- 
tistics by  different  countries,  ignoring  for  the  time  a  dis- 
^cussion  of  the  collection  of  such  statistics.    Tliis  latter  feature 
of  trade  statistics  has    been    discussed    by    my    friend,    H. 
Llewellyn  Smith,  Esq.,  representing  the  London  Board  of 
Trade.     To  show  the  advantages  of  a  uniform  classification 
in  the  clearest  light,  it  is  wise,  it  .seems  to  me,  to  show  the  dis- 
advantages of  the  methods  prevailing  at  the  present  time. 

There  are  two  main  sources  of  infomiation  in  this  coimtry 
concerning  statistics  of  foreign  trade — ^the  reports  of  the  cus- 
toms officials,  published  by  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the 
Treasury  Department  in  its  various  series  of  publications,  and 
the  reports  of  foreign  governments,  republished  in  summary 
form  by  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  Department 
of  State,  as  reported  by  the  consular  officers  of  the  United 
States  Government  in  foreign  countries. 

It  is  often  desirable,  for  one  reason  or  other,  to  make  a 
comparison  of  trade  statistics  of  different  countries,  but  un- 
fortunately, owing  to  the  diverse  systems  of  collecting  the 
statistics  pursued,  it  is,  on  this  account  alone,  almost  impos- 
sible to  make  such  comparison.  As  a  brief  example  of  this 
difficulty  reference  may  be  made  to  the  annual  report  of  the 
Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  State  Department  on 


"Commercial  Relations  of  the  United  States,"  the  introduc- 
tion to  which  is  entitled  "Review  of  the  World's  Commerce." 
In  this  introduction  for  the  year  1898  there  is  given  (pages 
24-74)  a  statement  from  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the 
Treasury  Department  showing  the  total  value  of  imports  and 
exports  for  the  years  1889  to  1898  by  years  and  countries, 
and  the  quantity  and  value  of  imports  and  exports  by  articles 
and  chief  countries  for  the  two  years  ending  December,  1897 
and  1898.  In  this  statement  it  is  found  that  the  total  value 
of  imports  from  the  L^nited  Kingdom  to  the  United  States 
in  1897  was  $159,002,286,  and  of  exports  from  the  United 
States  to  the  United  Kingdom  $482,695,024.  Turning  now 
to  volume  II.  (page  611),  where  the  trade  statistics  of  the 
United  Kingdom  are  reproduced,  it  will  be  found  that  exports 
from  the  United  Kingdom  to  the  United  States  during  1897 
amounted  to  $189,669,585,  and  imports  from  the  United 
States  to  the  United  Kingdom  $565,208,135.  Comparing 
the  returns  as  given  by  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  difference  of  $30,667,299  in  the 
value  of  goods  sent  from  the  United  Kingdom  to  the  United 
States,  and  of  $82,513,111  in  the  value  of  goods  sent  from  the 
United  States  to  the  United  Kingdom. 

Tliis  great  difference  may  be  accounted  for  in  a  num1>er 
of  ways,  the  most  important  of  which  is  that  of  the  difference 
in  the  methods  of  valuation.  The  attempt  was  made  to  make 
a  comparison  of  particular  classes  of  goods  by  quantities 
rather  than  by  values,  in  order  to  eliminate  this  item,  but 
here  the  equally  great  dilficulty  was  encounteretl  that  totally 
different  systems  of  classification  have  been  adopted,  with  a 
result  that  it  was  practically  impossible  to  make  such  com- 
parison for  any  important  single  commodity  or  class  of  com- 
modities. 

Tlie  detailed  annual  reports  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of 
the  Treasury  Department  have  been  examined,  but  here  not 
only  the  foregoing  obstacles  to  a  comparison  were  encoun- 
tered, but  in  addition  the  fact  that  the  tables  were  mostly, 
if  not  entirely,  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  30th.  which 
does  not  correspond  with  the  year  for  which  most  foreign 
trade  statistics  are  given.  This  difficulty,  of  course,  can  be 
overcome  by  using  the  monthly  or  quarterly  reports  of  our 
Federal  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  Treasury  Department,  so 
that  the  calendar-year  statements  can  be  brought  into  com- 
]iarison  with  the  calendar-year  statements  of  other  countries. 

Though  it  is  impossible  to  determine  the  reasons  why  a 
comparison  of  international  trade  statistics  is  ditficult,  the 
fact  remains  that  it  is  doubtful  if  even  a  specialist  in  trade 
statistics  can  safely  make  such  comparison.  The  subject  of 
the  comparability  of  trade  statistics  of  various  countries  has 
repeatedly  occupied  the  attention  of  the  International  Sta- 
tistical Institute,  the  Royal  Statistical  Society,  the  American 
Statistical  Association,  the  Australasian  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Science  and  other  scientific  bodies.  These 
discussions  have  been  carried  on  for  years  by  the  International 
Statistical  Institute  on  reports  and  propositions  submitted  by 
A.  E.  Bateman,  Esq.,  one  of  the  most  distinguished  statis- 
ticians of  England,  Sir  Robert  Giffen,  Dr.  Frederick  C.  Hicks 
and  others.  I  can  do  but  little  here  other  than  give  an 
epitome  of  these  discussions,  and  to  offer  some  suggestions 
of  the  way  out  of  the  difficulties. 

All  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  comparisons  have 
been  thoroughly  examined  by  this  body,  and  efforts  have  been 
made  to  induce  the  different  governments  to  adopt  a  more 
uniform  system  for  securing  and  presenting  their  trade  sta- 
tistics, but  as  yet,  no  progress  whatever  in  this  direction  has 
been  made. 

The  chief  obstacles  to  be  overcome  are  the  difficulties  ex- 
isting in: 

1.  The  method  of  classifpng  the  various  categories  of  ex- 
ports and  imports. 


168 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


2.  Tlie  nicthod  of  valuing  imports  and  exports. 

o.  The  iiielliods  of  registering  imports  and  exports  accord- 
ing to  eoinitry  of  origin  and  ultimate  destination,  as  distin- 
giiished  from  the  country  of  immediate  import  and  export. 

Tlie  great  disadvantages  arising  from  the  conilicting 
methods  employed  as  regards  these  three  points  are  such, 
tliat  there  should  he  a  mcst  strenuous  effort  to  overcome 
them.  Under  the  fir.st,  the  method  of  classifying  the  various 
categories  of  imports  and  exports,  it  is  found  that  not  only 
does  the  method  existing  in  different  countries  vary  greatly, 
but  also  that  there  is  a  great  variation  in  the  classitication  in 
the  same  country  of  imports  and  exports.  This  variation 
occurs  particularly  in  the  trade  statistics  of  the  United  King- 
dom and  of  the  United  States.  In  this  country  the  imports 
are  divided  into  five  classes:  1.  Articles  of  food  and  live 
animals;  2.  Articles  in  a  crude  state  for  use  in  domestic  in- 
dustry; 3.  Articles  wholly  or  partly  manufactured  for  use 
as  materials;  4.  Manufactured  articles  ready  for  consump- 
tion; and  5.  Articles  of  voluntary  use,  luxuries,  etc.  The 
last  class  includes  tobacco  and  alcoholic  beverages,  as  well 
as  articles  made  with  lace,  embroideries,  or  insertions,  which 
are  all  considered  in  the  United  States  to  Lear  the  stamp  of 
luxury.  As  regards  exports,  it  is  found  that  there  are  six 
classes,  the  largest  of  which  is  class  1.  They  are:  1.  Food 
products  and  agricultural  products,  including  tobacco  in 
the  leaf;  2.  Products  of  mines;  3.  Products  of  the  forest; 
4.  Products  nf  tlie  fisheries;  5.  Miscellaneous  products;  and, 
6.  Domestic  manufactures.  In  the  classitication  of  imports, 
food  products  and  raw  materials  are  the  largest  classes, 
while  in  exports,  food  products  and  domestic  manufactures  are 
of  the  greatest  importance.  Of  course,  with  such  a  varied 
industry  as  that  existing  in  the  ITnited  States,  it  is  debatable 
groimd  as  to  whether  the  same  classification  of  imports,  even 
by  a  more  minute  differentiation,  could  be  made  comparable 
with  the  classification  of  exports. 

The  United  Kingdom  presents  the  same  difficulty.  There 
are  four  classes  of  imports,  with  several  sub-divisions:  1. 
Food  products,  which  is  divided  into  two  classes,  comprising 
animals  living  and  articles  of  food  and  drink,  including 
tobacco;  2.  Raw  materials  and  jiartly  manufactured  articles, 
with  five  sub-divisions;  3.  Manufactured  articles;  and,  4. 
Miscellaneous  products.  In  the  classification  of  exports 
there  are  four  classes,  with  several  sub-divisions:  Class  1. 
Food  products,  which,  the  same  as  in  the  imports,  lias  two 
sub-divisions,  animals  living  and  articles  of  food  and  drink; 
2.  Raw  materials;  3.  Articles  manufactured  and  partly 
manufactured,  which  class  is  sub-divided  into  several  sec- 
tions, including  yarn  and  textile  fabrics;  metals  and  articles 
manufactured  therefrom,  except  machinery;  machinei7  and 
mill  work,  ap])arel  and  articles  of  personal  use,  and  chem- 
icals, including  all  chemical  and  medicinal  jweparations;  and, 
4,  all  otbi'r  articles,  either  manufactured  or  partly  manufac- 
tured, including  articles  sent  liy  parcels  post.  These  are  fair 
samples  of  the  difficulties  of  making  comparisons  under  the 
first  obstacles  named,  that  of  classifying  the  various  categories 
of  imports  and  exports. 

The  second  obstacle,  the  different  methods  of  valuing  im- 
ports and  exports,  offer  very  great  advantages  as  at  present 
carried  on.  In  one  country,  imjjorts  are  valued  at  the  port 
of  departure,  and  in  another,  at  the  port  of  arrival.  In  some 
cases,  the  values  are  determined  from  the  statements  of  the 
shippers,  checked  by  the  customs  authorities,  and  in  others, 
by  a  permanent  valuation  commission  which  fixes  a  schedule 
of  official  prices  which  it  revises  from  time  to  time.  Some- 
times the  values  a,s  given  include  the  cost  of  packing,  freight 
and  other  incidental  expenses,  and  sometimes  these  charges 
are  omitted,  so  that  there  is  a  constant  disturbance  of  the 
valuation  of  exports  and  imports  of  the  same  articles. 

For  these,  and  other  reasons,  a  better  comparison  for  most 


purposes  of  the  volume  of  imports  and  exports  is  by  units  of 
quantity.  This  can  be  secured  only  by  a  minute  classification 
of  each  article  by  the  quantities  involved  in  the  trade.  In 
a  class  of  imports  quantities  cannot  be  given,  but  in  the 
great  body  of  imports  and  exports  there  ought  to  be  little  or 
no  diiUculty  in  classifying  them  by  quantities,  regardless  of 
values.  This,  of  course,  is  attempted  in  many  cases,  and 
with  good  results. 

The  third  obstacle  is  through  the  method  of  registering 
imports  and  exports  according  to  country  of  origin  and  ulti- 
mate destination,  as  distinguished  from  the  country  of  im- 
mediate import  and  export,  and  under  this  method  there  is 
more  deception,  probably,  than  under  the  other  two.  Thus, 
for  instance,  the  rule  in  Holland  is  to  consider  as  the  coun- 
try of  origin  the  country  from  which  the  vessel  carrying  the 
goods  started,  according  to  the  bill  of  lading.  All  products 
exported  by  sea  from  Holland  appear  in  the  statistics  as 
Dutch  products,  although  they  might  have  come  from  some 
other  country  originally  and  simply  crossed  Holland  to  gain 
a  port.  This  illustrates  the  methods  in  vogue  in  otlier  coun- 
tries, and  some  of  the  greatest  importance  in  foreign  trade. 
Anyone  using  the  statistics  of  imports  and  exports  to  make 
comparisons  without  reference  to  this  difference  in  the 
metliod  of  registration,  would  thus  confuse,  even  vitiate,  the 
conclusion  which  might  be  reached.  Much  time  might  be 
taken  in  reviewing  these  differences,  but  a  single  illustration, 
it  Seems  to  me,  sufficiently  emphasizes  the  fact  that  there  is 
a  great  opportunity  for  reform  under  this  method. 

The  above  are  the  chief  disadvantages  of  the  prevailing 
methods  of  classification,  and  they  point  clearly  to  the  ad- 
vantages which  would  obtain  with  a  uniform  classification 
of  the  trade  statistic  of  different  countries.  It  is  at  once 
admitted  that  the  chief  difficulty  in  securing  uniform  classi- 
fication lies  in  the  method  of  valuation.  So  long  as  there 
are  restrictions  upon  trade  there  will  be,  perhaps,  not  frauds 
in  valuation,  although  they  occur  now  and  then,  but  an 
endeavor  on  the  part  of  the  importer,  when  duties  are  to  be 
paid  upon  imports,  to  secure  the  lowest  possible  valuation. 
This,  as  a  rule,  does  not  conflict  with  the  interests  of  the 
ex])orter  of  the  same  articles.  He  is  sending  them  out  at 
market  prices,  and  at  prices  which  are  warranted  by  the  trade 
itself,  but  the  valuation  of  the  exporter  can  rarely  be  the 
valuation  of  the  importer  of  the  same  goods. 

'J'lie  ditficulty  of  making  comparisons  to  learn  the  volume 
of  trade  of  one  country  as  against  another,  to  which  I  have 
alluded — the  gi'eat  disparity  between  the  import  statistics  in 
one  country  and  the  export  statistics  in  another  of  the  same 
article — can  be  overcome  only  by  quantitative  classification 
and  by  an  extreme  carefulness  not  only  in  the  collection  but 
in  the  classification  of  the  facts.  Herein  lies  a  very  great 
difliculty  in  securing  a  uniform  classification,  but  a  difficulty 
which,  once  overcome,  would  show  the  great  advantages  to 
be  obtained. 

It  is  of  the  greatest  advantage  in  all  international  con- 
siderations to  be  able  to  make  fairly  exact  comparisons,  and 
this  is  of  more  advantage  to  our  great  importers  and  ex- 
porters and  to  the  producers  of  raw  material  everywhere,  as 
well  as  of  manufactured  products,  than  to  the  economist. 
The  financiers  of  different  countries  are  also  greatly  inter- 
ested, and  the  value  of  their  work  would  be  materially  en- 
hanced through  the  securing  of  iiiiil'nriiiity.  It  the  great 
financiers  of  difi'erent  countries  aix'  making  eaknilations 
based  upon  incomparable  statistics  of  imports  and  exports, 
they  are  quite  sure  to  arrive  at  false  conclusions  in  reference 
to  international  monetary  systems  or  the  elements  of  inter- 
national exchange.  If  they  are  deceived  through  considering 
as  exports  of  a  country  all  those  things  which  are  sent  out 
of  its  ]>orts,  without  reference  to  the  place  of  production, 
and  of  another  as  only  those  things  which  are  produced  in 


NINTH  DAY»S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


169 


and  exported  from  that  country,  they  are  sure  to  arrive  at 
false  conclusions,  and  the  basis  of  their  theories  will  be 
vitiated.  So  the  merchant  or  the  producer  who  undertakes 
to  make  calculations  as  to  the  prospect  of  trade  by  entering 
into  comparison  like  those  just  described,  would  come  to  a 
false  conclusion  as  to  what  he  had  better  do  in  reference  to 
exporting  or  importing  the  articles  in  which  he  is  concerned. 

The  problem,  therefore,  for  this  International  Commercial 
Congress  is,  to  consider  what  means  can  be  taken  to  over- 
come the  difficulties  outlined.  The  first  method  which  would 
naturally  suggest  itself  is  that  of  memorials  to  the  govern- 
ments of  different  commercial  countries,  with  a  view  to  secur- 
ing by  the  governments  themselves  a  reorganization  of  their 
classification  of  commercial  statistics.  Experience  shows  that 
there  is  not  much  to  be  hoped  for  from  this  method.  Gov- 
ernment officials  everyw^here  would  claim,  and  with  much 
propriety,  that  their  classifications  are  the  result  of  the  ex- 
perience of  many  years;  that  they  have  each  tried  to  present 
their  exports  and  imports  in  such  a  way  as  to  comprehend  the 
leading  elements  of  the  particular  trade  of  the  country  in- 
volved, and  no  country  would  l)e  willing,  under  such  a  pro- 
test, to  throw  aside  the  classification  used  for  years  and  adopt 
that  of  another  country.  Each  would  naturally  claim  that 
its  own  classification  was  the  best  to  be  obtained  under  all 
the  circumstances,  and  recognizing  all  the  difficulties  in  uni- 
formity. Nevertheless,  this  Congress  might  join  its  efforts 
to  those  of  the  International  Statistical  Institute  and  other 
scientific  bodies.  Boards  of  trade,  chambers  of  commerce, 
and  commercial  associations  everywhere,  should  add  their 
powerful  memorials  to  the  appeals  from  academic  sources. 
Thus  an  impression  would  be  made  far  greater,  and  with 
much  more  powerful  influence,  than  could  be  secured  through 
the  appeals  from  academic  sources  alone. 

Should  this  method  not  be  deemed  wise  or  hopeful  of  ad- 
vantageous results,  the  whole  matter  of  classification  must 
be  left  either  to  private  enterprise  or  to  the  scientific  work 
of  some  department  of  governmental  service,  which  under 
law  shall  imdertake  to  harmonize  the  classification  of  com- 
mercial (Statistics  of  diiferent  countries  for  the  benefit,  not 
alone  of  the  merchants  aaid  producers  of  the  country  in- 
volved, but  of  the  world.  This  may  be  accomplished  here- 
after in  the  United  States  through  the  establishment  of  the 
proposed  Department  of  Industry  and  Commerce.  Should 
such  an  office  be  established  its  head  being  a  member  of  the 
Cabinet,  much  could  l>e  accomplished;  for  with  an  ade- 
quately equipped  department  the  official  commercial  statistics 
of  different  countries  could  be  arranged  and  re-arranged  so 
that  the  classification  thereof  would  be  fairly  uniform  and 
constitute  a  reasonable  basis  for  comparison. 

Anotlier  method  which  has  always  been  rather  attractive 
to  me  in  this  direction  is  through  the  efforts  of  organizations 
themselves.  Some  years  ago  I  had  the  honor  to  make  before 
our  National  Board  of  Trade  a  proposition  for  it  to  establisli 
a  bureau  of  statistics,  the  main  purjiose  of  which  should 
be  to  collect,  classify  and  publish  at  short  intervals,  on  a 
\miform  basis,  the  statistics  of  production  and  trade  of  the 
different  countries  of  the  world,  and  I  still  believe  that  in 
this  suggestion  there  is  much  weight.  The  Philadelphia 
Commercial  Museum  might  undertake  this  work.  With  the 
means  at  its  disposal,  joined  to  the  means  which  might  be 
contributed  by  the  National  Board  of  Trade  and  by  the  dif- 
ferent boards  of  trade  and  chambers  of  commerce  throughout 
the  country,  a  bureau  might  be  established  that  could  act 
with  far  more  promptness  than  a  government  office,  and 
especially  with  much  more  promptness  than  a  chain  of  gov- 
ernment offices,  even  supposing  for  a  moment  that  different 
governments  might  be  induced  to  unite  in  securing  uni- 
formity. It  is  not  a  question  of  money.  The  producers, 
exporters,  and  importers  of  the  United  Kingdom  or  of  the 


United  States  could  with  perfect  ease  furnish  the  means  for 
supporting  a  bureau  devoted  to  this  work.  It  would,  of 
course,  have  all  the  facilities  of  every  government  office  in 
the  world  devoted  to  commercial  statistics  in  securing 
promptly  advance  statements,  on  their  own  classification, 
for  the  purpose  of  editorial  work  and  classification.  It  is 
safe  to  assume  that  with  men  of  great  power,  and  with  the 
lirains  which  they  bring  to  tiieir  own  individual  activities, 
there  should  be  found  enterprise  enough,  and  sufficient 
energy  to  institute  measures  which  shoidd  be  effective  and 
lead  to  the  most  satisfactory  results.  A  committee  or  an 
officer  authorized  by  such  a  comliination  of  associations  would 
soon  show  the  commercial  world  the  benefits  to  be  derived 
from  a  uniform  classification  of  the  commercial  statistics  of 
different  countries.     (Applause.) 

General  H.  H.  Bingliam: 

1  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  Lieut. -General 
Laurie,  M.  P.,  Delegate,  London  Chamber  of  Commerce;  lie 
will  discuss  the  subject  presented  by  Mr.  H.  Llewellyn  Smith 
and  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  "The  need  for  a  greater  uni- 
formity in  the  trade  statistics  of  different  countries." 

Lieul.-Gencral  J.  Wimhitrn  Laurie: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  have  no  intention  of  reading  a  paper  on 
this  subject,  because  I  conceive  that  the  two  papers  have  ab- 
solutely covered  the  ground,  so,  if  I  had  a  paper,  I  should 
prefer  to  withdraw  it  and  to  allow  this  question  to  stand  on 
its  merits,  as  the  papers  placed  before  you  by  representative 
men  are  specimens  of  two  great  commercial  nations.  These 
men  are  more  fully  able  to  speak  from  years  of  experience 
more  to  the  point  than  any  individual  could  speak.  What  I 
desire  to  do,  if  possible,  is  to  give  effect  to  the  papers  by  Mr. 
H.  Llewellyn  Smith  and  by  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright.  The 
suggestion  has  been  made  that  some  practical  action  be  taken, 
following  out  the  papers  read,  so  I  prepared  a  resolution  on 
this  subject  which  I  handed  to  Dr.  Wilson  last  Tuesday,  un- 
derstanding that  these  matters  were  to  be  brought  up.  I  will 
read  the  resolution: 

Resolved,  That  it  is  most  desirable  that,  as  far  as  practi- 
cable, the  trade  statistics  of  all  countries  should  be  a,ssimi- 
lated  for  purposes  of  accurate  comparison,  and  that  this  Con- 
gress place  this  resolution  before  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  with  a  view  to  any  action  which  may  be  found 
possible  by  consultation  with  foreign  goveraments  to  obtain 
such  assimilation  of  statistical  returns. 

Now  I  have  listened  to  the  proposal  by  Mr.  Wright,  and 
to  some  extent  by  Mr.  Smith,  in  reference  to  statistics,  that 
private  individuals  should  take  hold  of  this  matter,  that  the 
International  Statistical  Institute  should  deal  with  this  ques- 
tion and  endeavor  to  assimilate  statistics.  The  result  of  that 
would  be,  so  I  conceive,  that  you  would  have  a  class  of  statis- 
tics with  which  you  would  be  able  to  work.  You  would  have 
a  class  of  statistics  prepared  by  Government  officials  and  by 
private  enterprise  which  would  not  in  all  respects  agree,  and 
the  question  would  arise  by  which  you  would  be  guided.  The 
office  of  statistics  would  not  be  what  yoii  w-ould  expect,  and 
you  would  be  just  where  you  are  now.  You  would  still  be 
left  with  statistic-s  that  are  diverse  in  statement  that  would 
be  placed  before  you.  It  seems  to  me  that  you  don't  want  two 
sets  of  statistics;  we  want  one  set  prepared  by  the  Govern- 
ment. Would  it  not  be  better  to  ask  the  Government  to 
assimilate?  Should  not  each  delegate  be  required  to  ask  its 
Government  to  modify  its  statistics?  Each  Government 
would  then  naturally  say,  "We  know  our  own  business,  and 
we  prepare  such  statistics  as  suit  our  people."  Pass  my  reso- 
lution. My  resolution  propo.ses  that  the  delegates  of  the 
different  countries  should  be  invited  to  come  together  to  as- 


170 


PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


certain  how  their  statistics  may  be  so  collated  as  to  assimilate 
for  all  practical  purposes  to  cover  the  same  period.  I  cannot 
liclp  thinking  that  we  will  in  time  amve  at  the  best  i-esult.s 
wc  all  desire  to  attain — the  assimilation  of  statistics.  At  any 
rate,  if  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  represented  by 
^Ir.  Wright  for  this  ])urpose,  and  if  the  Government  of  Great 
Britain,  represented  by  Jlr.  Smith  for  this  puqajse,  both  de- 
i-'ire  that  statistics  shonld  be  assimilated,  I  feel  quite  satisfied 
that  tliese  two  Governments  will  find  a  method  for  doing  it, 
because  these  two  are  able  representatives  of  the  statistical 
departments  of  hotli  countries,  and  I  cannot  conceive  that  the 
diiiiculties  are  insurmountable.  With  your  permission,  sir, 
1  pi-opose  the  resolution  that  I  have  read,  and  I  trust,  that 
though  there  may  be  a  better  method,  until  some  better 
method  is  discovered,  this  may  be  ado]ited  as  a  solution  of  the 
difticulty,  and  that  we  shall  endeavor  to  carry  it  nut.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

(ieneral  H.  II.  Bingham: 
Mr.  Wright  desires  to  nuxke  a  correction. 

nmi.  Carroll  D.  Wri,jM: 

]\lr.  Cliairman:  1  uuTcly  wisli  to  correct  an  impression. 
Mr.  Laurie's  suggestion  is  that  this  commercial  body  and  the 
boards  of  trade  and  chambers  of  commerce  everywhere,  in 
their  memorials  to  their  different  governments,  supplement 
the  work  of  the  memorials  of  the  International  Institute,  not 
that  tlie  Institute  was  to  conilict,  but  its  statistics  were  to  sup- 
plement those  obtained  by  the  (4overnment  and  those  ob- 
tained from  business  men.  I  am  heartily  in  sympathy  with 
the  resolution  offered  which  I  saw  before  it  was  presented. 

Lient.-General  J.  Wimhurn  Laurie: 

Mr.  Chairman:  It  was  my  desire  that  the  initiative  should 
he  taken  by  the  Goveniment  of  this  great  country  where  we 
are  assembled  in  Commercial  CongTCSs. 

General  H.  H.  Bingham: 

The  Chair  will  recognize  Mr.  William  Angus,  of  the  Lon- 
don Chamber  of  Commerce,  a  delegate  to  this  Congress. 

Mr.  William  Angus: 

As  a  member  of  the  London  Chamber  of  Commerce,  I  am 
glad  to  have  the  opportunity  of  seconding  the  resolution  just 
moved  by  my  colleague.  General  Laurie.  We  are  told  that  the 
Jealousy  of  commerce  will  prevent  governments  from  work- 
ing together,  but  surely  tlie  uniformity  of  trade  statistics  must 
lie  a  convenience  to  all.  All  useful  information  stimulates 
trade,  and  anything  that  promotes  trade  between  nations 
benefits  civilization.  This  jealousy  of  commercial  nations  is 
only  a  survival  of  the  early  instincts  of  savagery,  when  every 
man  fought  for  his  own  existence.  I  cannot  understand  why 
one  nation  .should  fear  the  commercial  progress  of  another — 
surely  every  country  benefits  by  the  indu.stry  of  other  enun- 
f.ries.  It  is  the  sluggish  nations  which  we  should  fear,  for 
they  produce  nothing,  and  thus  clog  the  wheels  of  advaiu-ing 
civilization.  Let  us  adopt  every  means  of  assisting  trade 
throughout  the  world,  dro])  the  old  prejudices  against  rival 
nations,  and  following  up  the  generous  and  enlightened  policy 
now  begim  by  the  Philadelphia  Comiru'reial  Museum,  work 
togetiier  to  encourage  commerce  and  raise  the  standard  of 
human  life. 

We  liear  of  Continental  countries  emiibining  to  stay  Ihe 
commercial  progress  of  (i real  Britain  and  .America,  and  in  Ihe 
latter  ctmntries,  we  hear  arguments  that  the  awakening  nf  tlie 
Ka.'itern  countries  will  swam]>  the  industries  of  the  West,  ff 
the  Continental  countries  combined,  and  by  some  means  re- 


duced Great  Britain  to  the  condition  of  its  people  a  thousand 
years  ago,  they  would  only  succeed  in  losing  their  best  market. 
If  we  could  stay  the  commercial  aspirations  of  the  East,  and 
prevent  their  entering  into  competitive  manufacturing,  we 
would  assist  in  retarding  progress  and  the  world  would  lose, 
as  it  is  now  losing,  the  wealth  which  could  be  produced  by  so 
many  hundred  millions  of  people.  We  need  not  be  afraid 
that  the  supply  might  be  greater  than  the  demand — com- 
])otition  makes  trade.  Tlie  supply  creates  the  demand.  If 
China  and  Japaji,  with  their  millions  of  people,  and  their 
great  natural  resources,  became  manufacturing  and  commer- 
cial nations,  they  would  also  become  large  buyers  from  all 
other  countries.  A  nation  does  not  trade  one  way;  if  she 
sells,  she  must  take  something  in  exchange;  she  creates  new 
wealth  throiigh  the  employment  of  her  labor,  and  by  bring- 
ing into  active  use  tliat,  which  before  had  no  living  value,  she 
enriches  herself  and  adds  to  the  world's  wealth,  making  the 
world  more  lieautifrd,  and  life  happier  for  all  God's  creatures. 
I  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  thanks  to  Dr. 
Wilson,  who  has  given  me  the  opportunity  of  attending  this 
great  World's  Commercial  Congress,  and  on  behalf  of  the 
London  Chamber  of  Congress,  of  thanking  him  and  all  of  the 
official  staff  of  the  Museum  for  their  full  and  generous  assist- 
ance, and  for  the  information  with  regard  to  their  ingenious 
and  advanced  .system  of  advancing  the  commercial  interests  of 
their  country.    (Applause.) 

General  H.  II.  Bingham: 

Under  the  rules  of  the  Congress,  the  resolution  will  be  re- 
ferred to  the  committee.  I  have  the  pleasure  of  recognizing 
]\Ir.  Joel  Cook,  member  of  the  Congress. 

Mr.  Joel  Cool-: 

I  wish  to  speak  on  a  cognate  matter  to  tliat  which  has  been 
so  ably  discussed.  It  is  a  resolution  of  the  Philadelphia 
Board  of  Trade  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress 
now  in  session.    The  resolution  is  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  delegates  of  the  Philadelphia  Board  of 
Trade  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress,  now  in 
session,  be  requested  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  said 
Congress,  the  subject  of  the  establishment,  by  the  commercial 
nations  of  the  world,  of  an  international  bureau  for  the  col- 
lection and  dissemination  of  the  agricultural  reports  of  said 
nations  as  to  their  cereals,  with  a  view  of  securing  the  widest 
and  prom]>tcst  international  circulation  of  said  reports. 

Mr.  Chairman,  I  desire  to  present  this  resolution  to  the^ 
convention  and  ask  a  favorable  consideration  of  the  topic. 

Genei-al  II.  H.  Bingham: 

The  Chair  will  hold  the  resolution,  and  present  to  the  Con- 
gress Mr.  M.  de  Routkowsky,  who  \vi\\  sjieak  on  the  subject 
of  "The  Need  of  an  International  Bureau  for  the  Collection 
and  Disseminatidu  of  Agricultui-al  Reports  and  Statistics." 

3/"r.  71/.  lie  l!iiiilh»r.9l-ii : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Delegates:  T  am  very  happy  to  say  thait 
I  have  heard  with  pleasure  the  proposal  made  by  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Philadel])hia  to  establish 
an  international  bureau  for  the  colh'ctioii  and  dissemination 
of  such  reports  and  statistics,  and  1  will  explain  to  you  the 
reasons  why.  1  am  heartily  in  sympathy  witli  the  resolution 
and  will  support  it. 

For  about  twenty-five  years,  our  l)ef)artment  of  Commerce 
has  mad(>  a  vei'v  careful  investigation  concerning  the  situation 
ol'  production  and  sale  of  grain,  and  this  investigation  lu-ought 
our  Department  of  Comineree  to  the  following  conclusion: 

(•'rom  18(!0  up  to  1883,  the  construction  of  ra.ilroads. 
brought  the  old  markets  of  Western  Europe  nearer  to  new 


NINTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  23,  1899 


171 


lands  with  fertile  soil,  thereby  supplying  the  distant  markets 
with  grain  at  cheaper  prices  than  it  could  be  done  in  Western 
Europe,  where  the  high  value  of  land,  combined  with  the  ex- 
hausted condition  of  the  soil  and  necessity  for  fertilizers,  did 
not  allow  the  farmers  any  longer  to  produce  bread  stutfs  pro- 
fitably, at  then  existing  prices.  Low  prices  came  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  operation  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 

During  the  decade  of  1882  and  1892-3,  the  area  of  culti- 
vated land  increased  only  five  per  cent.  The  amount  of  crops 
gathered  increased  from  five  to  six  per  cent.  At  the  same 
time,  the  population  of  the  countries  which  are  consumers  of 
wheat,  the  United  States  of  America  and  all  the  European 
countries,  increased  about  eleven  per  cent.  Now,  the  statis- 
tics show  us  that  the  consumption  per  capita  is  increasing 
every  year.  If  you  compare  these  figures,  you  wUl  immedi- 
aitely  see  that  at  that  time  there  was  no  over-production  of 
wheat,  and  as  the  number  of  consumers  increased,  the  amount 
of  wheat  at  the  disposal  of  mankind  was  less  than  the  demand. 
Therefore,  if  only  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  were  in 
operation,  the  price  of  breadstuffs  would  not  be  lower  than 
in  1883,  but  in  fact  the  price  of  breadstuffs  was  much  lower, 
the  price  of  wheat  for  example  being  50  cents  per  bushel  lower 
than  in  1883.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  this  low  price 
earmot  be  explained  except  by  the  law  of  supply  and  demand. 

Here  comes  another  factor,  or  perhaps  many  other  factors, 
which  should  be  taken  into  consideration.  First,  let  us  con- 
sider what  is  the  condition  of  the  farmer  and  the  merchant 
who  deal  in  grain.  Their  position,  I  must  say,  is  rather  an- 
tagomstic.  The  farmer  is  interested  in  selling  bread-stuffs 
at  prices  which  may  cover  his  expenses,  and  leave  him  suffi- 
cient profit  to  live  on.  The  merchant  is  not  interested  at  all 
in  the  price  at  which  the  product  is  sold.  He  is  interested  in 
buying  at  a  certain  price  and  selling  at  a  higher  price;  even 
if  the  profits  are  very  small,  he  still  can  get  large  aggi'egate 
profits  by  increasing  the  volume  of  operations.  The  mer- 
chants are  concentrated  in  the  big  centres  of  trade  and  have 
a  powerful  organization  at  their  disposal.  They  have  produce 
exchanges,  where  they  can  get  information  about  the  situation 
of  all  foreign  markets. 

The  farmer  has  very  small  means,  and  it  is  very  difficult 
for  him  to  form  associations  and  combines.  We  have  seen 
that  to  be  the  case  in  this  country  where,  on  two  occasions, 
associations  were  formed  by  farmers,  one  known  under  the 
name  of  "Grangers"  and  tlie  other  under  the  name  of  the 
"Eiarmers'  Alliance,"  which  did  not  accomplish  anything  and 
were  merged  later  into  a  political  party.  They  could  not 
bring  any  practical  recommendation  which  could  be  taken  up 
by  the  government  for  the  benefit  of  the  people.  This  brings 
us  involuntarily  to  the  conclusion,  that  it  is  time  for  the  State 
to  intervene  and  try  to  find  a  solution.  The  difficulty  is,  that 
various  States  have  different  interests.  Take  for  example, 
the  governments  of  Great  Britain,  Belgium  and  Holland: 
they  are  rich  industrial,  manufacturing  countries,  and  are 
interested  in  having  wheat  as  cheap  as  possible,  because  it 
makes  it  easier  for  laborers  to  exist  and  to  make  savings. 
France,  Italy  and  Germany  possess  a  very  large  agricultural 
population;  they  have  to  protect  it  by  import  duties  on 
grain,  and  they  are  less  interested  in  having  cheap  bread,  be- 
cause low  prices  would  ruin  their  agrarian  population.  Other 
countries  are  producers  of  grain  in  such  quantities  that  they 
have  to  sell  the  surplus  of  their  production  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  as  for  example,  the  ITnited  States,  Argentine  Kepublic, 
the  East  Indies,  Australia,  Austria,  Eussia,  Eoumania,  etc., 
etc.  These  countries  can  not  protect  themselves  by  customs 
duties — they  have  a  common  interest,  viz.,  to  sell  their  bread- 
stuffs  at  a  fair  price.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  to  their  advantage 
to  agree  upon  some  concerted  action,  which  woidd  better  pro- 
tect their  interests,  than  the  establishment  of  imjwrt  duties, 
as  has  been  done  in  the  United  States.    A  country,  which  ex- 


ports bread-stuffs  worth  $200,000,000  derives  small  benefit 
from  such  a  measure  as  import  duty.  I  think  this  is  not  a 
method  to  greatly  help  the  agricultural  population.  There 
are  probably  other  ways  to  protect  the  agricultural  popula- 
tion, which,  perhaps,  future  experience  will  show. 

Perhaps  the  CongTess  will  be  interested  to  know  what  has 
been  done  by  the  Russian  Government  to  help  the  Eussian 
farmers.  You  are  familiar  with  the  fact,  that  when  the  time 
comes  for  the  crops,  the  farmer  needs  money  to  pay  his  labor- 
ers, his  taxes,  his  bills  for  supplies,  etc.  How  can  he  get  it? 
By  selling  his  crop,  at  once.  But  if  every  farmer  sells  his  crop 
at  the  same  time,  a  great  mass  of  grain  is  thrown  in  the 
market,  depressing  the  prices.  The  Imperial  Eussian  Gov- 
ernment decided  to  pass  a  law  which  authorized  the  State 
Bank  to  give  credit  to  the  farmers  at  a  low  rate  of  interest 
(in  1897,  4  per  cent,  per  year),  and  the  farmers  were  enabled 
to  get  money  equal  to  two-thirds  of  the  value  of  the  grain 
from  the  State  Bank.  Another  law  was  passed  which  made  it 
a  misdemeanor  to  sell  grain  wliich  was  given  as  collateral  for 
a  loan  obtained  from  the  State  Bank.  In  this  way,  at  one 
time,  fifty-three  million  roubles  were  loaned  to  farmers,  which 
enabled  them  to  sell  their  grain  at  prices  higher  than  they 
could  have  obtained  if  they  had  sold  in  the  autumn. 

I  speak  of  this  matter  only  to  show  what  measures  could 
be  taken  in  the  interest  of  the  farmers.  It  is  not  my  intention 
to  detain  this  Congress,  by  discussing  what  measures  could 
have  been  proposed  and  taken  by  countries  which  are  mostly 
interested.  My  object  is  to  draw  your  attention  to  the  fact, 
that  up  to  the  present  time  very  little  has  been  done  by  various 
Governments  for  the  protection  of  their  agricultural  popula- 
tion, and  that  one  of  the  most  pressing  needs  is  to  strengthen 
the  position  of  the  farmers  and  to  give  them  means  to  get  at 
least  reliable  information  as  to  the  condition  of  the  grain 
markets  of  the  world,  stocks  of  grain,  etc.  This  purpose  could 
be  carried  out  by  the  establishment  of  an  International 
Bureau  for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  agricultural 
statistics. 

Up  to  date,  every  country  does  this  in  a  different  manner, 
and  information  is  not  exchanged  in  a  practical  way.  It 
might  be  well  to  establish  at  once  the  interchange  of  informa- 
tion, and  later  this  interchange  between  various  Departments 
of  Agriculture  would  certainly  bring  about  the  estalDlishment 
of  an  International  Biu-eau. 

I  think  in  these  few  words  I  have  explained  the  object  I 
had  in  view,  showing  why  I  consider  with  such  favor  the  pro- 
posal of  the  representative  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Philadel- 
phia. We  favor  it  to  such  an  extent,  that  I  am  authorized  to 
state  to  the  Congress,  that  the  Russian  Government  is  ready 
to  contribute  its  quota  of  expenses  for  the  establishment  of  an 
International  Bureau,  as  proposed.    (Applause.) 

General  IT.  H.  Bingham: 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Wilfred 
Powell,  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Consul  in  Philadelphia. 

Hon.  Wilfred  Powell: 

The  question  which  is  now  before  the  Congress  appears 
to  me  to  be  one  With  which  the  Governments  of  the  various 
countries  vnW  have  almost  entirely  to  deal,  therefore,  as  rep- 
resentative of  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Government,  I  find 
that  it  is  only  necessary  for  me  to  say  that  I  shall  consider 
it  my  duty  to  forward  the  proposal,  made  in  the  motion,  for 
the  consideration  of  Her  Majesty's  Government;  at  the  same 
time,  I  wish  to  gu£lrd  against  any  premature  expression  that 
might  be  considered  in  any  way  lunding  on  my  Government. 

I  believe  I  am  right  in  asserting  that  a  somewhat  similar 
plan  has  already  been  tried  for  the  collection  of  statistics  by 
the  Governments  of  various  nations  in  Europe,  but  I  xm- 


172 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  ME  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


(Icrstiind  that  it  has  not  proven  an  unqualified  success;  it 
may  he,  however,  that  a  Bureau  such  as  suggested  for  gath- 
ering agricultural  statistics  might  prove     more  satisfactory. 

General  H.  II.  Bingham: 

The  resolutions  that  have  heen  read  to  the  Congress  will 
under  the  rule  he  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Is  Professor  T.  C.  Mendenhall  present?  If  not,  I  will  pre- 
sent to  you  Professor  James  Henry  Gore,  who  will  suhmit 
a  paper  "on  the  suhject  of  the  adoption  of  a  universal  metric 
system. 

Prof.  J.  II.  Gore  (Washington,  D.  C): 

Tlie  matter  of  weights  and  measures  had  become  so  con- 
fused and  so  complicated  in  France  during  the  eighteenth 
century,  that  as  soon  as  the  revolution  found  itself  able,  it 
began  to  consider  the  importance  of  revising  them.  At  this 
time,  there  were  no  sentimental  as.soeiations  connected  with 
old  things  to  interfere  with  the  introduction  of  new  ones, 
and  the  assembly  readily  took  up  the  question  of  a  new  sys- 
tem of  weights  and  measures  that  had  been  referred  to  it  by 
the  Third  Estate. 

This  important  matter  was  at  once  referred  to  M.  de  Talley- 
rand, the  minister  of  foreign  affairs  under  the  new  regime. 
In  his  report  he  said,  "The  great  variety  of  our  weights  and 
measures  and  their  irreg\ilar  miiltiples  of  one  another,  cause 
considerable  confusion  of  ideas  and  are  the  source  of  em- 
barrassment to  commerce;  besides,  those  now  employed  are 
not  only  subject  to  error,  but  different  lengths  have  the  same 
name.  Such  a  motley  of  imits  is  a  great  snare  for  trusting 
persons — ^a  species  of  deception  that  is  more  widely  practiced 
than  one  would  imagine,  since  for  each  name  to  which  usage 
seems  to  have  attached  a  fixed  length,  there  are  a  confusion 
of  ideas  and  multiplicity  of  lengths.  Nothing  can  justify 
such  an  abuse — nothing  but  the  National  Assembly  can  rec- 
tify it." 

Then,  after  reciting,  with  that  clearness  which  character- 
ized the  utterances  of  this  scholarly  minister,  the  many  ad- 
vantages which  would  attend  the  adoption  of  a  uniform  sys- 
tem of  measures  with  a  unit  taken  from  nature  and  invariable 
as  nature  herself,  he  proposed  that  England  be  invited  to 
co-operate  with  France  in  fixing  upon  such  a  standard. 

"Each  one  of  these  two  nations,"  he  added,  "should  con- 
struct for  itself  a  standard  bar  representing  this  unit  and 
preserve  it  with  the  greatest  possible  care,  so  that  if  centuries 
after,  one  should  suspect  a  change  in  the  length  of  the  siderial 
day  this  vare  vould  be  called  upon  to  definitely  decide  the 
matter.  Perhaps  one  can  see  in  this  united  interrogating 
of  nature  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  such  a  standard  the 
beginnings  of  a  political  union  brought  about  by  the  inter- 
vention of  the  sciences." 

This  proposition  of  M.  de  Talleyrand  was  referred  to  a 
commission,  which  through  its  secretary,  M.  de  Bonnay,  sub- 
mitted a  report  on  the  eighth  of  May,  1790.  The  commis- 
sion, after  having  recounted  the  advantages  which  would  re- 
sult from  the  adoption  of  a  universal  .system  of  measures, 
said  that  P'ngland  w'as  ready  to  join  in  fixing  such  a  system 
and  added:  "When  these  two  nations,  which  have  only  one 
another  as  rivals,  adopt  it,  all  Europe  will  follow."  It  then 
presented  a  series  of  resolutions  providing  for  the  co'llection 
of  all  the  fundamental  units  in  use  throughout  the  provinces 
of  France,  their  comparison  with  the  new  unit  when  obtained, 
and  a  formal  invitation  that  England  authorize  the  Royal 
Society  of  London  to  appoint  a  commission  to  co-operate 
with  a  commission  equal  in  size  and  appointed  by  the  Acad- 
emy of  Sciences  of  Paris  in  detennining,  wherever  mutually 
asjreeable,  the  length  of  the  second's  pendulum  on  the  forty- 
fifth  parallel — or  some  other  parallel — and  to  deduce  from  it 
a  universal  unit  of  length. 


Many  objections  w-ere  raised  to  the  use  of  the  penduluni, 
which  up  to  this  time  was  lacking  in  precision,  and  the 
proposition  ultimately  adopted  was,  that  it  (the  Assembly) 
take  the  length  of  a  meridianal  quadrant  of  the  earth  as  the 
base  of  the  new  system  of  measures,  that  agreeable  to  the 
Academy's  suggestion  the  measurement  of  the  arc  from  Dun- 
kirk to  Barcelona  be  immediately  executed,  that  the  king 
charge  the  Academy  to  appoint  a  commission  to  carry  on  these 
operations  in  concert  with  Spain,  whenever  Spani.^h  territory 
is  occupied.  These  resolutions  also  provided  that  the  unit, 
to  be  called  the  metre,  should  be  the  one-ten-niillionth  part 
of  this  quadrant.  The  decree  was  signed  by  Louis  XVI  on 
March  30,  1791. 

The  National  Assembly  felt  sure  that  it  could  rely  upon 
the  co-operation  of  England,  but  unfortunately,  England, 
either  for  lack  of  symjiathy  in  the  evident  ascendency  of  a 
republican  form  of  government,  or  not  wishing  to  share  the 
glory  of  establishing  a  new  unit  with  another  nation,  declined 
to  appoint  a  commission  to  meet  the  French  commission. 
This  refusal  piqued  the  Assembly,  and  in  the  fullness  of  their 
new-bom  power,  passed  a  resolution  on  August  1,  1793,  in 
which  they  denounced  to  all  the  world  the  English  people 
and  the  conduct  of  the  English  government.  It  also  strength- 
ened itself  and  the  doubting  spirits  of  France,  who  were 
not  clamoring  quite  so  loudly  for  new  things,  by  adopting 
a  decree  defining  what  the  metre  was  to  be,  and  declaring 
that  its  use  should  be  obligatory  on  July  1st  of  the  following 
year.  This  decree  contained  a  table  of  measures  which  was 
magnanimously  offered  to  all  the  people  of  the  world. 

It  was  not  until  July  17,  1799,  that  this  gift  became  act- 
ually available.  ()n  this  day,  the  two  branches  of  the  legis- 
lative corps  met  in  joint  session,  to  receive  a  bar  of  metal 
whose  length  was  assumed  to  be  the  one-ten-millionth  of  the 
distance  from  the  earth's  equator  to  one  of  its  poles.  This 
delay  was  caused  by  changes  in  government,  arduous  labor  in 
carrying  on  the  geodetic  work  necessary  to  determine  the 
length  of  the  earth's  quadrant  and  the  careful  revision  of  all 
the  computations  that  liad  been  made. 

It  is  quite  natural  that  the  meml)ers  of  the  commission,  to 
which  this  task  has  been  entrusted,  should  rejoice  over  the 
completion  of  their  work,  a  work  which  readily  sustained  the 
closest  scrutiny  and  withstood  the  severest  critici-sm,  nor  is  it 
surprising  that  their  spokesman  should  say:  "To  employ  as 
a  fundamental  unit  of  all  measures  a  type  taken  from  nature 
herself,  a  type  as  unalterable  as  the  globe  which  we  inhabit, 
to  propose  a  metric  system  all  of  whose  parts  are  intimately 
interdependent,  and  whose  multiples  and  subdivisions  follow 
a  natural  progression,  simple,  easy  to  comprehend,  and  always 
uniform,  is  certainly  an  idea,  beautiful,  grand,  sublime, 
worthy  of  the  brilliant  century  in  which  we  live." 

The  claim  that  a  standard  of  invariable  length  had  been 
procured  was  unfounded,  and  the  assertion  that  it  could  be 
easily  recovered  is  invalid.  At  best,  the  standard  must  be 
preserved  as  a  bar  of  metal  whose  liability  to  change  depends 
upon  its  constitution  and  the  care  exercised  in  its  preserva- 
tion. If  lost  or  destroyed,  a  new  determination  of  its  length 
from  the  earth's  quadrant  would  not  accord  with  the  former 
value.  This  is  because  of  the  improvements  made  each  de- 
cade in  instruments  of  precision,  methods  of  observation  and 
accuracy  of  computation.  The  only  claims  that  the  metric 
system  possess  are,  the  single  unit — ten,  or  its  multiple; 
and  the  ease  with  which  unils  of  cajiacity  and  of  weight  are 
dcducible  from  the  unit  of  length.  I'.ut  these  claims  are 
ample  to  overcome  all  obstacles  except  one,  that  is,  prejudice 
or  the  indolent  inertia  that  opposes  change. 

If  in  the  entire  world  there  were  but  one  man,  his  sole 
effort  would  be  to  meet  his  own  wants.  He  would  not  be 
called  upon  to  work  to  another's  orders,  and  in  his  own 
needs  he  would  find  all  the  measures.     He  would  make  his 


NINTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


173 


clothing  to  fit  his  own  person  nor  would  he  preserve  its  pat- 
tern or  measure,  for  with  each  year  a  different  size  would  be 
needed.  His  axe  handle  or  walking  stick  could  be  his  unit 
of  length,  and  as  it  would  be  carried  directly  from  one 
measured  article  to  one  that  is  to  be  measured,  it  would  be 
of  no  consequence  if  his  crude  standard  should  be  lost. 

With  the  appearance  of  the  second  man  there  would  arise, 
sooner  or  later,  a  desire  to  possess  the  fruits  of  eacli  other's 
labors.  As  long  as  the  two  parties  to  the  transfer  could  meet 
face  to  face,  there  would  be  no  confusion  even  when  each 
one  used  his  own  measure.  It  is  the  exchange  of  one  pile 
for  another  pile,  one  group  of  articles  for  another  group. 
As  the  circle  of  exchange  grows  larger,  however,  and  a  token 
or  money  is  offered  in  return  for  the  articles  desired,  it  be- 
comes necessary  that  the  buyer  and  seller  should  have  in  mind 
the  same  sort  of  money  and  the  identical  imit  of  measure. 
Thus,  out  of  the  multiplying  and  complex  relations  between 
man  and  man,  has  arisen  the  need  for  weight  and  measure, 
and  with  the  forging  of  closer  relations  between  men  and 
men  or  nations  and  nations,  comes  the  necessity  for  the  uni- 
fication of  all  weights  and  all  measures — the  indispensable 
and  universal  instruments  of  commerce. 

We  find  each  nation  studiously  observing  the  progress  of 
every  other  nation  in  the  perfection  of  instruments  of  de- 
struction. Every  method  that  one  can  devise  for  the  killing 
of  fellow-man,  is  in  demand  the  world  over,  and  if  the  bar- 
riers of  military  secrecy  were  broken  down,  we  would  find 
the  same  artillery,  the  same  gun,  the  same  sword  and  the 
same  bayonet  everywhere  employed  in  the  trade  of  human 
slaughter.  In  the  arts  of  peace,  in  the  efforts  to  improve 
the  condition  of  one  another  by  creating  wants  and  satisfy- 
ing needs,  nations  complicate  the  task  by  refusing  to  weigh 
by  the  same  pound,  to  measure  by  the  same  rule,  or  to  dip 
with  the  same  cup. 

There  are  nations  that  are  willing  to  continue  "the  ap- 
plication of  the  same  generic  term  to  different  specific  things 
and  the  misapplication  of  one  specific  term  to  another  spe- 
cific thing."  Or  to  become  more  specific  or  personal,  the 
English  system  gives  us  an  avoirdupois  pound  that  is  heav- 
ier than  the  troy  pound,  while  the  ounce  avoirdupois  is 
lighter  than  the  ounce  troy.  The  ounce,  the  dram  and  the 
grain  are  specific  names  indefinitely  applied  as  indefinite 
parts  of  an  indefinite  whole;  a  dozen  may  be  12,  14,  or  even 
16;  28  and  25  are  quarters  of  a  hundredweight  and  the 
twentieth  of  a  ton  is  either  100  or  112  pounds.  The  quart 
and  the  gallon  signify  three  different  measnres,  in  the 
United  States  there  have  been  130  different  measures  called 
lusliel,  and  none  of  them  conformed  to  the  bushel  of 
England.  And  at  one  time  the  laws  of  Pennsylvania  au- 
thorized the  innkeepers  to  sell  beer  within  the  house  by  the 
wine  measure;  but  for  that  which  they  sent  out  of  the  house, 
the  beer  gallon  or  quart  was  to  be  used. 

In  the  vocabulary  of  the  metric  system  there  is  one  spe- 
cific, definite,  appropriate  word  to  denote  the  linear  unit; 
one  for  the  unit  of  area;  one  for  solid  measure;  one  for  the 
unit  of  capacity,  and-  one  for  the  unit  of  weight.  The  word 
is  exclusively  applied  to  the  thing,  and  the  thing  to  the 
word.  Thus,  the  metre  is  a  definite  measure  of  length  and 
nothing  else;  it  has  only  one  value  at  home  and  can  have 
none  other  abroad.  This  system  employs  five  imit  words  and 
seven  prefixes  or  twelve  words  in  all,  while  in  the  English 
system  there  are  seventy-four  units  having  fifty-six  names, 
eighteen  of  which  are  ambiguous. 

"The  metre,"  says  Adams,  "will  surround  the  globe  in  use 
as  well  as  in  multiplied  extension,  and  one  language  of 
weights  and  measures  will  be  spoken  from  the  equator  to 
the  poles." 

This  prophecy  is  reaching  fulfillment.  On  the  continent 
of  Europe,  the  metric    system    prevails    from    the    Atlantic 


Ocean  to  the  borders  of  Russia,  it  has  invaded  the  Russian 
custom  house,  and  on  this  side  of  the  water  every  country 
to  the  south  of  us  has  found  it  to  its  interest  to  adopt  the 
universal  system. 

Sooner  or  later,  weights  and  measures  with  all  their  in- 
consistencies, force  themselves  upon  the  contemplation  of 
the  legislator,  who  immediately  seeks  to  invoke  the  aid  ot 
law  to  bring  them  into  uniformity  and  cause  them  to  con- 
form to  a  system.  He  does  not  always  appreciate  the  fact, 
that  legislative  enactments  are  ineffectual  over  the  will  of 
his  subjects,  and  that  grave  conflicts  arise  when  he  attempts 
to  go  counter  to  their  settled  habits  and  established  usages. 
In  seeking  to  change  anything  that  lies  so  close  to  the  daily 
life  of  a  people,  it  is  necessary  first  of  all,  to  convince  them 
that  such  a  change  is  more  than  desirable,  and  that  it  lacks 
objectionable  principles  and  properties.  It  is  essential  to 
show,  tliat  greater  prosperity  will  reward  its  adoption  and 
closer  international  relations  will  be  the  result.  The  ener- 
gies of  legislation,  therefore,  must  be  called  into  existence 
by  the  energies  of  public  opinion. 

If  two  or  more  prosperous  commercial  nations  should  at  the 
same  time  attempt  a  revision  of  their  system  of  weights  and 
measures  on  the  principle  of  uniformity  within  itself,  unless 
the  system  should  be  the  same,  the  result,  so  far  as  concerns 
their  relations  with  each  other,  must  be,  not  uniformity,  but 
new  and  increased  diversity. 

The  operation  of  changes  of  custom  in  England  is  slow 
and  there  is  a  deep  and  general  aversion  to  change.  Still, 
the  Elnglish  have  repeatedly  tampered  with  their  weights. 
They  brought  into  iise  a  third  gallon  and  legalized  two 
bushels  of  a  different  capacity.  Their  main  argument 
against  the  adoption  of  the  metric  system  is  that  it  would 
cause  confusion  while  the  people  were  becoming  accustomed 
to  the  new  order  of  things.  And  yet  nothing  in  the  past 
history  of  England  has  been  more  unstable  than  the  value  of 
the  pound,  the  gallon,  and  the  bushel.  Under  their  past 
liberal  government,  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
was  appointed  to  investigate  and  report  on  the  question  of 
weights  and  measures,  which  they  did  in  a  most  exhaustive 
manner.  Their  conclusions,  with  but  a  single  dissenting 
voice,  were  in  part  as  follows: 

"The  select  committee  appointed  to  inquire  whether  any 
and  what  changes  in  the  present  .system  of  weights  and 
mea.sures  should  be  adopted,  have  considered  the  matters 
referred  to  them,  and  have  agreed  to  the  following  report: 

"They  have  in  the  first  place  received  evidence  from 
witnesses  representing  different  interests — (1)  official,  (2) 
commercial,  (3)  manufacturing,  (4)  trade,  (5)  educational, 
(6)  professional. 

"They  have  also  received  from  numerous  corporations, 
school  boards  and  other  public  bodies  resolutions  without 
exception  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the  metric  systems. 

"Your  committee  find  that  almost  all  of  the  witnesses 
express  a  strong  opinion  as  to  the  complicated  and  unsatis- 
factory condition  of  our  present  weights  and  measures,  and 
of  the  distinct  and  serious  drawback  to  our  commerce,  espec- 
ially our  foreign  trade,  which  this  system  entails,  differing 
as  it  does  from  the  system  now  adopted  by  every  European 
nation  except  ourselves  and  Russia,  as  well  as  by  a  great 
majority  of  non-European  countries  with  which  this  king- 
dom trades.  The  evidence,  however,  goes  further  to  show 
that  not  only  is  our  foreign  trade,  in  every  branch,  seriously 
handicapped,  but  that  the  home  trade  would  be  benefited 
if  more  simple  and  uniform  standards  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures than  those  now  existing  were  adopted." 

A  delegation  representing  forty-six  chambers  of  commerce 
waited  upon  Mr.  Balfour  to  urge  upon  the  English  govern- 
ment the  desirability  of  adopting  the  report  of  the  committee. 
Sir  Henry  Roscoe  made  the   argument    for   the   deputation. 


174 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Scientif.c  meu  had  long  been  practically  a  unit  in  favor  of 
the  change,  but  never  before  had  great  commercial  interests 
and  the  working  classes  come  forward  to  maintain  that 
English  trade,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  suffered  greatly 
through  clinging  to  the  complicated  English  system  of 
weights  and  measures.  Trade  union  congresses,  both  in  1892 
and  1893,  passed  resolutions  affirming  it  to  be  highly  de- 
sirable "in  the  interest  of  the  working  classes,"  that  the 
decimal  system  be  adopted  in  Great  Britain,  and  evidence 
was  at  hand  from  several  eminent  manufacturers  who  had 
established  the  metric  system  in  their  works,  that  it  was 
both  easy  for  English  workmen  to  learn  and  greatly  to  their 
own  advantage  in  foreign  trade.  It  was  pointed  out  that 
llus-sia  and  the  United  States  were  the  only  civilized  states, 
other  than  England,  not  using  now  the  metric  system,  and 
it  was  believed  that  the  initiative  of  (xreat  Britain  would  be 
sufficient  to  carry  both  those  nations  with  it.  Mr.  Balfour 
made  a  sympathetic  response,  though  he  would  commit  the 
government  to  no  positive  action. 

Soon  after  this,  the  conservative  party  came  into  power 
pledged  to  those  principles  that  gave  it  is  name,  and  the 
revision  of  the  metrology  of  England  must  slumber  until 
awakened  by  a  consciousness  of  its  ovenvhehning  necessity. 
Tills  may  come  as  slowly  as  the  Gregorian  calendar  came — 
200  years  after  its  promulgation — and  the  recollection  of  the 
people's  clamor  for  their  lost  eleven  days  may  be  still  ringmg 
in  the  ears  of  the  timid  ones  who  fear  a  writ  of  mandamus 
for  the  recovery  of  the  English,  tlie  barleycorn,  or  the 
pennyweight. 

With  the  numerous  custom  houses  found  in  small  coun- 
tries it  was  necessary  to  keep  a  force  of  computers  to  eifect 
transformations  of  values  upon  the  invoices  of  the  commodi- 
ties passing  through  their  hands  because  of  the  diversity  of 
weights  and  measures  and  moneys  with  which  they  had  to 
deal.  The  need  of  a  common  system  was  pressing,  and  tlu' 
metric  system  being  available,  if  was  taki  u  and  legalized 
without  anyone  concerning  himself  with  tiie  questions 
whether  the  metre  would  not  have  been  better  if  it  had  been 
a  little  longer  or  a  little  shorter,  or  if  it  had  represented  somc- 
tlung  different  from  what  it  does  represent,  or  whether  in 
fact  it  does,  after  all,  really  represent  anything  at  all. 

So  we,  who  are  still  outside  the  pale  of  univer.sjdity,  can 
accept  the  good  features  of  the  metric  system  and  preserve 
if  we  like  our  old  terms.  We  can  call  half  a  kilogram  a 
pound,  the  litre  a  quart  and  the  metre  a  yard  thus  avoiding 
the  use  of  terms  that  seem  odd  because  strange.  This  has 
been  done  in  Switzerland  and  not  one  person  in  a  hundred 
knows  that  a  slight  change  has  taken  place  in  their  j)ouiid 
to  make  it  equivalent  to  the  half  kilogram. 

Where  the  metric  system  has  been  introduced  by  force  in 
advance  of  the  demand  by  public  opinion,  difficulties  have 
been  encountered,  not  only  because  the  manner  of  its  intro- 
duction did  violence  to  men's  established  habits  of  thought, 
but  berause  its  existence  was  a  badge  of  subjugation  and  a 
]>erpetual  reminder  of  the  national  humiliation  of  those  who 
were  compelled  to  use  it.  But  on  the  other  hand,  after  the 
strongest  elements  of  a  state  l)ecome  convinced  of  the  import- 
ance of  simplifying  their  metrology,  a  debt  is  placed  upon 
the  ri,sing  generation  for  each  day  of  delay  in  adopting  the 
simpler  system — a  debt  measured  by  weeks  of  time  required 
to  learn  our  cumbrous  system  and  tlie  cost  added  to  articles 
imported  occasioned  by  the  figuring  and  counter  figuring  of 
tlie  computers  who  make  the  transfer  in  price  and  quality. 

When  Pnissia  adopted  the  metric  system,  tfiere  were  a 
number  of  units  in  u.<e,  so  many,  in  'I'act,  that  when  the 
Prussian  foot,  for  exani])le,  was  referred  to,  it  was  necessarv 
to  specify  whether  it  was  the  foot  of  Eastern  Prussia  or  of 
Western  Prussia.  There  was  no  one  standard,  there  was 
a  variety  of  them,  and  the  unit  employed   must  always  be 


mentioned.  So  when  Prussia  adopted  the  metric  system 
they  had  not  only  the  confusion  of  ])assing  from  one  system 
to  another,  but  the  additional  confusion  of  passing  from  sev- 
eral systems  to  a  single  .system. 

We  have  an  analogous  condition  in  this  country  with  re- 
spect to  the  bushel.  What  does  it  signify?  It  stands  for 
one  thing  in  one  State,  and  for  another  in  another,  and  even 
in  the  same  State  it  means  something  different  for  every  dif- 
ferent product.  Wheat,  rye,  oats,  buckwheat,  potatoes,  onions 
and  barley  are  sold  by  weight,  wliich  prices  are  invariably 
quoted  at  so  much  per  bushel.  The  number  of  bushels  is 
obtained  by  dividing  the  number  of  pounds  of  an  article  by 
the  number  of  pounds  of  that  particular  article  in  a  bushel, 
in  that  particular  State.  AVhen  oats  are  quoted  in  Ohio  at 
twenty  cents  per  bushel,  it  means  to  the  Dakota  farmer  that 
thirty-six  pounds  of  oats  are  worth  twenty  cents;  to  the  Maine 
farmer,  that  thirty  pounds  are  worth  twenty  cents,  while  the 
Ohio  farmer  would  exj^eet  to  surrender  thirty-two  pounds  of 
that  product  for  the  amount  named. 

No  cause,  since  the  earliest  organization  of  civilized  society, 
had  contributed  more  largely  to  emliarrass  business  trans- 
actions among  the  members  of  the  family  of  nation.?,  espec- 
ially by  placing  obstacles  in  the  way  of  commercial  exchanges 
between  different  countries,  or  between  diiferent  provinces, 
cities,  or  even  the  individual  cities  of  the  same  countiy,  than 
the  endless,  senseless  diversity  of  instrumentalities  employed 
for  the  purpose  of  determining  the  quantities  of  commodities 
awaiting  exchange. 

In  Rome,  the  foot  was  equivalent  to  11.62  inches;  in  Lom- 
bardy,  13.68  inches,  and  in  Lucca,  23.23  inches.  In  Neuf- 
chatel,  the  foot  was  10. .52  inches;  in  Rostock,  11.23  inches; 
in  Basel,  11.99  inches,  and  in  Geneva,  19.21. 

The  metric  unit  of  weight  in  commerce  is  the  kilogram; 
in  analytical  chemistry  and  i)liarniacy,  it  is  the  gram.  The 
line  is  a  known  multiple  of  the  other  so  that  drugs  could  be 
bought  by  the  wholesale  in  kilograms  and  sold  retail  in  grams 
instead  of  the  awkward  method  our  druggists  have  of  buying 
by  avoirdupois  and  selling  by  troy  weight.  The  metric  unit 
for  dry  measure  is  the  hectolitre;  for  liquid  measure  it  is  the 
litre;  the  metric  agrarian  unit  is  the  hectare  and  the  metric 
itinerary  unit  is  the  kilometre.  It  is  one  of  the  merits  of 
the  system,  that  while,  like  other  systems,  it  allows  any  de- 
nomination to  be  made  a  unit  for  special  purposes,  yet  it 
permits  also  instantaneous  transformations  from  one  denomi- 
nation to  another  without  changing  a  figi.ire,  but  by  the  sim- 
ple moving  of  a  point.  This  cannot  be  done  in  non-decimal 
systems.  The  inch,  for  exanijile,  is  with  us  the  unit  of  the 
mechanical  engineer  and  draftsman.  The  rod  is  the  farmer's 
unit  of  distance,  and  the  perch  is  used  by  the  roadmaker. 
lint  tn  reduce  inches  to  feet,  yini  must  divide  by  12,  changing 
all  your  figures;  and  to  reduce  rods  to  feet  you  must  multi- 
ply by  IG^.  It  is  only  in  our  currency,  that  we  realize  the 
benefits  of  a  decimal  system.  And  here  we  divide  the  dollar 
into  halves  and  quarters  to  our  great  convenience  and  the 
decimal  feature  of  our  currency  is  none  the  worse  for  it. 

If.  of  a  certain  article,  a  ])oun(l  should  cost  25  cents,  it 
would  suit  a  purchaser  of  .5  cents'  worth  if  the  pound  were 
divided  into  five  parts,  likewise,  either  the  buyer  or  the  .seller 
must  lose  if  a  quarter  of  a  pound  is  to  bi>  paid  for.  With  our 
16  ounces  to  the  pound,  it  is  only  when  an  article  costs  a 
niulti]de  of  16  cents  a  pound  that  an  exact  number  of  ounces 
can  l)e  bought  for  an  exact  number  of  cents.  In  the  metric 
system,  on  the  other  hand,  by  knowing  the  price  in  dollare 
[jer  kilogram  we  should  have  at  once  the  ])rice  in  cent,';  ]K'r 
gram.  Likewise',  the  ]u-iee  of  land  if  given  as  so  many  dol- 
lars per  hectare,  tells  at  onw  the  ])riee  per  arc  in  cents.  This 
most  important  advantage  of  the  metric  system  would  not 
appeal  to  tlie  English  with  their  cumbrous  monetary  system. 


NINTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


175 


which  may  explain  why  they  are  so  slaw  to  adopt  the  decimal 
system. 

The  convenience  named  above  is  analogous  to  the  spirit 
that  animated  Congress  to  provide  that  the  interest  on  the 
District  of  Columbia  bonds  should  be  365  per  centum  or 
$3.65  per  year  on  a  hundred  dollar  bond,  which  would  be  at 
one  cent  a  day,  so  that  in  computing  the  interest  on  a  bond, 
when  making  a  transfer,  it  is  necessary  simply  to  count  the 
number  of  days  since  the  last  interest  date,  and  the  number 
of  days  would  at  once  give  in  cents  the  interest  on  each  hun- 
dred dollars  of  the  bond. 

If  we  can  rid  ourselves  of  the  foot  we  shall  free  ourselves 
of  the  ratio  of  1728  to  1;  1728  to  231  in  liquid  measure  and 
1728  to  215.4  in  dry  measure.  If  we  adopt  a  rational  system 
for  passing  from  units  of  length  to  units  of  c-apaeity,  we  should 
no  longer  have  the  incongruous  condition  of  reducing  our 
capacity  measures  with  water  at  a  temperature  of  39.83° 
while  in  England  the  temperature  of  the  water  is  taken  at 
62°  thus  giving  two  different  values  for  the  Winchester 
bushel. 

One  of  the  strongest  arguments  that  we  hear  advanced 
against  the  metric  system  is  the  uncertainty  that  would  arise 
in  any  redetermination  of  qualities  measured  under  the  old 
system.  That  is  to  say,  if  we  had  a  deed  to  a  city  lot  calling 
for  so  many  feet  front  and  so  many  in  depth,  some  think 
it  would  be  difficult  in  making  a  resurvey  to  know  whether 
you  were  receiving  your  full  share  of  ground  or  not,  because 
of  the  use  of  a  new  unit  of  measure.  If,  however,  it  is  re- 
membered that  the  tape  line  used  in  the  previous  measure- 
ment depended  for  its  length  upon  the  standard  foot  or  yard 
of  the  time  of  the  measurement,  while  in  the  next  determina- 
tion a  tape  line  resting  upon  another  standard  was  employed, 
one  can  readily  see  that  there  would  exLst  a  great  uncertainty 
as  to  the  identity  of  the  two  standards  employed  as  could 
possibly  arise  in  knowing  the  relative  value  of  the  metre  and 
the  foot  of  the  earlier  measurement. 

Another  objection  is  the  disturbing  effect  the  adoption 
would  have  upon  the  daily  vocations.  "How  would  the  ser- 
vant-girl,'" some  ask,  "know  how  many  litres  of  milk  to  buy, 
if  in  all  her  previous  purchases  she  had  bought  only  pints 
or  quarts?"  Suppose  she  knew  nothing  of  the  change,  that 
it  should  begin  at  midnight  of  a  certain  date.  On  the  next 
morning  she  would  hail  the  milkman  and  say,  "Let  me  have 
two  quarts  of  milk."  He  would  answer,  "We  don't  have 
quarts  now."  "What  do  you  have?''  "Litres,"  would  be  the 
answer.  It  is  not  likely  that  she  would  be  terrified  by  the 
word,  but  would  ask  to  be  shown  a  litre  measure,  and  to  her 
eyes  it  would  look  as  much  like  a  quart  that  she  would  at 
once  know  how  many  of  these  units  of  milk  she  would  want. 
The  same  would  be  true  if  a  lady  should  try  to  buy  a  cer- 
tain number  of  yards  of  goods.  If  she  found  she  could  not 
have  it  in  yards,  she  would  ask  to  see  how  long  the  metre  was, 
and  could  then  form  a  fairly  accurate  opinion  as  lo  how  many 
she  would  need. 

In  the  great  majority  of  the  petty  transactions  of  our  daily 
lives,  we  are  guided  in  our  purchases  by  the  amount  we  wish 
to  expend  for  the  various  articles,  or  by  the  looks  of  the  size 
of  the  pile  the  shopkeeper  measures  out  or  puts  in  the  bal- 
ance. If  the  price  per  pound  is  asked,  it  is  usually  for  the 
purpose  of  being  able  to  give  the  order  in  pounds,  otherwise 
the  request  would  be  for  "so  many  cents'  worth." 

The  change  in  our  S3'stem  of  weights  and  measures  would 
be  accompanied  by  considerable  expense.  New  scales  or 
weights  would  be  required,  but  as  the  average  life  of  a  counter 
scale  is  only  about  two  years,  the  merchants  could,  by  know- 
ing in  time  when  the  change  would  be  made,  either  hasten 
or  delay  somewhat  the  necessary  purchase  of  a  scale  so  as  to 
buy  one  in  the  new  system.  Some  new  machinery  would 
have  to  be  constructed  and  new  dies  cut,  but  all  manufac- 


turers who  are  seeking  foreign  markets  must  make  machines 
to  conform  to  the  measures  in  use  in  the  country  where  they 
are  striving  to  create  markets.  At  this  time  many  of  our 
shops  are  required  to  keep  two  sets  of  machinery  on  this  very 
account.  It  is  idle  to  assume  that  our  customary  units  shall 
completely  pass  away  on  the  day  of  the  adoption  of  the  new 
system.  The  most  radical  proposition  goes  no  further  than 
to  say  that  contracts  to  be  legal  must  be  drawn  in  the  new 
system,  permitting  for  years  to  come,  the  use  of  the  familiar 
units,  just  as  at  the  present  time,  hundreds  of  units  are  in 
use  eveiy  day  that  have  no  legal  recognition  whatever, — 
the  bit,  the  levy,  and  the  hand. 

In  the  Post  Office  Department,  every  letter  and  every  piece 
of  mail  going  out  of  or  coming  into  this  country  has  its  weight 
determined  in  grams,  then  why  not  weigh  all  mail  matter  in 
the  same  way  and  in  the  same  scales? 

The  law  prescribes  the  weight  of  the  half-dollar  and  dime 
in  grams.  Why  w^igh  the  dollar  in  grains?  All  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Office  of  the  Surgeon-General  of  the  Navy  involv- 
ing weights  and  measures  are  expressed  in  metric  terms,  why 
not  equally  those  of  the  army? 

If  any  question  arises  as  to  the  accuracy  of  scales  or  of  any 
of  the  instruments  used  in  determining  length  of  capacity, 
such  question  on  final  appeal  must  be  referred  to  the  gov- 
ernment for  decision.  But  the  English  standards  are  not 
emploj'ed  in  making  the  comparison.  Neither  the  pound  troy 
nor  the  pound  avoirdupois  is  called  into  service  in  case  it  is  a 
question  of  weight,  but  the  kilogram.  Although  the  govern- 
ment possess  standard  bushels,  quarts  and  gallons,  reference 
is  made  to  the  international  litre  wherever  an  authoritative 
determination  is  asked  for,  as  to  the  accuracy  of  a  measure  of 
capacity. 

•  Then,  again,  the  troy  pound — preserved  in  the  mint — is 
resorted  to  as  the  only  source  from  which  to  derive  the  pound 
of  daily  use,  the  pound  avoirdupois.  And  this  standard  is  of 
uncertain  accuracy.  It  is  a  copy  of  the  old  English  standard, 
kept  in  the  Tower  of  London  and  many  years  ago  destroyed, 
so  that  there  is  no  means  of  comparison  to  ascertain  if  our 
standard  is  correct.  It  is  composed  of  brass,  a  material  which 
readily  oxidizes,  and  being  of  unknown  density  but  little 
confidence  can  be  placed  in  its  accuracy. 

We  therefore  see,  that  adopting  the  metric  system,  it  simply 
means  its  use  in  everj'-day  life  and  nothing  more,  as  our  cus- 
tomary units  now  have  their  values  given  in  terms  of  the 
metric  units  and  are  detennined  by  comparison  with  metric 
units. 

Just  now,  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  striving  towards  the 
realization  of  the  principle  of  division  of  labor,  and  as  con- 
tributory to  this,  each  is  seeking  to  find  where  its  people's 
wants  can  be  most  economically  satisfied  and  where  their 
surplus  products  can  obtain  the  best  markets.  The  one  great 
question  now  paramount  in  the  minds  of  the  commercial 
world  is  how  to  extend  ti-ade,  how  to  remove  the  barriers  that 
stand  in  the  way  of  natural  tendencies  and  artificial  stimuli. 
Mr.  Furbish,  when  Director  of  the  Buj-eau  of  American  Re- 
publics, said:  "The  failure  of  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment to  adopt  the  metric  system  is  one  of  the  most  inex- 
plical)le  instances  of  false  conservation  in  the  history  of  the 
country.  In  face  of  the  fact  that  almost  every  civilized  gov- 
ernment has  seen  the  necessity  of  a  common  system  of  weights 
and  measures  to  facilitate  the  exchange  of  commodities,  the 
people  of  the  LTnited  States  have  persisted  in  retaining  their 
old  and  cumbrous  system,  which  might  have  served  those 
who  believed  in  non-intercourse  with  the  outside  world,  but 
which  stands  as  a  barrier  to  that  freedom  of  exchange  to 
which  the  whole  world  is  now  tending.  We  send  consular 
representatives  to  every  quarter  of  our  globe  for  the  express 
purpose  of  making  possible  an  extension  of  our  foreign  com- 
merce, and  then  busy  ourselves  in  an  attempt  to  make  such 


176 


PEOCEEDING-S  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMEECTAL  CONGRESS 


foreign  commerce  possible,  and  retain  a  system  of  weights 
and  measures  which  add  to  our  own  difficulties  and  make  us 
mere  barbarians  to  the  more  progressive  nations. 

"I  believe  that  one  of  the  most  important  works  under- 
taken by  the  Bureau  has  been  the  preparation  and  publica- 
tion of  a  code  of  Commercial  Nomenclature,  in  which  is  in- 
cluded over  48,000  commercial  terms  not  found  in  diction- 
aries, but  in  constant  use  in  trade.  This  is  for  the  purjjose  of 
removing  one  great  difficulty  in  the  way  of  those  who  seek 
trade  with  the  countries  of  Latin  America.  By  means  of  this 
work,  when  adopted  by  the  different  governments,  shippers 
to  republics  of  this  continent  will  be  saved  the  lalxir  which 
now  seriously  impedes  their  intercourse.  If,  in  addition  to 
this,  there  could  be  a  uniform  adoption  of  the  metric  system, 
merchants  and  mauufaciurere  of  all  these  republics  would 
wonder  that  they  had  so  long  endured  the  discarded  form." 

Accompanying  the  report  of  the  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  already  refeiTed  to,  are  extracts  from  eighteen 
different  and  important  British  consulates.  Everyone  re- 
ports that  in  their  opinion  the  adoption  of  the  metric  system 
by  Great  Britain  would  greatly  promote  her  commerce  with 
those  countries,  and  that  the  fact  of  her  not  having  that  .sys- 
tem, was  exercising  a  depressing  effect  on  her  commercial  in- 
tercourse with  those  several  nations.  There  can  be  no  possible 
doubt  of  these  facts,  and  the  United  States,  in  its  commerce, 
is  to-day  suffering  from  the  same  cause. 

We  are  out  of  touch  with  all  the  nations  of  the  world 
commercially  except  Russia,  with  which  our  commerce  is 
small,  and  England,  with  which  our  commerce  is  not  growing. 
The  articles  we  sell  England  are  mainly  grain,  sold  by  the 
bushel,  and  our  bushel  differs  from  the  English  bushel;  petro- 
leum, sold  by  the  gallon,  and  our  gallon  differs  from  the  Eng- 
lish gallon,  and  cotton  sold  by  the  pound,  and  our  pound  cor- 
responds with  the  English  pound. 

Our  consuls  emphasize  the  conclusions  reached  by  their 
British  colleagues.  Thus  Consul  Morris  speaks  in  one  of  his 
reports:  "After  the  language  in  onsideration,  but  equally 
important  in  its  effects,  are  the  standards  of  weights  and 
m-easures  and  prices.  A  busy  man  can  not  and  will  not 
stop  to  reduce  weights  and  measures  to  his  own  every-day 
standard,  and  frequently  he  who  does,  makes  vital  mistakes. 
Everyone  has  not  the  necessary  tables  at  hand  nor  the  re- 
quired experience.  How  many  people  in  ordinary  American 
life  have  any  adequate  idea  of  the  price  of  wine,  for  ex- 
ample, which  sells  at  100  francs  the  hectolitre.  The  foreigner 
is  in  a  similar  state  of  mind,  if  we  quote  him  a  price  per 
gallon.  Nor  is  this  all;  we  must  not  simply  adopt  some  unit  of 
the  foreign  standards  employed,  but  we  must  use  the  usual 
units  respectively  in  vogue  for  the  various  kinds  or  classes 
of  the  goods. 

"Without  conforming  with  these  standards,  the  American 
seller  leaves  the  first  chances  of  even  a  courteous  considera- 
tion of  his  wares  or  goods  to  the  amiability  of  his  prospective 
buyer.  There  is  no  easy  standard  of  comparison  with  the 
products  offered  by  Ill's  foreign  competitors,  and  in  one  half  of 
such  cases,  the  American  circular  or  letter  goes  to  the  waste- 
basket  and  his  continental  rival  gets  the  trade.  In  this  one 
point,  all  the  continental  nations  of  Europe  enjoy  a  decided 
advantage  in  their  mutual  relations  of  trade.  They  all  make 
use  of  practically  the  same  units  of  weights  and"  measures. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  important  lessons  we  have  yet  to  learn." 

Similarly  from  the  consul  at  Calais,  who  says:  "It  would 
seem  hardly  necessai-y  to  rejjeat  what  had  been  urged  in  our 
consular  reports  from  every  section  for  so  many  years?,  that 
circulars,  price  lists,  etc.,  however  artistically  and  carefidly 
prepared,  are  practically  of  no  use  when  printed  in  a  lan- 
guage foreign  to  that  of  the  country  where  they  are  sent, 
with  the  added  disadvantage  of  weights,  measures  and  prices 
expressed  in  the  unfamiliar  units  and  phrases.     ...     All 


information  of  this  kind  should,  to  be  of  any  use,  be  in  the 
French  language,  with  sizes,  weights,  measurements  and  prices 
stated  in  units  of  the  metric  system." 

Consul  General  Mason,  now  at  Berlin,  says:  "But — and 
here  is  the  marrow  of  the  whole  matter — whatever  the  article 
to  be  sold,  it  is  useless  for  American  exporters  to  expect,  as 
so  many  of  them  obviously  do,  that  German  retailers  and 
jobbers  will  order  direct  suppHes  of  American  manufactured 
goods  from  catalogues  printed  in  English,  in  dollar  prices 
and  pounds  avoirdupois.  .  .  .  Generally  speaking,  Amer- 
ican goods,  to  be  introduced  in  Germany,  must  be  offered 
here  either  by  established  agents  or  by  salesmen  who  can 
show  and  explain  samples  and  make  prices  and  conditions  in 
currency,  weights  and  measures  that  the  purchaser  can  readily 
understand." 

Mr.  Sawter,  consul  at  Glauchau,  concludes  an  important 
report  with  the  words:  "Naturally  the  almost  cosmopolitan 
use  of  a  system  of  weights  and  measures  totally  different  from 
that  employed  in  the  United  States,  places  its  merchants  in- 
terested in  foreign  trade  at  a  great  disadvantage.  Not  only 
are  American  price  lists  confusing  to  the  foreign  merchants, 
owing  to  the  different  denominations  used,  but  the  fact  that 
foreign  lists  are  made  in  terms  equally  unfamiliar  to  Ameri- 
can merchants  is  said  to  result  in  unfair  discrimination  and 
often  in  fraud." 

The  adoption  of  the  metric  system  by  this  country  would 
undoubtedly  aid  our  commerce  with  the  metric  using  nations. 
If  it  should  aid  us  in  selling,  it  would  help  us  to  buy  through 
placing  larger  means  at  our  disposal,  then,  with  our  increased 
prosperity,  would  come  a  greater  prosperity  to  the  other  mem- 
bers in  the  family  of  nations,  the  circle  of  exchange  would  be 
enlarged,  and  wealth  thereby  created. 

Gen.  H.  H.  Bingham: 

Professor  Carlo  Betocchi,  delegate  from  Naples,  Italy,  will 
read  a  paper,  entitled,  "Plan  for  an  International  Central 
Office  of  Chambers  of  Commerce."  (Paper  deferred  to  after- 
noon session.) 

The  Congress  stands  in  recess  until  2.30  p.  m. 


Philadelphia,  Monday,  October  23,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  (irder  at  3.23  p.  m.,  by  Director 
W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Gentlemen,  if  you  will  come  right  forward,  we  will  begin 
the  afternoon  session. 

Will  the  delegates  make  any  corrections  in  the  proceedings 
which  have  already  been  published  where  there  have  been 
any  speeches  or  papers  read?  Will  you  kindly  take  the  pro- 
ceedings that  have  been  issued  and  correct  them  carefully? 
They  are  not  in  their  present  state  a  permanent  publication, 
and  we  solicit  corrections  in  every  case.  These  corrections 
will  be  made  and  the  proceedings  will  be  permanently  pub- 
lished from  your  personal  corrections.  Corrections  of  all  the 
papers  will  be  made.-  We  solicit  that  in  each  case  before  they 
arc  permanently  published. 

(len.  II.  II.  Bingham: 

Professor  Carlo  Betocchi,  delegate  from  Naples,  Italy,  will 
jiresent  his  "Plan  for  an  International  Central  Office  of  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce." 


^'^. 


■^  .>y 


F.  SHIPPEY, 
PlETERMARITZBURG,    NaTAL. 


R,   LEWIS  BRINKWORTH, 

Port  Elizabeth,  Cape  Colonv 


M.  BERLINER, 
Cafe  Town,  Africa. 


HERBERT  BOWDEN, 

Thursday  Island.  Queensland. 


PETER  BARR, 
DuNEDiN.  New  Zealand. 


SOMERVILLE  MURRAY, 

Aden,  Arabia. 


J.  BARRE  JOHNSTON, 
Sydney,  N.  S.  W. 


W.  G.  CLARK, 

Charters'  Towers,  Queensland. 


HERBERT  K.  CALDER, 
Fremantle,  W.  Australia. 


NINTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


177 


Plan  for  an  International  Central  Office  of 
Chambers  of  Commerce. 

Prof.  Carlo  Bclncrhi  (delegate  from  tlie  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce of  Najiles,  Catania,  Bari  and  Messina,  and  from  the 
Association  of  Maritime  Law,  Naples,  Italy) : 

Gentlemen. — It  is  not  an  a.-sembly  of  traders  which  must 
be  addressed  as  to  the  advantages  and  importance  of  the 
Chamhers  of  Commerce  of  the  present  day.  They  are  the 
organs — not  of  the  least  imjiortance — of  the  mechanism  of 
modern  life,  the  most  powerful  springs  in  the  continual  move- 
ment of  commei-cial  expansion  of  the  nations.  Yet,  as  the 
steam  engine  can  only  utilize  a  small  part  of  the  power  which 
is  developed  by  the  vapor,  while  the  rest  is  entirely  lost,  so 
the  powerful  engine,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  is 
within  the  reach  of  all  traders,  is  far  from  having  attained  its 
utmost  usefulness,  a  great  part  of  its  energy  vanishes,  as  it 
were,  for  want  of  auxiliary  mechanisiiis,  which  would  unite 
the  last  particles  and  distribute  them  in  proportion,  accord- 
ing to  the  wants  of  all  those  who  might  take  advantage  of  it. 

The  sphere  of  action  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  up  to  the 
present  time  has  been  limited,  not  exceeding  the  territorial 
bounds  of  their  administrative  centres.  The  laws  which  have 
established  thcni,  or  the  regulations  which  govern  their  work 
are  applied  within  strictly  determined  limits.  The  protection 
of  industrial  and  commercial  interests,  the  inspection  and 
controlling  of  stock  exchanges,  brokers,  fairs  and  markets, 
ports  and  piers,  industrial  and  commercial  experts,  the  man- 
ner of  electing  judges  to  the  tribunals  of  commerce,  reports, 
the  statistics,  the  improvements  of  docks,  warehouses,  etc., 
can  only  be  exercised  within  a  comparatively  limited  field,  and 
it  would  be  im]iossible  to  overstep  these  limitations  without 
violating  the  laws  and  regulations. 

It  is  true,  there  are  a  great  many  Chambers  of  Commerce 
established  abroad  in  centres  where  international  interests  are 
more  numerous  and  important,  but  they  are,  nevertheless,  a 
direct  outgrowth  from  the  mother  country,  and  their  sphere 
of  action  is  always  strictly  limited  by  the  nation  wherein  they 
act  or  are  located,  and  subject  to  the  influence  of  the  home 
centre.  Such  a  .state  of  things  is  incompatible  with  the  move- 
ment for  expansion  and  the  desire  for  an  extension  of  influence 
abroad,  which  has  taken  hold  of  nearly  all  commercial  insti- 
tutions, at  least  those  which  in  a  direct  or  indirect  manner 
favor  the  preparation  and  dissemination  of  commercial  re- 
ports. An  irresistible  force  has  for  a  long  time  been  drawing 
the  commercial  world  towards  a  tacit  understanding,  superior 
to  commercial  or  political  treaties,  towards  a  universal  fed- 
eration of  wants,  of  intere.sts,  of  mutual  advantages, — a  force 
which  truly  belongs  to  a  century  that  has  tunneled  the  moun- 
tains, subjected  .the  ocean  and  that  has  been  brought  to  a 
close  by  Marconi's  telegraph  whereby  physical  force,  as  a 
means  of  transmission,  is  replaced  by  ether  particles  in  their 
new  vibrations,  hitherto  unknown. 

I  need  not  call  your  attention,  gentlemen,  to  a  phenomenon 
which  occurs  more  frecjuently,  springing  as  it  does  from  the 
very  nature  of  things,  namely,  the  tendency  to  widen  the 
bounded  horizons,  to  break  the  barriers,  mostly  artificial, 
placed  upon  the  work  of  official  organizations  and  corpora- 
tions. All  that  is  recognized  as  good  and  useful  for  a  nation 
could  not  cease  to  be  so  beyond  the  limits  of  a  frontier,  or  on 
the  other  side  of  the  sea.  If,  to  use  the  familiar  illustration  of 
water  in  communicating  vessels,  there  is  a  tendency  among  all 
countries  to  place  themselves  on  the  same  level  of  justice 
and  morality,  the  new  spirit  must  accord  an  equal  treatment 
to  the  ideas  emanating  from  other  countries. 

In  other  words,  that  which  a  few  years  ago  was  strictly 
naFional,  especially  in  industrial  and  commercial  matters,  is 
becoming  more  and  more  international,  acquiring  strength 


and  authority  universally  recognized,  owing  to  the  fact  that 
needs  are  no  longer  localized  and  the  standard  of  public  inter- 
est, properly  speaking,  is  nearly  the  same  in  all  civilized  com- 
tries.  It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  on  the  post  and  telegraph, 
railways,  the  protection  of  trade  marks,  etc.,  which  have  made 
such  rapid  strides. 

The  settlement  of  damages  caused  by  collisions  on  the  high 
sea,  now  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  first  port  of  call,  will 
come  in  a  few  years,  through  the  initiative  of  the  Hamburg 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  within  the  jurisdiction  of  tribunals 
of  international  arbitration,  to  the  great  advantage  of  ship- 
pers, steamship  and  insurance  companies. 

Thus,  the  commercial  museums,  whose  existence  have  been 
very  short,  but  none  the  less  glorious,  are  multiplying  rap- 
idly. They  are  in  constant  communication  with  each  other, 
especially  with  regard  to  the  exchange  of  information  and 
samples;  so  that  in  view  of  the  increase  of  their  number,  it 
is  easy  to  foresee  that  before  long,  they  will  cover  the  world 
with  a  thick  net  of  international  communications,  to  the  great 
advantage  of  all  who  are  interested  in  them. 

Furthermore,  the  conference  convoked  at  Antwerp  by  the 
"Comite  Maritime  International,"  concluding  its  labors  in 
October,  1898,  on  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Beemaert,  Minister 
of  State  and  President  of  the  "Association  pour  TUnification 
du  droit  maritime,"  passed  a  resolution  favoring  the  estab- 
lishment, in  all  countries,  of  powerful  associations  among  the 
shipowners,  insurance  agents  and  brokers,  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  unification  of  maritime  laws  from  a  national 
point  of  view. 

These  facts  arc  an  indicaticm  of  the  new  life  which  animates 
the  work  of  the  Chamber  of  Commence.  These  Chaml)crs  are 
l)eginning  to  feel  confined  in  the  field  originally  assigned 
them,  and  are  shaking  oft'  the  weight  of  sectionalism,  which 
deprives  them  of  the  power  to  let  their  voices  be  heard,  and 
their  influence  felt  beyond  the  political  limits. 

It  is  the  duty  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  to  overcome  their 
deficiencies,  that  is  to  say,  to  put  themselves  in  such  a  posi- 
tion as  to  render  to  their  members,  associates  and  adminis- 
trators, valuable  services  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own 
countries, — services  which  are  at  present  dependent  on  the 
good  will  of  diplomatic  or  consular  agents,  and  whenever 
rendered,  deplorably  slow,  and  therefore  inefficient. 

In  the  actual  state  of  things,  for  instance,  if  a  Chamber  of 
Commerce  is  called  upon  to  answer  an  inquiry  of  the  Minister 
of  Commerce,  relating  to  the  stock  of  cotton  existing  in  April, 
1899,  of  the  qualities,  prices,  etc.,  it  will  be  obliged  either  to 
address  all  CHiambers  of  Commerce  of  the  United  States  of 
America  aiul  England,  or  to  distribute  circulars  by  the  hun- 
dreds to  foreign  consuls. 

This  mass  of  correspondence  would  choke  up  the  archives 
of  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  consular  offices;  and  to  assign 
the  work  to  a  number  of  officials,  whose  duties  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end  of  the  year,  consist  of  nothing  but  an- 
swering hundreds  of  similar  questions,  brings  with  it  the 
natural  slowness  of  bureaucracy,  and  the  answer  of  such  an 
inquiry  reaches  the  interested  merchant  when  he  no  longer 
needs  it — the  favoral:)le  time  having  passed. 

The  cordial  feeling  and  the  courteous  intercourse  exist- 
ing between  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  all  civilized  coun- 
tries, can  by  no  means  lessen  the  inconveniences  and  disa- 
greements which  spring  from  the  very  nature  of  these  things. 
Lastly,  the  important  part  that  commercial  museums  are 
called  upon  to  take  in  our  modem  economic  life  must  not  be 
forgotten.  These  institutions,  bom  only  yesterday,  are  be- 
ginning to  establish  themselves  on  a  firm  basis.  Their  ex- 
istence, their  development  and  the  value  of  the  services  they 
are  called  upon  to  render  trade  and  industry,  will  depend  on 
the  sources  and  extent  of  the  field  from  which  they  obtain 
their  information.    In  other  words,  in  order  that  a  commer- 


178 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEENATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


cial  museum  may  attain  its  maximum  usefulness,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  it  ofier  to  the  public  the  facilities  of  information 
and  an  exliibition  of  samples  from  the  greatest  number  of 
jiroducing  and  consuming  countries,  the  trade  marks,  the  pat- 
terns, the  most  varied  and  rare  kinds  of  packing,  such  as  could 
be  acquired  only  iiy  an  assiduous  work  of  research  and  in- 
terchange, througli  the  assistance  of  the  gi-eatest  possible 
number  of  Chambers  of  Commerce. 

The  most  serious  difficulty  of  execution  is  now  presented. 
Let  us  proceed  on  the  hypothesis  that  all  the  commercial 
museums  of  the  world  are  thinking  of  completing  their  in- 
stallations by  the  most  extensive  and  varied  purchases.  We 
see  that  the  immense  work  would  overwhelm  the  Chambers 
of  Commerce,  which  are  not  in  position  to  render  the  re- 
quired service.  Each  museum  would  have  thousands  of  ques- 
tions to  ask  and  samples  to  secure  from  the  Chamliers  of  Com- 
merce throughout  the  world.  The  latter  would  likewise  have 
questions  to  ask  and  samples  to  secure  from  each  other.  Even 
in  reduced  proportions,  however,  the  actual  isolation  of  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  places  them  in  a  position  in  which 
they  are  unequal  to  the  task  which  would  shortly  be  the  most 
important,  viz:  to  supply  the  commercial  museums  with  the 
latest  products  of  this  progressive  age.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  be  a  prophet  to  foresee  that  tliis  task  will  soon  be  forced 
on  commercial  bodies,  since  we  already  see  the  governments 
occupying  themselves  with  the  necessity  of  studying  the  for- 
eign commerce  at  home,  of  exploring  and  commercially  colon- 
izing, instead  of  waiting  under  the  shadow  of  national  in- 
dustry, or  tai'iff  protection,  for  the  foreigners  to  come  and 
take  possession  of  the  native  production,  totally  unknown 
abroad. 

The  museum  must  also  possess  large  and  valualjlc  collec- 
tions of  the  raw  and  unmanufactured  products  of  foreign 
countries,  and  maintain  technical  lal^oratories  in  which  tests 
can  be  made  for  all  commercial  purposes.  In  every  other 
legitimate  way,  the  museum  must  act  as  an  international  trade 
stimulus  and  centre  for  commercial  information. 

The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  lias  attained  this 
degree  of  perfection,  but  is  still  a  national  institution,  whose 
relations  to  foreign  Chambers  of  Commerce  are  strictly  cor- 
dial, it  must  rely  upon  its  own  efl:'orts  to  secure  the  infor- 
mation which  it  requires,  and  keep  this  information,  if  pos- 
sible, up  to  date  with  the  progress  of  foreign  industry  and 
commerce.  It  is  then  necessary  that  commercial  bodies  and 
(jhambers  of  Commerce  find,  in  some  way,  a  continuation  of 
their  own  existence  in  an  instituticm  communicating  with 
the  exterior  world,  with  foreign  countries;  an  organ  at  once 
receiver  and  transmitter;  a  centre  capable  of  absorbing  and 
expanding;  an  office  of  centralization  and  distribution;  at 
the  same  time  a  receptacle  and  an  outlet  for  the  needs  of  all. 

The  jjroposition  with  which  we  have  to  deal  is  by  no  means 
new,  being  only  an  application  to  Chambers  of  Commerce  of 
a  process  which  has  been  tried  with  success  in  many  otluT 
fields  of  activity,  having  in  its  favor  the  advantages  of  a  long 
and  fruitful  experience.'  We  shall  not,  tlierefore,  be  obliged 
to  walk  in  the  dark,  for  we  will  liave  but  to  take  the  best 
experiences  of  others,  and  apply  tliom  In  mir  own  purposes. 
There  is  no  longer  any  need  to  decide  as  to  the  practicaljility 
of  tlie  new  weajjon  which  we  propose  to  use  in  the  loyal 
combat  of  international  competition;  the  results  have  been 
obtained  by  experiments  and  if  now  only  I'cuiains  to  ])iil  the 
(•om]>let('  plan  into  operatidii. 

Chnmljcrs  of  Commerce  of  all  civilized  countries,  now  sepa- 
rated by  their  charters  of  incorporation  and  powerless  to 
unite,  should  be  placed  in  connection  witli  eacli  other  by 
means  of  a  central  institution,  the  Central  International 
Office  of  Chandlers  of  Commerce,  something  like  the  bureaus 
for  post  and  telegraph,  railways,  trade  marks,  etc.,  which  are 
already  in  existence  at  Bern. 


Constitution  of  Office. 

The  Central  International  (.)ifice  of  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce shall  be  instituted  by  the  agreement  and  contributions 
of  all  (Chambers  of  Commerce  participating. 

II. 

Composition  of  Office. 

The  Office  shall  be  managed  by  an  international  commission, 
of  delegates  and  by  subiu'dinate  executive  officials.  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce  of  every  nation  shall  have  the  right  to  ap- 
point one  representative,  whose  expenses  shall  t)e  charged  to 
the  budget  of  the  office.  The  administrative  officials  shall  be 
clidseu  bj'  the  commission  above  described. 

III. 

Duties  of  the  Office. 

The  objects  of  the  Office  are: 

(a)  To  gather  all  commercial  and  industrial  information, 
statistics  regarding  production,  consumption,  export  and  im- 
poi-f;  also  lists  of  names  which  shall  be  periodically  furnished 
it  by  flie  corresponding  Chambers  of  Commerce.  This  material 
shall  lie  carefully  classified  according  to  a  fixed  rule  and  a  rigo- 
rous method,  so  that  it  may  be  easily,  rajiidly  and  accurately 
examined.  AVith  this  purpose  in  view,  all  corresponding  or 
associate  chambers,  represented  or  not,  shall  communicate  to 
the  Office  all  information  which  may  be  of  interest  to  inter- 
national trade.  The  languages  to  be  used  shall  be  English, 
Fi'eneh,  German  and  Italian.  The  statistics  given  shall  be 
Compiled  according  to  one  formula  only,  and  I  was  very  glad 
tn  hear  the  remarks  upon  this  subject  by  Hon.  H.  Llewellyn 
Smith  and  Hon.  Carmll  D.  Wi-ight.  who  jireceded  me  in  this 
discussion. 

(b)  To  eolleet  all  the  samples  of  jiroducts,  provisions,  pack- 
ing, merchandise,  raw  material,  models,  designs,  fac-similes, 
re])roductions,  etc.,  which  are  to  be  sent  by  corresponding  or 
associated  chambers,  commercial  associations,  or  by  traders 
and  manufacturers  in  their  own  name.  The  associate  Cham- 
l)ers  shall  undertake  to  send  these  periodical  consignments, 
taking  care  that  all  samples,  etc.,  be  sent  in  the  greatest  pos- 
sible variety,  marked,  numliered  and  sliowing  the  source,  pro- 
duction, price  and  all  information  as  to  quality,  season,  dis- 
]iosal)le  quantity,  stock,  etc. 

The  Central  Office,  to  which  a  commercial  and  merceologic 
museum  shaJl  be  annexed,  shall  be  obliged  to  carefully  classify 
the  materials  according  to  country  and  origin  and  prepare  an 
illustrated  catalogue  in  three  languages.  It  shall  be  ol)liged  to 
keep  itself  in  direct  correspondence  with  the  associate  (!ham- 
bers,  in  order  to  obtain  the  necessary  shipments  to  complete 
or  augment  the  collecticms. 

(c)  To  furnish  free  of  charge  to  assoi-iate  or  e(UTes])onding 
Cbambers,  or  through  tliem,  to  the  |iulilic.  all  infm-mation  as 
III  customs  tariffs,  stati-lies,  etc. 

Tlie  Office  shall  lie  liv  im  means  re~|Hiiisible  for  the  coiumu- 
niealiiuis  in;i(le  on  ri'iiuest. 

(d)  Til  rmiiisb  tn  assdiiate  ehaiiilier,-.  nr  (lii-iiugh  lliem  to 
the  public,  on  reimbursement  of  the  lu-ees.sary  expenses,  de- 
signs, sani|iles,  ete..  whieb  may  exist  in  the  merceologic  mu- 
seum, and  to  lend  its  aid  in  oblaining  tliose  wMeli  may  l)e 
wanting. 

(e)  To  fake  the  iniliaiive  in  establishing  a  series  of  studies, 
and  in  cmitinuing  Ibem,  with  Ihe  view  of  preparing  a  series  of 
proj)o.sitions  in  the  interest  of  the  commercial  classes  of  all 


NINTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  a3,  1899 


179 


countries.  With  this  purpose  in  view,  the  coiTesponding  or 
associate  Chambers  of  Commerce  shall  periodically  send  to  the 
Office  the  resolutions  they  will  have  passed,  the  reports  they 
will  have  forwarded  upon  request  of  the  governments  or  the 
public,  the  refonns  they  will  have  suggested  regarding  postal 
rates,  railways,  customs,  inrlustrial  production,  etc. 

The  Office  shall  classify  this  information  according  to  its 
character. 

Even  the  governments,  by  whose  support  the  Office  is  to  be 
established,  should  be  obliged  to  communicate  to  it  all  re- 
ports which  may  be  of  interest  to  the  commercial  and  indus- 
trial classes  throughout  the  world,  save  those  reports  which 
are  of  a  political  or  private  character:  also>  the  views  and 
comments  made  by  the  governments,  commercial  bodies, 
boards  of  arbitration,  agricultural  and  industrial  syndicates 
regarding  bills  introduced  into  legislatures. 

The  Office  shall  be  able  to  call  the  attention  of  the  govern- 
ments to  legislative  questions  of  general  interest,  for  the 
purpose  of  facilitating  the  enactment  of  commercial,  inter- 
national and  uniform  legislation,  the  need  of  which,  espec- 
ially such  legislation  as  concerns  maritime  rights  and  the 
numerous  questions  which  they  present,  arc  so  keenly  and 
universally  felt. 

The  Office  should  particularly  devote  itself  to  the  dissem- 
ination, Ijy  a  continual  propaganda,  of  such  ideas  and  princi- 
ples as  may  be  desirahle  to  all  countries,  such  as  the  decimal 
metric  system,  the  universal  postage  stamp  and  postal  card, 
a  coin  of  international  account  on  the  basis  of  a  certain  uni- 
versal standard,  the  unifieation  of  the  commercial  standard 
of  time  in  order  to  avoid  reductions  of  the  hour  of  single 
countries;  in  short,  the  adoption  of  all  uniform  and  unequivo- 
cal terms,  which  will  not  admit  of  different  interpretations. 

The  policy  of  the  Central  Office  can  thus  be  summed  up  in 
two  distinct  parts,  both  complete  and  balancing  each  other, 
and  both  having  for  their  purj)ose  the  encouragement  and 
upbuilding  of  international  trade. 

(1)  A  centripetal  force,  attracting  to  the  centi-e,  that  is  to 
say,  to  the  International  Offic;;^  the  most  important  communi- 
cations of  Chambers  of  Commerce. 

(2)  A  centrifugal  force,  expanding  and  distributing  ac- 
cording to  needs  and  interests,  the  results  that  have  been  ac- 
cumulated through  the  common  work.  It  may  be  consid- 
ered as  a  perfect  organ,  being  at  the  same  time  brain  and 
limb,  means  and  end,  intermediate  agent  and  institutor,  pre- 
cursor and  administrator,  pioneer  and  planter. 

IV. 

0ffici.\l  Publications. 

The  organ  of  the  Office— the  Official  Bulletin  of  the  Cen- 
tral International  Office  of  Cihambers  of  Commerce — shall 
be  published  at  least  once  a  month,  for  the  purpose  of  spread- 
ing to  the  greatest  possible  extent,  information  which  the 
office  may  deem  of  general  interest;  to  call  tlie  attention  of  all 
its  correspondents  and  officials  to  the  most  vital  questions 
which  are  to  lie  taken  up  for  consideration  by'  the  govern- 
ments or  Clhamliers  of  Commerce. 

The  usual  make-up  of  the  Bulletin  shall  be  as  follows: 

(a)  A  quasi-official  part,  containing  the  communications 
of  the  office,  the  government  proceedings,  laws,  law-projects, 
regulations  of  international  interest,  etc. 

(b)  An  administrative  part,  consisting  of  information  use- 
ht]  to  CDmmerce  and  industry,  compiled  from  tlie  material 
periodically  contributed  to  the  office  by  correspondents. 

(c)  A  third  part,  devoted  to  a  summary  of  the  subjects  con- 
sidered by  the  Office,  propositions,  inquiries  and  resolutions, 
wl^ich,  through  the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  are  submitted  to 
the  governments,  commercial  congresses,  hoards  of  trade,  in- 


dustry and  agriculture,  and  public  relief  and  labor  commis- 
sions, with  the  main  purpose  of  making  the  laws  uniform,  so 
that  regulations  which  are  almost  the  same  m  all  countries, 
can  be  classified  in  a  uniform  manner,  thereby  assui-ing  the 
advantages  of  legislative  codification  to  the  greatest  number  in 
the  commercial  world. 

V. 

Privileges  of  Office. 

The  Office  shall  be  placed  under  the  protection  of  govern- 
ments, with  the  condition,  however,  of  keeping  the  strictest 
neutrality.  Officials  shall  be  strictly  f(n-bidden  taking  part 
in  the  political  discussions  of  the  country  wherein  the  Office 
is  located.  Members  of  tlie  International  Commission  shall 
be  scrupulously  bound  to  keep  aloof  from  participation  in 
political,  administrative  and  religious  controversies,  and  from 
every  interference  in  industrial  or  commercial  affairs,  either 
directly  ot  indirectly.  The  government  shall  have  the  power 
to  warn  the  International  Commission  regarding  the  neutral- 
ity clause.  The  members  of  the  Commission  shall  enjoy,  on 
this  condition,  protection  and  inviolability  assured  to  the 
diplomatic  and  consular-  representatives.  The  seat  of  the 
Office  shall  be  e.xtra-territorialized  and  protected  by  inter- 
national law.  The  Office  shall  incur  no  responsibility  in  con- 
sequence of  publications  or  information  furnished. 

The  Office  shall  enjoy  postal  and  telegi-aphic  privileges,  in 
order  to  correspond  with  Chambers  of  Commerce,  govern- 
ments, tlie  diplomatic  and  consular  corjjs.  The  Bulletin  of 
the  International  Office  shall  circulate  free  in  all  states  of  the 
Postal  ITnion. 

The  correspondence  of  Chandjers  of  Commerce  addressed 
to  the  Central  Office  shall  lie  exempt  from  postage.  The  pro- 
vincial stock  and  other  exchanges  of  each  country  shall 
transmit  to  its  capital  or  commercial  centre  all  desired  infor- 
mation, and  this  information  shall  be  summarized  and  trans- 
mitted to  the  Office  in  daily  dis2>atches,  which  shall  take  pre- 
cedence over  all  other  telegrams,  thereby  communicating 
promptly  the  average  rates  of  exchange,  ruling  prices,  etc. 

With  the  project  thus  outlined,  further  details  may  be  left 
for  future  consideration.  My  ])rincipal  aim  is  to  bring  to 
the  attention  of  the  commercial  world  this  most  important 
subject.  The  real  purpose  of  Congresses,  the  only  result  that 
they  can  and  must  reach,  is  the  agreement  of  the  delegates  on 
a  limited  number  of  practical  principles,  leaving  the  detailed 
application  of  these  principles  to  other  assemblies  less  numer- 
ous, and  therefore,  more  able  to  regulate  the  practical  work 
and  to  fill  up  the  voids  of  the  plan.  It  is  not,  perhaps, 
too  rash  to  presume  that,  as  a  principle,  no  one  can  doubt  the 
great  ]3ractical  utility  of  the  proposition,  which  the  Naples 
Chamber  of  Commerce  has  the  honor  to  submit  for  the  con- 
sideration of  this  Congress. 

The  Naples  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  proud  to  have  an- 
swered the  call  which  came  to  her  across  the  ocean,  and  to 
have  brought  her  modest  contribution  of  ideas.  She  would 
be  still  ]iroducer,  if  a  small  part  of  tlie  same  should  be  recog- 
nized as  valualile,  and  nuirked  with  the  seal  of  honor  which 
would  be  bestowed,  should  the  Congress  take  into  considera- 
tion the  adoption  of  the  principles  here  set  forth.  Such  ac- 
tion would,  HO  doubt,  be  followed  by  the  unanimous  approval 
also  of  the  w-orld's  leading  husiness  men. 

(h'li.  II.  II.  BiiH/liam  : 

Is  Colonel  Pope  here?  Please  come  forward.  (Colonel 
Pope  comes  forward  to  the  platform.)  Colonel  Albert  A. 
Pope  will  read  his  paper  on  "Export  of  American  Bicycles." 
It  might  be  proper  for  me  here  to  state  that  Colonel  Pope 
was  .among  the  first — the  founder  of  the  great  bicycle  enter- 


1£0 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


prise  in  this  country,  lie  is  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest 
maniLfac-tories  in  that  business.  He  has  also  been  active  in 
\vf)rk  in  connectitm  with  the  better  condition  of  highways 
throughout  the  country,  and,  as  a  natural  sequence  of  that 
line  (^f  work,  takes  great  interest  in  motor  or  automobile 
wauons.  I  have  pleasure  in  presenting  Colonel  Albert  A. 
ro])e. 

"Export  of  American  Bicycles." 

Colonel  Albert  A.  Pope: 

'J'here  could  be  no  better  indication  of  the  advance  of 
civilization,  thiiu  the  successful  meeting  of  this  assembly  of 
international  delegates  which  1  now  have  the  honor  of  ad- 
dressing. 

Jt  seems  to  me,  that  moneyed  interests  and  closer  trade 
relations  will  do  more  to  bring  about  prosperity  and  univer- 
sal peace,  than  all  the  famous  battles  of  which  our  historieti 
boast.  It  is,  therefore,  of  great  value  to  us  to  study  care- 
fully the  successes  and  failures  of  various  industries  in  differ- 
ent'countries,  as,  by  so  doing,  we  may  learn  how  to  attain 
greater  successes  or  avert  like  failures. 

In  all  such  discussions  as  these,  we  should  constantly  keep 
in  mind  the  fact,  that  healthy  competition  is  essential  to  the 
full  development  of  trade,  and  as  such,  should  lie  encouraged. 
If  one  nation,  by  its  skill,  enterprise  and  businesslike 
methods,  has  won  the  first  place  in  any  trade,  the  rest  of  civili- 
zation should  learn  the  reasons  of  this  success  and  profit  by 
the  example. 

Bicycling  of  to-day  is  the  result  of  an  evolution  of  long 
chiration,  and  the  business  side  of  it  has  passevl  through 
strange  vicissitudes.  The  prototype  was  but  a  toy,  whilr  the 
modern  wheel  is  a  machine  of  practical  utility,  as  well  as  a 
means  of  healthful  exercise. 

In  186.5,  Pierre  Lallemont,  a  Frenchman,  conceived  the 
idea  of  attaching  a  pair  of  cranks  and  pedals  to  the  front 
wheel  of  a  velocipede.  His  success  in  tliis  device  solved  the 
problem  of  propelling  the  man-motor  vehicle  without  bring- 
ing the  feet  in  contact  with  the  ground,  which,  up  to  this 
time,  had  been  the  method  of  propelling  the  Draisine  and 
all  kindred  machines.  In  learning  to  ride  he  found,  after 
nuiny  attempts  and  failures,  that  it  was  a  simple  system 
of  balancing  by  turning  the  front  wheel  from  side  to  side, 
and  always  in  the  direction  of  the  threatening  fall,  just  as 
we  walk  by  balancing  the  weight  first  on  one  foot  and  then 
on  the  other. 

Lallemont  created  soine  surprise  liy  riding  this  original 
"bone  shaker"  through  the  pulilic  thornughfares,  and  his  em- 
])loyer,  M.  Michaux,  exhibited  it  at  the  Paris  Exposition  in 
180.5,  but  what  afterwards  proved  to  be  a  very  important  im- 
l)rovemenf  in  the  driving  gear,  attracted  then  but  little  atten- 
tion. 

The  next  year,  Ivallemoiit  worked  his  passage  to  America, 
where  he  at  once  liiiilt  a  wheel  and  aroused  eonsiderabte 
interest  by  riding  it  through  the  streets  of  New  Haven.  In 
November,  IStiti,  one  Carroll  joined  him  in  his  enterprise, 
and  to  Lallemont  and  Carroll  jointly  was  granted  the  first 
patent  in  the  1,'nited  States,  showing  the  two-wheeled  velnci- 
]iede  with  foot  cranks,  in  fact,  this  was  the  first  eiini|ilete 
patent  actually  obtained  anywhere  for  such  a  niaehine. 
After  a  year  or  two  of  struggling  eiVort  to  start  the  inamirac- 
ture  of  these  machines,  some  of  them  were  put  on  the  market. 
In  the  winter  of  18fi9  and  1870,  many  carriage  makers  turned 
their  attcTition  to  this  line  of  work,  and  ]ii-e|iared  a  \:\r<j.r 
stock  of  unnecessarily  heavy  and  clum.sy  veloci[)e(les. 

Riding  scliools  were  established  in  the  larger  cities  of  our 
countrj'  and  the  spring  opened  with  the  promise  of  good 
trade,  but,  when  put  to  actual  use,  the  machines  proved  to 


be  impracticable,  and  this  resulted  in  a  complete  failure  of 
the  business.  This  sad  experience,  however,  taught  us  an 
excellent  lesson,  and,  as  an  important  result  of  it,  inventoi-s 
gradually  brought  forward  such  improvements  as  hollow- 
tube  frames,  movable  saddles,  slotted  cranks,  bifurcated  forks 
and  round  contractile  ndjber  tires. 

After  we  had  abandoned  the  velocipede,  the  English  took 
up  the  idea,  and  by  the  year  1876  had  brought  out  a  very 
creditable  bicycle.  The  first  I  saw  of  these  machines  were 
exhibited  at  the  Centennial  Exposition  in  this  city  in  1870. 

In  the  summer  of  1877,  I  made  an  improved  bicycle,  which 
was  finished  in  August  of  that  year,  at  a  cost  of  $313.  That 
was  the  beginning  of  the  industry  in  the  United  States. 

I  have  thus  briefly  called  attention  to  some  of  the  chief 
features  in  the  early  history  of  bicycling,  in  order  to  empha- 
size the  jioint  of  contact  between  the  United  States  and  Eng- 
land in  the  initiative  stages  of  this  very  important  business. 

Although  at  first  our  bicycles  were  imported  from  Eng- 
land, we  soon  began  their  manufacture  here.  In  the  spring 
of  1878,  we  gave  our  first  order  for  fifty  machines  to  the 
Weed  Sewing  Machine  Comiiany,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  a 
concern  which  was  afterward  absorbed  by  the  Pope  Manu- 
facturing Company.  Our  home  product  proved  so  success- 
ful, that  we  became  competitors  with  a  steadily  increasing 
business,  so  that  fewer  machines  in  proportion  were  imported 
as  time  went  by,  until,  after  about  a  dozen  years,  the  impor- 
tations practically  ceased,  and  soon  after  American  machines 
began  to  appear  in  England  and  other  foreign  countries. 

By  1890,  American  bicycles  were  systematically  exi)orted, 
and  the  business  has  gradually  grown,  until  now  it  has  become 
a  very  im])0Ttant  element  in  the  trade.  When  we  began  to 
seek  this  trade,  most  of  the  machines  sold  in  foreign  countries 
were  made  by  the  English,  although  the  Germans  and  French 
exported  a  few.  Our  main  line  of  competition,  therefore,  has 
been  with  the  English  manufacturers.  While  England  still 
continues  to  do  a  considerable  export  business,  she  has  been, 
in  some  region.s,  gradually  giving  way  before  the  competition 
in  American  bicycles.  Most  of  the  machines  imported  into 
({ermany  and  France  to-day  ccmie  from  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  chief  difficulties  whicli  Americans  met  in  com- 
peting with  foreign  makers  was  in  the  matter  of  steel  tub- 
ing, which,  during  the  earlier  years  of  the  trade,  we  bought 
in  the  foreign  market,  and  were,  therefore,  dependent  largely 
upon  England  for  the  materials  with  which  to  construct  our 
machines.  For  some  years  past,  however,  we  have  not  only 
made  our  own  tubing,  but  turned  the  scales  by  exporting  to 
Knglish  firms  large  quantities  of  our  bicycles.  We  believe 
to-day  that  the  number  of  Anuuican  wheels  used  in  England 
and  her  colonies  and  dependencies  would  have  been  much 
lai'ger,  but  for  a  natural,  and  in  many  respects  commendable 
prejudice  in  favor  of  home-made  goods. 

We  have  been  successful  for  various  reasons:  in  the  first 
plaee.  our  agents  and  traveling  salesnum  have  studied  very 
carefully  the  conditions  and  eonseqiient  re(|uirements  for  all 
the  countries  of  the  civilized  world.  We  have,  therefore, 
equipped  machines  to  meet  the  conditions  nf  dilVereiit  cotin- 
trics. 

Fntil  1S9().  we  hanilleil  nui-  e\|ioi1  husiiiess  incid<'ntally 
in  e(inne(tiiin  with  diniieslic  tvaile;  nnw  we  have  a  dcpart- 
ineiit  with  full  |iara|ilieriialia  foi-  export  liiisiness  and  facili- 
ties for  irauslating  or  transcriliiiiL;  in  several  languages,  and 
niii-  |iriiduet  has  been  described  iii  hamlsome  catalogues 
printed  in  Kreneh,  Spanish,  (iernian,  Danish  and  Dutch,  with 
smaller  eatalogui's  and  priee  lists  in  other  languages. 

We  manufacture  (Oi  a  vit\  large  scale  and  do  everything 
]Missihle  by  macbinerv.  The  Knglish  have  been  more  con- 
servative, and  have  (hnibtless  been  influenced  in  this  particu- 
lar by  the  difficulty  in  managing  the  la])or  unions,  who.se 
teachings  seem  to  be  opposed  to  the  adoption  of  labor-saving 


NIXTII  DAY'S  SESSIO^\  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


181 


devices,  and  this  tendency  has  also  been  apparent  in  other 
countries.  It  is,  however,  a  signilieant  fact  that  many  of 
the  first-chiss  foreign  factories  of  to-day  are  equipped  with 
American  automatic  machinery.  The  Europeans  always 
found  it  difficult  to  displace  machinery  which  was  likely  to 
do  good  service  for  several  years,  even  though  they  knew 
that  later  devices  would  produce  better  results.  Our  aim 
has  been  never  to  spare  expenses  which  would  insure  in- 
creased and  better  product.  The  only  point  which  we  have 
insisted  upon  was  that  the  large  expense  incurred  would  be 
economy  in  the  end.  This  same  spirit  influenced  us  in  what 
might  by  some  have  been  considered  extravagance  in  study- 
ing the  conditions  of  foreign  trade,  by  bringing  our  salesmen 
into  personal  contact  with  the  merchants  and  riders  in  for- 
eign lands.  It  is  true,  that  many  trips  failed  to  pay  an  im- 
mediate return,  but  the  seed  thus  sown,  has  in  almost  all 
eases  proved  to  have  fallen  on  fruitful  soil,  so  that,  as  a 
result,  the  investment  made  has  been  a  profitable  one. 

No  general  records  of  foreign  trade  were  kept  until  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Statistics  took  up  the  matter  and 
separately  enumerated  cycles  and  parts  in  July,  189.5. 

Prior  to  that,  they  were  included  in  all  other  manufactures 
of  iron  and  .steel.  For  the  remaining  six  months  of  that  year 
the  total  business  was  $343,721.  For  the  calendar  year,  1896, 
this  business  amounted  to  over  three  and  a  half  millions;  for 
1897,  nearly  seven  millions;  for  1898  it  increased  about 
$100,000,  and  of  the  total  for  this  year,  the  United  Kingdom 
took  $852,000,  Germany  $1,724,000,  and  France  about  half 
a  million.  The  volume  of  busiiie«;s  for  1899  did  not  show 
the  increase  that  might  have  Ijeen  expected,  though  the  num- 
ber of  machines  was  much  larger.  This  was  the  result  of  a 
large  reduction  in  price  and  an  accompanying  demoraliza- 
tion of  the  trade. 

The  formation  of  the  American  Bicycle  Company  will,  we 
believe,  be  a  material  benefit  to  both  our  domestic  and  for- 
eign trade.  We  own  or  control  the  use  of  about  a  thousand 
patents,  and  we  have,  for  the  management  of  this  indu^tiy, 
the  combined  capital  and  ability  of  the  forty-four  leading 
concerns  which  united  to  form  it. 

For  various  reasons,  the  price  on  American  bicycles  has 
been  so  reduced  from  time  to  time  that  it  seems  now  to  have 
reached  the  lowest  point.  This  tendency  downward  in  the 
market  price  is,  of  course,  a  natural  tendency  in  most  trades, 
but  it  has  been  accelerated  in  the  bicysle  business  by  the 
too  eager  competition  of  some  capitalists  who  came  into  the 
trade  as  one  would  take  a  flyer  on  the  street. 

The  price  of  materisl  has  greatly  advanced  during  the 
past  year,  but  still,  with  the  saving  in  running  expenses  and 
otherwise,  which  our  combination  will  probably  effect  (if  not 
this  year,  at  least  in  following  years)  we  expect  to  be  able 
to  do  our  business  successfully  without  increasing  the  price  of 
bicycles. 

Of  course,  during  the  first  year  of  the  American  Bicycle 
Company's  career,  the  full  benefit  of  the  union  will  not  be 
available,  but  when  we  get  the  organization  so  perfected  in 
detail  that  to  our  various  plants  can  be  assigned  less  models, 
the  small  ones  making  proljably  only  one,  we  can  bring  out 
a  product  cheaper  and  better.  All  of  you  who  have  had 
any  experience  with  manufacturing  know  the  great  advan- 
tage in  amount  and  quality  of  product  which  can  be  secured 
by  keeping  a  set  of  men  working  constantly  on  one  part  of  a 
macliine.  It  lias  been  only  by  such  an  arrangement  as  this 
that  American  watches  have  been  made  in  such  perfection 
and  sold  at  so  low  a  price. 

The  combined  output  of  the  concerns  forming  the  Ameri- 
can Bicycle  Company  for  the  past  year  was  over  eight  hun- 
dred thousand  machines.  With  everj'thing  in  running  order, 
and  each  plant  running  in  conjunction  with  the  whole,  in- 
stead of  in  opposition  to  others,  our  product  can  be  increased 


materially  and  we  believe  marketed.  We  feel  sure,  therefore, 
that  we  can  meet  the  open  comi>etition  of  the  world,  so  that  it 
will  be  for  the  advantage  of  foreign  buyers  to  purchase 
American  bicycles. 

If  we  want  to  increase  our  export  trade,  not  only  in  bicy- 
cles, but  in  other  lines,  we  must  not  have  a  prohibitive 
tarift',  but  a  fair  one,  and  raw  materials  ought  to  come  in 
free,  or  at  the  lowest  possible  rate.  There  are  many  things 
made  in  foreign  countries  better  than  we  can  produce  them 
here.  Let  the  tariff  be  so  modified  that  we  can  have  a  fair 
exchange  of  our  manufactured  articles  for  those  made  to 
better  advantage  in  other  countries.  At  present,  the  tariff 
on  many  things  is  prohibitory,  and  is  way  beyond  what  is 
necessary  to  protect  our  manufactures.  The  industries  of 
our  country  have  grown  so  strong  that  most  of  them  do  not 
need  the  protection  under  which  they  have  developed. 

All  aggregations  of  capital,  if  rightly  handled,  tend  toward 
the  betterment  of  the  public.  This  is  a  doctrine  which  all 
of  us  have  not  yet  quite  comprehended,  but  the  experiences 
of  every  passing  year  emphasize  its  truth. 

It  seems  to  me,  that  we  are  fairly  entered  upon  a  wonderful 
period  of  political  and  financial  history.  Everything  indi- 
cates that  the  restdt  will  be  the  greatest  good  for  the  greatest 
number,  with  labor  and  capital  as  allies  and  justice  for  both. 

Other  things  being  equal,  the  nation  possessing  the  best 
facilities  for  the  transportation  and  distribution  of  its  product 
will  take  the  lead.  The  bicycle  has  been  instrumental  in 
bringing  before  the  public  the  vast  importance  of  better  high- 
ways, the  proper  development  of  which  will  be  of  inestimable 
vahie  both  to  our  domestic  and  foreign  trade. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  New  York  City  there  are  twelve 
thousand  trucks,  can-ying  on  an  average  a  load  of  a  ton  and 
a  half  for  three  miles  on  each  of  the  business  days  of  the 
year,  and  with  an  average  daily  cost  of  four  dollars  for  each 
truck.  This  means  sixty-five  million  tons  transported  one 
mile  in  every  year  for  fourteen  million  dollars,  or  about 
twenty-two  cents  per  ton  per  mile.  This  transportation  can  be 
done  by  rail  at  six-tenths  of  a  cent  per  mile. 

When  our  highways  have  been  so  constructed  that  the 
maximimi  load  can  be  hauled  at  the  minimum  price,  when 
motor  vehicles,  which  are  coming  surely  and  rapidly  into 
general  use,  have  supplanted  the  horse  and  done  away  with 
the  filth  and  disease  which  animals  bring  into  cities,  when 
the  lowest  freight  rates  and  greatest  freight  conveniences 
have  been  combined,  or,  in  short,  when  we  have  secured  a 
free  interchange  of  commodities  throughout  the  civilized 
world,  we  shall  then  liave  insured  "j)eace  and  good  will  among 
the  nations."    (Applause.) 

General  H.  H.  Bingham: 

Mr.  Herbert  Gibson,  Delegate  from  the  Argentine  Eepublic 
and  "Sociedad  Bural  Argentina,"  will  submit  his  paper  on 
"Decrease  in  the  World's  Wool  Production  and  the  Import- 
ance of  Argentina  as  a  Source  of  Supply." 

Decrease  ix  the  World's  Wool  Productiox  axd  the  Im- 

PORTAXCE  OF  ArGEXTINA  AS  A  SoURCE  OF  SuPPLT. 

Mr.  Herbert  Gihsnn  (Argentine  Eepublic): 

A  statement  made  last  year  before  the  British  Association 
sent  a  cry  of  consternation  through  the  whole  press  of  that 
coiuitry.  The  President,  Sir  William  Crooke,  said  that  by 
1930,  the  world's  demand  for  wheat  will  have  overtaken  the 
supply.  Coming  from  a  country  which  sends  abroad  to-day 
for  the  world's  consumption,  1,-500,000  tons  of  wheat,  after 
feeding  its  own  people,  and  which  has  nevertheless,  made  so 
small  a  call  upon  its  resources,  that  the  area  under  grain,  in 
relation  to  the  area  available  for  cultivating  that  cereal,  bears 


182 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


tlie  ?aine  proportidn  as  the  ground  space  covered  by  the 
Capitol  at  Wasliington,  to  the  majestic  Park  in  which  it 
tftands.  I  am  unwilling  to  believe  that  the  world's  production 
of  tlie  eoninion  necessities  of  life  is  in  any  appreciable  danger 
of  failing  to  reach  the  world's  requirements. 

Nevertheless,  we  are  facing  at  the  present  moment  a  shrink- 
af^o  in  the  supply  of  a  commodity  as  necessary  to  humanity 
as  brc4ul,  namely,  wool,  and  the  decrease  bears  in  its  aspect 
so  many  features  of  a  permanent  character,  that  a  few  con- 
.siderati'ons  of  the  circumstances  from  which  this  decrease  is 
derived  ai'c  worthy  of  the  attention  of  the  industiy  associated 
with  its  i)roduction. 

It  has  i)cen  the  experience,  both  of  the  leading  nations  of 
Kiirojte  and  of  this  country,  that  the  sid>division  of  land  and 
the  advance  of  agriculture  tend  to  displace  the  sheep  as  a 
lirofitable  branch  of  the  farming  industiy.  If  the  small 
farmer  finds  that  Ids  agricultural  produce  can  be  best  turned 
to  account  by  feeding  it  to  live  stock,  he  selects  cattle  and 
swine  as  the  medium  for  converting  the  fruits  of  his  field 
into  meat.  The  sheep  divested  of  its  fleece  does  not  repay 
in  meat  alone  for  its  food  as  generously  as  the  ox  or  the  hog. 
In  the  course  of  a  sheep's  life,  it  will  give  its  owner  in  wool 
two-thirds  of  the  value  of  its  carcass,  but  the  farmers  busi- 
ness is  not  to  gather  the  golden  eggs,  ]>ut  to  sell  the  goose. 
When  the  market  price  for  agricultural  produce  is  low,  and 
the  live  stock  of  the  farmer  increa.ses  in  consequence,  that 
increase  is  found  in  cattle  and  swine  and  not  in  sheep. 

To  farmers  who  are  buyers  of  store  stock,  cattle  are  more 
profitable  than  sheep  as  meat  producers.  A  prime  steer 
represents  eight  times  as  much  food  stuifs  as  a  prime  wether, 
and  gives  ten  times  as  much  meat.  The  bullock  is  a  less 
dainty  feeder  than  the  sheep,  he  will  ccmsume  a  greater 
variety  of  foods. 

Where  the  small  farmer  is  also  a  stock  breeder,  the  dairy 
produce  of  the  cow  is  regarded  as  a  better  source  of  revenue 
than  the  fleece  of  the  sheep.  Where  land  is  handed  over  to 
small  retail  business,  the  shepherd  must  break  his  pipes  and 
liang  up  his  crook,  the  sheep-fold  is  replaced  by  the  cow- 
Ityre  with  its  accessories,  the  dairy,  the  piggery  and  the  poul- 
try yard. 

Belgium  may  be  taken  as  a  country  typical  of  small  farms, 
whore  the  sub-division  of  land  and  the  relation  of  the  agri- 
cultural ])opulation  to  the  area  has  reached  a  very  high  point. 
In  Belgium,  for  every  sheep  on  the  farm,  there  are  six  head  of 
cattle,  five  head  of  swine  and  one  goat. 

If  we  take  the  three  countries  which  lead  tiic  world  to-day 
in  every  branch  of  agriculture  and  commerce,  namely.  Great 
Britain,  fiermany  and  the  United  States,  we  find  that  during 
the  past  quarter  of  a  century,  they  have  been  the  scene  of  a 
most  notable  decrease  in  their  sheep  stock.  Since  18T4,  the 
proportion  of  slieep  in  Great  P.ritain  to  every  thousand  in- 
iiabitants  has  dro])])ed  from  1130  to  750,  a  decrease  of  33  per 
cent.  During  a  similar  period,  the  ]iro]>ortion  of  sheep  in 
Germany  to  every  thousand  inhabitants  has  decreased  from 
580  to  200,  a  decrease  of  05  ])er  cent.  During  a  sindlar  period, 
the  firojHirtion  of  sheep  m  the  United  States  to  even'  thou- 
sand inhabitants  lias  decreased  from  795  to  500,  a  decrease  of 
37  per  cent. 

In  the  last  twenty-five  years,  tlic  sheep  stock  of  Germany 
has  decreased  from  twenty-five  millions  to  ten  and  one-half 
millions.  During  that  period,  cattle  have  increased  from  fif- 
teen and  three-fourth  millions  to  eighteen  and  one-half  mil- 
lions: pigs  have  increased  from  seven  millions  to  fourteen 
millions:  population  has  increased  from  forty-two  and  one-half 
millions  to  fifty-fotir  and  one-half  millions. 

Taking  the  whole  continent  of  Europe,  it  is  impossible  to 
find  one  single  country  where  the  sheep  stock  has  increa.sed 
projMirtionafely  with  the  population.  In  most  of  them,  the 
decrease  is  as  remarkable  as  in  fbe  cinintries  alreadv  men- 


tioned. In  Austria-Hungary,  for  instance,  the  number  of 
shee])  has  dropi>ed,  in  the  last  third  of  a  century  from  20,000,- 
(100  to  11,000,000. 

In  the  United  States,  where  the  relation  of  population  to 
area  is  one  to  thirty  acres,  the  decrease  in  sheep  stock  is  still 
more  remarkable,  because  its  exjdanation  is  much  less  a])- 
pareut  than  in  E^irope.  The  sheep  breeder  is  covered  by  a 
jirotective  tariff,  which  adds  sixty  per  cent,  to  the  value  of 
the  fleece.  He  lives  in  a  country  where  the  demand  for  wool 
is  in  excess  of  the  supply.  His  competitor,  the  cattle  raiser, 
receives  no  similar  bounty  at  the  hands  of  his  coimtry.  Beef 
and  corn  ovei-flow  the  local  demand  and  seek  a  foreign 
country.  Nevertheless,  the  Treasury  Statistical  Bureau  and 
the  National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers  tear  witness 
that  in  the  last  fifteen  vears  this  countr}''s  sheep  stock  has 
dimiidshed  from  50,000,000  to  37,500,000,  and  the  country's 
wool  production  from  300,000,000  pounds  to  21)6,000,000 
pounds.  I  confess  that  the  decrease  in  sheep  stock  in  this 
country  is  to  me  unintelligible.  It  would  be  presumptuous  to 
suggest  that  the  North  American  flock  master  is  blind  to  his 
own  advantage.  I  mu.st  content  myself  with  the  bare  state- 
ment of  fac-ts. 

Throiighout  the  whole  world,  we  have  to-day  only  three 
geographical  districts  where  the  production  of  the  textile 
wool  is  in  excess  of  local  requirements.  These  three  divisions 
are,  Australasia,  South  Africa,  and  the  River  Plate  Re- 
publics of  Argentina  and  Uruguay.  There  are,  indeed, 
countries  from  which  the  raw  material  is  exported,  but  only 
to  be  returned  from  the  manufacturing  nations  in  the  shape 
of  finished  goods.  Fi'om  the  East,  there  comes  to  Europe  a 
large  parcel  of  wools  and  mohairs,  but  from  Europe,  there 
returns  to  the  East  a  still  larger  parcel  of  textile  goods. 
There  are  left  to  us  but  three  regions,  all  in  the  Southern 
Hemisphere,  from  whence  to  fill  up  that  constantly  increasing 
deficit  in  our  woolen  supplies. 

When  we  turn  to  these  three  producing  regions  we  are 
(•on  fronted  with  figures  far  from  reassuring.  During  the 
past  decade,  in  every  portion  of  Australasia,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  New  Zealand,  there  is  a  decrease  in  the  number 
of  sheep  stock.  In  New  South  Wales,  the  shrinkage  is  appal- 
ing.  In  the  younger  colony  of  South  Australia,  where  an  in- 
crease might  with  reason  be  expected,  we  find  the  number  ha.s 
creiit  below  5,000.000,  from  7,000,000  depastured  there  in 
1890.  Tasmania,  Victoria,  West  Australia,  have  all  suffered 
more  or  less  a  depletion  in  their  sheep  stock.  The  continent 
of  Australia  is  carrying  to-dav  30,000,000  less  sheep  than  it 
did  in  1890. 

It  is  a  matter  of  satisfactidu,  here  at  least,  to  be  able  to  at- 
tribute the  cause  to  temporary  circumstances,  and  to  enter- 
tain with  sincerity  the  hope  and  the  belief  that  Australia  will 
get  back  to  her  old  figures  and  probably  surpass  them.  Since 
1894  Australia,  particularly  New  South  Wales,  has  been  the 
scene  of  continued  droughts  and  adverse  seasons.  The  valu- 
able merino  stock  of  that  country  has  been  the  chief  sufferer, 
more  than  one  year's  land)ings  have  been  partially  lost, — in 
parts  wholly  lost.  S^ich  a  period  of  misfortune  cannot  last 
forever,  and  even  their  competitors  must  join  in  ho]iing  that 
the  Australian  sheep  breeders  are  going  to  nuiud  the  corner 
and  build  up  again  their  depleted  sheep  stock. 

In  New  Zealand,  the  nuudier  of  sheep  has  remained  sta- 
tionary for  the  last  five  years.  Since  1886.  it  has  increased 
eighteen  ]ier  cent.  Dui'ing  the  same  period,  cattle  have  in- 
creased fifty-three  per  cent.  Ihiiing  the  .same  period,  the 
pojiulation  has  increased  tliiiiy  prr  cent.  New  Zealand  is  be- 
coming the  home  of  the  small  farmer,  and  the  small  farmer 
will  follow  bis  Eurojiean  Cfuitemporary:  he  will  increase  the 
output  of  agricultural  produce,  of  dairy  |)riMluce  and  o(  beef; 
he  will  crowd  out  the  shepherd. 

Sonlli   .\frica  presents  a  more  discouraging  picture  to  the 


OTNTH  DAY*S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


183 


wool  consiiuier  than  Aus^tralia.  Adverse  seasons  cannot  be 
alleged  in  this  case  to  exphiin  away  the  decrea.se  in  sheep 
stock,  which  has  dropped  over  3,000,000  in  nine  years,  from 
18,000,000  in  1890,  to  less  than  15,000,000  in  1898. 

In  Argentina  and  Urngiiav,  there  is  to  be  found  the  sole 
exception  to  this  general  decrease  in  sheep  throughout  the 
world.  Tiie  two  coimtries  combined  carry  to-day  more  than 
20,000,000  sheep  in  excess  of  what  they  carried  in  1890. 
There  is  no  indication  of  a  break  in  the  upward  march  of 
their  flocks.  The  sheep  stock  of  Argentina  at  the  pre.=ent 
time  is  approximately  85,000,000,  and  of  Uruguay  17,000,000. 

It  would  be  misleading  to  tenninate  this  exposition  of  the 
falling  off  in  the  world's  sheep  stock,  without  reference  to  the 
result  obtained  from  that  stock  by  better  husbandry.  With 
more  intelligent  methods  of  sheep  breeding,  the  sheep  capital 
of  the  world  gives  a  greater  per  centum  of  mutton  and  of  wool, 
than  it  did  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  This  is  evident  more 
especially  in  the  younger  countries,  evident  perhaps,  most  of 
all,  in  Argentina.  From  every  thousand  head  of  sheep,  there 
are  more  lambs  successfully  reared  than  there  were  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  From  every  thousand  head  of  sheep,  there  is 
more  wool  and  better  wool  gathered  than  there  was  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  An  unfavorable  season,  a  year  of  drought,  or 
of  excessive  rain  may  occasion  an  exceptional  drop  in  these 
results,  but  talcing  averages,  the  returns  are  better.  What- 
ever allowance  is  made  for  this  improvement  in  proportionate 
returns,  it  is,  however,  outweighed  by  the  decrease  in  the 
capital.  We  cannot  ignore  the  evidence  of  the  facts  pre- 
sented by  the  returns  from  every  continent  and  countrj'. 
The  long  record  of  progress  in  the  world's  wool  parcel,  dating 
from  the  days  of  McArthur  and  his  brother  pioneers,  was 
broken  three  years  ago.  The  maximimi  point,  at  any  rate, 
for  some  years  to  come,  has  been  reached.  The  volume  of  the 
wool  of  the  world  is  shrinking. 

A  feature  as  striking  as  that  already  alluded  to,  perhaps 
even  more  striking,  is  the  change  in  quantities  of  wool  fibre, 
of  carding  and  combing  sorts,  in  the  wool  parcel  of  to-day  as 
compared  with  fifteen  j-ears  ago. 

Dating  back  to  the  second  half  of  the  year  1895,  there 
has  been  a  steady  continuous  drop  in  tlie  values  of  medium 
cross  and  long  locked  lustre  wools,  and  a  correspondingly 
steady  rise  in  the  values  of  merino  and  fine  cross  wools,  in 
January,  189G,  the  price  on  the  London  Colonial  market  for 
merino  wool  was  thirty  per  cent,  higher  than  the  price  for  the 
same  article  in  the  same  month  of  1895.  From  that  date  up 
to  the  present  year,  this  rise  has  continued  and  we  have  re- 
cently seen  Australian  merino  wool  sold  at  twenty-three  pence 
per  pound.  During  same  period,  the  value  of  medium  crosses 
and  long  wools  has  depreciated,  their  price  to-day  being  from 
forty  to  forty-five  per  cent,  lower  than  their  value  in  1895. 
The  explanation  of  this  notable  variation  in  the  value  of  the 
different  classes  of  wool  fibre  has  been  attached  to  a  change 
in  fashion,  which  has  demanded  an  augmental  supply  of 
merino  and  fine  wools  and  diminished  pr(jportionally  the  use- 
fulness of  the  coarse  sorts.  A  little  comparative  study  of  the 
breeds  of  sheep  composing  the  world's  flocks  of  to-day,  and  of 
ten  years  ago,  would  demonstrate  that  the  demand  of  the 
wool  markets  obej's  a  more  stable  law  than  that  of  capricious 
fashions. 

In  old  countries,  where  husbandry  follows  the  traditions 
of  many  past  generations  and  centuries,  we  are  not  likely  to 
find  within  the  narrow  limits  of  a  decade  any  remarkable 
change  in  the  type  of  fleece  produced  by  these  countries' 
flocks.  Each  breed  has  its  recognized  district,  the  topograph- 
ical and  climatic  conditions  of  which  have  in  process  of  time 
tanght  the  husbandman  the  type  of  sheep  best  suited  to  his 
region.  The  tendency  here  is  not  to  change  the  breed,  but 
toward  a  perfection  of  the  recognized  type  of  that  breed.  The 
proportion  of  merino,  fine    cross,  medium   cross  and  long- 


locked  wools  produced  on  the  Continent  and  in  Great  Britain 
has  suffered  litle  change  in  the  past  ten  years,  and  what 
change  tliere  has  been,  is  due  to  the  decrease  in  .sheep  in  such 
countries  as  Germany. 

The  Australasia  and  River  Plate  sheep  breeding  countries 
supply  rather  more  than  40  per  cent,  of  the  whole  world's 
wool  parcel.  A  change  in  the  types  of  wool  produced  by 
these  countries  would  speedily  be  felt  in  he  world's  woolen 
trade.  Within  the  past  ten  years  this  change  has  taken 
place,  and  may  be  briefly  .sttmmarized  under  three  headings: 
(1)  An  increase  of  100,000  tons  of  medium  cross  and  long- 
locked  wools,  caused  by  the  conversion,  chiefly  in  Argentina, 
of  fifty  million  sheep  from  the  merino  type  to  the  strong- 
wooled  mutton  type;  (2)  a  decrease  of  100,000  tons  of  me- 
rino wool  from  the  same  cause;  (3)  a  further  decrease  of 
70,000  tons  of  merino  wool  arising  from  the  series  of  drought 
and  bad  seasons  in  Australia  dating  back  to  1894,  through 
which  to-day,  the  merino  sheep  stock  of  that  country  has 
been  reduced  by  thirty  million  head.  The  climax  in  this 
change  of  proportion  has  not  yet  been  reached.  It  will  ar- 
rive, at  the  earliest,  in  1900,  when  the  world's  wool  supply  of 
merino  and  fine  wool  will  be  170,000  tons  less  than  it  was 
in  1889,  and  the  supply  of  medium  crosses  and  long  wools 
Avill  be  100,000  tons  more  than  it  was  in  that  year.  The  de- 
crease in  merino  is  derived  not  only  from  conversion,  but 
from  mortality  in  the  Australian  merino  sheep  stock.  In 
this  is  the  explanation  why  the  rise  in  merino  wool  is  greater, 
proportionally,  than  the  fall  in  the  combing  sorts.  Arising 
from  the  foregoing  comes  a  question.  Will  the  new  propor- 
tions of  wool  classes  remain  permanent,  or  will  there  ensue 
a  process  of  reversion?  The  answer  covers  an  element  of 
speculation,  but  it  is,  that  the  supply  of  ipedium  cross  and 
long  wools  will  not  decrease,  though  the  supply  of  merino 
and  fine  cross  will  get  back  to  its  old  figures.  Australia 
will  build  up  her  sheep  stock  again,  and  she  will  go  solid 
for  merino.  The  mutton  breeders  of  Australasia  (chiefly 
New  Zealand),  will  continue  to  breed  for  mutton,  despite  the 
low  price  of  the  medium  cross  and  long  wool.  In  Argentina 
and  Uruguay,  some  of  the  breeders  will  revert  to  merino 
again.  In  the  former  country  there  is  still  a  vast  depastur- 
ing hinterland  imstocked,  and  it  is  a  merino  zone.  In  most 
of  the  country  where  the  merino  has  been  changed  into  the 
mutton  sheep,  the  latter,  with  its  medium  cross  fleece,  will 
continue  to  prevail. 

The  conversion  of  fifty  million  merino  sheep  into  mutton 
cross-bred  types  approaching  the  Down  and  long-wooled 
white-faced  lareeds,  took  place  chiefly  in  Argentina.  It  was 
in  response  to  the  mutton  trade  which  began  with  the  export 
of  frozen  mutton  in  1883,  and  was  strengthened  by  the  export 
trade  in  live  stock  commencing  in  the  early  nineties.  The 
breeder  scored  in  every  direction;  he  got  a  better  price  for 
his  carcass;  the  cross  wool  in  the  first  and  second  generation 
was  still  a  "fine"  cross,  it  brought  even  a  better  price  per 
pound  and  the  fleece  wa.s  a  heavier  one;  the  introduction 
of  the  hardier  constitution  of  the  English  types  of  sheep 
gave  him  a  larger  increa.se.  This  felicitous  state  of  things 
could  not  last  forever.  With  each  successive  generation  the 
fleece  departed  more  from  the  merino  type  and  became  more 
approximated  to  the  open  lock  of  the  long  wool.  In  their 
enthusiastic  pursuit  of  the  Lincoln  breed,  some  have  alto- 
gether overshot  their  market,  and  not  only  find  the  dullest 
of  trade  for  their  strong  fleeces,  birt  they  are  beginning  to  hear 
complaints  from  the  freezer  and  the  live  stock  exporter,  that 
their  sheep  are  too  coarse.  They  have  a  propitious  climate, 
however,  and  within  the  limits  of  the  mutton-growing  sheep 
they  can  produce  a  fleece  of  good  elasticity,  softness  and 
lustre.  The  older  portion  of  Argentina's  sheep-breeding 
country  is  not  favorable  to  the  merino;  the  climate  is  moist, 
the  rainfall  a  heavy  one,  and  these  are  conditions  adverse  to 


184 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  goldeii-flet'cecl  sheep  of  Spain.  In  exchange,  it  is  a 
eoiLutry  well  a(]aj)ted  i'or  fattening  stock,  and  its  proximity 
to  the  sea  coast  and  market  centres  turns  the  scale  in  favor 
of  mutton. 

A  change  in  .sheep  .-;tock,  cither  l)y  conversion  of  jjreed,  lU' 
by  decrease  or  increase,  is  not  felt  on  the  wool  market  at 
once.  'J'hc  lamb  wliich  died  in  1894,  is  only  missed  by  the 
maniifactui-cr  in  lS!)(i.  The  cause  is  forgotten  before  the 
effect  is  Celt.  Hence  it  ha,s  been  said  "merinos  are  in  fash- 
ion," when  iji  truth  it  should  be  said  "merinos  are  scarce  and 
in  demand."  I'or  some  years  after  the  general  crossing  of 
merinos  with  luigli.sh  breeds  had  commenced  in  Argentina 
the  aspect  [n'cscnted  by  the  Buenos  Ayres  markets  remained 
unchanged;  merino  was  the  distinguishing  feature.  Tlu'ii, 
from  one  year  to  another,  the  intermediate  stage  was  passed, 
rneriiu>  wool  seemed  to  have  suddenly  disappeared,  lost  amidst 
the  piles  of  white  long-locked  fleeces. 

From  tfie  foregoing  evidence  of  a  general  decrease  in  the 
wool  su)iply  to  the  manufacturing  countries  of  the  world,  as 
well  as  the  displacement  of  merino  and  approximately  me- 
rino carding  wools  by  the  combing  sorts,  it  is  apparent  that 
-Vrgcntina  has  become,  at  any  rate,  for  the  present,  tlie  most 
important  source  of  supply. 

The  total  wool  parcel  from  that  country  has  now  reached 
800,000  tons.  Of  this,  90  per  cent,  goes  to  the  French,  Ger- 
man and  Belgian  manufacturers,  France  taking  42  per  cent, 
of  the  total  parcel.  The  remaining  10  per  cent,  is  divided 
between  the  markets  of  Great  Britain,  the  United  States  and 
Italy.  Taking  both  the  home  production  and  the  foreign 
supply  handled  by  the  wool  manufacturers  of  the  Continent, 
of  (Jreat  Britain  and  of  the  United  States,  we  find  that  Ar- 
gentina conti-ibuted  3\  per  cent,  to  the  trade  of  Great  Bri- 
tain, 4  per  cent,  to  the  trade  of  the  United  States,  and  43  per 
cent,  to  the  combined  trade  of  France,  Germany  and  Belgium. 

Most  of  the  wool  of  Argentina  is  sold  direct  on  the  Buenos 
Ayres  markets  to  buyers  who  represent  the  Continental  manu- 
facturers. Seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  total  clip  is  shi|ipe(l 
to-day  straight  from  the  River  Plate  markets  to  the  Euro- 
pean industrial  centres.  Intermediary  niarkeis,  such  as  Ant- 
werp, now  receive  a  greatly  dimini.shed  parcel.  Jn  188(i, 
alK)ut  5.")  ])er  cent,  of  the  Argentine  wool  crop  was  shipped 
to  .Antwerp,  anil  in  18!)(i.  the  export  to  that  centre  did  not 
<[uite  reach  25  per  cent. 

Fifty  years  ago,  when  slice])  in  that  country  were  neglected 
by  the  majority  of  stockmen,  and  little  care  was  taken  to 
improve  tlieir  (|uality  and  free  the  pastures  of  burr-bearing 
weeds,  the  English  manufacturer  rejected  Argentine  wools 
as  unsuitable  for  his  trade.  That  period  of  neglect  has  long 
since  faded  into  the  shades  of  history,  but  it  would  appear 
to  live  as  green  in  the  memory  of  the  British  manufacturer 
to-day,  as  it  did  then.  The  parcel  of  wool  which  finds  its 
way  from  Argentina  to  the  English  textile  industry,  is  nearly 
as  insignificant,  as  that  exported  ri-nni  the  same  source  to 
the  Ignited  States. 

For  a  number  of  years,  the  Argentine  Repulilic  has  been 
the  largest  buyer  of  fine  and  pedigree  sheep  in  the  world. 
During  the  piist  five  years,  she  has  taken  80  ])er  cent,  of  the 
value  of  the  total  .sheep  exported  by  Great  Britain  for  abroad. 
Out  of  42,909  sheep,  valued  at  £468,813,  which  was  the 
British  export  from  1894  to  1898,  Argentina  alone  alisorl)c(l 
2(1,(540,  valued  at  £372,805.  For  the  ])a.st  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury, the  Argentine  breeder  has  been  the  l)est  knowti  and 
most  freipient  buyer  of  merinos  from  Gernumy  and 
France.  The  Fnited  States  of  America  has  contributed 
\'ermont  merinos  to  the  Argentine  floek.s,  and  New  Zealand 
lias  supplied  liincolns  from  its  best  .studs  to  the  same  mar- 
ket. It  would  be  strange  if  .Argentine  breeders,  situated 
in  the  best  sheep  country  of  the  world,  had  nothing  to  show 
in  exchange  for  .so  much  enterprise  and  outlay.     'I'he  present 


high  standard  which  Argentine  flocks  have  attained  is  little 
known  except  by  those  who  have  visited  the  River  Plate 
within  recent  years,  possibly  it  is  least  known  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  which  is  the  sole  buyer  of  the  hairy  stuff 
grown  by  that  remnant  of  the  old  Creole  breed  in  the  upper 
jirovince.s,  where  it  is  fast  disappearing  before  the  advance 
of  intelligent  husbandry.  Manufacturers  here  may  perhaps 
have  judged  Argentina's  wool  parcel  by  this  little  consign- 
ment of  Creole  wool,  but  they  will  find  no  more  than  the 
sample  they  already  take. 

The  English  representative  breeders  who  visited  the  In- 
ternational Stock  Show,  held  near  Buenos  Ayres  last  year, 
exjiressed  amazement  at  the  magnificent  collection  of  locally 
bred  sheep  presented  for  their  inspection.  The  English 
Board  of  Agriculture,  in  its  report  for  18!)8,  alludes  to  "the 
nuirked  improvement  in  the  quality  of  sheep"  sent  from  that 
source.  In  the  earliest  days  of  the  industry,  it  was  remarked 
that  the  offspring  born  in  the  country  of  merinos,  imported 
from  Germany  to  Argentina,  was  superior  in  type  and  fleece 
to  the  progenitors.  Argentina's  climate  and  soil  are  par- 
ticularly favorable  for  sheep  breeding,  and  the  wool  acquires 
a  softness  and  lustre  not  readily  found  in  Europe.  To  these 
natural  conditions,  has  now  been  added  a  competent  knowl- 
edge and  care  on  the  part  of  the  Ijreeder,  and  the  extension 
of  the  railway  system  has  been  followed  by  the  formation 
of  agricultural  societies,  shows  and  fairs  in  every  district, 
bringing  with  them  the  familiarity  of  the  points  of  each 
typical  V)reed  to  the  eye  of  the  flock-master,  and  providing 
him  with  the  market  at  his  door,  in  which  he  can  buy  the 
sires  he  needs  to  improve  and  renew  the  blood  of  his  flocks. 
Argentina  now  offers  to  the  world's  manufacturers  her  store 
of  wools,  merinos  and  medium  crosses  and  long  lustres,  all 
healthily  and  carefully  grown,  of  fair,  unifonn,  quality,  and 
claiming  to  as  high  a  standard  as  those  from  any  other  quar- 
ter of  the  globe.  She  will  be  the  most  ready  to  respond 
to  the  cry  for  more  merino.  During  the  past  autumn,  the 
large  sale  of  merino  types  in  all  the  fairs  was  remarkable. 
In  July,  a  selection  of  merino  sheep  from  Germany  brought 
an  average  price  of  $510  in  Buenos  Ayres.  These  are  signs 
that  tlie  x\rgentine  breeder  has  noted  the  scarcity  of  merino 
wool  and  is  going  to  meet  it. 

With  an  annual  increase  in  the  volume  of  her  wool  parcel 
the  Argentine  Republic  has  looked  to  the  development  of  the 
wool  manufacturing  industry  of  North  America  as  a  promis- 
ing factor  in  the  operations  on  her  markets  of  fhis  textile. 
Her  relations  with  the  Continental  industry  are  well  estab- 
lished, she  does  not  desire  to  see  her  trade  in  that  direction 
diminish,  and  she  is  not  apprehensive  of  it  doing  so.  The 
producing  country,  however,  is  a  young  and  fertile  one,  it 
must  seek  new  channels  of  exit  for  its  constantly  increasing 
output  of  raw  produce.  The  present  appears  to  be  a  most 
opportune  occasion  for  inviting  the  manufacturers  of  North 
America  to  extend  their  operations  on  the  Buenos  Ayres  wool 
markets. 

Taking  the  past  ten  years  of  the  woolen  trade  of  the  United 
States,  up  to  .'iOtb  of  .Tune,  1898,  there  has  been  a  large  in- 
crease in  the  quantity  of  raw  wool  manufactured  in  the  coun- 
try, and  this  increase  has  been  met,  not  by  the  home  grower, 
but  by  the  foreign  producer.  The  abrogation  of  the  duty 
on  r.\\\  wiHt]  in  lS!i."i  was  discounted  in  tlie  pri'vicuis  year, 
which  shows  a  drop  in  ipiantifies  all  along  the  line  of  the 
trade.  A  similar,  though  not  so  heavy  a.  droj),  is  I'vinced 
in  1898.  caused  by  the  introduction  of  the  Uingley  tariff, 
(irouping  the  last  decade  into  series  of  two  consecutive  years 
each,  we  get  a  clearer  view  of  the  npwai'd  niai'di  of  the 
woolen  industry.  The  increase  in  the  consumption  of  raw- 
wool  is  51,833  ton.s,  or  say  30  per  cent.  The  proportion  of 
foreign  wool  to  home  grown  rises  from  39  per  cent,  to  -15 
pel'  cent.     The  ])ro])ortion  of  imported  raw  wool  to  thi'  total 


Ninth  day's  session,  October  23, 1899 


185 


net  import  of  wool  and  woolens  has  risen  from  33  per  cent, 
to  53  per  cent.  Finally,  the  export  of  woolen  goods  from 
the  United  States  has  well-nigh  trebled.  The  woolen  indus- 
try of  tlie  country  is  ex]ianding.  and  it  must  be  fed  from 
foreign  sources.  These  are  the  deductions  which  encourage 
the  Argentine  producer  to  regard  the  United  States  as  his  new 
client  in  the  future,  and  if  he  needed  further  conviction  of 
the  development  in  the  manufacturing  industries  in  the  great 
northern  republic,  he  would  derive  it  from  the  expansion  in 
that  country  of  the  coal,  iron  and  steel  trades. 

The  amount  of  wool  imported  by  the  United  States  in  the 
year  ending  30th  of  June,  1898,  was  59,230  tons;  to  this 
parcel  Argentina's  contribution  was  G,138  tons,  or  10.3  per 
cent.,  the  proportion  being  1,882  tons  clothing  wool  (9.3 
per  cent,  of  tlie  total)  and  4,256  tons  combing  wool  Class  III 
(11.3  per  cent,  of  the  total).  This  parcel  represents  roughly 
the  two  extremes  of  Argentina's  wool  crop,  viz.,  a  portion  of 
her  finest  merino  and  all  of  her  hairy  carpet  wool  from  the 
Cordobese  Creole  sheep. 

In  the  section  of  clothing  wools  of  finer  fiber,  there  is  room 
for  augmenting  the  international  trade.  The  quantity  of  this 
class  exported  to  the  United  States  is  a  very  small  portion 
of  what  the  country  produces.  In  addition  to  the  foregoing, 
the  market  prices  ruling  at  present  for  medium  cross  and 
long  lustre  wools  are  well  worthy  the  attention  of  the  North 
American  manufacturers.  They  form  the  bulk  of  Argen- 
tina's wool  crop,  and  the  grades  she  produces  are  notable 
for  their  softness  and  elasticity.  It  has  generally  been  the 
experience  of  the  manufacturing  world,  that  when  some  ar- 
ticle of  raw  produce  has  outstripped  its  market  and  dropped 
to  a  low  level  of  price,  a  new  process  of  application  has 
been  found  for  it,  which  again  encourages  its  production. 
The  causes  already  alluded  to  which  have  influenced  the 
fall  in  the  price  for  strong  wool  fibre  and  the  rise  in  that  of 
fine  merino  wools  give  the  manufacturers  an  opportunity  of 
acquiring  the  former  at  a  figure  whicli,  in  the  eyes  of  the 
producer,  is  disproportionate  to  tlie  care  and  outlay  he  has 
expended  in  growing  it.  In  connection,  therefore,  with  the 
hoped-for  and  opportune  advent  of  the  United  States  as  a 
regular  buyer  in  the  Argentine  wool  markets,  the  present 
condition  and  selling  value  of  medium  cross  and  long  lustre 
wools  is  one  deserving  of  particular  attention. 

In  order  to  create  a  regular  supply  of  Argentine  raw  wool 
for  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States,  tliere  are  three 
things  of  capital  importance.  First,  the  presence  of  agents 
or  representatives  of  the  manufacturers  on  the  wool  markets 
of  Buenos  Ayres;  second,  the  estal)lishment  of  direct  steam 
communication  between  tlie  two  countries;  third,  direct  bank- 
ing relations. 

Gen.  H.  H.  Bingham: 

Is  Mr.  E.  Brinkworth  in  tlie  room?  If  not,  Mr.  M.  Ber- 
liner, Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Cape  Town, 
South  Africa? 

Mr.  M.  Berliner: 

_  Mr.  Director  and  Gentlemen:  I  am  sorrj-  that  the  gentle- 
man whose  name  was  called  before  mine  is  not  present  to 
address  you,  because  he,  as  I  understand,  comes  direct  from 
South  Africa,  is  a  resident  and  business  man  in  South  Africa, 
while  I,  although  representing  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Cape  Town  by  their  request,  am  an  American  citizen,  and  a 
very  old  American  citizen,  having  lived  in  this  country  for 
about  fifty-one  years.  I  am.  however,  quite  as  much  person- 
ally interested  in  South  African  affairs,  probably  as  he  whose 
absence  I  regret, because, aside  fronnnore  than  forty  years'  cor- 
respondence mth  South  Africa  in  business  and  other  matters, 
I  have  had  the  honor,  for  almost  twenty-five  years,  of  being 


the  agent,  and  still  have  the  honor  of  being  the  commercial 
agent  of  the  Cape  Government.  Thus,  as  I  said,  I  have  a 
direct  personal  interest.  However,  I  do  not  possess  the  quali- 
fications which  some  of  the  gentlemen  do,  who  so  eloquently 
have  addressed  you,  not  only  to-day,  but  during  tlie  whole 
of  the  session,  to  present  commercial  problems  to  you  in  the 
instructive  and  interesting  manner  which  they  have  done. 
I  shall,  therefore,  confine  myself  mainly  to  presenting  to 
you  a  few  statistics  in  relation  to  Cape  Colony,  in  which  I 
trust  I  may  interest  you. 

South  Africa,  as  it  is  probably  known  to  you  now,  at  this 
day,  having  been  spoken  of  so  much,  is  uufortmiately  in  a 
condition  which  is  a  source  of  great  grief  to  all  who  are 
interested  in  that  country.  It  is  unfortunate  that  the  war 
has  broken  out,  a  war  which  will  undoubtedly  leave  a  great 
deal  of  sadness,  a  great  deal  of  mourning  and  a  great  deal 
of  suffering  when  it  is  ended,  and  I  am  afraid  it  is  a  war, 
the  effects  of  which  will  not  be  eradicated  during  the  ex- 
istence of  the  present  generation. 

AYe  know  the  conservative  character  of  the  Boers — the 
Dutch  population  of  South  Africa — and  can  readily  under- 
stand that  they  will  leave  to  their  children  and  children's 
children  a  legacy  which  will  not  be  productive,  I  am  afraid, 
of  the  very  best  feeling  toward  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of 
South  Africa  who  are  not  of  their  extraction. 

The  British  possessions  of  South  Africa,  according  to  the 
census  of  1890,  comprised  a  population  of  a  little  over  one 
and  a  half  million  persons,  about  equally  divided  between 
male  and  female;  of  these,  and  perhaps  it  may  be  a  surprise 
to  many,  there  were  less  than  four  hundred  thousand  whites 
or  Europeans.  Of  course,  the  population  has  since  increased 
beyond  the  figure  I  have  given  to  you,  but  the  proportion 
between  the  natives  and  whites  has  not  increased,  or  rather, 
has  not  increased  in  favor  of  the  whites.  So  it  is  a  question, 
and  a  serious  question,  as  I  have  understood  all  along,  both 
from  correspondence  and  reading — it  is  a  serious  problem  of 
the  future.  The  correct  returns  of  the  whole  of  South  Africa 
I  have  not  yet  at  hand.  I  would  say  that,  by  reason  of  the 
discovery  of  gold,  the  trade  has  considerably  increased.  The 
value  of  the  imports  in  1879 — and  I  will  here  remark,  the 
gentleman  representing  the  British  Government  mentioned 
to  you  what  the  declared  values  in  the  statistical  returns  of 
the  British  possessions  are — they  are  the  values  which  are 
given  by  merchants  who  import,  and  export;  and  these  are 
the  figures  which  I  take  from  the  statistical  register  of  the 
Cape  Government,  as  it  is  presented  annually  for  the  sessions 
of  the  Cape  Parliament.  I  will  repeat,  therefore,  that  in 
1879,  the  declared  value  of  the  imports  amounted  to  a 
little  over  seven  million,  one  hundred  thousand  pounds, 
and  in  1889  about  eight  and  a  half  million  pounds  sterling, 
but  in  the  fiscal  year  of  1898  they  had  gone  to  sixteen  and 
three-quarter  million  pounds  sterling.  It  may  be  interesting 
to  my  American  friends  to  know  that  a  comparatively  small 
sum,  two  million  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  sterling,  were 
the  imports  from  the  United  States.  The  exports  of  the 
Cape  Colony  grew  also  in  large  proportions.  In  1879,  they 
were  somewhat  less  than  six  and  a  half  million,  they  became 
nine  and  a  quarter  million  in  1889,  and  twenty-four  and  a 
half  million  1898.  Of  course,  a  very  large  amount,  the  pre- 
ponderating amount,  consists  of  diamonds  and  gold.  The 
gold,  which  came  from  the  Transvaal,  passed  through  the 
South  African  ports  in  its  transmission  to  Great  Britain. 
All  the  exports,  however,  were,  aside  from  the  diamonds, 
favorable  to  Cape  Colony. 

I  suppose  you  are  aware  that,  outside  of  the  diamonds 
and  gold,  Cape  Colony  exports  wool,  ostrich  feathers,  hides 
and  skins  and  various  other  products  of  similar  value.  The 
largest  item  of  export — ^the  largest  in  value — is  wool.  It  has 
been  mentioned  by  two  gentlemen  who  have  preceded  me. 


]36 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


that  Soutli  Africa  i;;  a  large  wool  producing  country.  Last 
vi-ar,  the  shipments  of  wool  from  South  Africa  were  183,305 
bales.  Of  this  quantity,  comparatively  large  for  the  size  of 
the  countrv,  only  l,27t)  hales  were  entered  for  the  United 
States,  though  1  liiiow  several  hundred  bales  more — it  is 
c-fnerally  so^canie  by  way  of  England,  and  there  were  prob- 
ably 1,500  to  1,800  bales  destined  for  the  United  States.  A 
very  small  quantity,  not  more  than  a  few  hundred  bales,  re- 
mained in  the  United  States,  the  remainder  passed  in  tran- 
sit to  Canada  because  of  our  taritf. 

I  confess  that  1  had  in  my  mind,  when  1  jotted  down  the 
statistics,  to  state  the  grievance  which  our  South  African  ex- 
porters of  wool  have  against  the  United  States — a  few  business 
men  who  also  import.  They  are  not  the  men  who  simply 
deal  in  wool,  they  deal  in  everything— these  large  exporters 
and  im]>:)rters  import  from  all  over  the  world,  and  they  export 
the  products  of  their  small  colonies  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 
They  have  a  grievance  against  the  United  States,  liecause  of 
the  tariff,  which  excludes  altogether  from  the  I'nited  States 
tlieir  wool  and  some  other  products. 

I  listened  with  a  great  deal  of  attention  tliis  morning  to 
the  remarks  of  our  esteemed  Chairman,  who,  in  the  course 
of  his  address,  mentioned  that  the  next  session  of  Congress 
will  be  one  of  the  most  imjiortant  ever  held,  becaitse  the 
(|uestions  concerning  the  ac(iuisition  of  the  new  territories  by 
the  United  States  will  be  considiTcd  )iy  them,  but  not  less 
important  are  questions  affecting  (Uir  commerce  with  the 
world. 

1  could  gather  from  his  remarks,  at  the  same  time,  that  he 
is  one  of  those  gentlemen  who  honestly  believe  that  the 
Fnited  States  needs  a  protective  tariff,  at  least  I  gathered  that 
from  his  remarks.  1  was,  therefore,  more  than  pleased  to 
listen  to  the  remarks  made  by  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest 
industrial  establishments  in  this  country,  Mr.  Pope,  who  ex- 
pressed himself  as  opposed  to  that  bill. 

I  may  here  say,  in  connection  witli  tliat  question,  that  I 
have  it  from  a  man  high  in  the  industrial  occupation  of  wool 
— a  city  which  is  much  engaged  in  the  wool  industry — who 
says  that  the  high  tariff  has  not  been  such  a  boon  to  them 
here,  and  there  are  perhaps  others  who  will  admit  that  it 
has  not  been  such  a  boon  to  this  country  as  it  was  intended 
it  should  be.  It  was  really  not  more  than  two  weeks  ago 
that  a  gentleman,  a  very  large  dealer — or  rather  when  I  say 
dealer  I  should  say  he  is  a  very  large  buyer  and  trader  in 
domestic  wool — said:  "AVe  did  a  great  deal  better  before  the 
enactment  of  the  tariff  than  we  are  doing  now;  in  fact,  we 
lost  money  last  year."  He  has  one  of  the  largest  interests; 
he  comes  from  Utah;  buys  and  trades  in  wool  all  over  the 
territory.  He  further  said:  "If  you  speak  to  manufacturers 
the  same  as  I  do — and  I  just  came  from  Boston — they  will 
tell  you  the  same  thing  that  I  do." 

Xow.  of  course,  1  cannot  expect  remarks  made  in  that  way 
will  in  any  way  inlluence  the  legislation  of  our  Congress. 
At  the  same  time,  when  Hon.  Henry  H.  liingham  spoke  of 
the  great  ])roblems  which  the  next  Congress  will  have  to  take 
u]),  it  may  lie  well  to  take  into  consideration  the  trade  prob- 
lems, so  far  a.s  legislation  is  concerned.  I'\ircign  traders  come 
here  and  look  around,  tlicy  look  at  our  industries,  they  see 
what  we  have  to  sell,  they  see  what  we  jiroduce,  and  when 
they  come  to  trade  with  us — having  soincthing  to  s(dl  them- 
selves— they  find  the  doors  closed  against  them.  H  is  so, 
gentlenu'n — I  am  perhaps  a  little  too  severe  in  saying  it  — 
but  these  arc  the  facts.  I  am  quit(>  sure  gentlemen  who  are 
inti'ri'slt'd  in  industrial  concerns  and  liave  suffered  under  the 
jirotective  tariff  will  bear  me  out.  It  would  be  futile  to  afld 
any  more  to  these  renuirks.  I  know  it  is  in  the  hamls  of 
Congress.  It  would  not  have  been  a  bad  idea  if  the  meet- 
ings of  this  International  Congress  could  have  been  held 
at  the  same  time  that  Congress  meets,  so  that  members  of 


Congress,  who  have  an  interest  in  international  commerce, 
could  hear,  just  as  our  Chairman  and  other  eminent  Ameri- 
can gentlemen  who  have  presided  here  have  heard,  the  ex- 
pressions from  those  who  came  here  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  and  who  have  sa.id,  "We  are  -willing  to  take  your  goods, 
but  we  ask  for  the  open  door  in  commerce,  the  principle  of 
give  and  take."" 

I  hope  that  the  Commercial  Museum,  that  the  Director  of 
tile  Commercial  Museum,  who  has  done  so  much  within  the 
last  few  years  to  increase  the  interests  of  foreigners  in  our 
American  industries,  will  continue  to  do  so,  and  will  at  the 
same  time  consider  this  as  one  of  the  questions  that  interests 
not  only  Americans,  but  interests  intei-national  commerce  at 
large. 

(Jni.  H.  II.  Bingham: 

Is  Mr.  F.  Shippey  presenty  If  so.  we  would  lie  jtleased  to 
have  him  come  to  the  platform. 

(Mr.  Shippey  not  being  present,  ]Mr.  F.  W.  Smith,  of 
Charters  Towers,  Queensland,  Australia,  read  his  paper.) 

Nata  l. 

Mr.  P.  Shippey: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  Although  Natal  is  only  a 
small  spot  on  the  map  of  South  Africa,  it  is  at  the  present 
moment  attracting  the  attention  of  the  whole  world  on  ac- 
count of  the  war  which  has  broken  out.  Naturally,  sir,  it 
would  ill  become  me  to  touch  upon  the  political  aspect  of  this 
unfortunate  state  of  things,  neither  is  there  any  necessity 
for  me  to  do  so,  as  you  can  get  columns  of  it  for  the  humble 
cent  out  in  your  streets. 

One  of  the  names  l^y  which  it  is  generally  known  is  that  of 
the  "Garden  Colony,"'  owing  no  doubt  to  the  great  and  pleas- 
ing contrast  it  presents  to  the  surrounding  territories.  The 
Transvaal  on  our  north,  and  the  Orange  Free  State  on  our 
northwest  are,  generally  speaking,  immense  grassy  table  lands, 
while  Basutoland  on  our  western  border  is  a  rugged,  moun- 
tainous country.  So  favorably  does  Natal  thus  stand  out  in 
its  physical  aspect,  that  those  sturdy  pioneers  of  South  Africa, 
the  Boers,  when  treking  northward  in  the  "thirties,""  as  they 
readied  the  eastern  portion  of  the  Drakensberg  Mountains 
and  beheld  Natal  lying  hundreds  of  feet  below  them  and 
stretching  out  towards  the  Indian  Ocean  in  beautiful  de- 
scending terraces,  exclaimed,  "This  is  the  Promised  Land." 

Sirs,  almost  of  necessity,  a  paper  like  this  must  partake 
somewhat  of  the  nature  of  a  geography  lesson,  otherwise  it 
would  be  iiii]iossible  for  those  of  y(m  interested  in  commerce 
to  fully  understand  the  conditions  and  requirements  of  the 
country.  Those  whose  energies  and  ingenuity  are  employed 
in  the  manufacture  of  light  railways,  irrigating  and  pumping 
machinery,  etc.,  will  find  Natal  a  splendid  field.  In  as  few 
words  as  possible,  I  should  like,  therefore,  to  present  to  you 
some  of  the  general  features  of  the  Colony,  and  I  feel  urged 
to  do  this  because  I  find,  .sirs,  that  a  great  many  of  you  need 
y:)ur  geography,  as  regards  this  jiart  of  the  world,  a  little 
"brushed  u])."' 

The  Colony,  by  a  series  of  almost  regular  steps  or  terraces, 
.starting  from  the  coast,  attains  an  altitude  of  about  (),000 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  The  first  terrace  extends 
aliout  fourteen  miles  inland,  and  reaches  an  elevation  of  about 
1,000  feet;  the  second,  starting  from  tliis  point,  is  about 
twenty  miles  broad,  and  attains  the  height  of  "^,500  feet;  the 
third  terrace,  about  twenty-five  miles  in  breadth,  rises  to 
3,;00  feet:  the  fourth,  of  similar  breadtli,  is  about  5,000  feet, 
while  the  next  and  last  brings  us  to  an  altitude  of  about 
('i,000  feet.  Owing  to  this  formation,  luit  of  our  many  rivers 
only  two  arc  at  all  navigable,  and  those  only  for  a  few  miles 
from  the  coast. 


^INTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  23,  1899 


18? 


We  have  only  one  port  of  real  practical  use,  that  of  Dur- 
ban. For  years,  the  government  has  been  spending  large 
sums  in  attempting  to  remove  a  sandbar  at  the  entrance  of 
the  bay  or  harbor,  where  the  wharves  are  situated.  Happily, 
the  works  in  progress  point  to  a  successful  issue,  as  there  is 
now  an  average  depth  of  about  twenty-two  feet  at  high  water, 
which  we  trust,  will  very  shortly  be  considerably  increased, 
enabling  vessels  of  any  size  to  come  in  without  risk.  On  ac- 
count of  the  improved  facilities,  I  believe  the  English  Gov- 
ernment has  under  consideration  the  advisability  of  making 
Durban  an  imperial  coasting  station.  I  would  call  the  spec- 
ial attention  of  those  interested  in  shipping  to  this  fact,  as 
some  may  not  iie  aware  of  the  existence  of  our  vast  beds  of 
good  coal,  which  are  now  being  opened  up  and  worked. 

Durban  is  a  busy,  prosperous  and  growing  town;  it  is  here 
that  most  of  our  merchants,  who  own  or  support  stores  in 
the  interior,  have  their  head  offices  and  warehouses;  also  aji 
immense  quantity  of  merchandise  is  here  landed  and  sent  di- 
rect to  the  Transvaal  and  elsewhere.  Its  white  population  is 
about  18,000,  while  the  colored  people  number  about  15,000. 
It  has  a  good  system  of  tram-cars,  at  present  drawn  by  horses, 
but  arrangements  are  now  being  made  to  work  them  by  elec- 
tricity. Although  somewhat  hot  in  the  summer  months, 
from  November  to  February  inclusive,  it  is  healthy,  and  will 
no  doubt  become  more  so,  as  lately  splendid  drainage  works 
have  been  introduced. 

The  next  town,  in  point  of  size,  is  the  city  of  Pietermaritz- 
burg,  or,  as  we  generally  call  it,  "Maritzburg."  This  is  the 
capital  of  the  Colony,  the  seat  of  the  government  and  hcad- 
qiiarters  of  the  troops.  This  city,  like  Durban,  is  rapidly  de- 
veloping in  every  way,  and  is  now  displaying  a  wonderful 
amount  of  enterprise  and  energy.  The  lighting  of  the  streets 
by  electricity  is  now  in  progress,  and  before  long  the  question 
of  electric  tram-cars  in  our  streets,  and  a  complete  system  of 
sewerage  and  drainage  work,  will  be  faced  by  our  corporation; 
so,  once  more,  I  say  to  those  interested  in  these  matters,  "Keep 
your  eye  upon  us." 

Maritzburg  is  the  centre  of  a  splendid  agricultural  district, 
and  our  farmers,  who  are  a  most  progressive  body  of  men,  are 
ever  open  to  avail  themselves  of  any  improved  or  "up-to-date'' 
methods. 

Being  situated  2200  feet  above  sea  level,  its  climate  is  much 
more  bracing  than  that  of  Durban.  It  is  also  fast  becoming 
an  educational  and  residential  centre. 

Now,  sir,  I  will  close,  if  I  may  so  call  it,  this  geographical 
portion  of  my  paper,  trusting  that  I  may  have  created  in  some 
mind  an  increased  interest  in  Natal. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  commercial  life  of  the  Colony, 
I  would  like  to  remark  that  I  have  noticed  some  who  have 
been  addressing  this  Congress,  have  stated  that  until  very 
recently  the  United  States  has  had  its  hands  full  in  supplying 
neighboring  markets  in  the  enormous  territories  which  consti- 
tute the  States,  but  that  now,  through  overproduction,  you 
feel  that  you  must  look  furt.her  afield  and  foster  your  export 
trade  more  than  yon  have  hitherto  done. 

We  are  in  the  same  condition  you  have  been  for  so  many 
years,  i.  e.,  our  export  trade,  with  the  exception  of  wool,  hides 
and  wattle  bark,  is  confined  almost  entirely  to  the  neighboring 
States  in  South  Africa.  I  will  not  inflict  more  figures  upon 
you  than  I  can  help,  and  then  only  in  globular  sums.  Un- 
fortunately, some  of  the  statistics  for  1898  I  cannot  give,  as 
I  left  Natal  several  months  ago  and  the  necessary  information 
has  not  reached  me. 

Wool:  We  export  this  chiefly  to  London  and  the  annual 
value  is  about  $2,500,000.  Hides,  skins  and  Angora  hair 
reach  about  .$.i00.00n.  Wattle  bark,  or  the  bark  of  the 
"Acacia  Molissima,"'  is  a  rapidly  growing  industry,  and  very 
soon  will  assume  large  proportions,  as  it  is  proving  vei"y  suit- 


able for  tanning  purposes.     About  100,000  cwt.  was  shipped 
last  year. 

Now  I  come  to  our  coal,  which,  as  I  remarked  before,  is 
going  to  become  of  immense  importance  to  us.  The  quality 
is  excellent,  both  for  domestic  and  steam  purposes,  and  it 
exists  in  such  vast  quantities  that  it  is  practically  inexhaust- 
ible— the  various  lines  of  steamers  that  call  at  Durban  regu- 
larly take  on  large  suj)plies.  Last  year's  output  was  about 
250,000  tons. 

The  sugar  industry  is  naturally  one  that  varies  very  much, 
according  to  whether  the  season  is  a,  favorable  one.  There 
are  about  forty  mills  for  crushing  and  manufacturing,  and 
an  average  season  produces  about  20,000  tons. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  before  many  years  Natal 
may  become  a  competitor  in  the  world's  tea  markets.  The 
Hon.  Mr.  Hulett,  a  colonist  of  many  years'  standing,  and 
one  who  has  played  an  active  part  in  onr  government,  may 
be  termed  the  pioneer  of  the  tea  indust;ry.  Every  year  wit- 
nesses a  larger  area  under  cultivation,  and  the  demand  is 
always  in  excess  of  the  supply. 

Fruit,  such  as  the  orange,  banana,  pineapple,  mango,  etc., 
flourish  on  the  coast,  and  the  last  few  years  have  seen  a  re- 
markable development  in  this  direction,  hundreds  of  acres  of 
hitherto  unproductive  land  having  been  dug  up  and  planted. 

Stock  farming  has  proved  far  more  successful,  and  has 
grown  more  rapidly  than  has  agTiculture.  Owing,  however, 
to  the  ravages  of  Rinderpest  during  the  past  two  years,  we 
have  had  to  import  lai'ge  numbers  of  live  stock  from  South 
America  and  frozen  meat  from  Australia. 

Horned  cattle  owned  by  Europeans  and  natives  are  roughly 
estimated  at  750,000,  while  sheep  nimiber  about  one  mil- 
lion. 

Railways:  There  are  aljout  430  miles  opened  for  traffic,  and 
year  l)y  year  these  will  be  further  extended. 

Sirs,  one  of  the  chief  objects  of  this  paper  is  to  show  yon 
that  the  "Garden  Colony"  is  worth  looking  after,  as  there  is 
a  great  future  before  it,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  South 
Africa,  in  spite  of  the  teiTible  experiences  it  is  just  now  pas- 
sing through. 

We  have  a  good  harbor,  healthful  climate,  immense  beds 
of  magnificent  coal,  coast  lands,  which  can  produce  tea,  sugar 
and  fruit  in  almost  unlimited  cpuintities;  uplands,  where 
cattle-rearing  and  maize-growing  are  successfully  carried  on; 
a  large  native  population,  happily  prohibited  by  stringent 
laws  from  obtaining  intoxicating  drink,  who  are  large  pur- 
chasers of  cutlery,  tools,  ploughs,  blankets,  etc.  Taking  all 
these,  together  with  our  geographical  position,  I  think  un- 
doubtedly our  commercial  outlook  is  a  very  promising  one. 

Am&rican  agricultural  implements,  American  furniture, 
and  what  used  to  be  called  "Yankee  notions,"  generally  are 
largely  imported.  The  manufacturers  in  the  United  States 
have  a  happy  knack  of  anticipating  and  meeting  the  wants 
of  those  with  whom  they  seek  to  do  business.  The  term 
"knocked  down"  is  purely  American,  I  believe,  and  is  so 
illustrative  of  the  splendid  ways  you  adopt  in  packing  mer- 
chandise for  exports. 

Before  I  close,  permit  me,  sirs,  to  join  in  the  chorus,  which 
has  been  swelling  louder  and  louder,  feebly  expressing,  how- 
ever, our  united  appreciation  of  the  courtesy  and  munificence 
of  the  reception,  we,  as  delegates,  have  received.  Wliy,  sirs, 
in  some  cities,  if  you  are  a  stranger,  they  fair  yon  in;  here,  to 
be  a  stranger  is  practically  to  have  the  freedom  of  the  city 
presented  to  you. 

Fellow-delegates,  it  will  be  our  own  faults  if  we  do  not  leave 
this  city  wiser  and  better  men.    (Applause.) 

Director  If.  P.  Wilson: 

The  program  for  to-morrow  has  not  yet  been  printed.  I 
would  announce  that  the  presiding  otficer  will  be  Mr.  Talcott 


188 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


^\■illialn.s  well  known  in  the  United  States.  Tlie  day  will  be 
called  "('anal  Dav.'"  That  the  first  paper  will  be  presented 
hv  ilr.  U.  L.  Rives,  of  New  York,  on  the  Inter-oceanic  Canal 
and'  the  iirobleni?  attendant  thereto.  The  ]\Iinister  of  Costa 
Rica  and  the  Minister  of  Colombia  and  the  Minister  of  Xieara- 
L'lui  will  1)6  present  and  each  one  of  them  will  present  a  yiaper 
on  (his  subject.  The  Hon.  H.  A.  Gudger,  U.  S.  Consnl  at 
I'anama,  wi'll  present  a  paper;  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  of  Queens- 
land, and  Mr.  Johnston,  of  Minnesota,  will  also  present 
jiai)ei-s,  and  othei-s  have  been  invited  to  attend. 

.1  Dch'ijate: 

IJefore  we  adjourn,  I  would  like  to  make  a  motion  that  the 
t'ommittee  on  'Resolutions  appointed  last  Thursday  be  in- 
creased, and  that  two  delegates  from  each  country  repre- 
sented in  this  Congress  be  added  to  that  committee.  ^  I  would 
suggest  that  the  government  delegates  be  added  from  the 
niuntrics  present,  and  that  we  make  it  an  international  com- 
inittee,  as  this  is  an  International  CongToss.  It  would  give 
eacdi  country  a  chance  to  present  resolutions  before  the  com- 
niilti'c  and  would  enalilc  the  committee  to  act  in  an  intelligent 
iiia.iinrr. 

Ihm.  J.  C.  Monaylian  (United  States  Consul,  Chemnitz): 
1  second  the  motion. 

Dimiiir  IF.  P.  Wilson: 

Before  that  motion  is  seconded,  I  was  going  to  make  one 
remark— it  might  aft'ect  the  maker  of  the  motion-— that  we 
would  have  a  very  large  committee  if  \ve  took  two  from  each 
country. 

Geii.  11.  H.  Bingham: 

Suppose  you  take  one  from  each  country? 

.1  Dvh'ijiile: 

I  accept  the  suggestion.  Let  the  committee  be  composed  of 
one  delegate,  and  that  a  government  delegate  from  each 
country. 

Hr.  (Uixtarn  Nicdi'rkin: 

The  American  delegates  have  appointed  a  committee.  Now 
it  will  be  necessary  that  a  committee  be  appointed  from  the 
South  American  countries  and  that  we  present  a  resolution 
prepared  by  all  the  South  American  nations.  I  don't  know 
how  they  \vill  entertain  the  proposition.  ^ 

Mr.  II.  l;nllirrJi(im: 

It  a|)iiears  to  me,  this  committee  which  has  to  take  into  con- 
sideration these  resolutions  should  not  all  be  one-sided.  I  do 
not  think  the  resolution  moved  by  my  friend  entirely  meets 
the  case;  1  think  it  is  a  little  confusing;  it  refers  only  to 
American  delegates. 

niirr/or  W.  P.  ]Yilf:on: 

I  understand  that  eaeh  country,  the  delegates  from  each 
country,  are  forming  themselves  into  sections  and  ]>reparing 
resolutions  to  jvresent.  It  is  a  point,  however,  immaterial, 
^'ou  carrv  the  (|uestion  and  the  resolution  will  lie  ref(M'nMl  to 
tlu'  committee. 

Mr.  I'lmil  *•?.  Fischer: 

The  mover  of  the  motion  said  that  the  govcrniiicni  dele- 
gates should  be  a])pointed  on  the  eomniittee.  1  w(uilil  ,siy 
it  would  be  fairer  to  appoint  oidy  those  on  the  coiuiuittee  wlm 
have  regularly  attended  the  meetings.  A  good  many  of  the 
government  delegates  have  already  gone,    and    besides    that 


others  do  not  attend,  and  they  would  lie  on  the  committee 
only  nominally. 

II nil.  J .  ('.  Mvncujhan  : 

1  understand  each  separate  delegation  in  this  Congress 
will  be  represented  on  the  committee.  I  think  it  eminently 
jiroper  that  this  should  be  the  ca.'^e.  The  object  is  to  obtain 
an  endorsement  from  every  nation.  The  resolutions  will  go 
out  under  the  authority  of  this  International  Congress  as  an 
exjiression  of  opinion  of  the  International  Congress.  This 
resolution  is  entirely  inde])endent  of  the  action  referred  to 
by  Dr.  Wilson. 

Mr.  Henry  Sell: 

Mr.  President:  While  this  resolution  is  being  reduced  to 
writing,  I  was  asked  by  the  delegates  of  the  United  Kingdom 
to  present  a  resolution,  and  with  your  permission  I  will  do  so 
now. 

We,  the  delegates  from  the  United  Kingdom,  wish  to  return 
our  hearty  thanks  for  the  hospitality,  kindness  and  attention 
extended  to  us  by  the  autliorities  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
by  the  Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  and 
we  wish  also  to  express  our  thanks  to  the  citizens  of  Philadel- 
phia for  their  universal  open-door  attitude  to  us.  It  is  not  the 
attention  given  to  our  bodily  wants,  although  that  has  been 
most  bountiful;  it  is  not  the  attention  paid  to  us  collectively, 
Init  what  touches  us  is  the  hearty  handshake  of  all  citizens 
with  whom  we  come  in  contact. 

Gen.  H.  H.  Bingham: 

That  will  be  made  jiart  of  the  I'Ccord. 


^•1  Delegate: 

I  call  for  the  I'eadin' 


of  the  resolution. 


(Icn.  H.  H.  Bingham: 

The  gentleman's  nuition  is  in  these  words:  "It  is  moved 
that  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  be  increased  so  that  one 
member  from  each  country  be  added  to  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions." 

The  question  being  on  the  nuition,  it  was  agreed  to. 

Direrftir  W.  P.  Wilson: 

You  liave  all  heard  the  program  for  to-morrow.  Kindly 
remember  that  at  eight  o'clock  to-night  we  assendjle  in  this 
room  for  a  pleasant  social  business  conference — the  foreign 
delegates  and  the  delegates  from  the  United  States,  and  the 
business  men  of  the  Exposition.  The  chairs  will  be  taken 
away  from  the  centre  of  the  room  and  we  shall  have  an  opi)or- 
tuni'ty  to  talk,  and  have  a  social,  business  meeting. 

I  want  to  say  one  word  with  reference  to  the  last  announce- 
ment on  the  program,  which  is  in  reference  to  the  School  of 
Industrial  Art.  I  want  to  state,  that  that  school  will  be  an  ex- 
ample of  the  finest  schools  in  the  United  States,  which  teach 
young  men  and  young  women  industrial  art.  Jt  is  a  technical 
school  for  weaving,  for  designing  and  everything  of  that  kind. 
You  are  invited  to  visit  the  place,  and  it  will  be  open  and  run- 
ning to-morrow.  It  is  at  the  corner  of  Broad  and  Pine  streets. 
It  is  near  the  Walton  Hotel,  just  across  the  street,  but  a  little 
lower  down.  You  will  be  welcomed  any  time  after  to-day, 
as  the  school  will  be  opened  to-ni<irrow. 

(Irn.  11.  TI.  Bingham : 

Gentlemen,  your  ('ongres>  stands  adourued  till  ten  o'clock 
lo-inoiTow. 

(Adjourned  at  .^.ISO  p.  m.) 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


TENTH   DAY'S   SESSION 


PHiLADELniiA,  TuL'sday,  October  24,  1899. 

Morning  Session. 

•±jie  luet'tiiig  was  called  to  order  at  11.80  a.  m.,  in  Con- 
vention Hall,  Exposition  Building,  by  Director  W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilso7i: 

Will  the  gentlemen  in  the  rear  of  the  hall  kindly  come  for- 
ward? 

Consul  Monaghau,  will  you  kindly  come  forward  to  the 
platform? 

It  is  my  unpleasant  duty  to  announce  this  morning,  that 
the  presiding  officer,  Mr.  Talcott  Williams,  is  not  here.  I 
have  the  pleasure,  however,  of  asking  Cousul-General  Mona- 
ghan,  one  of  our  most  active  Consuls,  from  Chemnitz,  Ger- 
many, to  preside  over  the  sessions  to-day. 

Hon.  J.  C.  Monaghati: 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen,  Delegates  and  Ladies. — ^The 
German  Phuperor  has  said,  within  recent  times,  that  Ger- 
many's future  lies  on  the  water  {Deutscliland's  Zukunft  liegt 
auf  dem  Wasse7-).  And  the  best  energies  and  all  the  efforts 
of  that  most  remarkable  ruler  of  the  Empire  since  the  days 
of  Frederick  the  Great,  seem  to  tend  towards  obtaining 
power  on  the  water.  The  Empire  has  been  cut  by  a  vast 
system  of  canals.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to-day  to  enter 
into  any  detailed  statement  of  what  these  canals  have  done 
for  the  Gennan  Empire.  Those  facts  will  probalily  be  brought 
out  by  the  figures  to-day.  Russia,  emulating  the  example  of 
the  German  Empire,  following  the  wisdom  of  this  gi'eat 
statesman,  has  projected  a  vast  network  of  canals  for  the  de- 
velopment of  that  great  Empire,  and  I  said  only  a  moment 
ago  to  a  gentleman,  that  to  me  it  was  one  of  the  most  aston- 
ishing facts  that  this  Republic  of  l)usiness  men,  noted  not 
only  for  their  enterprise,  but  for  their  vast  intelligence,  had 
not  built  the  Nicarag\ia  Canal  fifty  years  ago  rather  than  to 
think  of  building  it  to-day. 

The  Suez  Canal,  from  the  year  1868  down  to  the  year 
1884,  has  saved  to  the  world  the  vast  sum  of  more  than 
three  thousand  millions  of  dollars,  and  a  gentleman  well  in- 
formed said  to  me  that  once  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  cut  that 
it  will  save  the  vast  sum  of  four  hundred  millions  of  dollars 
annually.  Let  us  suppose  that  it  costs  two  hundred  millions, 
(and  the  estimates  are  not  much  over  one  hundred  millions), 
it  is  a  mere  bagatelle  compared  with  the  vast  savings  to  com- 
merce. When  that  canal  is  cut  it  gives  to  this  Continent 
that  which  the  German  Empire  and  the  German  Emperor 
so  much  desire;  it  gives  us  a  vast  power  on  the  water,  and 
so  brings  all  the  people  of  the  earth  together. 

As  a  gentleman  said  on  the  first  day  of  this  Congress,  "that 
the  waters  of  the  world  that  formerly  divided  us  have  become 
golden  links,  and  the  nations  of  mankind  are  united." 


I  want  to  say  to  the  young  men  of  this  Congress,  and  of 
this  country,  when  they  think  sometimes  that  all  the  vast 
projects  have  already  been  completed,  and  fame  and  fortune 
have  passed  away,  that  the  greatest  possibilities  are  now  open 
in  just  such  projects  as  the  Nicaragua  and  other  canals. 

There  is  no  name  in  history,  there  is  no  name  in  the  long 
line  of  statesmen  and  of  scholars  that  gild  the  dome  of  French 
names,  no  name  so  grand  as  that  of  de  Lesseps,  who  built  the 
Suez  Canal,  and  so  the  government  and  the  men  that  build 
for  us  the  Isthmian  Canal  mav  write  their  names  side  by 
.side  with  that  of  de  Lesseps. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have  the  honor  to-day  to  intro- 
duce to  you,  or  to  present  to  you,  Mr.  J.  B.  Calvo,  Minister 
of  Costa  Rica,  who  will  discuss  this  question  in  a  manner 
that  will  not  only  win  your  attention  and  approval,  but  the  ap- 
jjroval  and  attention  of  our  government  and  our  j)eople.  Mr. 
Calvo.     (Applause.) 

His  Excelkncy,  J.  B.  Calvo  (Costa  Rican  Minister): 

The  thought  of  uniting  the  two  great  oceans  by  means  of 
a  canal  across  the  American  isthmus  sprang  up,  as  is  known, 
from  the  moment  the  conviction  was  reached  that  the  pas- 
sage, which  from  the  days  of  Columbus,  had  been  thought 
to  exist  towards  the  Southern  sea,  was  not  a  reality. 

To  recommend  the  merits  of  this  project  is  unnecessary, 
since  they  are  at  once  evident,  upon  the  mere  suggestion  of 
the  advantage  to  the  world  of  a  short  and  easy  route  between 
the  Atlantic,  which  is  the  sea  of  Europe,  and  the  Pacific, 
which  is  the  great  ocean  of  Asia,  Australia,  and  the  extensive 
western  shores  of  the  New  World. 

The  history  of  the  project  in  general  is  well  known,  and 
as  to  the  practicability  of  the  work,  we  all  know  that  eminent 
authorities  in  the  matter  have  given  a  favorable  opinion. 

I  will  not,  therefore,  dwell  upon  either  of  these  points, 
nor  do  I  deem  it  necessary  to  engage  the  attention  of  this 
honorable  Congress  by  any  extended  treatment  of  the  advan- 
tages which  are  offered  to  the  commerce  of  the  whole  world 
by  the  great  undertaking  of  connecting  the  two  seas;  my 
desire  in  taking  part  in  this  session  is  limited  to  expressing, 
although  briefly,  that  it  may  be  better  appreciated,  the  posi- 
tum  of  Costa  Rica  and  her  direct  interest  in  the  canal  enter- 
prise. 

The  territory  of  Costa  Rica  lies  between  that  of  Nicaragua 
and  Pananui,  the  two  parts  of  the  Isthmus  whose  names  dis- 
tinguished the  French  project  of  the  Panama  Canal  from 
the  Nicaragua  Canal,  which  has  always  been  the  American 
project.  This  advantageous  position  assures  to  the  indus- 
trious and  peaceful  people  of  Costa  Rica  all  the  benefits  of 
proximity  as  the  nearest  neighbor,  whichever  of  the  two 
places  the  route  may  ultimately  traverse.  But  the  Costa 
Rican  frontier  does  not  reach  the  line  of  the  Panama  Canal, 
while  a  portion  of  our  territory  is  indispensable  to  the  Nieara- 


189 


190 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


ffua  route.  x\nd  this  is  not  a  new  fact  or  one  established 
by  recent  survej-s,  but  which  is  well  known  since  the  very 
ilays  ol'  Yasco  Xunez  de  Balboa.  Nevertheless,  the  first  sur- 
vey of  tlie  land  was  not  carried  out  until  the  year  1-591,  when, 
in  ob('<licnce  to  superior  instructions,  (.'aptam  Antonio  Pe- 
rcira,  Guvenior  of  ('osta  Kica,  organized  an  expedition  and 
explored  the  route  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  lliver,  the  lake 
and  the  rivers,  emptying  into  Gulf  Nicoya,  Costa  Rica. 
Thirty-nine  years  later,  IJiego  de  Mercado  submitted  to  King 
Philip  111.,  bis  famous  report  of  January  83,  1(530,  suggest- 
ing the  route  by  the  river  and  lake,  and  thence  through  Costa 
Rican  territory  along  the  tjuebrada  or  Barranca  Honda  to 
Salinas  Hay.  then  called  Puerto  del  Papagayo. 

Either  because  the  magnitude  of  the  underUiking  was  at 
that  time  superior  to  the  necessities  of  trade,  or,  as  was  said. 
because  Spain  considered  the  canal  antagonistic  to  her  in- 
terests, the  era  of  independence  arrived  without  the  execu- 
tion of  the  project  ever  having  been  entered  upon. 

After  inclependence,  the  Congress  of  Central  America,  in 
which  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  were  represented  as  States 
of  the  Federation  which  succeeded  the  Colonial  tJovernment, 
enacted,  on  June  16,  182.5,  a  decree  providing  for  the  con- 
struction of  the  canal,  and  in  that  same  year  Don  Antonio 
Jose  Canas,  diplomatic  representative  of  Central  America  in 
Washington,  nddressed  the  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Henry 
Clay,  informing  him  of  his  resolution  and  stating  that 
a  company  formed  of  American  citizens  of  respectability 
was  ready  to  undertake  the  work  as  soon  as  a,  treaty  with 
the  I'nited  States  insuring  the  cooperation  of  the  latter  was 
signed;  that  he  was  ready  to  enter  into  negotiations  for  the 
treaty,  and  that  nothing  would  be  more  pleasant  for  Central 
America  than  tu  see  the  generous  people  of  the  United  States 
joining  her  in  the  opening  of  the  canal,  sharing  the  glory 
of  the  enterprise,  and  enjoying  the  grcnt  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  it. 

The  Government  of  Central  America  cnidd  not  carry  tht' 
undertaking  into  effect,  notwithstanding  that  among  the 
means  eni])lr)yed  to  reach  the  desired  result  there,  ligures  the 
arrangement  concluded  with  the  King  of  Holland,  in  October, 
1830.  But,  though  the  hopes  centered  in  the  undertaking 
were  frustrated,  to  the  honor  of  Central  America,  the  decla- 
ration of  that  Congress,  which  constitutes,  like  the  conces- 
sion for  thi'  canal  itself,  one  of  the  loftiest  public  documents 
ever  issued  by  any  nation  of  the  earth,  has  become  a  matter 
of  record. 

The  C-'entral  American  federation  dissolved  this  inipijrtant 
matter  attacheil  in  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Rica  directly,  and 
the  boundary  line  between  the  two  republics  having  been 
determined  by  the  treaty  of  April  1.5,  1858,  as  were  also  the 
points  relative  to  the  canal,  the  two  governments  jointly 
granted  a  concession  on  May  1  of  that  .same  year  tii  Mr. 
Feli.x  Belly,  a  distinguished  French  writer,  to  whom  the  i'hn- 
peror  Napoleon  gave  his  support  to  carry  forward  the  under- 
taking. This  failing  of  accomplishment,  the  two  i;iivern- 
ments,  in  perfeet  accord,  concluded  tbe  eontrai-t  kn  i\\ii  as  the 
Ayon-Cbevalier,  signed  by  Nicaragua  on  Octobei'  1(1.  ISti.S, 
and  by  Costa  Rica  on  June  18,  1K(;!».  wbicb,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  say,  also  failed  to  |ii-oduee  any  residt  wlialev(>r. 

Some  years  after  the  evpiration  nf  tins  last  contract,  Nica- 
ragua promnfed  a  diseiissidu  as  to  tlie  validity  of  the  treaty 
and  the  meaning  of  sonu»  of  its  sti])idations,  which  Costa 
Rica  upheld  iti  its  original  form,  and  the  (juestion  was  snl)- 
mittetj  to  the  decision  of  the  President  of  tbe  I'nited  Stati's. 
Mr.  Clevelaiul,  who  in  his  award  of  March  22.  1888,  accepted 
l>y  iioth  parties,  declared  the  treaty  valid  and  binding  \\]ittu 
each  republic,  and  interiireted  the  points  which  in  the  o]iin- 
ion  of  .Nicaragua  were  dnubtrnl.  Arcording  to  the  provision^ 
of  both  of  these  documents,  the  treaty  and  award,  oven  in  th(( 
remote  event  that  the  natural  rights  of  Costa  Rica  should  not 


be  injured,  Nicaragua  is  bound  not  to  make  any  grants  for 
canal  purposes  across  her  territory  without  first  asking  the 
opinion  of  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica. 

Three  years  prior,  and  while  this  question  was  still  pend- 
ing, Nicaragua  concluded  the  treaty  known  as  the  Zavala- 
Frelinghuysen,  signed  in  Washington  on  December  1,  1884, 
whereby  the  title  to  the  canal  was  conveyed  to  the  United 
States,  and  Costa  Rica  adhered  to  this  treaty  under  date  of 
February  23,  1885;  but  the  negotiations  remained  without 
effect,  because,  ratification  having  been  denied  in  the  Senate, 
although  a  reconsideration  of  the  subject  had  been  agreed  to, 
President  Cleveland,  on  inaugurating  his  first  administration, 
withdrew  the  document  from  the  Senate. 

Tilings  then  returned  to  the  status  they  formerly  main- 
tained, and  Nicaragua,  in  A])i-il,  1887,  and  Costa  Rica,  in  July, 
1888,  respectively  granted  the  concessions  pursuant  to  which 
the  construction  of  the  American  waterway  has  been  pending 
of  late  years. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States  has  been  giving  special 
attention  to  this  important  matter  since  the  year  1893,  and 
commissions  have  been  created  charged  with  the  survey  and 
location  of  the  route,  as  well  as  the  study  of  the  influence 
of  the  canal  in  its  diH'erent  aspects.  Recently  the  investiga- 
tion is  not  limited  to  the  route  by  Nicaragua  and  Costa  Eica 
alone,  but  extends  to  Panama,  and  it  is  hoped  that  when  the 
new  commission  appointed  this  year  presents  its  conclusions, 
( 'ongress  will  determine  whether  a  canal  will  be  constructed 
by  this  government,  and  if  so,  which  of  the  two  routes  will 
be  adopted. 

Costa  Rica  realizes  the  great  importance  of  this  work,  the 
most  transcendental,  perhaps,  undertaken  in  this  age,  and 
contributes  to  encourage  it,  consulting  her  own  interest  and 
the  impulse  to  be  derived  from  it  by  the  general  progi'ess  of 
the  world,  and  especially  of  the  nations  of  this  continent. 
(Applause.) 

Ifiiii.  ./.  ( '.  M iimiijluni : 

I  have  the  lioimr  now  to  introduce  to  you  Dr.  Luis  Cuervo 
Marquez,  Secretary  of  the  Coloml)ian  Legation  and  Charge 
ilWlfaires,  who  will  read  a  paper  jirejiared  on  this  subject  by 
Mr.  Climaco  Calderon,  ^linister  of  Colombia. 

II is  Execllcucii,  Climaco  Calderon  (Minister  of  Colombia): 

Mr.  President  and  Delegates,  Gentlemen. — To  discuss  the 
necessity  of  opening  an  inter-oceanic  canal  to  complete  the 
work  of  the  great  Balboa  is  useless,  as  the  daily  necessities 
of  the  trade  of  the  world  are  every  day  gi-eater  and  demand 
that  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  shall  be  joined  to  those  of  the 
Tacific  within  the  American  continent. 

'i'he  commercial  side  of  the  work  has  been  investigated  as 
well  as  the  technical,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  prac- 
ticability of  this  great  enterprise.  As  to  the  route  that  must- 
lie  chosen,  in  my  judgment  no  doubt  can  exist. 

The  works  at  Panama  represent  an  accumulation  of  mater- 
ial and  intellei'tual  efPort  which  cannot  be  equaled  in  many 
years  elsewhere,  and  it  would  be  a  crime  against  civilization 
to  permit  them  to  be  lost. 

The  Colombian  nation,  following  its  glorious  traditions,  has 
in  this  mattci-  only  considered  the  interests  of  civilization, 
and  when  tbe  concession  for  tbe  o])ening  of  that  caiml  in  its 
territory  was  given,  it  was  given  without  liniitati(ni  e.Kce])t 
as  to  tiic  sovereigntv  and  integrity  of  its  territory  and  the 
interests  of  universal  c(unmcrce. 

Colombia  has  at  present  in  France  an  accredited  ref)resen- 
tative  idenipotentiary  to  study  all  the  matters  ]ii'rtaining  to  the 
great  Panama  Canal,  and  u|inn  bis  rcpm't  will  de])end  in  great 
part  the  decision  to  be  jiassed  on  so  delicate  a  subject,  but  T 
can  a,ssure  you  thai  we  are  accorded  complete  liberty  of  action, 


TENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OOTOBEE  24,  1899 


191 


and  that  for  our  country,  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  as  to 
what  source  the  capital  comes  from  to  do  the  work,  so  long 
as  the  international  guarantees  which  now  exist  are  not  in- 
terfered with. 

The  great  American  people,  whose  standard  has  been  re- 
spect for  all  rights,  will  realize  from  the  completion  of  the 
work  of  Panama  greater  benefits  than  any  other  of  the  great 
nations  of  the  earth,  and  the  opening  of  the  canal  will  be  a 
new  bond  to  unite  the  people  of  Colombia  with  the  great 
Republic  of  the  North. 

lion.  J.  v.  Moiunjhan  : 

A  certain  elder  asked  on  one  occasion,  of  a  lady,  what  her 
son  John  was  doing.  She  replied,  '"He  is  not  working  at  all; 
he  has  gone  into  the  consular  service."  We  have  with  us 
to-day  a  gentleman,  who  has  worked  in  the  consular  seifice 
and  is  in  that  sei-vice,  who  will  show  us  that  he  has  been 
working  and  will  tell  us  what  that  work  is.  I  cannot 
neglect  so  good  an  opportunity  to  say  here  that  while  the 
consular  service  of  the  United  States  may  be  improved,  we 
have  in  it  to-day,  in  the  person  of  Marshal  Halstead,  in  Bir- 
mingham, England;  in  Colonel  Mason,  in  Berlin,  Germany; 
Mr.  Peters,  in  Plauen,  Germany;  Mr.  Louis  Stern,  Hamburg, 
Germany;  Mr.  Eugene  Seeger,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  Brazil;  ]\[r.  R. 
T.  Patterson,  Calcutta.  India;  Mr.  J.  G.  Stowe,  Cape  Town. 
South  Africa,  and  Colonel  G.  W.  Bell,  of  Sydney,  Australia, 
and  othei's  whose  names  1  cannot  think  of  for  t.he  moment, 
all  over  Eurojie  and  in  South  America,  men  who  are  doing 
splendid  work,  men  who  are  awakening  almost  envy  on  the 
part  of  the  English  and  German  Foreign  Office  for  the  ex- 
cellent work  they  have  done  and  are  doing.  Nor  can  I  neglect 
the  opportunity  to  say  that  much  of  that  work  has  been  aided 
and  assisted  by  the  splendid  corps  of  men  in  this  Museum, 
Dr.  Wilson  and  his  aides,  Mr.  Harper,  Dr.  Niederlein,  Mr. 
Tingle,  and  the  rest  of  them. 

I  have  the  honor  of  introducing  to  you  Hon.  H.  A.  Gudger, 
United  States  Consul  at  Panama. 

Hon.  II.  A.  Gudger: 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  There  is  more 
than  one  route  contemplated  for  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus. 
I  think  in  all  these  discussions  it  is  necessary  and  well  to 
set  forth  the  advantages  of  each.  You  have  heard  with 
regard  to  the  one  and  I  shall  say  something  with  regard  to 
the  other,  and  before  I  begin  my  remarks  I  desire  to  endorse 
the  sentiments  of  the  presiding  officer,  both  with  regard  to 
the  consular  service  and  with  regard  to  the  efficiency  of  this 
institution  here.  I  have  had  much  to  do  with  it  in  South 
America,  and  I  can  speak  from  personal  experience. 

The  Panama  Canal — Its  Influence  on  Export  Traue. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  are  thoroughly  practical, 
and  before  spending  money  or  energy  they  calculate  results. 
This  is  purely  business.  The  great  mass  of  people  have  long 
since  made  up  their  minds  as  to  the  urgent  need  of  a  canal 
across  the  Isthmus  at  some  point,  and  the  only  question 
to  be  decided  is  the  cheapest,  best  and  most  feasible  route. 
The  most  of  those  who  are  infonned  see  the  undeniable  benefit 
of  the  Panama  line,  and  they  cannot  understand  the  motive 
that  causes  the  division  as  to  location,  which  division  en- 
dangers the  entire  project. 

If  all  who  wish  success  to  the  enterprise  could  concen- 
trate, and  would  concentrate  their  efforts,  nothing  could 
stem  the  tide.  In  this,  as  in  most  things,  unity  is  strength 
and  division  weakness. 


For  more  than  two  years  I  have  had  opportunity  to  in- 
form myself  as  to  one  of  these  proposed  routes,  and  partially 
as  to  the  other,  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  express  an  opinion, 
to  state  facts,  and  challenge  anyone  to  show  that  they  are 
not  correct. 

In  no  way  directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  either, 
under  no  obligation  to  them,  with  no  expectation  of  favor, 
I  consider  the  question  purely  and  only  from  an  American 
.standpoint,  and  calculate  the  result  as  affecting  our  people 
and  country. 

When  the  gold  fields  of  California  opened  up  during  the 
forties  and  men  rushed  westward  with  the  wild  desire  to 
make  fortunes,  the  natural  route  was  to  Colon,  across  to 
Panama  and  to  San  Francisco.  For  half  a  century  and 
more,  this  has  been  the  conceded  natural  way,  and,  for  all 
these  intervening  years,  capital  has,  for  various  reasons, 
.sought  a  competing  route;  and  yet,  notwithstanding  the 
outlay  of  millions  of  money,  the  expenditure  of  vast  energy, 
it  has  proved  an  utter  failure  and  the  stream  of  passengers 
and  shiploads  of  freight  continue  to  go  this  way. 

Now  we  see  the  government  solicited  to  vote  millions  to 
divert  this  and  turn  the  natural  into  the  unnatural. 

To  aid  in  this,  the  scandals  of  years  ago  are  resurrected 
and  held  up  before  the  public  as  a  mighty  scarecrow,  and 
[jeople  are  asked  to  judge  the  feasibility  of  a  great  project 
under  such  circumstances.  That  millions  have  been  mis- 
applied, 110  one  will  deny,  and  that,  again,  millions  have 
been  properly  expended,  no  one  can  gainsay.  The  work  is 
there  and  speaks  for  itself,  and  you  can  see  it,  as  I  have 
done,  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  examine  it. 

It  is  estimated  that  from  twenty-five  to  thirty-three  and 
one-third  per  cent,  of  the  work  is  completed. 

The  old  company,  about  which  so  much  has  been  said 
and  written,  went  into  liquidation,  and  on  its  ruins  the  new 
company  has  been  organized.  This  company  is  composed 
of  men  of  the  highest  probity,  who  have  done  and  are 
doing  all  that  their  limited  means  will  permit  to  carry  for- 
ward the  work. 

Climatic  Influences. 

One  of  the  factors  in  constructing  a  canal  across  the  Isth- 
mus which  deserves  and  must  have  serious  consideration  is 
that  of  climatic  influences. 

The  extreme  heat  of  the  .sun,  the  long  rainy  and  dry  sea- 
sons, are  fruitful  in  producing  disease,  and  more  especially 
.so  among  those  unacclimated  and  who  refuse  or  fail  to  ob- 
serve the  rules  of  health  so  essential  in  tropical  countries. 

The  condition,  however,  at  this  point  on  the  Isthmus'  is 
much  better  than  at  any  other  place  where  a  canal  is  con- 
templated. I  would  not  be  understood  as  picturing  this  as 
a  health  resort;  there  is  abundant  proof  to  the  contrary. 
Hundreds  from  northern  latitudes  who  went  there  to  better 
their  fortune  lie  in  unmarked  gi'aves,  under  a  scorchiu"- 
tropical  sun  by  day  and  the  lieautiful  Southern  Cross  at 
night. 

A  great  deal  of  the  difficulty,  however,  is  imaginary,  as 
those  who  live  or  have  .^pent  much  of  their  time  there  know 
from  exiK'rience  and  observation.  Take  it  all  in  all,  the 
Isthmus  is  about,  if  not  fully  as  healthy,  as  other  points  in 
the  tropics,  and  vastly  superior  to  a  great  many  places. 

The  ])ublic  is  too  often  reminded  of  the  old'  story  that, 
during  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Railroad,  a  life  was 
lost  for  each  cross-tie  laid.  This  is  a  fake  long  since  ex- 
ploded; and  yet  the  mortality  was  alarmingly  great. 

We  are  reminded  that  it  was  on  the  Isthmus,  on  this  line 
during  early  canal  days  that  there  was  an  "epidemic"  of 
suicide  among  Chinese  laborers.  Thousands  of  our  Oriental 
brothers  were    landed    there    as    laborers;    unused    to    the 


192 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


people^  the  work,  the  climate,  they  became  morose,  despond- 
ent, morbid,  and  the  result  was  that  hundreds  of  them,  by 
their  own  hands,  sent  their  souls  to  their  fathers.  This  was 
at  Mattichin,  so  named  because  the  word  means  "death  to 
Chinamen." 

This  great  loss  of  human  life  might  have  occurred  any- 
where else  under  similar  conditions.  The  death  rate,  during 
all  this  time  so  veiy  great,  was  largely  due  to  two  or  three 
causes  which  do  not  now  exist. 

L  The  climate  was  not  understood,  nor  the  rules  of  health 
enforced. 

2.  The  removing  of  the  top  soil  the  entire  length  of  the 
canal  had  a  deleterious  etfect. 

3.  The  cutting  out  of  the  excessive  undergrowth  and  dig- 
ging in  the  swamp  bred  disease. 

4.  'J'he  bad  water  .supply. 

5.  The  want  of  sutticient  and  pro])er  house  room. 
Happily  the.w  conditions  have,  at  least  to   some  extent, 

been  overcome,  and  now  there  is  less  danger  here  than  across 
the  Isthmus  at  any  other  contemplated  point  for  a  canal. 
The  work  in  the  swampy  part  is  finished,  the  top  soil  has 
been  removed  for  the  entire  line,  the  luxurious  growth  of 
vegetation  has  disappeared,  houses  have  been  constructed 
for  the  help,  water  sujjply  has  been  provided,  and  years  of 
close  scientific  and  sanitary  study,  with  past  experience  as  a 
guide,  have  removed,  in  the  main,  the  cause  of  disease. 

Good   Hahboks. 

Nature,  always  abundant  in  Iut  manifold  blessings,  lias 
dealt  lavishly  with  this  specific  section  in  providing  a  natural 
harbor  at  each  entrance  of  the  canal,  and  one  suthciently 
large  to  do  all  the  work  required.  At  any  rival  place,  the 
harbor  at  each  entrance  must  be  made  at  the  cost  of  millions 
of  dollars,  and  must  be  ke]>t  up  by  the  outlay  of  milliinis 
each  year  and  then  not  be  nearly  so  good  as  those  at  Panama 
and  Colon. 

Uaii.koads  Along  tiiic  Route. 

Paralleling  this  route  is  the  Panama  railroad  with  its  tirst- 
class  modern  equi])ment,  by  which  all  the  men,  the  macliiii- 
ery  and  the  su])piies  can  be  taken  to  any  point  without  delay 
and  at  little  co.st.  Who  is  there  that  can  discount  the  vast 
advantage  this  affords?  Does  it  not  justify  us  in  the  opinion 
that  with  this  aid  the  canal  can  be  constructed  cheaply  and 
quickly? 

At  either  end  of  this  road  lidtli  at  ( 'oloii  and  at  Panama, 
are  large  hosjritals  for  the  sick,  under  the  care  of  the  Sisters 
of  Charity,  who  go  like  angels  of  ineiey  in  human  form  to 
aid  the  sick,  (jod  bless  these  raillil'ul  wduien  in  their  wnik 
of  saving  hunum  life! 

C,\.\     'I'nK     rM'l'KI)    Sta'IKS    (ilCT    CoNTIiOi.    OF    'I'lll'.     (     \\\1.?' 


'l''he  information  nn  this  subject  can  be  gott(  ii  ti-imi 
congressional  records,  and  from  them  an  allirmative  an^ 
is  given.  It  has  been  no  part  of  my  duty  to  make  spe 
incjuiry.  and  such  has  not  l)een  done. 

From  this  source,  and  after  a  careful  survey  of  the  I 
on  the  ground,  1  believe  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  purchase 
reasonable  price  of  the  entire  concession,  or  a  control 
interest  therein.  The  terms  of  the  concessicui  are  liberal 
the  plant  would  be  highly  beneficial  to  our  goveiiiment, 
it  is  my  opinion  that  the  Rei)ublic  of  Coloniliia  would 
with  ])leasure  the  ownership  of  this  work  liv  the  I'li 
States. 


the 
-uer 
eifie 

ield. 
ill  a 
ling 
and 
and 
hail 
liled 


Facts  About  the  Canal. 

J^'rora  ocean  to  ocean  at  this  point  is  forty-li\e  miles  and 
the  first  fourteen  miles  from  Colon  are  practically  finished. 
The  troublesome  and  expensive  work  is  at  Culebria  Ridge, 
a  little  more  than  midway  the  line.  For  some  eight  miles 
from  Panama  the  work  is  done.  The  width  of  the  canal 
will  be  160  feet  at  the  top  and  72  at  the  bottom,  except 
through  the  ridge,  where  it  will  be  'i'S  feet  at  the  top  and  29 
at  the  bottom. 

The  proljlem  of  harnessing  the  Shagres  River  and  making 
it  an  element  of  good  has  been  fully  solved,  and,  with  a  few 
locks,  greatly  cheapening  the  original  estimated  cost,  as 
well  as  controlling  the  waters  of  this  stream  w'hich  was  once 
regarded  as  an  obstacle.  The  engineering  feature  is  so  far 
reduced  as  to  insure  the  best  results  with  the  least  outlay  of 
money. 

FoREKiN  Exports. 

The  completion  of  an  interoceanic  canal  would  give  a 
wonderful  impetus  to  the  export  trade;  in  fact,  it  would 
revolutionize  busines,s.  Our  gocxls,  carried  by  our  vessels, 
would  go  to  all  the  Pacific  Coast  of  South  and  Central  Amer- 
ica and  to  j\Iexico,  as  well  as  to  all  the  islands  of  this  great 
sea. 

The  cities  along  the  Atlantic  Coast  of  the  United  States 
could  send  their  merchandise,  without  breaking  bulk,  by  an 
almost  direct  line  to  the  Orient,  thus  avoiding  the  danger  of 
Cape  Horn,  not  to  mention  the  great  saving  of  time. 

The  American  flag  would  tiy  to  every  breeze  in  this  ocean, 
and,  wherever  it  goes,  with  it  will  go  the  products  of  our 
mills  and  our  farms;  and  our  merchants,  manufacturers 
and  farmers  would  reap  the  reward  of  vears  of  patience  anu 
toil. 

The  consummation  of  this  enterprise  would,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  de  Ijessejjs,  ""unite  in  marriage  the  two  great 
oceans,"  and  who  can  prognosticate  the  mighty  influence  on 
commei'ce  and  trade  such  a  triumph  portends  for  our  com- 
mon country,  blessing  the  present  generation  and  handing  it 
down  as  a  heritage,  thus  enriching  generations  yet  unborn! 

I  plead  in  behalf  of  throwing  out  the  lines,  opening  up 
the  markets  of  the  world  for  a  better,  larger  merchant  ma- 
rine service,  that  we  may  show  the  nations  of  the  earth  the 
untold  resources  of  our  country. 

Do  we  want  to  see  the  factories  of  this  country  running 
(111  lull  time  and  their  owners  prosperous?  Do  we  desire  that 
our  merchant  class  shall  be  hopeful  and  independent?  Do 
we  long  for  the  time  to  come  when  the  farmer  shall  get  the 
full  fruit  of  his  labor?  Do  we  want  to  see  the  workman  on 
lirst-class  wages  which  will  yield  a  sufficiency  to  maintain 
his  family  clu.sfered  around  his  own  fireside?  Do  we  dream 
of  the  time  when  prosperity  in  the  highest  sense  of  the  word 
shall  ramify  every  business  interest  of  the  country?  If  so, 
nothing  can  bring  about  these  blessings  more  quickly  and 
moil'  certainly  than  the  strengthening  and  the  establishment 
(if  i-ecipro(-al  trade  relations  willi   llu'  nations  of  the  world. 

No  right  thinking  man,  a  mt'iiiber  (if  this  great  free  re- 
public, the  admiration  of  the  patriotic  sentiment  of  enlight- 
ened Christendom,  can  for  a  moment  conlemiilatc  with  ap- 
pi'o\al  aiiv  iili'a  nl'  imperialism,  ami  yet  Ihe  number  are 
millions  who  «(udd  righlly  and  ju.^lly  extend  our  trade 
until  there  is  not  an  ocean  under  Ihe  sun  where  our  flag  does 
not  float  and  nui-  ships  dn  not  sail,  nor  a  land  where  our 
goods  are  not   known,  used  and  a]"i]irecialeil. 

.Mready  the  wave  of  prosju-rity  has  spread  over  our  coun- 
try from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  from  the  lakes  to  the  gulf; 
millions  of  luMrts  have  been  gladdened,  and  homes  and  fire- 
sides surrounded  by  happy  families  have  been  the  places  of 


FRED.  WILLIAM  SMITH, 
Charters' Towers,  Queensland. 


SYDNEY  STOTT, 
Melbourne.  Victoria. 


W.  T.  TODD, 

Invercargill,  NewZealand. 


H. ROTHERHAM, 

Melbourne,  Victoria. 


W.  J.  MOXHAM, 
Sydney,  N.  S.  W. 


JAMES  MILNE, 
Brisbane,  Queensland. 


EMIL  S.  FISCHER, 
Vienna,  Austria. 


DR.  ALEXANDER  VON  DORN, 

Vienna,  Austria. 


A.  ASHER  SMITH, 
Sydney,  N.S.  W. 


TENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  24,  1899 


198 


general  rejoicing.  Standing  in  the  ftood-tide  of  the  mighty 
onward-flowing  stream,  some  of  us  are  astounded,  amazed 
at  the  changes  which  have  brought  so  much  hope,  so  much 
cheer.  The  dark  chnids  of  discontent,  of  doubt,  of  want  of 
confidence,  wliich  have  so  l(mg  liung  like  a  mighty  fate  over 
the  land,  have  disappeared,  and  in  their  stead  we  have  re- 
stored confidence,  actively  returned  business  conditions  and 
an  abiding  faith  and  trust  in  the  future. 

The  present  century  will  close  under  these  bright  auspices, 
and  the  new  century  begin  with  larger  opportunities  to  still 
further  brighten  the  sphere  of  human  life. 

Amid  it  all,  as  an  hunble  citizen  of  this  great  Republic 
over  which  the  Stars  and  Stripes  float  so  loved  and  honored 
by  every  true  American — the  emblem  of  individual  and  na- 
tional liberty — permit  me  to  rejoice  that  we  forget  not  in 
the  stride  for  business,  that  we  have  money  enough  and  will 
enough,  and  energj'  enough  to  e.xport  the  gospel  of  peace 
and  joy  to  all  the  benighted  peoples  of  the  earth  with  its 
civilizing  and  Christianizing  influences  to  make  them  better, 
nobler  and  happier  in  every  walk  of  life.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  J.  C.  Monaghan: 

I  have  now  the  honor  to  present  Dr.  J.  J.  Ulloa  G.,  Con- 
sul-General  of  Costa  Rica  and  also  ex-President  of  the  Re- 
public of  Costa  Rica. 

Hun.  J.  J.  Ulloa  G.,  Consul-General  of  Costa  Rica: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  If  I  should  speak 
in  my  ow-n  native  tongue  very  few  of  you  would  be  fortu- 
nate enough  to  understand  me,  while  if  I  did  it  in  my 
broken  English  the  number  of  sufferers  would  be  greater. 
Relying,  then,  on  yoixr  own  well-known  patience,  I  will  try 
to  make  myself  understood  in  the  language  of  Shakespeare 
and  Longfellow. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Members  of  the  Different  Delegations, 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  There  is  not  such  a  word  as  "Im- 
possible" in  the  dictionary  of  American  enterprise.  This 
being  the  case,  I  cannot  understand  the  delay  of  the  muscu- 
lar Uncle  Sam  in  cutting  through  the  narrow  strip  of  land 
which  is  the  only  flimsy  barrier  preventing  him  from  sailing 
across  the  continent,  saving  so  many  days  in  going  from  one 
ocean  to  the  other  to  carry  the  innumerable  products  of  this 
nation,  whose  progress  has  astonished  the  world,  not  only 
for  its  magnitude,  but  for  the  rapidity  with  which  it  grows. 

It  seems  unnatural,  not  to  say  ridiculous,  that  such  a 
pigmy  as  a  ie\v  yards  of  land  should  oblige  the  Giant  of 
Commerce  to  go  around  Cape  Horn,  spending  in  his  trip  so 
many  days  more  than  he  should  do,  not  only  to  extend  hi.s 
trade,  but  to  communicate  by  sea  with  the  Pacific  States  and 
the  new  possessions  of  this  confederation.  Let  us  wait  no 
longer;  let  us  soon  see  the  steam  and  electricity  giving  all 
the  power  necessary  to  make  a  reality  that  whicli  constitutes 
to-day  the  most  important  project  of  the  age,  and  have  thi.s 
big  brother  of  ours  accept  the  cordial  invitation  extended 
to  him  by  his  two  little  sisters,  Costa  Rica  and  Nicara.srua, 
who  want  to  see  "Old  Glory"  sailing  across  their  domin- 
ions, carrying  with  it  the  elements  which  constitute  to-day 
the  desideratmn  of  all  nations  w'ho  are  anxious  to  go  ahead 
in  the  road  of  progress  and  prosperity. 

Columbus  died  a  disappointed  man  because  he  did  not 
succeed  in  finding  a  new  route  to  the  Indies,  his  ship  hav- 
ing been  stopped  by  the  impassable  barrier  of  a  new  con- 
tinent. Balboa,  when  he  went  across  Darien  in  1513,  was 
the  first  one  to  realize  how  narrow  wa.s  the  separation 
between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  oceans.  Ever  since 
then  there  has  been  an  ever  increasing  desire  to  cut  through 
the  Central  American  Isthmus  to  save  that  barrier,  and  that 
desire  was  very  much  increased  in  the  United  States  bv  the 


discovery  of  gold  in  California  in  1848,  which  was  the  start- 
ing point  of  the  wonderful  development  acquired  in  later 
years  by  the  until  then  very  little  important  Pacific  states 
of  the  Union. 

The  trip  of  the  "Oregon"  during  the  past  Spanish- 
American  war  was  an  object  lesson  which  conclusively 
demonstrated  the  commercial  and  political  necessities  of  the 
canal,  which  will  make  a  difference  of  ten  thousand  miles  in 
the  approximation  by  sea  of  the  two  coasts  of  the  United 
States,  and  which  will  also  bring  very  much  nearer  the  new 
American  possessions  of  Hawaii,  the  Philippines  and  the 
Ladrones. 

The  canal  must  be  dug  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  in  preference  to  private  enterprise,  because  it  will 
sei-ve  better  the  benefit  of  Congress  and  of  the  general  public. 
$125,000,000  taken  by  yearly  instalments  out  of  the  pockets 
of  the  prosperous  Uncle  Sam  will  not  make  him  feel  much 
poorer,  and  will  undoubtedly  be  the  most  profitable  invest- 
ment ever  made  by  him,  because  he  will  succeed  in  cutting 
down  considerably  the  actual  transport<ation  and  freight 
rates,  giving  his  countrv'men  a  good  opportunity  to  get  the 
best  of  European  industries  in  the  markets  of  Central  and 
South  America  and  also  in  those  of  the  Eastern  countries. 
The  terrific  handicap  on  American  business  exercised  to-day 
by  the  long  and  tedious  sea  voyage  or  by  the  high  rates  of 
the  trans-continental  lines  of  railroads,  will  be  done  away 
with,  and  the  enterprise  of  this  world  of  steam  and  electricity 
will  flourish  and  eclipse  its  competitors  of  to-day. 

The  canal  across  Costa  Rica  and  Nicara^eiui  is  a  project  of 
the  United  States,  just  the  same  as  tlie  canal  of  Panama  is  a 
project  of  France.  Different  commissions  have  at  different 
times  and  on  different  occa-^ions  made  all  the  necessary 
studies,  and  the  conviction  of  the  many  advantages  and 
feasibility  of  the  first  route  are  deeply  rooted  in  the  major- 
ity of  the  people  of  this  nation.  The  practicability  of  the 
canal  across  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  is  out  of  discussion, 
and  the  be.st  of  American,  as  well  as  of  foreign  talent,  with 
very  few  exceptions,  all  agi-ee  in  preferring  this  route  to  any 
other,  not  only  because  of  its  many  natural  advantages,  but 
on  account  of  the  richness  of  the  lands  on  both  sides,  and 
for  the  superiority  of  its  climate  as  compared  to  that  of 
Panama.  The  river  San  Juan  and  the  lake  of  Nicaragua 
diminish  considerably  the  extension  of  land  which  it  is  neces- 
sary to  dig,  and  the  magnificent  lake  is  besides  an  acquisi- 
tion whose  value  is  of  very  difficult  estimation,  when  we  con- 
sider it  as  an  internal  station  for  all  kinds  of  steam  and 
sailing  vessels. 

The  digging  of  this  canal  is  not  a  question  of  party  matter 
but  constitutes  one  of  those  needs  which  have  to  be  com- 
prehended by  the  patriotic  term  of  American  policy,  and  as 
a  consequence,  all  the  good  Americans  with  their  far-seeing 
instinct,  have  to  endorse  it.  Leaving  aside  the  diplomatic 
side  of  the  question  to  be  considered  by  those  to  whom  it 
concerns,  let  us  confine  ourselves  to  the  practicability  of  the 
project  and  to  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  its  realiza- 
tion. 

All  the  commissions  that  have  studied  this  project  agree 
in  its  favorable  issue,  and  really  the  only  point  in  which  they 
differ,  is  in  the  estimation  of  its  cost.  From  the  reports  of 
Rear-Admiral  Walkers  canal  commission,  as  well  as  from 
that  of  Colonel  Ludlow's,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  entire  cost 
of  the  canal  will  be  under  $135,000,000,  which  is  really  a 
small  sum  when  we  consider  on  the  other  side  the  results 
which  will  be  obtained  by  the  parties  concerned  in  it. 

I  do  not  enter  into  the  consideration  of  details  of  the  work 
or  of  the  statistical  facts  connected  wath  it,  because  those 
points  have  been  fully  treated  by  the  able  orators  who  have 
preceded  me,  and  who  have  discussed  the  subject  in  the  elo- 
quent and  conclusive  manner  in  which  they  have  done  it. 


194 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


The  canal  will  divide,  to  unite  more  firmly,  the  two  sisters 
of  Niearagiia  urul  Costa  Rica,  who  will  introduce  their  "Uncle 
Sam''  into  Central  America,  where  he  w-ill  find  ample 
liieatre  foi'  his  machinery  and  for  his  money,  to  develop  a 
practically  virgin  soil,  that  needs  nothing  else  than  the 
sj)ade  of  well-directed  enterprise,  to  return  trebled  in  a  very 
short  time,  the  value  of  the  money,  of  the  talent,  and  of  the 
energies  em])loyed  tliere. 

It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  the  United  States 
should  know  us  better  than  they  do,  and  not  continue  in  the 
deplorable  ignorance  in  which  they  are  about  our  natural 
resources,  customs,  uses,  climate  and  other  advantages  of  a 
country  where  there  are  no  extremes  of  temperature,  where 
land  is  cheap,  and  where  misery  is  unknown,  because  the 
slightest  work  will  make  the  soil  produce  readilv  all  that  is 
necessary  to  live  and  prosper. 

Take  as  an  example  tlie  Repulilic  of  Costa  Rica,  which  is 
I  he  part  of  Central  America  which  1  know  the  best,  and 
there  you  will  find  about  20,000  square  miles  of  land  fully 
iiTigatcd,  of  different  kinds,  and  where  all  sorts  of  products 
from  the  torrid  as  well  as  the  temperate  zones  grow  perfectly 
well.  Its  soil  produces  the  highest  grades  of  coffee,  tobacco, 
sugar  cane,  rubber  and  all  kinds  of  fruit  and  vegetables.  In 
its  forests  you  will  find  the  best  of  woods,  as  cedar,  mahog- 
any, guayacan,  tinctoreal  ones  also,  and  all  kinds  of  textile 
and  medicinal  plants,  and  in  its  hills  many  vei-y  rich  mines 
of  gold  and  silver. 

The  climate  of  the  countij  is  a  most  channing  one.  The 
temperature  runs  between  64  and  80  degrees  Fahrenheit, 
and  the  poor  people  suffer  neither  from  the  want  of  ice  nor 
of  wool.  The  .scenery  is  grand  and  varied  and  the  traveler 
will  always  find  places  which  will  interest  him  as  there  are 
very  few  spots  in  the  world  where  nature  shows  herself  so 
fine  and  so  grand.  Add  to  all  these  natural  advantages  a 
population  composed  almost  in  its  entirety  of  white  people, 
hard-working,  fond  of  progress,  of  a  peaceful  disposition, 
and  who  love  and  help  all  foreigners  who  go  there  to  de- 
velop the  country  in  their  different  capabilities,  and  you  will 
have  undoubtedly  to  agree  with  me,  in  stating  that  it  must 
lie  preferred  Ijy  American  capital  and  enterjirise  in  the  cer- 
tainty that  the  best  results  will  be  obtained  there. 
_  I  am  a  decided  partisan  of  expansion,  but  of  that  expan- 
sion which  has  as  its  only  soldiers,  science,  the  arts  and 
industries. 

I  want  Cncle  Sam  to  go  to  Central  America  in  ships  or 
in  trains  loaded  with  the  products  of  his  industries,  to  trade 
with  us  on  friendly  terms  and  give  us  the  fruits  of  his  knowl- 
edge and  of  his  experience  in  exchange  for  those  of  our 
rich  soil.  We  must  be  always  good  friends  and  profit  amply 
hy  the  doctrine  of  Monroe,  but  justly  applied.  We  do  not 
want  to  admire  the  United  States  for  her  guns  or  for  her 
nieii-of-wai'.  but  we  do  wish  to  admire  her,  for  her  loco- 
motives, caliles  and  machinery.  We  do  not  want  your  steel 
made  in  torpedoes  or  in  rifles,  but  we  welcome  it',  in  rails, 
bridges  and  ploughs. 

Study  our  countries  a  little  more  than  you  have  done 
until  now,  open  your  eyes,  make  your  calculations,  and  l.t 
us  all  work  together  for  our  mutual  bciiclit  ami  for  the  bet- 
terment of  the  worid  of  Columbus. 

Hang  up  your  guns,  and  take  hold  of  your  [ucks  and 
shovels.  Time  is  money.  Go  aliead.  Uncle  "Sam,  and  take 
the  extensive  strides  for  which  you  are  adapted  so  uvll  by 
your  long  legs,  and  hurry  up  in  buildina  (be  canal  wbi.-ji 
you  need,  which  we  need,  and  which  I  he  wlmlc  uorld  need* 
Among  many  other  things  you  are  celebrated,  Tnclc  Sam 
for  being  an  expert  in  the  preparation  of  mixed  drinks  and' 
taking  this  into  consideration,  allow  m(>  to  repeat  what  T 
said   on   a  previous  occasion. 

Treat  the  whrde  world  to  the  grandest  of  all  cocktails  by 


mixing  up  the  high-spirited  waters  of  the  ocean  of  to-day's 
progress,  with  the  pacific  ones  of  the  ocean  of  the  civiliza- 
tion of  to-morrow.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  J.  C.  Munaglian: 

I  was  reminded  a  moment  ago  by  the  quotation,  made  by 
our  Consul  at  Panama,  from  de  Lesseps,  of  the  fact  that  com- 
merce and  commercial  relations  have,  in  the  history  of  the 
world,  done  as  much  or  more  for  the  building  of  national 
power  and  fame  than  any  other  force.  The  Phoenicians  car- 
ried their  civilization  with  their  commerce,  and  the  debt  of 
gratitude  that  Europe  and  the  world  owes  to  the  Arabs  is 
incalculable.  Venice  annually  wedded  the  Adriatic  to  sym- 
bolize the  wonderful  power  and  prosperity  brought  within 
its  gates  by  the  ships  that  went  into  foreign  ports.  Portugal 
and  Spain  conquered,  as  they  thought,  and  divided  the 
"world  between  them,  because  of  the  power  of  their  ships. 
When  England  came  out  among  the  commercial  nations  of 
the  world  a  new  era  dawned,  ajid  that  "tight  little  island," 
as  the  Englisii  sometimes  love  to  call  it,  became  the  most 
powerful  nation  of  all  times,  and  England  owes  her  great- 
ness and  her  grandeur  not  only  to  her  Nelsons  and  her 
Drakes,  but  to  the  manufacturers  and  merchants  who  have 
sent  the  products  of  her  looms  and  her  factories  and  the 
civilization  that  always  goes  along  the  lines  of  commerce  to 
all  parts  of  the  world.  I  cannot  help  expressing  the  hope 
of  which  the  consul  spoke,  of  the  marriage,  of  the  ceremony 
of  the  people  of  Venice.  I  cannot  help  expressing  the  hope, 
as  I  did  on  one  occasion,  in  a  limited  fonn,  in  Europe — I 
said  in  a  meeting  of  German  manufacturers  and  officers,  "I 
hope  the  time  will  come  when  there  will  be  an  alliance  of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  speaking  races,  when  England  and  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States  will  bind  themselves  together 
as  one  great  force  and  factor  for  civilization."  To-day,  and 
since  attending  this  Congress,  I  have  extended  my  hope  and 
wish  to  say  here  now  that  I  hope  that  the  building  of  this 
canal  and  the  sentiments  which  have  gone  out  from  this  Con- 
gress will  bring  out  an  alliance  <if  all  the  nations  and  peoples 
of  the 'world.     (Applause.) 

We  have  to-day  Mr.  Henry  Sell,  reiiresciiting  the  city  of 
London,  wlnnn  I  now  have  the  bcuior  of  presenting.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

New  Te.vde  Routes  of  the  World. 

Mr.  Henry  Srll: 

from  the  time  when  ancient  Venice  lost  her  supremacy  as 
the  centre  of  the  trade  of  the  world  in  consequence  princi- 
pally of  the  discovery  of  new  trade  routes,  so  the  opening 
of  new  trade  routes  bringing  closer  together  the  distant  parts 
of  the  globe  must  continue  to  bring  aliout  gi-eat  changes  in 
commercial  centres.  The  constructimi  of  an  Isthmian  Canal 
and  of  the  great  Siberian  Railway  across  Russia  will  bring 
about  in  the  world's  lines  of  communication  in  the  near  future 
new  trade  routes  that  will  alter  the  face  of  the  world.  Im- 
proved means  of  communication  will  open  up  to  the  upera- 
tions  of  traders,  countries  of  which  hitherto,  commerce  has 
but  touched  the  fringe,  and  new  trade  routes  will  enable  many 
ciinipetitors  to  vie  with  mic  annilicr  c\cn  wmwv  keenly  than 
at  ]iresent  in  the  markets  nf  llie  wniM.  Imili  dd  and  new. 

It  may  not  lie  unnecessary  tn  point  mil  llial.  however  great 
improvements  the  next  century  may  .see  in  motive  power,  sea 
carriage  must  always  be  cheaper  than  land  carriage,  if  only 
that,  with  motive  force  a  consiant  factor,  the  water  way  must 
always  have  the  advantage,  owing  to  there  being  no  expense 
on  permanent  way. 

The  ready  access  to  the  ocean  enjoyed  by  every  part  of  Great 
Britain  and  by  the  great  sea-borders  of  the   United  States 


TENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  24,  1899 


105 


is  a  great  point  in  their  favor  and  is  likely  to  remain  so.  Even 
canal  communication,  excellent  as  it  is,  has  its  disadvantages, 
and  though  much  is  being  done  in  this  direction  in  some 
countries,  notably  in  Germany,  nothing  can  quite  make  up 
for  want  of  proximity  to  a  sea-board. 

Starting  from  England,  for  instance,  and  taking  New  Zea- 
land for  our  objeetive,  we  see  that  the  present  route  round 
Cape  Horn  is  12.000  miles,  or  via  Cape  Town,  13,100  miles, 
whereas  the  distance  from  Auckland.  New  Zealand,  to  South- 
amption  by  an  Isthmian  Canal,  touching  in  the  West  Indies 
for  coal,  would  be  10,700,  a  reduction  of  1,300  miles.  Sydney 
to  Plymouth,  via  Panama,  would  be  11,880  miles,  a  slight 
saving  on  the  12.145  miles  from  London  by  the  P.  &  0.  route. 
Yokohama  would  not  be  brought  nearer  to  Great  Britain,  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  western  shores  of  South  and  North 
America  would  be  brought  comparatively  near  to  us,  while 
it  will  at  once  be  apparent  from  the  contour  of  the  coast  line 
how  New  York  and  the  other  cities  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
United  States  would  gain  by  the  close  pro.ximity  of  the 
markets  of  the  western  coast  of  South  and  Central  America. 


The  Great  Trans-Siberian  Railway  in  Russia, 

with  a  total  length  of  6,400  miles,  it  is  universally  felt,  is  one 
of  the  most  important  of  the  social,  political  and  material 
forces  now  in  process  of  evolution.  That  railway  will  open 
up  immense  natural  resources  in  coal,  iron,  gold,  silver, 
platinum,  etc.,  besides  affording  a  direct  means  of  communi- 
cation with  the  interior  of  China,  which  should  introduce 
great  economic  changes  in  the  relations  of  that  empire  with 
the  rest  of  Europe.  Its  completion  will  make  Russia  much 
closer  to  Japan  and  China,  by  way  of  Siberia,  than  England 
and  Frajice  can  ever  be  by  the  ocean.  A  recent  consular  re- 
port announces  that  a  branch  of  the  South  Siberian  Railroad, 
leading  to  the  borders  of  Afghanistan,  has  been  opened  for 
business,  and  that  the  first  trip  was  made  on  November  20, 
1898.  This  road,  it  is  declared,  "is  the  key  to  Afghanis- 
tan, the  borders  of  Persia,  and,  above  all,  the  capital  city  of 
Herat  and  the  great  valley  of  Heri-Rud."  The  importance 
of  this  branch  it  would  be  difficult  to  overestimate,  and  when 
Russia's  great  railway  scheme  is  complete  she  will  be  able 
to  move  goods  from  any  part  of  European  Russia  to  the  heart 
of  Persia,  India  or  China,  more  quickly  and  more  cheaply 
than  any  country  of  Western  Europe  or  the  United  States. 
It  will  be  in  no  way  surprising  if  a  great  emporium  of  trade 
develops  in  Central  Asia,  once  the  prolific  nursery  of  the 
Tartar  hordes,  who  swept  in  successive  waves  across  Europe. 

But  while  these  great  schemes  are  afoot  we  must  not  over- 
look another  route  which,  in  all  probability,  \rill  shortly  be 
open  and  of  great  importance.  It  only  requires  a  compara- 
tively short  length  of  time  to  unite  the 

Yang-Tse  Valley  and  the  Burmah  Railway, 

whence  communication  across  India,  via  Calcutta,  is  had  to 
Bombay,  thence  by  the  Persian  Gulf  to  Kuweit  by  sea,  to 
Bagdad  by  the  projected  German  line,  to  Tripoli  by  the  pro- 
jected British  line,  and  thence  to  Brindisi  home. 
In  Africa  the 


Cape  to  Cairo  Railway 

promises  to  open  up  the  Eastern  and  Southern  and  North- 
eastern provinces  to  trade. 

Within  a  short  time  the  French  Government  will  probably 
take  up  the  construction  of  the 


Trans-Saharian  Road, 

which  will  bind  her  flourishing  pro^^nces  of  Algiers  and  Tunis 
to  Timbuctoo  and  the  Soudan.  It  is  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century  since  the  Trans-Saharian  was  first  broached,  and 
several  years  since  the  first  link  was  planned  by  the  ministry 
of  public  works.  Actual  work  has  not  yet  been  begun;  but 
M.  Paul  Leroy-Beaulieu,  the  eminent  French  economist,  has 
]X)inted  out  repeatedly,  in  the  journals  for  which  he  writes, 
that  the  Trans-Saharian  is  essential  to  French  domination 
of  Africa  and  that  under  its  operation  France  would  also  open 
a  new  world  to  trade.  The  heart  of  Africa  info  which  Stanley 
penetrated  through  so  many  dangers,  is  likely  to  become  in 
a  few  years  an  easy  journey  of  a  few  days,  in  a  Pullman 
sleeper,  from  French  civilization  on  the  northern  coast. 

These  are  but  some  of  the  many  great  trade  routes  that 
are  being  considered.  Undoubtedly  the  actual  can-ying  out 
of  many  great  engineering  schemes  for  girdling  the  globe 
will  be  accomplished  in  the  neai'  future.  Time  alone  can  show 
how  far-reaching  their  effects  will  be,  or  what  changes  will 
be  made  in  the  commercial  maps  of  the  world.    (Applause.) 

Hon.  J.  C.  MonagJian: 

I  have  now  the  honor  to  introduce  Mr.  J.  W.  Humphreys, 
of  Colon,  a  delegate  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  that 
city.  We  have  heard  from  the  Consul  of  Panama  and  now  we 
will  hear  from  someone  at  the  other  end  of  the  canal  at  Colon, 
Mr.  Hum]ihreys. 

Mr.  J.  W.  Humphreys: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The 
question  of  an  inter-oceanic  canal  on  the  Western  Hemis- 
phere is  not  to-day  a  theory,  a  scheme  or  a  matter  of  specu- 
lation. It  is  a  partially  accomplished  fact  that  has  been 
realized  at  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

Benefits. 

Doubtless  every  nation  on  earth  will  be  benefited  by  the 
opening  of  such  a  waterway,  but  none  to  the  extent  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  Her  interests  in  that  great  work 
are  paramount.  It  is  a  national  necessity,  and  the  world 
looks  to  her  to  join  her  sister  Republic,  France,  in  carrying 
that  enterjirise  to  a  successful  issue. 

An  inter-oceanic  canal  means  a  saving  to  California  of 
nearly  $4,000,000  annually,  for  that  section  of  the  United 
States  ships  to  J^urope  nearly  two  million  tons  of  wheat  and 
other  merchandise  annually;  and  via  the  canal  after  paying- 
toll,  there  would  be  a  saving  on  freight  of  $3.00  per  ton. 

There  are  the  immense  pine  forests  in  the  Southwest, 
whose  timbei-s  are  wanted  in  the  West  Indies  and  other  coun- 
tries in  exchange  for  the  sugar  of  those  islands.  The  best 
timbers  of  Central  and  South  America  are  on  the  West  Coast, 
also  the  lumber  fields  of  Washington  and  Oregon.  There  are 
the  coal  fields  of  the  Southwest  of  America.  There  is  the 
wealth  of  Ecuador,  Peru,  Chile,  etc.  There  is  the  saving  of 
distance  between  New  York  and  San  Francisco  of  ten  tliou- 
sand  miles,  and  other  places  in  proportion.  Besides  these, 
there  is  the  additional  number  of  twenty-five  million  custom- 
ers for  the  American  exports. 

Where  Shall  it  Be? 

The  necessity  and  advantages  being  thus  briefly  alluded 
to,  the  mo.st  suitalile  route  has  been  found.  That  spot,  indi- 
cated by  nature  herself,  has  been  adopted  by  many  of  the 
most  eminent  inquirers  of  the  world.  On  the  political  part 
of  the  question  I  am  not  here  to  speak.    The  United  States 


196 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


liave  taken  notes,  no  doubt,  of  the  voyage  of  the  "Oregon." 

The  Americans  themselves  have  been  the  first  ami  only 
ones  who  have  established  a  transit  sei-vice  by  railroad,  and 
it  is  to  be  found  from  Colon  to  Panama,  in  the  Panama  Piail- 
road,  built  bv  Aspinwall,  Stephens  and  Chauncey,  yonr 
cuuntrj^men.  "All  well-informed  and  unbiased  men  admit  that 
Panama  is  the  only  practicable  route. 

That  great  American  general.  President  Grant,  who  liad 
been  tramcd  as  an  engin"eer  at  West  Point,  passed  through 
the  Isthmus  in  1809  and  had  studied  that  route.  Convinced 
of  its  practicability,  he  sent  Stephen  W.  Hurlbut,  an  eminent 
western  lawyer,  as' Minister  to  Bogota,  Colombia,  with  special 
instructions  respecting  that  matter,  the  result  being  that  a 
treaty  was  signed  bv  him  and  Dr.  Justo  Arosaueua,  on  behalf 
of  Colombia,  on  January  26,  1870,  Article  8  of  which  reads: 
•■•The  United  States  shall  construct  or  cause  to  be  constructed 
a  canal  at  Panama,"  etc. 

The  sovereignty  of  Colombia  was  guaranteed.  That  treaty 
was  sent  to  the  United  States  Senate  on  March  31,  lS7n. 
Enemies  of  the  proposed  treaty  on  the  canal  in  the  Colombian 
Congress  so  mutilated  the  document  and  placed  such  restric- 
tions  that  the  United  States  could  not  accede.  It  was  after 
that,  that  General  Grant,  evidently  in  disgust,  turned  his 
attention  in  another  direction.  General  Grant's  preference  for 
Panama  over  every  other  route  has  been  shared  by  many  other 
prominent  Americans. 

The  Business  Views. 

Apart  from  that  choice,  what  is  the  present  business  as- 
pect of  this  matter?  At  Panama  we  have  a  canal  three-fifths 
c.omi)leted,  with  material  and  installations  now  there  for 
terminating  the  work,  such  material  being  justly  character- 
ized as  formidable — ^all  ready  to  resume  work,  and  safe  ports 
at  each  end;  all  the  plans  complete — the  hydrography  of  the 
changes  known  with  acctu'acy  for  the  regulation  of  its  waters; 
with  a  summit  divide  of  only  five  miles,  with  sixteen  miles  of 
channel  on  the  Atlantic  side  and  seven  on  the  Pacific  navig- 
able— a  well-equipped  and  well  conducted  railroad.  Wher- 
ever a  canal  has  to  be  built  a  railroad  must  be  constructed, 
and  above  all,  the  practicability  of  making  the  canal  to  sea 
level  and  the  cost  of  completion  must  be  less  than  that  of  any 
other  pro])osed  canal.  This  Panama  Canal  is  located  at  a 
jilace  which  is  most  accessible. 

Will  Americans,  the  engineers  and  mechauics  of  the  woild. 
[termit  anyone  else  to  complete  this  work  which  will  be  a 
climax  to  the  glories  of  the  recent  campaign?  But  then'  is 
more  than  glory  to  be  secured  by  putting  into  the  Panama 
Canal  the  energy  and  pluck  of  such  men  as  constructed  Atbara 
bridge  in  Egypt.  Energies  of  which  Philadelphians  are  so 
justly  proud,  should  surely  be  enlisted  in  this  work. 

Ihni.  ./.  ('.  Monnr/haii  : 

I  liave  now  the  lumor  of  presenting  Mr.  Wilfred  II.  ScliolT. 
Chief  of  the  Foreign  De|)artment  of  the  Commercial  Miisciiiii. 
who  will  read  a  ])aper  l)y  Mr.  l''nri(|iic  Wiillf.  ConsnI-Crncial 
and  delegate  from  Bolivia. 

1 1  fill.  Eiiriijuc  Wulff: 

Mr.  President:  Of  all  the  advantages  which  the  American 
Continent  can  derive  from  this  Congress,  none  would  be  of 
greater  importance  than  the  formal  declaration  that  the 
Panama  Canal  is  an  inevitalile  necessity  for  the  civilization 
and  commerce  of  the  Latin-American  nations.  Such  a  decla- 
ralirin  would  put  an  end  to  all  uncertainty  and  would  strongly 
conlril)ute  to  the  early  completion  of  that  great  undertaking 
whirh  now  is  not  in  the  securest  of  positions,  heeanse  its 
magnitude  demands  universal  aid  which  cannot  be  obtained 
as  long  as  there  is  a  difTerence  of  opinion  about  the  canal. 


^hen  a  union  of  forces  is  applied  to  a  fixed  object,  the 
body  moves,  and  with  more  or  less  difficulty  arrives  at  the  de- 
sired end;  but  if  those  forces  are  drawn  asunder,  so  that  one 
is  brought  into  resistance  with  the  other,  neither  is  effective. 
Two  locomotives  joined  together  will  draw  a  heavy  train, 
fiying  over  the  plains  and  mounting  the  steepest  grades,  but 
if  they  are  put  at  each  end,  drawing  in  opposite  directions, 
what  will  result? 

This  is  to-day  the  case  with  the  Panama  and  Nicaragua 
Canals.  The  United  States  Government  shows  itself  inclined 
to  favor  the  latter,  and  this  can  be  readily  explained  by  its 
greater  proximity  to  the  southern  coast  of  the  IJnited  States, 
and  to  the  new  American  possessions  in  the  Pacific.  But  here 
we  are  considering  questions  not  political,  but  commercial, 
and  these  all  cry  out  for  the  Panama  route,  which  is  the 
more  natural,  the  shorter  and  the  only  one  which  can  satisfy 
the  desires  of  the  South  American  Republics. 

The  greater  part  of  the  trade  of  Chile  is  done  with  the 
markets  of  Eurojie.  Bolivia  in  exporting  its  products  is 
o])liged  to  j)ay  very  high  freights  and  charges,  which  prevent 
it  from  coming  into  free  competition  with  other  countries 
less  fertile,  but  geographically  better  situated.  Peru,  Ecua- 
dor and  Colombia,  forced  tributaries  of  the  usurious  Panama 
railroad,  progress  with  difficulty  under  the  tyranny  of  their 
masters. 

If  the  canal  were  once  opened  and  commerce  conld  go 
through  in  a  few  hours,  the  freight  rates  would  immediately 
go  down,  and  the  above  mentioned  Republics  would  see  their 
industries  flourish,  their  agriculture  prosper,  their  trade 
greatly  develop,  and,  what  would  be  worth  more  to  them  than 
all,  their  public  peace  assured.  People  who  are  idle  and  poor 
naturally  join  revolutions  because  they  have  nothing  else  to 
lose,  and  hope  to  gain  something  from  a  new  order  of  things. 
Peoples  whose  labor  is  properly  paid  take  pride  in  their  in- 
dustries, and,  in  the  quiet  and  abundance  of  their  produc- 
tion do  not  take  time  to  think  of  politics  or  of  revolutions, 
which  can  only  reduce  them  from  prosperity  to  -nTetchedness. 
The  national  good  luck  of  Chile  has  brought  it  peace  for 
many  years.  The  bad  luck  of  Colombia  and  Venezuela  pro- 
vokes a  new  revolution  every  day.  In  the  republics  on  the 
Pacific  coast  there  are  entire  provinces  devoted  almost  ex- 
clusively to  the  cultivation  of  cofFee.  The  fall  in  price  of 
this  product  has  a  most  discouraging  effect  on  agricultural 
interests  and  will  lead  inevitably  to  the  abandonment  of  plan- 
tations situated  at  a  distance  from  the  high  roads  of  com- 
merce. These  plantations  are  being  abandoned  because  to- 
day thev  must  pay  the  exorbitant  freight  charges  and  can- 
not compete  with  those  of  less  value  in  countries  which  pos- 
sess better  communication  with  the  great  markets  of  the 
world.  Within  a  short  time  then  we  shall  see  thousands  of 
fortunes  reduced  to  nothing,  and  thousands  and  thousands 
of  laborers  without  work,  and  what  shall  become  of  these 
men?  Deepening  poverty  and  forced  idleness  will  soon  de- 
moralize them,  and  the  well-known  warlike  spirit  of  those 
races  can  only  foreshadow  a  new  era  of  revolutions. 

The  opening  of  the  Panama  Canal  would  greatly  change 
this  situation,  because  therein',  iln'  abundant  agriculture  of 
the  Pacific  would  be  enabled  to  compete  with  that  of  the  At- 
lantic; and  what  T  sav  if  eofTce  is  applicable  to  all  other  ex- 
portable products.  Tagua,  or  vegetalile  ivory,  which  at  times 
lias  been  in  great  demand,  to-day  can  liardly  be  exported  be- 
cause its  price  scarcely  covers  the  cost  of  transportation. 

To-day.  furthei-more,  there  are  a  thousand  vegetable  prod- 
ucts which  in  other  quarters  would  constitute  wealth,  but 
which  here  cannot  be  cultivated  because  they  cannot  be  profit- 
ably exported.  St(>am  navigation  in  the  Pacific  is  practically 
monopolized  by  two  powerful  companies.  The  long  and  dan- 
gerous journey  through  the  Straits  of  Magellan  prevents 
European  and  .^nlprican  shipbuilders  from  entering  into  com- 


^ENTii  JDAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  24,  1899 


197 


petition.  Consequently  the  present  rulers  of  Pacific  naviga- 
tion, taking  tlie  position  of  conquerors  responsible  to  tlieni- 
selves  alone,  make  such  charges  as  they  please — charges  that 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century  have  not  varied  in  any  apprecia- 
ble degree.  All  this  would  come  to  an  end  with  the  opening 
of  the  canal,  or  even  with  the  public  assurance  of  its  com- 
pletion, because  the  steamship  companies,  which,  feeling 
assured  of  their  present  position,  take  no  risk  to  encourage 
commerce  and  enterprise,  would  then  show  a  much  more 
liberal  spirit  in  order  to  retain  their  control  of  the  trade. 
The  ports  of  those  countries  would  then  be  open  to  the  first 
comer,  whose  interest  it  would  be  to  build  up  enterprises  and 
commerce  and  not  to  strike  them  down. 

The  Panama  railroad,  belonging  to  the  canal  company,  is 
and  has  always  been  a  factor  of  evil  for  the  commercial 
prosperity  of  the  Pacific  coast  countries,  both  because  of  its 
usurious  freights  and  because  it  works  in  entire  harmony  with 
the  steamship  companies  which  have  monopolized  the  trade. 
This  has  undoubtedly  driven  away  support  from  the  canal 
enterprise,  but  we  should  not  judge  the  whole  by  the  part,  and 
especially  in  a  case  like  this,  where  the  harmful  part  would 
disappear  before  the  great  fact  of  the  completed  canal  which 
once  opened  would  invite  the  trade  of  all  flags  and  make  a 
railroad  unnecessary  for  anything  but  the  local  traffic  of  the 
Isthmus. 

The  Nicaragua  Canal,  compared  with  that  of  the  Panama 
Canal,  takes  a  secondary  place  because  the  republics  of  Cen- 
tral America,  with  the  exception  of  Salvador,  have  the  greater 
part  of  their  coast  line  upon  the  Caribbean  Sea,  and  because 
this  narrow  territory  can  be  readily  crossed  by  railroad  lines, 
which  would  make  the  canal  almost  unnecessary;  and  even  if 
this  were  not  true,  the  iiniversal  trade  developed  through  the 
Panama  route  would  be  of  benefit  to  Central  America,  because 
they  could  consign  their  products  by  way  of  the  Panama  more 
cheaply  than  through  the  Nicaragua  Canal.  Tliis  Nicaragua 
route  is  not,  therefore,  a  necessity  for  Central  America  as  the 
Panama  route  is  for  South  America. 

To-day  we  all  know  that  the  Central  American  Canal  will 
not  be  completed  without  the  official  aid  of  the  United  States 
Government,  and  we  know  also  that  this  great  Republic  is 
obliged  by  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  not  to  undertake  such 
a  work  without  the  assent  of  England.  This  difliculty,  it  is 
true,  may  be  surmounted  because  the  question  is  between  two 
gi'eat  nations  of  the  same  race,  which  appear  to-day  to  be  ap- 
proaching the  future  hand  in  hand.  But,  can  we  be  assured 
of  the  conditions  on  which  England  would  give  up  its  rights? 
The  United  States  would  be  quite  willing  to  make  great  con- 
cessions to  arrive  at  such  an  agreement,  and  naturally  would 
seek  its  own  recompense  elsewhere,  which  would  lead  in  time 
to  still  further  annoying  questions  of  diplomacy. 

Everything  seems  to  indicate  that  the  Nicaragua  Canal 
will  be  a  private  enterprise  and  not  an  international  one, 
and  this  destroys  its  commercial  importance.  The  Suez  Canal, 
open  in  peace  or  war  for  the  ships  of  all  nations,  yields  to 
universal  traffic  every  benefit  expected  of  it,  and  the  same 
would  be  true  of  the  Panama  Canal,  which  is  also  an  inter- 
national undertalving. 

These  and  other  considerations  which  are  well  known  to 
the  honorable  members  of  this  body,  lead  mc  to  propose  that 
the  Congress  should  take  action  nn  this  important  question, 
and  let  fall  the  weight  of  its  valuable  opinion  on  one  side 
of  the  uncertain  balance. 

Already  statistics  have  shown  that  the  two  canals,  if  they 
were  both  to  be  completed,  could  hardly  pay  the  cost  of 
maintenance,  no  matter  what  impetus  might  result  in  pres- 
ent maritime  commerce.  It  is  indispensable  that  there  he 
one  alone,  and  that  one  can  only  follow  the  Panama  route.  If 
the  Nicaragua  Canal  were  to  be  undertaken  as  a  private  enter- 
prise of  a  powerful  government,  it  might  be  completed  with 


the  assent  of  the  states  bordering  on  the  San  Juan  River  and 
Nicaragua  Lake,  but  it  could  never  take  on  the  character 
of  an  international  enterprise  and  developer  of  the  world's 
trade. 

lion.  J.  G.  Monayhan  : 

Quite  a  number  of  the  children  of  Israel  once  went  to  an 
ancient  prophet  and  asked  him  how  they  might  rebuild  the 
temple  and  the  city,  and  the  aged  man  said  to  them:  "Go 
home  and  let  each  do  that  which  he  finds  to  be  done  at  his  own 
door,"  and  it  occurred  to  me,  as  the  last  speaker  was  read- 
ing his  paper,  that,  instead  of  abrogating  the  Bulwer-Clay- 
ton  treaty  and  building  the  canal  ourselves,  it  might,  not  be 
a  bad  idea  to  make  it  an  international  enterprise,  to  invite 
all  the  nations  of  the  world  to  participate  in  so  great  a  work. 
And  so  possibly  if  each  and  everj'  gentleman  here  repre- 
senting foreign  governments  goes  back  and  does  that  which 
he  finds  to  be  done  at  his  own  door,  so  to  speak,  urges  upon 
his  government  some  such  movement  to  participate  with  the 
government  of  the  United  States  in  the  building  of  this  canal 
— the  Panama  or  Nicaragua — the  canal  would  certainly  be 
built. 

I  want  to  say,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  this  meeting 
stands  adjourned  until  three  o'clock  this  afternoon,  when  a 
general  discussion  will  take  place  in  this  hall  on  this  subject. 

(Adjourned  at  18.45  p.  m.) 


Phil.-idelphia,  Tuesday,  October  24,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  3.25  p.  m.  by  Hon.  J. 
C.  jVIonaghan. 

Hon.  J.  C.  Monaghan: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  think  in  your  own  interest  it 
will  be  much  better  if  the  persons  in  the  back  part  of  the  hall 
would  come  forward  and  occupy  seats  up  near  the  platform. 
You  \vill  find  it  much  pleasanter  for  yourselves.  The  acoustic 
properties  of  this  hall  are  all  right  when  it  is  full,  but,  un- 
fortunately, when  it  is  only  one-third  or  one-half  full,  it  is 
difficult  for  speakers  to  make  themselves  heard  beyond  the 
first  seven  or  eight  rows  of  chairs. 

Before  announcing  the  next  speaker,  I  have  the  honor  to 
state  that  His  Excellency,  Minister  J.  B.  Calvo,  has  anotner 
paper  on  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  which  he  has  written  in  Span- 
ish and  which  is  translated  and  will  be  included  in  the  pro- 
ceedings to-day.  Minister  Calvo  has  been  obliged  to  attend 
another  very  important  meeting.  His  manuscript  is  now  in 
charge  of  Dr.  Niederlein,  who  will  be  glad  to  show  it  to 
anyone  who  desires  to  see  the  manuscript,  and  it  will  appear 
later  in  the  proceedings. 

I  have  to  announce  a  telegram  received  by  Dr.  Wilson. 
It  reads  as  follows:  "Washington,  D.  C,  October  24th,  '99. 
Doctor  William  P.  Wilson,  Director  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum — Letter  21st  received  yesterday  afternoon.  Had 
made  an-angements  to  be  there  to-day.  Sudden  indisposi- 
tion unfortunately  prevents.  The  remarks  I  would  have 
made  will  be  published  later.     Luis  F.  Corea." 

I  might  add  that  Mr.  Corea,  Minis.ter  to  Nicaragua,  was 
on  the  list  for  this  morning. 

I  would  ask  if  Col.  J.  L.  Pearcy  is  in  the  audience?  If 
so,  I  would  like  to  have  him  come  to  the  platform. 

Is  Mr.  Rotherham  in  the  audience?  If  so,  he  will  kindly 
come  to  the  ]ilatfnrm. 

Mr.  Rotherham  then  went  to  the  platform. 

Mr.  Rotherham,  delegate  from  Melbourne,  Australia,  will 


198 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


now  address  us  on  the  subject  of  the  canal.  Of  course  you 
can  understand  that  not  only  Melbourne,  but  all  Australia  is 
very  much  interested  in  this  vei'y  important  subject.  It  is 
nu  moi-e  important  to  us,  perhaps,  than  it  is  to  them — the 
delegates  from  Australia.  I  have  the  honor  and  pleasure  of 
introducing  to  you  Mr.  H.  Rotherham. 

Mr.  II.  Rotherham: 

J[r.  Chairman,  Dr.  Wilson,  Fellow  Delegates  and  Ladies: 
I  scarcely  know  why  I  have  been  asked  to  speak  on  this  sub- 
ject, as  I  am  not  an  expert  on  canal  construction,  but  prob- 
ably my  opinion  has  been  sought  in  the  light  more  of  a  busi- 
ness man  than  that  of  an  expert.  An  expert  is  largely  a 
man  of  one  idea;  a  man  of  one  idea  is  a  man  whose  ideas 
generally  run  in  a  particular  direction.  It  is  very  difficult 
to  got  sucli  a  man  out  of  a  beaten  track,  though  you  may 
be  able  in  some  degree  to  convince  him  that  his  opinions 
arc  not  altogether  infallible.  The  highest  ideal  of  human 
life  is  that  of  living  away  from  self  for  the  benefit  and  well- 
being  of  others.  1  take  it,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  highest  ideal 
of  commerce  is  to  endeavor  to  confer  the  greatest  blessing 
upon  the  greatest  number,  and  I  believe  in  the  construction 
of  either  of  these  canals  because  its  construction  would  bene- 
fit humanity  at  large  and  the  commercial  world  in  a  special 
degree.  Of  course  it  does  not  much  matter  which  of  them 
is  constructed  so  long  as  one  of  them  is  built,  because  it 
will  be  such  a  help  to  commerce  in  our  quarter  of  the  globe. 
It  is  a  matter  of  indiflferenee  which  we  favor.  It  is,  how- 
ever, a  matter  of  great  importance  that  the  canal  should  be 
built  quickly.  Political  trickery  or  stock-jobbing  should  not 
be  allowed  to  enter  into  so  noble — so  national — an  enterprise. 
It  should  be  lifted  beyond  and  out  of  tlie  reach  of  sucli  sor- 
did elements. 

Anything  which  would  shorten  the  transit  from  one  coun- 
try to  another,  not  only  as  a  question  of  freight,  but  as  a 
(picstion  of  time,  is  a  factor  that  would  confer  upon  the 
merchant  a  great  benefit.  In  the  second  place,  it  would 
confer  a  continual  blessing  upon  the  consumer,  and  as  a  busi- 
ness man  I  think  that  the  Americans  are  far  bttiind  in  this 
matter.  As  our  friend  here  just  remarked,  "Uncle  Sam  is 
looked  upon  as  an  aggressive  and  a  progessive  individual." 
It  is  only  lately  that  he  has  taken  to  follow  some^vhat  closer, 
tbe  foot-steps  of  his  great  parent  in  the  way  of  land-grab- 
bing. It  is  all  there,  gentlemen,  and  it  is  coming  on  by 
degrees,  and  this  canal  when  constructed  will  bring  you  into 
closer  relationship  with  the  other  parts  of  the  world,  and 
by  that  means  not  only  confer  lasting  blessing  upon  your- 
selves, but  upon  us. 

J  take  it  that  this  matter  should  not  be  one  for  the  poli- 
tician to  decide.  Fi'om  what  we  gather  from  your  newspapers 
and  from  other  writings  your  politician  is  perhaps  not  the 
most  honorable  of  men  and  he  is  somewhat  given  to  what 
we  call  in  our  country  "log-rolling" — doing  good  to  another 
for  his  own  particular  advantage.  If  you  manufacturers  and 
men  of  business  in  this  great  country  would  rise  up  in  your 
miglit  and  in  your  power,  you  could  compel  the  powers  "that 
be  to  confer  this  blessing  upon  you  as  a  community  and  upon 
the  world  at  large.     (Applause.) 

}l<m.  J .  C.  Miinaghan: 

We  have  with  us  to-day  a  document  submitted  by  Mr. 
Merry,  United  States  Minister  to  Costa  Rica.  Unfortu- 
nately for  us  Mr.  Merry  is  not  able  to  be  present.  He 
has  sent  this  paper,  asking  that  it  be  read  at  this  mooting. 
and  inasmuch  as  it  deals  principally  with  the  Nicaraguan 
route,  and  as  we  have  heard  this  morning  arguments  very 
strongly  advocating  the  Panama  route,  it  is  only  fitting  that 
we  hear  and  have  printed  something  on  the  other  side  of  that 
question. 


Advantages  of  the  Nicaragua  Caxal  Route. 

\Vinia7n  Lawrence  Merry: 

In  a  fair  consideration  of  the  advantages  offered  by  the 
Nicaragua  Canal  route  over  the  Panama  or  other  routes 
south  thereof,  it  is  necessary  to  draw  comparisons  with  the 
projected  Panama  lock  canal  in  which  French  interests  are 
now  involved  after  the  disastrous  failure  of  the  Panama  sea 
level  canal  attempted  by  the  late  Count  de  Lesseps.  In  such 
comparison  as  will  be  made  by  the  writer  only  statements 
wdiicli  cannot  be  controverted  will  be  permitted.  It  is 
proper  that  I  should  admit  at  the  commencement  of  this 
[laper  that  the  Panama  route  offers  one  incontestable  advan- 
tage in  its  being  about  one-quarter  the  length  of  the 
Nicaragua  route,  although  the  canal  proper  at  Nicaragila  is 
several  miles  shorter  than  at  Panama,  the  remainder  of  the 
route  being  still  water,  river  and  lake  navigation.  This 
salient  fact  predisposes  the  new  investigator  in  favor  of  the 
Panama  route,  but  as  the  question  is  carefully  studied  it 
becomes  evident  that  no  other  advantage  attaches  thereto; 
it  is  in  every  other  particular  inferior  to  the  Nicaragua  route 
for  canalization.     The  inquii^  naturally  commences  with 

Sanitary  Conditions. 

The  favorable  sanitary  conditions  of  the  Nicaragua  canal 
route  are  well  known  to  all  who  have  interested  themselves 
in  the  American  Inter-oceanic  Canal  question.  Yellow  fever 
has  never  attacked  any  place  on  the  line  of  the  Nicaragua 
Canal.  Malarial  fevers  of  nuld  type  are  experienced  on  the 
Atlantic  littoral,  but  the  lake  region  is  generally  free  from 
them.  The  reports  of  the  medical  officers  of  the  vainous 
surveying  expeditions  in  Nicaragua,  without  exception,  re- 
mark upon  the  general  good  health  of  the  employes  both 
native  and  foreign.  The  northeastern  trade  winds  from  the 
Caribbean  Sea  follow  up  the  valley  of  the  San  Juan,  even 
gathering  force  as  Lake  Nicaragua  is  reached,  until  at  Brito, 
the  Pacific  terminus,  it  blows  a  moderate  northeast  gale 
(called  by  the  natives  the  Papagaijo  wind)  most  of  the  year, 
the  exceptions  being  short  ^Jeriods  during  the  rainy  season, 
when  the  southwesters  blow  from  the  Pacific,  bringing  heavy 
rain  storms,  lasting  three  to  four  days.  There  will  doubt- 
less be  increased  malaria  when  construction  commences,  but 
with  proper  sanitation  and  medical  attention,  such  mortality 
as  exists  at  Panama  need  not  be  anticipated. 

"Pernicious  malaria"  and  yellow  fevers  are  prevalent  on 
the  Panama  Isthmus.  The  Isthmian  Canal  Commission  has 
t)een  obliged  to  defer  examination  of  the  Panama  route 
until  November  or  December  next,  owing  to  the  prevalence 
of  yellow  fever  at  Panama,  w^hile  its  engineers  and  other 
employes  have  already  commenced  operations  at  Nicaragua 
without  hesitation.  The  incontestable  fact  carries  its  own 
e(]ually  incontestable  argument. 

P^ooNonY  OF  Navigable  Distances. 

The  Nicaragua  Canal  effects  a  saving  in  distance  as  com- 
pared with  Panama  to  vessels  coming  from  the  north  on 
either  ocean  of  545  miles  on  the  Pacific  and  42  miles  on  the' 
Atlantic.  The  587  miles  thus  saved  make  two  days  naviga- 
tion for  a  fairly  fast  steamship  or  three  days  for  a  slow 
freight  ship.  The  comparatively  small  navigation  from  the 
south  will  not  greatly  offset  this  striking  advantage.  The 
distances  from  the  difi'erent  ports  of  the  world  across  the 
Atlajitic  and  Pacific  Oceans  lioth  n(u-th  and  soutli  of  the 
ei|uator  are  Tint  greatly  dilTei'eiii.  and  as  these  differences 
largely  oll'set  each  other  need  not  be  considered,  except  that 
as  mo.st  of  this  navigation  is  from  and  to  northern  ports  the 
advantage  must  rem.'iin  with  the  Nicaragua  route. 


TENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  24,  1899 


199 


Facility  of  Ocean  Navigation. 

In  this  ijarticular  there  is  little  difference  between  the  two 
projected  canals  as  regards  their  use  by  steamships,  but 
while  the  Nicaragua  Canal  will  be  available  for  sailing  ves- 
sels, the  Panama  Canal  is  practically  inaccessible  to  them, 
especially  from  the  Pacifie  Ocean,  owing  to  the  prevalent 
calms  in  the  Bay  of  Panama.  I  have  in  mind  an  illustration 
of  this  fact  in  a  voyage  of  the  Pacific  Mail  steamship 
"Golden  City,"  Captain  Lappidge.  En  route  from  Panama 
to  San  Francisco  the  "Golden  City"  when  fort;/  miles  south 
of  Panama  passed  a  coal  laden  ship  from  the  Atlantic,  con- 
signed to  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Agency  at  Panama, 
Captain  Lappidge  took  his  steamer  to  San  Francisco,  dis- 
charged passengers  and  cargo,  coaled  and  left  for  Panama. 
Just  prior  to  arriving  there  and  teyi  miles  south,  of  the  port 
he  passed  the  same  ship,  bound  in,  having  only  made  thirty 
miles  while  he  made  a  round  voyage  to  California.  Wliile 
this  is  an  exceptional  case  the  standard  authority,  Maury's 
Sailing  Directions,  remarks,  that  were  nature  by  a  gigantic 
convulsion  to  open  a  free  passageway  tlirough  the  Panama 
Isthmus  it  would  still  be  unavailable  for  sailing  ships  by 
reason  of  the  prevailing  calms  in  the  Gulf  of  Panama.  At 
both  termini  of  the  Nicaragaia  Canal  route  the  trade  winds 
blow  with  almost  unvarpng  regularity,  as  well  as  across 
that  magnificent  inland  sea.  Lake  Nicaragua.  I  may  prop- 
erly add  that  the  construction  of  a  ship  canal,  either  at  Nic- 
aragua or  Panama,  will  tend  to  a  rapid  increase  of  steam  ton- 
nage and  a  decrease  of  sailing  ships. 

Facility  of  Construction. 

At  Nicaragua  the  most  formidable  obstacle  is  the  restora- 
tion of  the  Atlantic  terminal  port  at  San  Juan  del  Norte. 
The  construction  otherwise  offers  no  problems  that  have  not 
already  been  satisfactorily  solved  elsewhere,  and  even  the 
Atlantic  port  can  be  restored  under  the  latest  plans  pre- 
sented with  absolute  certainty  as  to  results  and  at  a  cost 
which  commerce  can  aft'ord  to  pay. 

At  Panama  the  diversion  of  the  Chagres  River,  which  has 
been  entirely  avoided  thus  far,  is  an  engineering  problem  of 
enormous  difficulty  and  with  uncertain  results.  In  fact,  be- 
sides the  navigable  lock  canal,  before  condemned  and  now 
adopted,  another  canal,  nearly  half  as  long,  must  be  made  to 
carry  the  Chagres  to  the  Atlantic;  a  torrential  river  that  has 
been  known  to  rise  forty-two  feet  in  one  night,  flooding  its 
entire  valley  at  Matachin.  Count  de  Lesseps  publicly  stated, 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  that  if  a  lock  canal  w^ere  to  be 
constructed  the  place  for  it  would  be  Nicaragua.  It  is  a 
matter  of  record  that  before  he  took  the  Bonaparte-Wyse 
concession  at  Panama  himself,  Blanchet  and  other  French 
engineers  made  application  to  the  Nicaraguan  Government 
for  a  concession  to  canalize  the  Nicaraguan  Isthmus,  but 
failed  to  obtain  it  for  political  reasons.  It  may  be  stated  as 
a  fact  accepted  by  civil  engineers  that  in  a  country  with 
heavy  rainfall  a  lock  canal  offers  advantages  over  a  sea  level 
canal,  for  the  reason  that  the  former  does  not  disturb  the 
natural  drainage,  while  the  latter  necessarily  becomes  the 
drainage  ditch  of  all  the  country  near  it  and  also  necessitates 
much  heavier  excavation.  Consequently  a  lock  system  is 
preferable  at  Panama  and  necessary  there  as  well  as  at  Nic- 
aragua. The  successful  service  of  locks  at  the  St.  Mary's 
Canal,  which  annually  passes  approximately  three  times  the 
tonnage  that  uses  the  Suez  Canal,  has  silenced  all  reasonable 
opposition  to  lockage,  and  the  recent  improvements  in  lock- 
age are  likely  to  be  followed  by  others  of  even  greater 
importance.  The  summit  level  "of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is 
to  be  that  of  Lake  Nicaragua  after  the  canal  has  been  com- 


pleted. The  projected  siunmit  level  at  Panama  has  been 
variously  stated  and  may  not  have  been  definitely  decided 
upon,  but  will  presumably  not  be  higher  than  Nicaragua, 
while  some  semi-official  reports  have  made  it  lower.  This 
is  a  point  of  minor  importance  within  moderate  limits,  a 
higher  level  necessitating  increased  lockage  but  decreasing 
very  expensive  deep  excavation  and  increasing  difficulties  in 
drainage. 

Supply'  of  Lockage  Water. 

In  Nicaragua,  the  inland  sea  of  that  name,  at  the  summit 
level  of  the  canal  and  Lake  Managua  (united  to  and  four- 
teen feet  above  it)  with  the  tributary  water  shed,  furnishes 
about  ten  times  as  much  lockage  water  by  gravity  as  can 
sensibly  be  used,  even  with  a  duplicate  lock  system.  At 
Panama  this  lockage  water  must  be  impounded  in  the 
neighboring  mountains  by  utilizing  the  headwaters  of  the 
Chagres,  two  artificial  lakes  being  arranged  for  this  purpose. 
The  quantity  of  water  available  for  this  purpose  is  so  doubt- 
ful that  Count  de  Lesseps  asserted  the  intention  to  pump 
any  deficiency  from  the  sea  level,  necessarily  at  great  cost 
for  machinery  and  fuel.  It  will  thus  be  noted  that  while 
the  Panama  Isthmus  has  an  enormous  supply  of  water,  it 
is,  for  canal  purposes,  unfortunately  below  the  level  for  lock- 
age by  gravity. 

Materials  for  Construction  and  Food  Supply. 

Both  canals  will  need  large  quantities  of  heavy  lumber 
in  long  lengths,  for  construction,  which  must  be  obtained 
in  the  Southern  States,  Oregon  and  Washington.  At  Pan- 
ama there  is  no  material  available  for  construction.  At 
Nicaragua  heavy  timber  in  short  lengths,  excellent  lime 
and  stone  of  second  grade  can  be  obtained  in  abundance. 
Concrete  will  be  largely  used  in  construction.  The  food 
supply  in  Nicaragua  can  be  largely  obtained  in  the  country, 
which  produces  abundantly  the  food  necessary  to  maintain 
a  working  force.  The  Panama  Isthmus  produces  no  food 
supplies  worthy  of  mention.  Electric  power  can  be  cheaply 
developed  on  both  routes;  on  either  is  a  supply  of  coal  or 
metals  to  be  conveniently  obtained. 

Cost  of  Construction  and  Operation. 

Both  canals  having  locks,  would  in  that  particular  cost 
the  same  to  operate,  providing  the  summit  levels  are  approxi- 
mately equal.  But  in  addition  to  the  lift  locks  Panama  must 
have  a  tidal  lock  at  its  Pacific  terminal,  owing  to  the  very 
large  tidal  movement  at  the  head  of  the  Bay  of  Panama. 
Consequently  ships  must  there  await  the  tide  to  pass  in  and 
out.  This  may  be  considered  a  minor  difficulty,  as  the 
operation  of  a  tide  lock  is  comparatively  inexpensive  and 
devoid  of  ordinary  danger.  The  Nicaragua  Canal  being 
longer  should  cost  somewhat  more  to  operate  than  the 
Panama  Canal,  were  the  difference  not  offset  by  the  addi- 
tional lock  and  impounded  supply  of  lockage  water  and  by 
the  care  of  the  Chagres  diversion  works.  It  may  be  fairly 
stated  that  the  cost  of  operation  should  not  materially  differ, 
and  with  an  effective  staff  should  not  exceed  eight  per  cent, 
of  the  gross  receipts,  when  the  canal  is  actively  in  operation,  a 
striking  comparison  with  the  best  railways  in  the  United 
States,  which  use  45  and  55  per  cent,  of  the  gross  receipts  for 
expenses  of  opera-tion.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  a  toll  of 
one  dollar  per  ton  of  2,240  pounds  or  40  cubic  feet  on  present 
available  tonnage  wall  pay  the  operating  expenses  at  Nica- 
ragua and  leave  a  net  annual  profit  of  four  per  cent.,  provid- 
ing the  canal  costs  the  estimated  $1'35,000,000.  I  am  under 
the  impression  that  construction  can   be  contracted   for  at 


200 


PSOCEEWl^GS  61F  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


$100,OUO,000.  The  Suez  Caual  at  present  charges  $1.85  per 
ton  and  deelares  diviflends  of  IT  to  20  per  cent,  per  annum. 
[t=  cost  was  approximately  $91,000,000.  It  could  be  evacu- 
ated by  modern  machinery  for  $5,000,000,  or  even  less. 

LOCAT.  Eakxing  C.wacity. 

'I'lie  Panama  Canal  can  have  little  or  no  local  earning 
ca])acity;  it  would  he  merely  a  connecting  link  between  the 
oceans.'  The  Nicaragua  Canal  will  be  not  only  that,  but  a 
system  of  internal  navigation,  (when  connected  with  Lake 
Managua,  about  270  miles  long)  through  a  country  of  extra- 
ordinary natural  resources  and  capable  of  a  production  which 
bids  fair,  within  ten  years  after  the  opening  of  the  canal,  to 
pay  its  opera tijig  expenses.  Its  earnings  will  also  be  liberally 
increased  by  pa.ssenger  travel,  for  thousands  of  voyagers  will 
make  the  trip  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  through  the 
Nicaragua  (^'aiial  to  enjoy  the  beautiful  scenery  of  Lake 
Nicaragua  and  San  Juan  River,  the  voyage  between  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of  the  L'nited  States  occujjying 
about  twelve  days  witli  full  powered  steamships,  generally 
with  line  weather  and  smooth  navigation. 

Eahtiiquakes. 

There  is  a  minimum  risk  of  seismal  action  on  both  routes, 
but  it  cannot  be  considered  wortliy  of  consideration.  The 
zone  of  volcanic  activity  in  Nicaragua  is  well  north  of  the 
canal  route,  and  while  occasional  shocks  have  been  expe- 
rienced, no  serious  earthquake  has  been  recorded  near  the 
canal  line  since  Europeans  have  been  in  Nicaragua.  The 
canal  works  on  both  routes  would  be  mostly  below  the  im- 
mediate surface  and  much  less  liable  to  injury  by  seismal 
action  than  structures  above  ground.  On  the  Panama  Isth- 
mus also  earthquake  shocks  have  been  experienced  but  they 
never  have  been  destructive  in  that  vicinity. 

Stratkgetical  Positions. 

Without  going  into  details,  it  may  be  properly  .stated  that 
the  strategetical  advantages  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  to  the 
United  States  as  compared  with  the  Panama  route  are  so 
obvi«us  that  it  does  not  merit  discussion.  It  is  incompre- 
hensible that  the  United  States  Government  sliall  not  con- 
struct a  great  work,  so  important  to  its  military  and  com- 
mercial advantage  at  the  nearest  available  location,  aside 
from  the  obvious  fact  that  it  also  offers  the  greatest  advant- 
ages otherwise. 

It  is  respectfully  suggested  that  this  short  and  imperfect 
paper  satisfactorily  demonstrates  the  following  points: 

1.  That  the  sanitary  ccniditions  are  more  favorable  at 
Nicaragua  than  at  Panama, 

2.  That  the  Nicaragua  Canal  on  the  wiiole  will  save 
greater  distances. 

3.  That  the  Nicaragua  route  is  availal)le  for  sailing  ves- 
sels, while  that  at  Panama  is  practically  available  only  for 
steamships. 

4.  That  the  facilities  for  construction  are  the  most  favor- 
able at  Nicaragua. 

5.  That  it  has  materials  for  construction  and  food  supjily 
which  are  hicking  at  the  Panama  Isthmus. 

G.  That  the  sujiply  of  lockage  water  by  gravity  is  super- 
abundant at  Nicaragua  and  doubtful  at  Panama." 

7.  That  the  cost  of  operation  will  not  inaterially  ditTer. 

8.  That  the  Nicaragua  Canal  will  have  a  local  earning 
eapacity  which  cannot  be  developed  at  Panama. 

y.  That  the  liability  to  seismic  disturbances  arc  apparently 
equal  in  both  locations  and  not  worthy  of  serious  considera- 
tion. 


10.  That  the  strategical  position  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal 
in  its  relation  to  the  L^nited  States  is  decidedly  superior  to 
the  Panama  route. 

The  value  of  tliese  conclusions  must  depend  largely  upon 
the  intimate  knowledge  of  the  subject  necessary  to  form 
them.  This  makes  it  proper  to  state  that  the  writer  has 
resided  on  the  Panama  Isthmus  one  year,  crossing  it  once  or 
twice  weekly  during  that  period  and  has  also  visited  it 
eighteen  times,  while  a  three  years'  management  of  the 
Nicaragua  route,  when  it  was  used  for  transporting  passen- 
gers to  and  from  the  Pacific  Coast  to  the  United  States, 
necessarily  also  crossing  there  from  ocean  to  ocean  many 
times,  has  enabled  him  to  acquire  a  thorough  local  knowl- 
edge of  both  projected  canal  routes.  The  inter-oceanic 
canal  has  largely  engaged  his  attention  since  1889,  he  has 
carefully  studied  all  reliable  documents  that  have  been 
printed  in  relation  thereto  and  a  favorable  opinion  of  the 
comparative  merits  of  the  Nicaragua  route  has  been  reached 
without  any  private  interests  which  might  aflfect  his  judg- 
ment. He  has  enjoyed  the  personal  acquaintance  among 
lit  her  experts  on  the  canal  question  of  Count  de  Lesseps;  Cap- 
tain Lull,  U.  S.  Navy;  Real-Admiral  Daniel  Ammen,  IT.  S.  N.; 
A.  G.  Menocal,  C.  E.  U.  S.  Navy;  Captain  James  R.  Eads, 
C:.  E.;  Col.  Totten,  C.  E.  (the  builder  of  the  Panama  Railroad), 
and  most  of  the  gentlemen  constituting  the  present  Isthmian 
Canal  Commission.  During  the  last  twenty  years  he  has  con- 
sulted with  them  and  with  many  other  experts  on  all  subjects 
connected  with  inter-oceanic  communication.  The  sole  purpose 
of  this  paper  is  to  aid,  so  far  as  it  may  be  in  his  power,  such 
a  solution  of  this  important  question  as  will  be  of  the  greatest 
advantage  to  the  people  and  government  of  the  United  States 
and  to  the  commerce  of  the  world.     (Applause.) 

Hdii.  J.  C.  Monar/han: 

1  had  hoped  to  have  the  pleasure  of  an  address  from  Mr. 
Kelly,  connected  with  the  Trades  League  of  this  city,  but 
he  has  been  assigned  to  a  duty,  a  very  pleasant  one,  I  un- 
derstand, to  him,  to  take  care  of  the  Delaware  delegation, 
which  is  here  visiting  to-day  with  the  Governor  of  Delaware. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  now  introduce  Colonel  J.  L. 
I'earey,  ex-United  States  Consul  at  Colon. 

Co].  J.  L.  Pcarcy: 

I  have  engaged  in  most  all  vocations  during  my  life,  except 
that  of  speech-making,  inasmuch  as  this  is  my  first  offence 
(laughter). — I  am  not  an  engineer  or  a  scientist,  and  only 
look  at  this  question  from  a  practical,  everyday  standpoint. 

I  have  lived  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  a  number  of  years, 
for  four  years  in  the  capacity  of  the  United  States  Consul, 
and  since  that  time  as  a  merchant,  and  I  have  had  many 
opportunities  of  seeing  and  going  over  the  various  routes 
that  have  been  proposed  as  a  caual  route.  j\Iy  business  takes 
me  up  and  down  the  coast  of  Central  and  South  America, 
and  I  have  also  on  several  occasions  made  trips  into  the  in- 
terior of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  over  the  proposed  routes, 
and  I  am  free  to  say,  if  there  is  anything  in  appearances,  the 
Panama  route  is  not  only  the  shortest  and  most  practical 
route  for  any  kind  of  a  canal,  but  it  appears  to  me  to  be  the 
(mly  possible  route  for  a  sea  level  canal. 

Advancing  civilization  demands  that  the  Central  Ameri- 
can Isthmus  should  no  longer  be  permitted  to  act  as  a  baiTier 
to  the  circulation  of  trade,  and  I  believe  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  determined  that  a  canal  should  be 
dug  at  some  point,  and  the  only  question  that  remains  to  be 
settled  is,  w^here  it  shall  be  located. 

A  commission  was  appointed  a  few  years  ago,  composed 
of  General  Ltidlow,  Mr.  Alfred  Noble  and  Mr.  Endicott,  men 
of  great   learning  and  of  highest  respectability,  to  examine 


*ENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  24,  1899 


201 


and  report  on  the  Nicaragua  route,  and  I  remember  at  the 
time  the  resolution  for  the  apjiointment  of  this  commission 
was  discussed  in  the  United  States  Senate,  an  efEort  was  made 
to  amend  the  resolution  so  as  to  allow  these  gentlemen  to 
examine  any  other  routes,  but  the  amendment  was  promptly 
smotliered  by  the  friends  and  promoters  of  the  Nicaragua 
(Janal  Company. 

The  report  of  this  commission,  however,  did  not  prove 
satisfactory  to  the  promoters  of  this  company  and  another 
commission  has  been  appointed  by  President  McKinley,  by 
direction  of  Congress,  to  examine  not  only  the  Nicaragua 
route,  but  the  Panama  and  all  the  other  routes. 

This  commission  is  composed  of  gentlemen  of  learniag  and 
high  standing,  above  the  suspicion  of  partnership  or  par- 
tiality, and  they  will  shortly  visit  the  isthmus  and  make  thor- 
ough investigations,  and  I  am  satisfied  when  their  report  is 
made,  it  will  be  one  that  can  be  relied  upon.  I,  furthermore, 
believe  that  it  will  show  that  the  Panama  route  is  the  most 
practicable,  by  far  the  cheapest  and  best  of  all  possible 
routes.  Now,  as  I  indicated  before,  I  am  no  engineer  or 
scientist,  and  don't  know  how  to  dish  out  a  lot  of  technicali- 
ties and  mystifying  terms,  but  I  have  gone  over  the  gi'ounds 
often,  and  I  know  that  forty-six  miles  is  a  shorter  route  than 
one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  miles.  I  know  that  out  of 
forty-six  miles  of  the  Panama  route  about  twenty-one  or 
twenty-two  miles  are  practically  completed.  I  have  myself 
made  frequent  trips  up  the  oanal  from  Colon  to  Bujio,  a  dis- 
tance of  nearly  fifteen  miles,  in  a  steamer.  I  have  frequently 
seen  it  stated  in  the  American  press  that  this  canal  has  been 
destroyed,  or  partially  so;  that  the  banks  had  caved  in,  and 
that  the  channel  had  been  filled  up  with  sand  and  the  wash- 
ings from  the  mountains.  Strange  to  say,  the  officers  and 
directors  of  the  Panama  Canal  have  been  strangely  silent 
and  pursuing,  as  I  thought,  a  policy  of  secrecy  and  mystery. 
But  during  that  time,  and  for  the  past  four  or  five  years, 
they  have  kept  steadily  at  work  with  three  or  four  thousand 
laborers  and  have  accomplished  as  much  as  could  be  done 
anywhere  in  the  world  with  the  same  amount  of  labor  and  for 
the  same  amount  of  money  expended  during  that  time. 

Fully  forty  per  cent,  of  the  work  of  excavation  on  the 
Panama  Canal  is  completed,  and  it  is  amply  equipped  with 
machinery  and  appliances  necessary  to  finish  this  great  work. 
A  technical  commission,  composed  of  French,  German,  Eng- 
lish and  American  engineers,  has  recently  made  a  report, 
showing  conclusively  that  there  are  no  engineering  difficulties 
in  the  way,  and  that  the  work  can  be  completed  inside  of 
eight  years,  and  for  something  less  than  one  hundred  millions 
of  dollars. 

Then  again,  we  have  for  the  Panama  route  two  of  the 
finest  harbors  in  the  world,  that  do  not  have  to  be  dredged 
or  kept  open  by  any  artificial  means.  Now  contrast  these 
advantages  with  the  Nicaragua  route,  which  is  one  hundred 
and  eighty-nine  miles  long,  as  against  forty-six  miles  by  the 
Panama  route.  It  has  been  shown  coiuclusively  that  it  would 
take  a  steamer  forty-eight  hours  to  go  through  the  Nicara- 
gua Canal,  whereas,  by  the  Panama  route  it  would  take  only 
twelve  hours;  so  that,  if  both  canals  were  in  operation,  two 
steamers,  one,  entering  the  mouth  of  each  canal  at  the  same 
hour,  the  one  going  by  the  Panama  route  could  pass  out  into 
the  Pacific,  go  up  the  coast  and  be  a  half-day's  journey  be- 
yond the  mouth  of  the  Nicaragua  route  before  the  other 
steamer  coming  by  that  route  would  emerge  from  the  Pacific 
outlet  of  the  Nicaragua  route.  On  the  other  hand,  if  the 
coast  was  southward,  the  steamer  leaving  the  outlet  of  the 
Panama  Canal  would  have  about  two  and  a  half  days'  ad- 
vantage. Again,  while  a  great  deal  has  been  said  in  the  papers 
in  this  country  about  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  leading  some 
people  to  believe  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  Nicaragua 
Canal,  and  that  the  Panama  Canal  was  filled  up  and  a  failure. 


exactly  the  reverse  is  true.  Not  an  ounce  of  earth  has  ever 
been  removed  on  the  so-called  Nicaragua  Canal,  but  it  has 
been  dug  on  paper  and  in  promoters'  otfices.  They  haven't 
the  semblance  of  a  harbor  on  either  coast;  their  route  runs 
through  a  lake  one  hundred  and  ten  feet  above  sea  level  in 
a  volcanic  country  with  many  of  the  essential  elements  in  con- 
struction undecided. 

Now,  the  gentleman  who  preceded  me  spoke  about  the  un- 
healthy conditions  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama.  That  fable 
lias  been  published  in  the  newspapers  for  many  years  in  this 
country  about  a  dead  Cliinaman  and  a  dead  laborer  for  every 
cross-tie,  and  it  is  purely  manufactured  and  a  fable.  I  have 
lived  there  for  seven  years,  and  the  people  themselves  there 
are  no  worse  than  they  are  in  many  parts  of  the  United  States. 
Every  particle  of  the  digging  and  dredging  to  be  done  on 
the  Panama  route  in  the  marshy  country  has  been  completed, 
whereas,  on  the  Nicaragua  route,  all  of  that  will  have  to  be 
gone  over.  Therefore,  I  contend  that  the  healthy  conditions 
on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  will  be  much  better  than  they 
will  be  by  the  laying  of  the  Nicaragua  route  during  the  first 
few  years  of  construction  there,  and  they  will  have  the  same 
disadvantages  to  contend  with  that  we  had  on  the  Panama 
route  during  the  dredging  of  the  marshy  ditches. 

Now,  the  firm  I  am  connected  with  to-day  is  having  built 
in  Connecticut  a  vessel  of  a  very  light  draft,  in  order  to 
get  into  Greytowu  and  other  harbors  on  the  Caribbean  Sea, 
because  every  river  mouth  and  every  port  is  filled  up  on  the 
Caribbean  Sea  except  the  one  at  Colon  alone;  every  one,  the 
mouth  of  the  Magdalene,  the  mouth  of  the  Turin  and  the 
Chagres  River  at  Colon.  I  have  been  all  along  it.  There  is 
not  a  place  where  you  can  run  a  vessel  anywhere,  except  at 
Colon,  and  there  they  have  a  natural  barrier  that  prevents 
the  silt  and  the  sand  from  filling  up  the  harbor.  This  is  a 
coral  wall  extending  out  on  each  side  of  the  harbor,  that 
washes  the  silt  and  sand  into  two  or  three  hundred  fathoms 
of  water,  whereas,  at  Greytown,  for  the  last  twenty  years, 
it  is  gradually  filling  up.  They  have  no  harbor,  they  have 
no  port,  and  I  have  been  told  by  naval  officers  of  high  degree 
and  understanding  that  it  woidd  be  a  work  of  forever  to  keep 
that  port  clear.     Thank  you,  gentlemen. 

Hon.  J.  G.  Monaghan: 

If  there  is  a  name  in  English  of  American  mercantile  or 
business  history  that  stands  for  all  that  is  liigli  and  noble 
and  generous,  that  name  is  Peabody.  I  have  to-day  the  sio-- 
nal  pleasure  and  honor  of  introducing  Mr.  Henry  W.  Pea- 
body,  representing  firms-doing  business  in  New  York,  Boston, 
Ijondon  and  Sydney.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Henry  IF.  Peahodtj: 

Mr.  t^hairman.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  This  is  my  first 
day  at  this  Congress,  and  I  have  enjoyed  very  much  the  dis- 
cussion or  the  presentation  of  the  views  of  those  who  know 
regarding  these  two  important  projects,  which  are  yet  in- 
complete, the  canals.  The  Panama  Canal,  we  have  always  re- 
garded as  a  French  affair.  We  have  known  of  many  sums 
of  money  being  invested  there,  and  yet  the  work  is  incom- 
plete and  useless.  American  capital  has  identified  itself  to 
some  extent  with  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  and,  therefore,  we 
have  been  instructed  regarding  that,  and  we  have,  perhaps, 
been  taught  by  the  numerous  exponents  of  that  to  regard  it 
as  the  perfect  route.  It  is  evident  that  the  gentlemen  who 
have  been  before  us  to-day  generally  considered  that  a  sample 
question,  and  our  government  has  not  decided  that  that  is 
the  canal  for  the  future.  The  question  has  at  last  become 
one  of  the  recognized  problems  in  the  politics  of  the  domi- 
nant party,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  within  a  short  time  a 
digest  will  be  made,  which  will  determine  which  canal  shall 


202 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


bo  considered  the  responsibility  of  our  government.  I  have 
>io  doubt  that  the  pressure  of  events,  especially  the  need  now 
Hi  the  government,  the  necessity  of  a  shorter  passage  be- 
tween the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  as  well  as  changes  which 
liavc  come  about  in  the  commerce  of  the  world  by  which  sail 
is  giving  way  to  steam,  that  one  of  these  routes  will  be  estab- 
lished. The  United  States,  naturally,  is  looking  to  accom- 
plish this  result,  and  more  easily  might  assume  that  obligation 
wliere  American  capiUd  has  already  been  invested. 

We  can  realize  what  an  immense  saving  and  safeguard  such 
:a  channel  would  be  when  we  recall  the  exciting  voyage  and 
the  remarkeble  experiences  of  our  battleship  "Oregon"  (ap- 
plause), in  coming  from  a  Pacific  port  to  the  rescue  of  our 
beleaguered  fleet  in  the  Gulf.  There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind 
thai  the  canal  problem  would  have  been  solved  long  ago  if 
the  American  supremacy  upon  the  ocean  which  existed  thirty 
or  forty  years  ago  had  been  maintained,  but,  unfortunately, 
our  position  upon  the  ocean  has  become  insignificant. 

One  of  the  speakers  this  afternoon  said  that  he  wanted 
to  see  "Old  Glory"  going  through  the  canal,  and  another 
this  afternoon  spoke  about  our  flag  i7iaintained  in  every  sea 
and  in  every  port.  Now,  we  have  not  enough  vessels  to  carry 
those  flags;  we  have  not  enough  to  go  around,  you  may  say. 
The  fact  is,  that  our  commerce,  which  is  identified  with  the 
foreign  trade,  has  become  so  small  that  we  have  not  three 
hundred  thousand  tons  that  would  come  through  this  canal 
if  it  could  be  built;  in  contrast  to  which  England  has  more 
than  ten  million  tons.  The  commerce  of  the  United  States 
on  the  Atlantic  Coast  has  always  been  conducted  with  re- 
mote countries  like  Australia  and  the  Philippine  Islands, 
Java,  etc.,  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  It  is  a  long  way 
since  steam  has  become  so  much  the  method  of  the  future. 
It  has  been  the  cheaper  way,  because  sailing  vessels  do  not 
very  often  use  the  canals.  But  the  requirements  of  the 
future  will  press  upon  those  who  are  now  responsible  for  the 
development  of  improved  changes  needed,  and  the  eanal  is 
certainly  a  necessity. 

I  believe,  that  what  has  been  said  here  to-day,  from  those 
who  know  regarding  these  canals,  will  be  of  a  great  value  to 
the  country,  and  1  hope  it  will  stimulate  the  interests  of  this 
great  country  in  its  enormous  commerce,  although  it  has  to  be 
done  by  other  people's  vessels.  The  imports  and  the  exports 
from  the  United  States  last  year  were  eighteen  hundred  mil- 
lion dollars,  but  less  than  ten  per  cent,  of  that  was  done  in 
American  vessels.  The  position  which  we  regret  to-day  is 
(bat  we  have  almost  no  vessels  to  use  the  canal  if  we  should 
build  it.     (Applause.) 


Hon.  J.  C.  Monaghan: 

Before  opening  the  discussion  1  would  like  to  submit  one 
or  iwj  points  the  members  have  asked  me  to  put  practically 
in  the  way  of  questions.  The  first  was — not  hardly  to  be 
seen  on  this  globe — that  the  arc  of  a  great  circle  drawn  from 
the  Isthmus  of  Darien  across  the  Pacific  takes  in  the  Alleu- 
tian  Islands  and  touches  China  and  Korea  and  Java,  and  all 
those  more  important  points  in  the  East,  and  is  some 
seven  or  eight  hundred  miles  shorter  than  the  direct  route 
from  the  Isthmus  across  the  Pacific,  that  is,  the  Northern 
route  from  the  Nicaragua  Canal  would  be  seven  or  eight  hun- 
dred miles  shorter  than  the  route  that  would  be  started  from 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

The  second  point  or  question  was,  Would  not  the  North- 
ern route  bring  more  trade  and  tribute  than  the  Panama? 
The  Panama  is  thought  to  be  more  important  for  South 
America  than  North  America.  This,  however,  the  paiiy  has 
stated,  was  not  a  settled  fact,  although  Colombia  has  been  so 
much  interested  in  the  Panama  Canal  that  they  have  voted 
subsidies  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  in  the  building  of 
that  canal. 

The  next  question  asked  was.  Which  would  be  the  best 
for  sailing  vessels?  and,  as  an  addenda,  it  was  stated  that  sail- 
ing vessels  have  sometimes  taken  from  one  liundred  to  one 
hundred  and  eighty  days  to  beat  out  from  the  Bay  of  Panama 
into  the  ocean.  Another  point  to  be  considered  was,  that  the 
route  around  Cape  Point  is,  strictly  speaking,  but  a  very 
narrow  one,  for  the  reason  that  the  ice-floes  from  the  Ant- 
arctic Ocean  come  up  for  a  very  long  distance  beyond  the  point 
of  the  cape. 

Another  question  asked  was.  Does  not  Nicaragua  offer  the 
advantage  of  a  great,  flourishing  community,  and  is  it  or  is 
it  not  a  fact  that  Na])oleon  III.,  in  his  interests  in  Mexico, 
saw  the  great  value  of  the  Nicaragua  rather  than  the  Panama 
Canal? 

I  simply  throw  these  suggestions  out  with  a  view  of  bring- 
ing about  the  discussion  of  these  very  important  points.  I 
may  say  now  that  these  questions  are  open  for  any  gentle- 
man, or  any  lady,  I  might  add,  who  may  desire  to  express  an 
opinion  or  offer  suggestions  in  the  matter. 

If  there  is  no  other  business  before  the  Congress,  we  stand 
adjourned  until  the  regular  hour  to-morrow  morning. 

(The  nicoting  adjourned  at  5  o'clock  p.  m.) 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


ELEVENTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadelphia,  Wednesday,  October  35,  1899. 

Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  10.45  a.  m.,  in  Conven- 
tion Hall,  Exposition  Building,  by  Director  W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  to  announce  that  the  sessions  of  this  Congi-ess  for 
Friday,  Paii-Anierican  day,  will  be  held  in  the  Bourse,  on 
Fourth  street  between  Chestnut  and  Market  streets.  The 
meetings  will  he  held  in  the  Trades  League  room,  on  the 
second  floor,  beginning  at  10.30,  and  continuing  until  13.00, 
at  which  time  a  lunch  will  l)e  provided.  Between  the  time  of 
the  sessions  all  the  attending  delegates  and  others  will  have 
the  privilege  of  the  floor  on  the  exchange,  which  is  one  of 
the  finest  in  the  world. 

I  now  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  the  Congress 
the  Hon.  Eobert  Adams,  Jr..  who  will  preside. 

Hon.  Boberi  Adams,  Jr.: 

Mr.  Director  a.nd  Delegates  to  the  International  Commer- 
cial Congress:  Allow  me  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the 
great  honor  of  presiding  over  this  Congress,  which  represents 
the  civilization,  I  may  say,  of  the  world.  The  subject  sub- 
mitted for  our  consideration  to-day  is  "Expansion,  Com- 
mercial and  Territorial." 

As  I  understand  this  subject  it  includes  the  development  of 
trade  and  commerce,  not  of  our  own  country  alone,  but  of 
the  entire  world.  Naturally  we  depend  on  the  amount  of 
information  which  each  nation  has  of  the  products,  and  the 
wants  of  every  other  nation.  Therefore,  I  think  one  of  the 
most  important  means  for  the  development  of  trade  and  com- 
merce is  a  difl^usion  of  knowledge  on  the  subject  referred  to, 
and  I  hold  the  chief  means  is  the  movement  now  taking  place 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 

First,  in  the  founding  of  the  Commercial  Museum;  second, 
in  the  assembhng  of  this  Congress,  where  all  are  free  to 
present  full  information  in  regard  to  the  productions  and  the 
needs  of  their  individual  countries.  Next  to  that  I  consider 
most  important  the  plan  that  was  suggested  by  one  of  the 
greatest  statesmen  our  country  ever  produced,  and  I  am  proud 
to  say  that  he  was  a  native  of  this  State — the  State  of  Penn- 
sylvania— and  was  Secretary  of  State.  I  refer  to  Hon.  James 
G.  Blaine,  who  suggested  that  permanent  exhiliitions  should 
be  established  in  different  coimtries  for  the  display  of  Ameri- 
can products.  More  particularly  did  he  turn  his  view  towards 
the  development  of  our  trade  with  Soiith  America;  but  I  will 
not  touch  on  that  subject,  for  there  is  one  here  to-day  who 
can  give  you  information  as  to  that  matter  up  to  a  much 
later  date,  our  Minister  to  Brazil.  During  my  ofiicial  resi- 
dence in  that  country,  as  United  States  ]\[inister.  my  attention 
was  forcibly  called  to  one  great  need  which  our  country,  I 


regret  to  say,  has  not  supplied,  in  comparison  with  some  of  the 
European  countries,  and  that  lies  in  our  consular  service. 
Under  our  system  of  government  the  consular  service  is  not 
attached  to,  nor  subservent  to,  the  diplomatic  branch,  as  it  is 
in  England  and  other  countries. 

I  voluntarily  looked  into  our  system  as  it  existed  in  South 
America,  and  it  was  not  at  all  satisfactory.  Since  then  I 
have  studied  somewhat  the  relations  of  our  service  in  other 
countries,  and  while  I  wish  to  do  full  credit  to  many  of  our 
representatives,  who  furnish  us  with  full  information  in  re- 
gard to  the  commercial  status  in  the  way  of  statistics,  manu- 
facturing and  other  information  of  many  of  the  posts,  our 
service  as  a  whole  is  far  from  satisfactory,  not  equal  to  that 
of  many  other  countries. 

I  consider  that  one  of  the  most  important  means  of  dissemi- 
nating information  throughout  all  countries  is  through  our 
consuls  to  foreign  countries,  and  through  your  consuls  in  the 
United  States.  The  consular  service  should  be  filled  by  well- 
educated  men — especially  those  educated  in  technical  matters 
which  will  come  under  their  observation.  They  should  always 
speak  the  language  of  the  country  to  which  they  are  ac- 
credited, or  at  least  that  of  France.  They  should  pass  a 
thorough  examination  on  entering  the  service,  and  it  should 
be  a  life  tenure,  or  during  good  behavior.  There  should  also 
be  promotion  for  eiflcient  ser-^ace,  as  an  incentive  for  a  man 
to  do  good  work.  I  regret  to  say  in  our  country  our  service 
has  none  of  these  conditions.  The  men  are  appointed  largely 
through  political  influence,  and  not  on  account  of  special 
fitness,  and  it  is  due  to  the  system  in  vogue  in  this  country, 
and  not  to  either  political  party  especially.  Under  the  pre- 
sent condition  it  is  impossible  for  any  Executive  to  stand  up 
against  the  political  pressure  that  is  brought  against  him. 
It  is  a  system  that  must  change;  and  it  is  one  of  the  most 
curious  phases  in  American  life,  that  with  all  the  energy  and 
push  and  ingenuity  of  our  business  plants  and  manufactories, 
so  little  attention  is  paid  to  what  you  may  call  the  practical 
executive  branches  of  our  government.  They  are  not  politi- 
cal, they  are  business,  and  I  again  state,  as  a  well  known  fact, 
that  in  the  couree  of  time  whatever  the  difl'erent  business 
interests  of  this  Eepublic  really  want  they  get.  There  is 
no  measure  that  is  universally  supported  by  the  business 
manufacturing  interests  of  our  country  that  goes  to  the  Na- 
tional Congress  that  can  he  withstood,  if  it  is  founded  on 
business  principles  and  if  it  is  supported  by  the  will  of  the 
people.  I  can  illustrate  that  in  one  minute,  by  pointing  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu.seum.  A 
bill  came  to  Congress,  and  that  bill  was  passed,  carrying  an 
appropriation  of  $350,000,  an  entirely  new  proposition  to  the 
American  Congress,  because  never  before  had  an  appropri- 
ation been  made  for  a  building,  or  for  a  corporation  that  was 
not  to  be  under  the  control  of  the  United  States  Government. 

Being  an  entirely  new  proposition,  it  met  with  considerable 
opposition,  but  I  can  state  here  without  fear  of  contradiction, 
that  without  one  dollar  of  expenditure  of  money,  and  with- 


203 


t04 


PROCEEDINGS  OP  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


out  «o  imicli  iis  the  shadow  of  a  lobby  in  the  halls  of  Congress, 
hut  eiitij-cly  Uiroiigh  the  pressure  from  the  business  interest, 
ChaiiilHTs  "f  Commeree,  Boards  of  Trade,  and  such  bodies, 
tint  approiiriation  was  jjassed  under  a  suspension  of  the  rules, 
wtiich  require  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives Therefore,  I  say  it  is  one  of  the  peculiar  phases  of  our 
couiitrv  that  the  business  people  do  not  bring  that  pressure  to 
bear  ujion  their  representatives  even  by  wnitiog  to  them  favor- 
m^  matters  of  great  importance  to  their  welfare.  Impressed 
with  the  necessity  of  au  improvement  in  our  consular  service, 
■IS  long  as  ten  years  ago,  on  my  return  from  South  America, 
1  wrote  an  article  in  the  North  American  Beririr.  calling  at- 
tention to  that  fact.  Later,  upon  my  election  to  represent  the 
citv  of  I'hJladelphia  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  being 
a^^io-ncd  to  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Affairs.  1  sa«  an  op- 
porfuuitv  to  do  something  practical.  I  introduci'd  a  lull, 
which  was  a  combination  or  extract,  I  should  say,  of  what  i 
considered  the  best  points  in  all  the  former  bills  that  had  been 
introduced  on  this  subject,  but  which  had  been  allowed  to  lie 
in  committee,  and  could  not  even  so  much  as  secure  a  favor- 
able report.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  in  the  last  Congress,  and 
the  Congress  before  that,  the  bill  was  reported  favorably  to 
other  committees  on  foreign  affairs,  and  it  was  placed  on  the 
calendar;  but  unfortunately,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  war  and 
other  measures,  there  was  not  sufficient  lime  for  its  consider- 
ation. 

Mr.  Director,  it  shall  be  one  of  the  first  bills  introduced 
into  the  coming  session  next  December.  The  bill  recently, 
only  la.st  year,  commenced  to  arouse  the  business  men,  and 
received  the  support  of  the  business  portion  of  the  commu- 
nity, wliich  it  should.  It  was  endorsed  by  every  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  and  by  every  Board  of  Trade  in  every  large  city 
in  our  country,  and"  I  have  been  promised  that  that  pressure 
shall  be  continued.  I  am  hoping  to  pass  it  successfully 
through  the  coming  Congress.  I  understand  that  a  day  has 
been  set  aside  in  this  Commercial  Congress  for  the  considera- 
tion of  diplomatic  and  consular  nuitters,  and  I  trust  that  on 
that  day  our  friends  from  other  countries  will  furnish  inform- 
ation which  may  be  of  lienefit  in  developing  the  service  in 
our  own  country. 

A  Congress  assembled  recently  at  The  Hague,  composed  of 
diplomat,s  from  the  different  countries,  sent  to  consider  the 
best  means  for  preserving  peace  throughout  this  universe 
which  we  inhabit.  After  mature  deliberation  some  means 
were  suggested,  but,  Mr.  Director,  I  consider  that  the  dele- 
gates who  sit  in  this  hall  will  have  a  much  more  potent  in- 
fluence in  preserving  the  peace  of  the  world  in  time  to  come 
than  all  other  diplomats  that  can  be  assembled  from  all  the 
countries  of  the  world.  The  more  you  make  a  community 
interested  in  the  commerce  and  trade  between  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  the  greater  will  be  the  pressure,  and  the  greater 
will  be  the  interest  of  ovciy  country  to  see  that  peace  is  main- 
tained. (.Applause.)  As  commerce  and  trade  become  inter- 
twincil  every  nation  in  the  world  will  halt  those  who  would 
disturli  ciiinnicrrc  and  liindcr  the  progress  of  human  devel- 
opment, (lentlernen,  develop  th(-  extension  of  commerce 
and  trade  by  every  means  in  your  power.  This  Republic  wel- 
comes vou  in  ihat  measure  essential  for  peace.  We  are  not 
a  warlike  i>eop]e.  AVe  do  not  maintain  large  armies  and 
navies.  Our  institutions  nw  sucli.  and  the  temperament  of 
our  people  is  such,  that  they  will  not  bear  taxation  to  sup- 
port, them;  therefore,  we  have  a  greater  interest  in  devehip' 
ing  our  country  on  the  lines  of  permanent  |)eace  than  any 
of  the  warlike  countries,  and  I  trust  that  this  Congress  which 
has  as.scud)led  in  this  city,  which  is  known  as  one  of  brotherly 
love,  will  lie  a  potent  means  for  extending  trade  and  com- 
merce, and  thereby  helping  in  time  to  come  to  preserve  the 
peace  of  the  world.     (Applause.) 


I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  the  Hon.  John  A.  KassoH, 
Special  CV>mmissioner  Plenipotentiary,  who  will  now  address 
you. 

Hull.  John  A.  Kas»tiii: 

Mr.  Chairman:  Permit  me  td  make  a  single  remark  before 
ta,king  uj)  the  topic  which  has  been  specially  assigned  for 
to-day  to  the  gentlemen  who  are  present.  It  must  have  been 
apparent  for  at  least  ten  or  fifteen  years,  especially  for  the  last 
ten  years,  that  the  diplomacy  of  the  world  is  not  concerned, 
as  formerly,  with  the  relative  power  and  influence  of  reigning 
families,  with  the  cpiestion  of  territorial  acquisition,  \vith  the 
([uestions  of  war  and  peace.  To-day  the  diplomacy  of  the 
world  is  engaged  in  the  commercial  questions  with  which  the 
world  is  concerned.  Everybody,  every  jurisdiction  of  man 
that  takes  up  the  question  of  international  commerce,  is  en- 
gaged in  the  business  of  di]ilomacy  at  this  particular  era,  and 
therefore,  I  beg  that  it  may  be  perpetually  in  the  minds  of 
the  gentlemen  engaged  in  this  undertaking  that  they  are  the 
diplomatists  of  the  world  engaged  in  promoting  civilization 
and  the  peace  of  mankind. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen,  you  have  devoted  this  day 
to  the  discussion  of  a  topic  of  intense  interest  to  our  own 
country  and  to  the  civilized  world.  It  invites  attention  to 
national  expansion,  to  the  wonderful  vista  now  opening  be- 
fore the  eyes  of  Americans  engaged  in  commercial  production 
and  exchanges.  It  presents,  also,  the  question  of  national 
duty  in  the  pro.gressive  civilization  of  mankind.  Never  be- 
fore has  the  future  held  a  promise  so  bright  and  so  well 
assured  for  the  expansion  of  commerce,  and  of  all  the  in- 
fluences which  tend  to  the  uplifting  ot  the  ignorant  and  back- 
ward races. 

Within  the  past  two  years  our  own  country  has  sprung 
from  a  condition  of  apathy  and  discouragement  to  one  of 
abounding  hope  and  prosperity.  Our  people  in  1896  aban- 
doned the  policy  of  carelessness  and  indifference  to  their 
home  industries,  and  adopted  a  policy  of  vigilance  and  pro- 
tection for  them.  In  1897  they  entrusted  the  national  ad- 
ministration to  an  experienced  statesman,  well  known  for 
his  fidelity  to  the  national  interests.  Hope,  faith  and  effort 
immediately  revived.  The  sun-rays  of  prosperity  steadily  ex- 
panded and  spread  over  the  whole  horizon.  And  now  corn 
and  cotton  are  again  rival  kings.  Our  railroads  are  over- 
burdened in  the  distribution  of  harvests,  and  of  the  products 
of  mines  and  factories.  Our  workshops  present  open  doors  to 
the  energies  of  labor.  '  Interior  land  and  water  lines  are 
crowded  with  transportatiim. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem  to  narrow  and  selfish  minds,  our 
prosperity  has  awakened  the  industry  and  communicated 
prosperity  to  other  countries,  thus  proving  the  fraternity  of 
international  commercial  interests.  The  maxim  "Live  and  let 
live"  is  commended  to  all  nations. 

Nor  is  this  all.  Our  national  treasury  meets  all  demands 
with  ease.  Banking  centres  among  the  people  are  more  than 
ready  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  people  at  rates  beyond  pre- 
cedent. This,  in  turn,  has  both  stimulated  and  cheapened 
]n-oduction.  Above  all,  the  country  joyfully  believes  itself  in 
permanent  possession  of  a  sound  money  basis,  the  surest  basis 
of  circulation  and  redemption  known  to  the  world.  Even  our 
school-boys  disdain  longer  to  play  with  the  puzzle  of  IG  to  1. 
The  common  sense  of  the  country  has  regained  control  and 
demands  16  to  16 — par  all  round,  in  all  its  pockets. 

Contt'iuporaneously  with  the  revival  of  confidence  and  of 
prosperity  came  a  fresh  impulse  to  our  export  trade.  In  the 
course  of  two  years  it  has  advanced  with  giant  strides,  es- 
pecially in  the  department  of  manufactures.  I  invite  your 
attention  to  a  few  of  the  articles  whicli  illustrate  this  prog- 
ress in  two  years,  from  1897  to  1899. 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


205 


COMMEECIAL    FaCTS    (INTERNATIONAL    CoMMEEOE). 

The  comparison  of  a  few  United  States  exports  of  the 
year  18!)9  with  the  same  exports  of  1897  shows  an  increase 
in  value  of: 

Agricultural  implements  exported 137  per  centum. 

Wheat  flour   (rose  from  55  millions  to   73 

millions,  or)  31  "'          " 

Cars  and  carriages 39  "          " 

Chemicals,  drugs,  etc 13  "          " 

Manufactures  of  cotton 12  "          " 

Scientific  and  electric  instruments  and  ap- 
paratus    •   44  "          " 

Manufactures   of  iron   and    steel    exported 

(rose  from  57  millions  to  93  millions)..  63  ''          " 

Leather  and  its  manufacture 22  "          " 

Malt  liquors    161  " 

Oil  cake 51  " 

Cotton  and  other  vegetable  oils 62  "          " 

Paper  64  " 

Oleo  and  oleomargarine 34  "          " 

Lard  (rose  from  29  to  42  millions,  or).  .  .  .  45  "          " 

Lard  compounds    40  "          " 

Pork,  bacon  and  hams  (from  53  to  73  mil- 
lions, or)   36  " 

Milk  exports 100  " 

Sugar  and  molasses 73  "          " 

Manufactures  of  copper 65  "          " 

Reciprocity. 

So  much  is  already  gained.     But  what  for  the  future? 

The  same  tariff  act  of  1897,  which  prescribed  the  general 
rules  for  regaining  prosperity,  also  conferred  authority  on  the 
President  to  make  special  concessions  of  duty  in  reciprocal 
agreements  with  foreign  countries.  This  was  wisely  de- 
signed to  meet  the  emergencies  in  special  branches  of  inter- 
national trade  by  removing  obstacles,  either  in  our  own  or 
in  foreign  tariffs,  which  might  be  found  to  obstruct  a  profit- 
able commerce.  Under  this  provision  several  conventions 
have  been  made  which  await  ratification  and  others  are  in 
progress,  all  of  which,  it  is  confidently  expected,  will  tend 
to  the  further  advantage  of  our  export  trade.  The  principle 
of  reciprocity  is  so  correct,  and  its  adaption  to  the  needs 
of  modern  commerce  is  so  evident,  that  it  must  long  remain 
in  operation  for  the  regulation  of  the  commercial  intercourse 
bet^veen  different  groups  of  nations. 

The  Law  of  Our  National  Development. 

But  there  are  other  prospects  for  the  future  more  brilliant 
and  more  far-reaching  than  those  which  I  have  mentioned. 

Never  before  have  our  people  acquired  so  clear  a  percep- 
tion of  the  providential  law  of  our  national  evolution.  It 
was  a  saying  of  Bismarck  that  a  nation  which  has  ceased  to 
grow  has  begun  to  decline.  We  are  beginning  to  appreciate 
the  fundamental  and  health-giving  law  of  our  American  na- 
tional life,  which  has  been  so  plainly  illustrated  throughout 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  law  is  not  merely  a  continual 
growth  within  our  original  limits,  of  the  year  1800 — no 
more  than  a  boy's  growth  is  to  be  limited  to  the  compass  of 
his  first  school-day  breeches. 

A  young  country,  like  a  sturdy  youth,  must  be  given 
room  for  the  expansion  of  its  energies.  While  our  popula- 
tion was  still  scant,  our  expansion  began  with  this  century 
in  the  acquisition  of  Louisiana.  This  was  followed  by  the 
purchase  of  Florida.  In  both  cases  we  stretched  our  jurisdic- 
tion over  foreign  peoples  and  languages.     Then  we  expanded 


over  a  vast  region  of  undeveloped  territory  originally  belong- 
ing to  Spain,  and  occupied  by  aliens  and  savage  tribes;  and 
so  reached  the  rarely  visited  coasts  of  California.  This  again 
was  followed  by  the  acquisition  of  the  vast  outlying  terri- 
tory of  Alaska,  which  extended  our  jurisdiction  to  the  Arctic 
Ocean  on  the  north. 

All  these  expansions  were  met  at  the  time  with  querulous 
opposition.  But  who  now  regrets  them?  Who  would  sur- 
render them?  After  a  few  years  all  the  blind  recovered 
tlieir  sight. 

Long  before  the  Spanish  war  the  United  States  had  taken 
peaceful  possession  of  fifty-seven  islands  in  the  Pacific  Ocean 
— mostly  in  the  Southern  Pacific — extending  to  a  distance 
of  nearly  4,000  miles  from  San  Francisco  toward  the  Philip- 
pines. We  hold  them  still.  In  1867  was  also  acquired  the 
great  chain  of  Aleutian  Islands  in  the  North  Pacific,  which 
extended  our  possessions  and  jurisdiction  within  the  radius 
of  Asiatic  interests,  reaching  eighteen  degrees  farther  into 
Asiatic  longitudes  than  the  Siberian  Pacific  frontier.  Still, 
no  partisan  outcry  against  expansion,  except  the  usual 
grumble  of  men  born  with  blinders,  who  see  no  future  good 
in  anything  which  they  have  not  inherited.  Next,  upon 
the  second  invitation,  wo  expanded  to  take  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  in,  because  we  began  to  see  their  enormous  import- 
ance to  us  in  the  probable  future  development  of  commerce 
on  the  great  ocean  whose  central  future  they  apjieared  to  he. 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  Spanish  war,  no  party  had  been  bold 
enough  to  thrust  its  organization  against  the  operation  of 
our  national  law  of  growth  and  development. 

But  now,  at  this  stage  of  our  history,  the  unforeseen  hap- 
pened. Providence — I  say  it  reverently — ^took  us  by  the 
shoulders  and  with  humane  purpose  thrust  us  into  a  war 
with  Spain.  To  our  astonishment,  Porto  Rico  stretched 
forth  her  arms  to  us;  and  our  expanding  line,  already  in- 
cluding thirteen  small  islands  in  the  Caribbean  Sea,  curved 
around  that  lovely  island,  which  is  to  share  henceforth  our 
civilization,  our  liberty,  and  our  prosperity. 

Least  contemplated  of  all  the  events  of  that  Providential 
war  was  the  event  of  the  far  Pacific.  Our  small  Asiatic 
squadron  of  six  vessels  from  the  moment  of  the  declaration 
of  war  had  no  port  of  rest,  or  refuge,  or  supply,  in  that  hemis- 
phere. The  friendliest  nation  must  drive  our  ships  from 
its  harbors  in  twenty-four  hours.  Necessity,  the  agent  of 
the  Almighty,  compelled  the  prompt  capture  of  a  harbor 
and  coaling  station  from  the  enemy.  The  man  of  destiny 
was  there  to  obey  the  dictate  of  destiny.  Five  days  after 
the  proclamation  of  war  the  harbor  of  Manila,  and  the  key  of 
the  Philippines,  were  in  the  hands  of  our  gallant  commodore. 
But  the  glory  and  completeness  of  that  victoiy  of  Dewey 
and  his  men,  who  are  now  receiving  the  abounding  grati- 
tude of  the  nation,  must  not  be  allowed  to  conceal  from  us 
the  essential  fact  that  this  movement  was  dictated,  not  by 
lust  of  conquest,  but  by  that  mighty  underlying  force  of  the 
ages  which  shapes  the  destiny  of  men  and  nations.  If  any 
event  of  human  history  reveals  the  impress  of  God's  mould- 
ing finger,  it  is  this  incident  of  the  Philippines  which  led 
up  to  their  acquisition  by  treaty,  and  the  expansion  of  our 
jurisdiction  over  them. 

This  last  expansion,  gentlemen — I  do  not  hesitate  to  af- 
firm it — promises  a  greater  immediate  advantage  to  our  coun- 
try than  any  other  which  has  preceded  it.  ^^Hien  their  pop- 
ulation of  six  or  seven  millions  produced  only  for  the  profit 
of  their  oppressors,  the  motive  for  enlarged  production  did 
not  exist;  and  limited  production  meant  limited  consump- 
tion of  foreign  products.  Give  them  a  world-market,  and 
the  right  to  work  for  their  own  profit  under  the  inspiration 
of  American  enterprise,  to  keep  their  own  earnings,  and  the 
development  of  commercial  wealth  there  will  reproduce  the 
brilliant  story  of  the  development  of  California  after  its  de- 


206 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


liverance  into  American  control.  The  coming  outburst  of 
Philippine  prosperity  will  also  give  a  fresh  impulse  to  the 
activities  of  our  Pacific  Coast,  which,  with  the  coming  Isth- 
mian Canal  will  be  equally  extended  to  the  Atlantic.  With 
extended  markets  comes  enlarged  demand  for  labor.  When 
we  add  to  this  the  inevitable  increase  of  our  navigation  in- 
terests, resulting  from  the  requirenrents  of  intercourse  with 
all  our  insula'r  dependencies,  you  will  justify  my  prediction 
of  the  many  new  elements  to  be  introduced  tending  to  the 
still  greater"  prosperity  of  our  republic. 

The  Philippines  and  American  Opportunity. 

We  already  know  something  of  the  enormous  capacity  of 
the  Philippines  for  agricultural  production  of  tropical  wealth. 
Of  its  mineral  wealth  we  know  less;  but  the  indications  are 
of  the  highest  significance,  not  only  of  the  baser  metals  but 
also  of  the  most  valuable.  When  the  islands  were  first  oc- 
cupied by  the  Spaniards,  among  the  natives  were  worn  the 
silks  and  cottons  of  China,  for  which  they  had  exchanged 
the  o'old  dust  of  the  Philippines.  A  German  author  who 
traveled  in  the  islands  in  1859  and  '60  styles  it  "this  beau- 
tiful country,"  "that  lavishly  endowed  Island  Kingdom.'" 
Hernando  Riqucl.  an  early  Spanish  visitor,  states  that  there 
were  many  gold  mines  in  Luzon  seen  by  the  Spaniards  and 
adds:  "The  ore  is  so  rich  that  I  will  not  write  any  more 
about  it,  as  I  might  pos.sibiy  come  under  a  suspicion  of  ex- 
aggeration; but  I  swear  by  Christ  that  there  is  more  gold 
on  this  island  than  there  is  iron  in  all  Biscay." 

While  our  critical  theorists  at  home  are  opposing  the  ac- 
quisition already  constitutionally  ratified,  the  ever  practical 
Americans  are  taking  possession. 

The  French  Consul  at  Manila  recently  sent  to  his  govern- 
ment a  dispatch  containing  a  long  list  of  enterprises  which 
Americans  are  establishing  in  the  archipelago,  and  warns  the 
French  people  that  they  must  be  up  and  doing  unless  they 
want  to  be  left  far  in  the  rear.     He  writes: — 

"The  appearance  of  Manila  is  destined  tn  cbange  in  a 
short  time.  The  introduction  of  a  new  and  powerful  factor 
in  the  commercial  problem  of  this  country  will  compel 
Spanish  merchants  to  close  their  houses,  or  to  entirely  change 
their  business  methods.  American  competition  has  com- 
menced, in  iiivX,  to  assume  alarming  projiortions.  What 
will  be  the  importance  of  this  current  when  these  newcomeis 
are  free  to  direct  the  commercial  destinies  of  the  Philippines 
— to  flood  this  market  witli  all  the  products  of  their  indus- 
tries? 

"The  English  and  Uerman  merchants,  formerly  masters 
in  this  colony,  watch  with  keen  interest  the  events  now  in 
progress  and  await,  with  undisguised  impatience,  the  termi- 
nation of  the  struggle  between  tlu^  Americans  and  the  in- 
surgents that  they  may  discern  the  tuni  that  things  will 
take.  No  one  however  doubts  that  a  strong  rivalry  is  about 
to  arise,  and  tlu^y  regret  the  past  einiditioii  i)f  alfairs  and 
the  advantages  they  then  possessed. 

"It  is  probable  that  under  the  enterprising  and  energetic 
methods  of  American  business  men,  a  new  and  rieher  market 
will  soon  be  opened  on  these  islands.  IjhIIi  in  inipdrls  and 
exports." 

It  is  otricially  ]-e])oi'ted  from  Manila  (hat  over  a  hundred 
men  from  a  single  returning  Tennessee  regiment  declined 
to  come  home.  They  remain  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  the 
islands.  The  Americans  are  tliere,  gentlemen,  and  are  there 
to  stay. 

Self-Government  of  the  Philippines. 

In  respect  to  the  present  fitness  of  the  Philippines  for  .sell'- 
government  you  can  have  no  difficulty  in  deciding.     Agui- 


naldo's  so-called  government  is  not  chosen  by  the  people, 
but  is  a  simple  military  despotism.  It  represents  only  one 
of  the  many  tribes,  and  that  not  the  most  numerous  one. 
There  is  irrefutable  testimony  as  to  its  unfitne.ss  for  civilized 
government.  The  careful  German  scientist  and  writer  al- 
ready quoted  says  that  half-castes  and  Creoles  had  been  the 
foremost  in  revolt  and  risings;  and  that  the  people  "are 
politically  divided  among  themselves,  and  really  have  no 
steady  object  in  view."  General  Funston,  gallant  soldier, 
scientist,  scholar,  and  speaking  Spanish  with  Filipinos,  de- 
clares as  the  result  of  his  personal  knowledge  of  the  race: 
"Occasionally  I  found  a  smattering  of  education.  But  they 
are  absolutely  an  ignorant  race  and  quite  incapable  of  self- 
government."  I  add  that  after  Spain's  defeat  and  complete 
withdrawal  from  the  Islands  the  insurgents  have  constantly 
refused  to  free  their  Spanish  prisoners,  contrary  to  the  usage 
of  all  civilized  peoples.  Their  so-called  government  holds 
them  for  ransom.  This  is  the  barbaric  practice  of  the  mid- 
dle ages. 

At  Aguinaldo's  door  a  general  of  his  army  who  had  in- 
curred his  displeasure  is  assassinated,  and  his  assassin  is 
rewarded  with  a  colonel's  commissinn.  This  was  the  act  of 
a  despot  of  barbarism.  They  still  hold  prisoners  many 
Spanish  ministers  of  religion,  either  for  cruelty  or  for  ran- 
som. In  either  case  it  is  a  trait  of  savagery.  They  de- 
manded the  entrance  of  their  armed  bands  into  Manila  with 
tlie  intention  to  loot  the  city.  This  intention  was  so  well 
known  that  Manila  was  surrendered  by  the  Spanish,  with 
only  a  show  of  fighting  by  our  soldiers,  that  the  city  might  be 
under  the  protection  of  a  civilized  force.  It  was  so  arranged 
in  advance,  by  the  advice  of  foreign  consuls,  for  that  express 
])urpose.  This  statement  I  make  on  the  authority  of  Ad- 
miral Dewey  himself,  who  jnadc  tlie  arrangement  before  the 
nominal  fight.  They  afterward  plotted  to  burn  the  city. 
They  refused  to  exchange  prisoners  according  to  customs  of 
civilized  warfare.  Does  all  this  look  like  a  responsible  na- 
tive government  worthy  to  win  the  admiration  of  loyal  Amer- 
icans? When  they  turned  the  arms  we  had  given  them 
ay-ainst  us  to  drive  from  the  island  the  very  Americans  who 
had  banished  their  oppressor  and  opened  the  door  of  liberty, 
peace  and  justice  for  them,  and  did  it  without  a  word  or 
act  of  common  gratitude,  or  even  a  suggestion  of  compensa- 
tion for  the  twenty  millions  paid  by  us  to  S]>ain  for  a  peace- 
ful title  to  the  country,  did  they  exhibit  any  single  charac- 
teristic of  civilization? 

The  inhabitants  of  the  I'hilippines  are  estimated  at  about 
seven  millions.  Only  one  of  the  many  tribes  of  differing 
languages  is  committed  to  this  rebellon  against  our  author- 
ity, and  that  tribe  is  only  a  minor  factor  in  the  number  of 
tlie  population. 

This  tribe  has  no  claim  to  the  government  of  the  Philip- 
pines, and  never  has  had  it.  It  has  never  had  the  suprem- 
acy over  the  single  Island  of  Ijuzon.  I  have  the  highest 
authority  for  saying  that  the  insurgent  leader's  active  fol- 
lowing can  only  be  estinuited  at  about  40,000  out  of  a  popu- 
.  lation  of  two  and  a  half  millions  of  Luzon  alone.  Our 
withdrawal  would  nu-an  the  savage  loot  and  massacre  of 
Manila,  and  tlie  intervention  and  possession  of  the  islands 
\i\  a  military  power  of  Europe  which  would  end  forever 
iheii-  hope  of  self-government.  Europe  would  never  leave 
those  islands  in  the  control  of  their  tribes  in  their  present 
uncivilzed  state,  not  even  for  a  year.  Their  abandonment 
1ty  us  would  threaiten  the  peace  id'  the  world. 

The  anti-expansion  theorists  say  that  in  acquiring  and 
administering  the  Philippines  without  their  consent,  we  are 
violating  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
if  we  are,  then  JelTerson  who  wrote  it,  and  Madis(Ui,  IMonroe 
and  (,)uincy  Adams,  who  are  supposed  to  have  umlerstood  it, 
at  least  as  well  as  these  anti-leaguers,  also  violated  it.     For 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


207 


Jefferson,  Madison  and  Monroe  were  all  combined  in  mak- 
ing the  treaty  with  France  by  which  we  acquired  and  ad- 
ministered Louisiana  without  the  consent  of  its  inhabitants; 
and  Monroe  and  Adams  repeated  it  in  the  case  of  Florida. 
Are  they  no  safer  guides  in  the  interpretation  of  that  great 
document  than  are  the  critics  of  to-day  in  Boston  and  New 
York?  The  constitution  itself,  if  the  leaguers  are  right, 
violated  in  1789  the  Declaration  of  1776  by  giving  the  Con- 
gress of  the  United  States  the  perpetual  right  to  govern  the 
inhabitants  of  the  territories  without  their  consent.  We 
have  for  thirty-two  years  been  governing  Alaska  and  its  in- 
habitants without  their  consent,  and  did  the  same  by  the 
native  peoples  of  New  Mexico  and  Arizona.  And  yet  all 
these  peoples  refuse  to  be  unhappy  about  the  Declaration  of 
Independence!  All  the  world  knows  that  the  great  Decla- 
ration referred  only  to  people  fitted  for  self-government  and 
respecting  the  rules  of  an  orderly  civilization;  not  to  the 
King  of  Dahomey  and  his  cannibals,  nor  to  territories  law- 
fully rescued  from  barbarism  and  oppression  to  civilization 
and  liberty. 

So  far  as  concerns  the  question  of  our  right  to  expand  our 
jurisdiction  over  the  Philippines  there  is  not  a  jurist  in  the 
wide  world  to  dispute  it.  Spain  for  over  three  centuries  had 
exercised  the  rights  of  sovereignty,  and  in  full  accordance 
with  international  law  has  conveyed  them  to  the  ITnited 
States,  as  fully  and  as  rightfully  as  she  conveyed  Florida  to 
us  eighty  years  ago.  The  conveyance  was  not  merely  a  re- 
sult of  conquest,  but  was  for  a  large  money  compensation. 
There  was  no  other  sovereignty  over  the  islands.  There 
never  had  been  any  other  knovpii  to  history,  the  local  organi- 
zation being  that  of  many  distinct  tribes,  and  barbarian  in 
character. 

Expansion — A   Univeesal   Principle    of   Civilization. 

Wliy  then  this  sudden  partisan  hostility  to  expansion,  as 
if  it  were  some  new  principle?  or  new  policy?  It  is  as  old 
as  our  occupation  of  this  continent.  Even  older,  for  our 
occupation  of  this  fair  continent  is  itself  the  product  of 
ancestral  expansion.  It  ran  through  the  history  of  our  an- 
cestral cobinists.  Their  colonial  life  was  one  long  struggle 
for  expansion  over  the  territory  of  savage  natives.  Wash- 
ington was  an  expansionist  across  the  Alleghenies  against  the 
French.  Massachusetts  expanded  over  Maine  in  a  struggle 
against  French  and  Indians.  All  colonial  New  England 
sought  expansion  over  the  province  of  Quebec.  So,  later, 
did  the  Continental  Congress.  Our  whole  early  history  is 
chequered  with  stniggles  for  expansion  over  territory  occu- 
pied by  savages,  or  claimed  by  aliens;  a  struggle  as  inevitable 
as  any  other  law  in  the  evolution  of  man  and  nature.  It  is 
not  only  a  right  but  a  duty  of  civilization  to  supersede  the 
perils  and  vicious  practices  of  barbarism  with  the  security 
and  good  order  of  civilized  conditions.  It  was  Spain's  neglect 
to  perform  this  obligation  that  cost  her  the  loss  of  vast  pos- 
sessions, continental  and  insular.  She  conquered,  but  did 
not  civilize.  The  most  civilized  of  European  nations  are  the 
most  expansive  over  barbarism  and  semi-barbarism. 

Russia  has  expanded  in  Asia  with  admirable  results  of 
peace  and  order,  and  the  extension  of  peaceful  commerce. 
France  and  Belgium  are  expanding  over  great  regions  of 
dark  Africa,  and  seeking  to  siibstitute  the  peaceful  relations 
of  trade  for  the  horrors  of  savage  warfare  and  slavery  and 
cannibalism.  Holland  maintains  peace,  order  and  a  profit- 
able commerce  in  Oriental  possessions,  over  which  she  ex- 
panded in  the  brilliant  period  of  her  history.  Gennany  has 
expanded,  first  at  home  to  include  seaports,  and  then  over 
everythina:  within  reach  and  unacquired  by  a  civilized  power. 
And  England,  the  freest  of  them  all  in  her  civilizing  influ- 
ence, has  in  this  half  century  expanded  her  liberties  with  her 


jurisdiction  till  she  has  belted  the  earth  with  illuminating 
centres  for  the  diffusion  of  civilized  order  and  the  lights  of 
human  progress.  If,  while  accomplishing  this,  she  has  reaped 
great  rewards  of  commercial  greatness  and  political  power,  it 
only  confinns  the  wisdom  of  her  action. 

I  am  not  speaking  of  expansion  by  force  over  civilized  and 
self-governing  peoples,  who  already  recognize  and  obey  the 
common  law  of  nations.  But  so  long  as  we  follow  the  lines 
of  destiny,  marked  out  as  they  are  now  by  the  finger  of  the 
Almighty  Providence,  this  great  liberty-loving  republic  need 
not  hesitate  to  take  her  own  part  in  this  grand  civilizing 
march  of  the  nations  against  ignorance,  despotism  and  sav- 
agery. It  is  a  movement  which  is  destined  to  fill  the  earth 
with  the  music  of  peaceful  and  productive  industry,  and  to 
cover  all  the  great  oceans  vpith  the  vehicles  of  commerce  and 
of  friendly  interc(uirse  among  nations. 

The   Natural   Deift   of  the   Philippines  to   America 
Foreseen  and  Predicted. 

I  have  endeavored  to  portray  to  you,  gentlemen,  the  Philip- 
pine situation  with  perfect  candor  and  upon  the  best  available 
authorities.  Their  natural  relationship  is  with  America  and 
not  with  Europe.  They  were  discovered  by  Magellan  sailing 
west,  and  they  were  for  two  centuries  regarded  by  Europe  as 
belonging  to  our  Western  Continent.  They  were  colonized 
from  America.  Chinese  commerce  came  through  Manila  to 
America.  Dr.  Jager,  the  German  traveler,  said  in  his  scientific 
report  of  his  observations  in  the  Philippines  in  1860: — "The 
proper  field  for  their  commerce  is  what  is  to  us  the  far  West: 
they  were  colonized  thence,  and  for  centuries  they  had  no 
communication  with  Europe  but  an  indirect  one,  by  the 
annual  voyage  of  the  galleon  between  Manila  and  Acapulco. 
Now,  however,  when  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Pacific  are  at 
last  beginning  to  teem  with  life,  and,  with  unexampled  speed, 
are  pressing  forward  to  grasp  their  stupendous  future,  the 
Philippines  will  no  longer  be  able  to  remain  in  their  past 
seclusion.  No  tropical  Asiatic  colony  is  so  favorably  situated 
for  communication  with  the  west  coast  of  America."  This 
was  said  over  thirty  years  ago. 

This  book  was  translated  into  English,  and  also  into 
Spanish  and  published  at  Madrid.  He  seems  to  have  been 
both  scientist  and  prophet.  His  concluding  chapter  is  so 
significant  and  prophetic  that  I  quote  the  following  remark- 
able sentences: 

'•When  first  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  re-echoed  with  the 
sounds  of  active  commerce,  the  trade  of  the  world  and  the 
history  of  the  world  may  be  really  said  to  have  begun.  [A 
istart  in  that  direction  has  been  made.]  Not  so  very  long 
ago  the  immense  ocean  was  one  wide  waste  of  waters,  traversed 
from  both  points  only  once  a  year.  From  1603  to  1769 
scarcely  a  ship  had  ever  visited  California,  that  wonderful 
country  which,  twenty-five  years  ago,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  places  on  the  coast,  was  an  unknown  wilderness,  but 
which  is  now  covered  with  flourishing  and  prosperous  towns 
and  cities,  *  *  *  gygjj  ^i  ^-j^ig  early  stage  of  its  existence 
a  central  point  of  the  world's  commerce,  and  apparently  des- 
tined, l)y  the  proposed  junction  of  the  great  oceans,  to  play  a 
most  important  part  in  the  future. 

"In  proportion  as  the  navigation  of  the  west  coast  of  Amer- 
ica extends  the  influence  of  the  American  element  over  the 
South  Sea,  the  captivating  magic  power  which  the  great 
republic  exercises  over  the  Spanish  colonies  will  not  fail  to 
make  itself  felt  in  the  Philippines.  The  Americans  are  evi- 
dently destined  to  bring  to  a  full  development  the  germs 
originated  by  the  Spaniards.  As  conquerors  of  modern  times, 
they  pursue'  their  road  to  victory  with  the  assistance  of  the 
pioneer's  axe  and  plough,  representing  an  age  of  peace  and 


208 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


cnmmercial  prosperity  in  contrast  to  that  bygone  and  chival- 
rous age  who=e  champions  \vere  upheld  by  the  cross  and 
protected  by  the  sword. 

"A  considerable  portion  of  Spanish  America  already  be- 
longs to  the  United  States,  and  has  since  attained  an  impor- 
tance which  would  not  possibly  have  been  anticipated  either 
under  the  Spanish  Government  or  under  the  anarchy  which 
followed.  With  regard  to  permanence,  the  Spanish  system 
cannot  for  a  moment  be  compared  with  that  of  America." 

Tliis  remarkable  prophecy  was  published  in  Europe  when 
not  a  statesman,  not  a  poet,  not  a  dreamer  in  the  United  States 
had  even  conjectured  the  possibility  of  our  political  connec- 
tion with  the  Philippines.  It  was  a  philosophic  forecast  of 
the  natural  development  of  international  history. 

We  are  then  fully  justified  in  saying  that  this  last  expan- 
sion is  in  the  line  of  our  rational  and  providential  destiny, 
for  the  Philippines  as  well  as  for  our  Republic;  and  that  it 
means  development  and  prosperity  for  both  countries.  In  a 
word,  we  were  forced  to  fight  for  them.  We  won  them.  We 
paid  for  them.  Our  title  is  recorded  in  the  international 
records  of  the  world.  We  won  them  with  all  the  sanctions  of 
the  common  law  of  nations,  and  in  conformity  with  our  own 
national  precedents.  There  is  no  contestant  save  one  insur- 
gent and  semi-barbaric  tribe,  which  never  itself  was  sovereign. 
We  are  only  fighting  them  for  peace,  and  for  the  opportunity 
to  give  them,  wnth  all  tlie  others,  justice,  knowledge,  good 
order  and  prosperity.  Tlie  military  despotism  they  seek  to 
establish  against  us,  and  over  the  other  tribes,  must  cease. 
The  gates  to  the  vast  wealth  of  the  archipelago  must  be 
opened  to  its  inhabitants,  to  our  enterprise  and  to  commerce. 
Our  rights  and  our  oliligations  to  the  world  must  be  main- 
tained. When  this  transient  revolt  of  a  tribe — which  is  only 
the  final  sequel  of  the  Tagal  habit  of  revolt  against  Spain — 
is  over,  the  local  industrty  and  commerce  will  revive  with 
fresh  vigor.  The  islands  will  throb  witli  a  new  life,  responsive 
to  tlieir  new  experience  of  liberty,  and  of  jirotection  for  the 
rigiits  of  person  and  of  jinperty.  I'hey  will  fur  the  first 
time  begin  to  understand  what  civilization  means.  There  will 
be  lietween  us  a  reciprocity  of  fidelity  and  prosperity.  Then 
will  the  German  prophecy  be  fulfilled,  and  tlie  captivating 
magic  power  of  the  Great  Repuljlic  over  the  Spanish  Colonies 
will  lie  felt  in  the  Philippines  also.    {A])plause.) 

//(()).  Hdbert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Gentlemen,  I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  His  Excellency, 
('  )lonel  Charles  Page  Bryan,  United  States  Minister  to  Brazil. 

Ci'l.  Clnirlcfi  I'dfie  Bryan: 

(u-ntlenien. — Before  I  had  seen  the  program  to-day,  I  jotted 
down  this  morning  some  homely  and  practical  suggestions  for 
business  men  desiring  to  extend  our  commercial  relations 
with  (lie  great  Soutliern  Republic.  I  hope  they  will  not  be 
inconsistent  with  the  theme  chosen  for  to-day,  wliieh  includes 
e(  inniereial  exjiansion. 

Mr.  (_'hainnan,  before  speaking  what  J  have  to  say  on  the 
subject  of  eonuneree,  may  I  refer  to  that  portion  of  your  re- 
marks which  related  to  tlie  consular  representation  in  South 
America.  It  alTords  me  great  pleasure  to  say  that  in  Brazil 
at  least  the  I'nited  States  is  represented  by  an  intelligent, 
liiisiness-like,  energetic-  set  of  consuls  who  are  traveling  and 
working  at  great  fatigue  and  great  expense  to  themselves 
(a]iplause),  exploring  the  remotest  corners  accessible  in  that 
great  eountry — for  us  a  terra  incognita — striving  and  studying 
conditions  which  will  surely  result  to  the  b(>iicfit  of  mir  com- 
merce throuL'hout  the  great  South  American  continent.  The 
chief  of  that  consular  corps  is  here  to-day  to  sjieak  for  him- 
self, and  will,  I  have  no  doubt,  give  you  many  inferc'^ling 
facts  along  the  lines  of  his  studies  and  travels. 

It  may  seem  a*  inappropriate  for  a  diplomatic  ofTicer  to 


suggest  to  merchants  or  manufacturers  how  to  conduct  their 
business,  as  for  them  to  attempt  to  direct  the  policies  of  em- 
bassies and  legarions.  But  it  is  rare  that  a  man  of  common 
sense  cannot,  after  opportunities  for  observation,  give  valua- 
ble suggestions  to  those  engaged  in  other  fields  of  activity. 
It  is  well  said  that  the  man  who  attends  exclusively  to  his 
own  business  succeeds,  because  he  has  no  competition,  but 
my  experience  at  a  remote  diplomatic  post  convinces  me  that 
every  one  expects  his  minister  to  be  a  silent  partner,  from 
the  stamp  collector  to  the  land  speculator  who  dreams  of  ac- 
quiring empires. 

It  is  no  violation  of  proper  diplomatic  reserve  to  say  that 
paramount  in  South  America  missions  and  consulates  are  the 
desire  and  the  effort  to  extend  our  commerce.  To  accom- 
plish this  we  are  constantly  and  imperatively  urged  from 
Washington.  The  prestige  of  our  arms  and  the  general 
policy  of  a  wise  administration  have  greatly  helped,  but  the 
earnest,  business-like  co-operation  of  our  exporters  is  now 
essential. 

We  are  ever  having  the  disparity  of  our  imports  from 
Brazil  compared  with  our  exports  thither.  If  a  rich  lawyer 
buys  of  you  most  of  his  supplies  he  cannot  expect  you  to 
retain  him  profes.sionaTly,  unless  he  practices  in  the  depart- 
ment of  law  to  which  your  litigation  belongs.  Nor  can  the 
tailor,  however  much  he  may  purchase  of  you,  look  for  your 
]iatronage  unless  he  is  willing  to  accommodate  his  styles  to 
your  fancy.  To  seek  to  please  the  traditional  tastes  of  cus- 
tomers is  a  common  sense  business  policy  which,  if  followed, 
will  secure  for  ns  increased  trade  below  the  equator.  If  the 
American  hatter,  who,  with  the  shoemaker,  is  likely  to  be 
greatly  favored  by  the  differential  import  taxes  proposed  by 
Brazil,  will  but  change  his  lilock  or  last  to  suit  Southern 
tastes  and  climate,  as  he  does  to  please  fashion's  changes  at 
home,  he  can  easily  supplant  his  French  competitor  in  the 
markets  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  Buenos  Aires.  Make  your 
plows  in  the  special  pattern  the  Brazilians  prefer,  but  im- 
prove on  the  quality  they  have,  and  you  wall  soon  enjoy  a 
monopoly  in  that  line.  The  enactment  referred  to  will  aid 
our  manufacturers  of  agricultural  implements  as  well  as  of 
mining  machinery. 

Much  of  the  manganese  produced  in  Brazil  is  sold  in  this 
State.  Wlieii  the  representative  of  these  Brazilian  mines 
visits  you  in  December,  he  will,  doubtless,  find  much  machin- 
ery that  is  needed  by  his  company.  Eraser  &  Chalmers,  of 
( 'hicago,  have  furnished  the  plant  for  a  gold  mine  near  those 
of  manganese  in  the  State  of  Minas  Geraes. 

As  you  well  know,  American  engines  from  your  great 
Baldwin  Works  draw  most  of  the  trains  on  the  government 
railway  of  Brazil,  to  which  your  neighbors,  the  Allison  and 
Ilarlan-IIollingsworth  Companies,  have  furnished  cars.  Brar- 
zilians  are  tenacious  customers.  They  do  not  change  will- 
ingly. The  Gemians  now  have  business  representatives  in 
every  community,  studying  the  tastes  of  the  inhabitants. 
Why  not  we?  This  brings  one  to  the  suggestion  that  cannot 
lie  t  )o  strongly  urged,  which  is  representation  of  American 
l]usiness  hou.ses  in  distant  lands,  by  citizens  of  our  couutrj', 
or  of  that  where  the  agency  is  established.  Better  still  is 
a  partnership  of  an  American  with  a  native.  A  European 
liranch  hou,«e  may,  for  instance,  take  the  agency  of  American 
coal,  which,  however,  will  only  be  offered  for  sale  when  every 
elTori  fo  dispose  of  the  Welsh  supply,  always  plentiful,  has 
Im'cu  exhausted.  So  a  Belgian  will  sell  our  steel  rails  only 
\\  hen  no  purchaser  of  those  from  his  country  could  be  found. 
Kniiwledge  of  Portuguese,  Spanish  or  French  in  South  Amer- 
ii'an  countries  is  absolutely  indisjionsable.  Americans  pos- 
sess greater  adaptability  for  new  surroundings  than  Euro- 
p(>ans,  which  is  another  recommendation  of  our  countrymen  as 
agents.  None  hut  the  steadiest  men  should  be  sent.  Any 
form  of  dissipation  is  fatal  in  the  tropics.    Speculation  on  Ex- 


DR.  E.  PISTOR, 
Graz,  Austria. 


JACQUES  SCHUK, 

Nagyvarad.  Hungary. 


R.  STRASCHNOW, 

Silesia,  Austria. 


JULIUS  VON   SZAVAY, 
Raab,  Hungary. 


DR.  OTTO  THORSCH, 

Vienna.  Austria. 


HENRI  VAN   DER  STRAETEN, 
Bruges,  Belgium. 


A.  A.  RUTIS, 

Sao  Paulo,  Brazil. 


GEORGE  ANDERSON, 

Toronto,  Canada. 


HENRY   MILES, 
Montreal,  Canada. 


OP  THB  -^ 

UiNTTVERsiTr   ' 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


209 


change,  so  common  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  should  be  sternly  for- 
bidden to  all  agents  of  American  interests.  (Applause.)  The 
Brazilian  Clovernment  is  often  deeply  incensed  at  the  bearish 
influence  exerted  by  foreigners  on  Exchange,  and  any  preju- 
dice that  may  exist,  on  the  part  of  the  natives,  against  Euro- 
peans and  North  Americans  in  business,  is  largely  due  to  the 
policy  of  the  former,  some  of  whom  thrive  by  increasing  the 
instability  of  the  currency. 

Competition  w^th  Europeans  is  keen.  In  commercial  alli- 
ance they  stand  united  against  all  newcomers.  In  this  regard 
our  business  agents  in  South  America  are  not  as  judicious. 
A  great  government  contract  for  an  important  American 
product  was  recently  lost,  because  the  representatives  of  dif- 
ferent companies  and  their  respective  partisans  so  discredited 
each  other's  material  that  the  oiRcials  concluded,  on  American 
authority,  it  was  all  bad.  Such  losses  for  our  commerce  are 
little  short  of  calamities.  Once  introduced,  no  matter  by  what 
producer,  American  coal,  for  instance,  would  soon  find  favor 
and  be  known  as  the  best,  as  has  been  the  case  with  our  flour, 
the  siipremacy  of  which  we  are  stri\ing  to  maintain. 

Longer  credits  given  by  Europeans  increase  the  difficulty 
of  competition  for  our  houses.  Would  it  not  be  practicable, 
under  the  far-reaching  beneficial  auspices  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Museum,  to  estalflish  an  exchange  of  American  manufac- 
tures and  products  in  payment  for  Brazilian  coifee,  or  other 
of  their  exports,  thus  giving  our  S.nithern  neighbors  a  profit- 
able chance  of  familiarizing  themselves  with  North  American 
staples. 

No  effort  should  be  spared  to  establish  American  banks 
and  steamship  lines.  They  would  pay  handsomely,  and  the 
return  to  our  commerce  would  be  incalculable.  Several 
State  Legislatures  of  Brazil  are  voting  subsidies,  and  the 
Federal  Congress  is  contemplating  like  action  for  a  line  of 
steamers  to  New  York.  Such  an  enterprise  and  a  great  rail- 
I'oad  would  promise  magnificent  opportunities  for  large 
American  investors. 

Millions  of  the  best  of  the  Southern  Europeans  are  settling 
in  Brazil.  The  Italians  take  more  naturally  to  agi'icuUural 
than  to  manufactiu-ing  pursuits.  This  is  to  our  advantage, 
with  exchange  of  materials  in  view.  These  thrifty  Tuscans 
and  Lombards  may  help  the  friendly  Brazilians  develop  a 
modern  Rome  in  the  South  which  could  become  the  most 
potent  commercial  ally  of  the  United  States  of  America. 
Let  us  employ  every  judicious  business  effort  to  cultivate  this 
already  most  friendly  connection.    (Applause.) 

It  is  peculiarly  pleasing  for  me  to-day,  Mr.  Chairman  and 
gentlemen,  to  say  that  in  addressing  your  Chairman,  I  am 
speaking  to  him  who  was  first  among  diplomats  to  Brazil 
accredited  to  recognize  the  Repulflic  in  that  countrv.  The 
Brazilians  remember  with  the  most  intense  gratitude  that 
action  of  our  government  through  my  distinguished  predeces- 
sor, and  have  shown  in  all  the  struggles  through  which  we 
have  so  recently  gloriously  passed,  a  sympathy  for  the  main- 
tenance and  glorification  and  expansion  of  their  sister  of  the 
North,  who  is  their  traditional  friend.  Let  us  take  advantage 
of  that  sentimental  friendship,  and  put  it  to  practical  use,  for 
there  will  surely  be  within  the  day  of  the  youngest  of  you 
here,  forty  or  fifty  millions  of  prosperous  people,  a  land  larger 
than  the  original  United  States,  without  Alaska,  and  of  vast 
national  resources,  which  must  be  of  infinite  benefit  in  time 
to  her  commercial  ally,  our  own  Republic.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Boberl  Adams,  Jr.: 

Gentlemen,  I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  the  Hon.  Eugene 
Seeger,  United  States  C^onsul-General  at  Rio  de  Janeiro, 
Brazil. 

Hon.  Eugene  Scege.r: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:    There  is  no  land 


on  the  face  of  the  earth  where  a  cosmopolitan  body  of  dis- 
tinguished men,  like  yourselves,  come  from  near  and  far  for 
the  purpose  of  advancing  the  commerce  of  the  nations,  for 
mutual  benefit — there  is  no  land,  I  say,  where  such  a  gath- 
ering could  be  more  in  harmony  with  its  surroundings  than  in 
the  United  States  of  America. 

Ours  is  a  great  countiy  and  we  are  very  proud  of  it,  but 
we  will  never  hesitate  to  gratefully  acknowledge  that  almost 
all  the  nations  represented  in  this  International  Congress 
have,  more  or  less,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  contributed 
to  its  development.  And  there  are  very  few  of  you,  gentle- 
men, who  could  not,  in  scrutinizing  the  history  of  the 
United  States,  find  countrymen  who  in  one  way  or  another 
have  distinguished  themselves  in  this  field  as  contributors  to 
the  public  good. 

There  is,  of  course,  one  marked  difference  between  you, 
gentlemen,  and  the  bulk  of  your  forefathers,  who  came  pion- 
eering over  here.  You  had  the  good  fortune  to  come  in  the 
first  cabin,  and  in  parlor  cars,  and  you  are  surrounded  with 
ail  the  luxuries  of  a  refined  age;  they  came  over  in  the  steerage 
and  had  to  rough  it. 

This  great  commonwealth  was  founded,  not  by  the  rich  and 
mighty,  not  by  the  uppertendom  of  the  old  world,  but  by  the 
oppressed,  by  the  pocn-  and  humble;  and  we  are  glad,  and  I 
am  sure  you  are,  that  you  are  here  to  see  the  results  with  your 
own  eyes. 

Prosperity  in  the  United  States  always  was,  is  and  ever 
will  be  a  blessing,  yea,  a  necessity  to  the  old  world  and  to 
the  rest  of  America  as  well;  for  we  richly  give  where  we  get, 
we  are  strong  friends  of  our  friends,  and  we  are  always  ready 
to  reciprocate. 

Gatherings  like  this  great  International  Congress,  consti- 
tLite  a  sign  of  sound  progi'ess  and  high  order  of  ethical  devel- 
opment, it  shows  the  desire  of  civilized  nations  for  co-opera- 
tion in  the  pursuit  of  trade  and  commerce,  instead  of  antag- 
iinism,  for  mutual  better  acquaintance,  and  for  an  era  of  good 
feeling  all  around. 

To  achieve  this  praiseworthy  end  will  be  the  more  ea.sy 
for  you,  our  honored  guests,  and  for  us,  inasmuch  as  in  the 
veins  of  our  nation  runs  some  of  the  blood  of  nearly  every 
nation  repi-esented  in  this  great  assemblage. 

Let  us  look  back  a  moment — just  a  moment,  I  will  not 
detain  you  long.  Right  at  the  threshold  of  our  history,  in 
the  dim  past,  we  behold,  emerging  from  the  nebulous  atmos- 
])here  of  fable  and  tradition,  the  outlines  of  a  tall  and  vigor- 
iius  sailor,  in  a  strong  but  primitive  craft,  who  had  come  on 
a  venturesome  voyage  from  the  far  North:  Leif  Ericson,  the 
Norseman.  It  was  he  who  discovered  us  first — about  900 
years  ago.  He  left  no  traces  on  his  return — emigrants  in 
those  times  hardly  ever  did — but  centimes  after,  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  his  race  came  over  here,  the  Scandinavians, 
to  establish  their  homes  here.  The  great  Northwest  owes 
them  much,  and  they  rank  among  the  best  of  our  citizens. 
Years  rolled  by,  several  hundreds  of  them,  and  there  came, 
not  from  the  North  but  from  the  South,  another  hero  of  the 
deep  with  his  followers.  His  eyes  were  not  blue,  his  hair 
was  not  flaxen.  He  was  a  brown-faced  nurn  with  long  dark 
hair  and  fierce  black  eyes,  a  representative  of  the  Latin  race 
— it  was  Christopher  Columbus,  the  great  Italian,  who  dis- 
covered us  also,  by  order  and  with  the  ships  of  the  Spanish 
Government.  Later  on  the  French  came;  those  daring 
cavaliers  and  devoted  missionaries  and  pathfinders, — La  Salle, 
Joliet,  Father  Marquette  and  others,  whose  lives  are  closely 
interwoven  with  our  early  history,  and  whose  names  are 
household  words  among  us. 

Then  the  gi-eat  Anglo-Saxon  founders  of  this  Republic 
commenced  to  come  in,  the  "Mayflower"  bringing  the  pil- 
grim fathers.  I  need  not  recapitulate  here  the  history  of 
those  immortal  men. 


210 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Soon  after  the  Hollanders  arrived,  the  great  pioneers  of 
New  York. 

From  the  German  fatherland  came  with  his  followers, 
good,  honest,  industrious  Pastorious,  the  "Pennsylvania  Pil- 
grim," the  founder  of  Germantown,  who  brought  with  him  a 
poetical  heart,  a  clear  head,  and  the  first  printing  presses  used 
in  this  countiT.  He  issued,  together  with  other  members  of 
the  "Society  of  the  Friends,"  the  first  public  protest  (ItiSSj 
against  the  heinous  institution  of  slavery  prevailing  in  the 
new  American  colonies. 

Our  recent  history  shows  the  co-operation  and  blending  of 
the  different  nationalities  yet  stronger. 

The  German-American  element  of  the  Union  is  now  esti- 
nuited  at  over  eight  millions.  Then,  ne.vt  to  them  in  num- 
erical strength  and  importance  among  the  foreign-born 
citizens  are  those  of  Irish  descent.  The  Scandinavians,  com- 
pactly settled  in  the  Northwest,  count  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands. 

So  do  the  Slavonic  and  Latin  elements,  mostly  in  our  big 
cities — all  those  and  others  who  came  here  into  the  union 
from  foreign  shores  have  co-operated  and  co-operate  with 
the  native  Americans  in  the  development  of  their  common 
country,  and  they  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  its  defence. 
There  is  not  a  more  pathetic  or  inspiring  page  written  in  the 
history  of  nations,  than  the  one  which  relates  the  heroic 
deeds  done  and  the  sacrifices  made  by  the  native  and  the 
adopted  citizens  alike,  at  the  time  our  country  was  in  danger 
of  disintegration. 

The  elements  briefly  mentioned  above,  jointly  constitute 
what  in  foreign  countries  are  usually  called  "the  Yankees." 
And  I  venture  the  assertion,  that  the  more  our  foreign  dele- 
gates see  of  them,  the  better  they  will  like  them.  In  Europe 
and  elsewhere  "the  Yankees"  (i.  e.,  the  people  of  the  United 
States)  are  frequently  styled  as  cunning,  shrewd  and  egotisti- 
cal dollar-hunters,  whose  motto  is:  "God  helps  those  that  help 
themselves."  And  there  is,  I  will  admit,  an  excuse  for  this. 
Our  statisticians  are  to  blame.  Proud  of  our  rapid  and 
vigorous  material  development,  we  never  tire  of  publishing 
how  many  hogs  and  steers  we  kill  annually,  how  many  tons  of 
coal  we  dig,  how  many  miles  of  railroad  we  operate,  how  much 
money  we  make,  etc.  But  our  intellectual,  ethical  and 
artistical  achievements  are  lost  sight  of.  They  are  not  covered 
by  statistics. 

If  it  were  known  to  the  world  at  large,  how  much  of  their 
earnings  the  people  of  the  United  States  annually  donate,  of 
their  own  accord,  to  the  public  welfare,  for  purposes  of  pub- 
lic instruction,  art  and  charity;  how  ready  the  strong  are  to 
help  the  weak;  with  what  enthusiasm  the  people  uphold  tlieir 
school  system,  build  public  libraries  and  endow  their  count- 
less institutions  of  worship  and  charity  with  comfort  and  even 
luxury;  how  assiduously  they  have  commenced  to  take  up 
music  and  the  fine  arts  as  soon  as  the  pioneering  epoch  of 
their  civic  existence  was  over;  how  earnestly  they  investigate 
the  great  problems  which  face  intellectual  liumanity  in  our 
rapidly  ])rogressing  age;  how,  in  the  great  centres  of  popu- 
lation they  daily  manufacture  train-loads  of  books  and  news- 
papers, which  are  eagerly  stnight  and  bought  by  the  people. 
and  last  but  not  lea,st,  how  they  love  their  homes  and  the  star 
spangkd  banner;  if  abroad  they  liad  an  idea  of  all  this,  they 
could  not  hel])  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  the  typical 
American — your  Yankees,  if  you  please^are  a  liberal-minded, 
big-hearted  people,  idealists  of  the  first  water! 

By  the  way,  isn't  this  great  Commercial  Museum,  witli 
its  wonderfully  organized  international  Bureau  of  Informa- 
tion, also  a  jjroof  of  what  1  asserted?  Isn't  it  a  sjdendid 
monument  of  an  enlightened  and  progressive  commercial 
sentiment?  And  isn't  the  method  by  which  our  government 
instructs  its  foreign  representatives  to  study  within  tlicir 
sphere  the  necessities  and  possibilities  of  trade  and  commerce, 


and  then  publishes  daily  the  results  of  such  investigations  for 
the  benefit  of  all,  at  home  and  abroad,  who  care  to  read  them 
— isn't  that  also  a  proof  of  liberality  and  idealism? 

This  may  seem  to  you  a  rather  lengthy  preface  to  my  con- 
tribution to  this  Pan-American  day,  but  I  hold,  in  order  to 
fully  understand  Pan-Americanism,  one  must  fully  under- 
.stand  the  people  of  the  United  States.  I  now  want  to  lay  be- 
fore you,  gentlemen,  some  of  the  results  of  my  observations 
dming  a  recent  trip  through  the  interior  of  the  States  of 
Southern  Brazil — Parana,  Santa  Catharina,  and  Rio  Grande 
do  Sul. 

There  is  probably  no  land  in  the  civilized  world  more  in- 
teresting than  Brazil,  and  less  known.  Besides  the  fact  that 
it  is  "the  country  where  the  nuts  come  from"  and  the  "Rio 
coffee,"  and  that  the  yellow  fever  rages  there,  very  little  is 
known  among  the  masses  abroad  about  the  great  South 
American  Republic,  which  contains  an  area  equal  to  that  of 
the  United  States. 

In  speaking  of  the  character  of  Brazil  and  the  Brazilians 
it  is  impossible  to  generalize.  The  inhabitants  of  Brazil  are 
radically  different,  according  to  the  latitudes  in  which  they 
live,  and  the  race  mixtures  of  which  they  are  the  product. 

While  the  sociological  and  climatic  conditions  are  such  that 
the  Saxon,  Teutonic  and  Celtic  races  cannot  prosper  in  the 
North  of  Brazil,  it  is  far  different  in  the  States  of  Southern 
Brazil.  There  is  life,  there  is  vigor  and  aggressive  energy. 
In  the  Northern  States,  especially  along  the  coast,  the  atmos- 
phere is  mostly  moist,  overheated,  enervating  and  often  disease- 
breeding.  The  three  Southern  States,  Parana,  Santa  Catha- 
rina and  Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  coast 
towns,  are  blessed  with  an  almost  ideal  climate,  and  are  ab- 
solutely free  from  epidemics. 

In  the  North,  the  children  of  white  immigrants  are  mostly 
smaller  than  their  parents,  and  show  signs  of  nervous  and 
organic  degeneracy.  The  second  generation  in  the  South, 
however,  is  very  frequently  more  vigorous  than  the  first,  and 
enjoys  a  degree  of  vitality  unexcelled  anywhere  on  our 
planet. 

The  same,  by  the  way,  may  be  said  of  the  domestic  animals. 
Horses,  cattle,  dogs,  etc.,  imported  from  more  congenial  lati- 
tudes, rapidly  degenerate  in  the  climate  of  Northern  Brazil, 
but  in  the  Southern  States,  their  development  and  usefulness 
is  all  that  may  be  desired. 

Strong  and  characteristic  is  the  contrast,  physiologically 
as  well  as  psychologically,  between  the  Northern  and  South- 
ern Brazilian  type.  There  are  and  always  were  compara- 
tively few  colored  people  in  the  South,  slavery  not  having 
been  tolerated  anywhere  in  the  German  colonies.  The  Ger- 
nmns,  so  very  numerous  in  the  three  Southern  States,  have 
never  inter-married  with  the  colored  or  the  "cabocole"  ele- 
ment, even  very  rarely,  as  far  as  the  first  generation  is  con- 
cerned, with  the  native  Ijatins,  both  races  being  a  great  deal 
less  in  touch  with  each  other  than  they  ought  to  be. 

The  dissimilarity  of  the  South  and  the  North  of  Brazil  is 
also  the  reason  or  pretext  why  opponents  of  the  present  sy.s- 
tem  of  government  in  Brazil,  or  foreigners  with  whom  the 
wish  is  father  to  the  thought,  often  prophesy  that  the  South 
would,  in  a  very  near  future,  secede  to  form  a  republic  of 
their  own,  etc.,  t'ic.     Absurd  ideal 

The  Southern  Brazilians  are  a  jiatriotic  people  who  firmly 
iiclieve  in  the  future  of  the  J^razilian  nation  and  are  certain 
that  Ihe  three  Southern  States,  together  with  the  great  States 
(if  Sno  Paulo  and  l\Iinas  Geraes,  are  destined  to  play  a  leading 
paii  in  the  TTnion. 

Southern  Brazil  is  wnnderf\dly  I'udowi'd  by  nature;  it  has 
a  very  favorable  geographical  position,  a  fine  climate,  a  rich 
soil,  gigantic  rivers,  mountains  and  uK'ndows,  a  sea  front  of 
;.'i(l  miles  (ui  the  east,  witli  numenms  n.-itiirnl  barliors.  and, 
last   but  not   least,  it  has  its  great  forests  wbiib.   with   their 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


211 


endless  varieties  of  valuable  hard  woods,  their  palms,  roots 
and  herbs,  and  their  yerbamate,  furnish  the  colonist  with 
almost  anything  needed  for  food  and  shelter,  and  thus  give 
that  country  a  decided  advantage  over  the  treeless  plains  of 
Argentina  and  Uruguay. 

What  Southern  Brazil  needs  is:  Capital,  transportation, 
and  more  men  of  skill  and  enterprise  to  develop  its  vast  re- 
sources. 

Only  one-tenth  of  this  great  country  of  332, .500  miles 
square  is  under  the  influence  of  civilization.  There  is  no- 
where a  more  lucrative  field  for  legitimate  enterjjrise. 

Will  the  people  of  the  United  States,  who  have  lately  so 
vigorously  asserted  themselves,  as  one  of  the  leading  indus- 
trial and  commercial  powers  of  the  world,  continue  to  refrain 
from  competition  with  the  Europeans  in  an  American  field 
of  such  exceptional  promise,  or  will  they  come  forward  and 
help  in  the  development  of  the  richest  section  in  South 
America? 

Of  course  we  cannot  send  colonists.  But  we  can  send  ships 
with  merchandise,  improved  machinery  and  implements  of  all 
kinds.  We  can  send  capital  with  engineers  and  electricians. 
We  can  construct  roads,  canals,  bridges,  factories,  gas  works, 
electric  plants,  etc.  We  can  organize  new  industries  and  im- 
prove the  old  ones,  and  we  can  show  an  industrious,  hard- 
working and  sympathetic  people  how  to  fight  the  battle  of 
life  with  improved  weapons  and  to  enjoy  its  pleasures  in  a 
potential  way.  That  would  be  our  share  of  the  work.  And 
it  would  be  for  mutual  benefit. 

The  develci|iment  and  advancement;  of  the  Southern  States 
of  Brazil  will  l)e  the  step]ung-stone  to  an  enterprise  yet 
greater  and  more  important,  which  cannot  fail  to  materially 
influence  the  character  and  future  of  the  southern  half  of 
this  continent,  an  enterprise  cut  out  for  the  early  part  of  the 
century  the  threshold  of  which  we  are  now  standing:  the 
building  of  a  railroad  connecting  the  capital  of  Paraguay  with 
the  Brazilian  railroads  already  existing  or  soon  to  be  con- 
structed, with  terminal  points  in  Porto  Uniao  (on  the 
Iguassu,  in  the  heart  of  Parana)  and  in  one  or  two  parts  of 
the  State  of  Santa  Catharina,  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  Thus 
the  great  'Tiinterland"  of  the  Southern  States  of  Brazil: 
Paraguay,  I\Iatto  Grosso,  so  rich  in  mineral  and  agricultural 
resources,  Goyaz  and  a  large  part  of  the  Amazon  country — 
which  territories  now  have  but  a  slow  and  precarious  river 
connection  with  the  outside  world,  by  way  of  Buenos  Aires 
— would  be  brought  hvo  thousand  miles  nearer  their  natural 
outlets  and  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  rapid  transit;  the  most 
important  part  of  South  America  would  be  opened  to  the 
markets  of  the  world. 

We  ought  to  have  our  legitimate  share  in  this  grand  in- 
dustrial enterprise.  We  cannot  reap  a  harvest  without  sow- 
ing the  seed;  we  cannot  expect  benefits  for  which  we  have 
not  worked  in  competition  with  others.  The  great  commer- 
cial advantages  the  Germans  have  secured  in  South  America 
during  the  last  ten  years  are  not  surprising  in  view  of  the 
efforts  made  for  them. 

German  capital  is  invested  there  largely,  and  in  a  few 
months  the  German-l'razilian  Bank,  a  very  strong  and  lucra- 
tive institution,  will  have  a  branch  in  Porto  Alegre.  The 
German  fleet  in  the  service  of  the  South  American  trade  re- 
ceives additions  every  year  and  is  developing  into  a  highly 
profitable  enterprise. 

Not  less  than  thirty-one  steamers  were  built  within  the 
last  ten  years  for  the  service  of  the  trade  with  the  east 
coast  of  South  America  and  the  River  Plate  eoimtries,  by 
the  Hamburg-South  American  Steamship  Company,  twenty 
during  the  last  five  years,  and  six  in  1898.  Six  steamers  of  this 
line  call  regularly  at  the  Southern  Brazilian  ports,  and  the 
next  year  there  will  be  two  more,  besides  the  cargo  steamers 


of  the  Freitas  Line  of  Hamburg,  and  half  a  dozen  steamers 
of  the  North  German  Lloyd,  and  the  Hansa  Company. 

If  we  are  not  willing  to  let  our  legitimate  share  of  the 
trade  with  South  America,  and  particularly  with  the  promis- 
ing Southern  States  of  Brazil,  go  by  default,  we  will  have  to 
bestir  ourselves  to  make  up  for  lost  time,  and  to  enter  into  a 
rational,  vigorous  and  systematic  competition. 

In  order  to  do  this  successfully,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
create  a  regular  American  steamer  service  between  the 
United  States  and  the  principal  South  American  ports;  to 
establish  a  banking  system  with  branches  at  Para,  Rio  de 
Janeiro,  Blumenau,  Porto  Alegre  and  Buenos  Aires;  to  take 
a  leading  part  in  the  construction  of  railroads  necessary  to 
develop  the  resources  of  the  Southern  States  of  Brazil. 

Let  us  hope  that  our  capitalists,  manufacturers,  exporters, 
and  our  national  law-makers  will  find  time  to  give  this  mat- 
ter the  proper  attention. 

Detailed  information  as  to  the  different  points  above  re- 
ferred to,  can  always  be  obtained  by  our  Department  of  State 
and  your  obedient  servant. 

It  is  a  great  and  inspiring  sight  to  see  the  great  American 
flag — the  Star  Spangled  Banner — on  top  of  the  mast  of  war 
vessels  sailing  into  a  foreign  port.  I  had  the  pleasure  to 
witness  it  when  the  "Oregon"  and  "Iowa"  came  into  Brazil. 
I  say  it  is  a  great  sight,  l)ut  it  is  still  a  greater  and  more 
inspiring  sight  to  see  that  glorious  banner  in  the  interests 
of  American  commerce,  to  see  it  on  the  mast  of  a  ves- 
sel of  the  American  merchant  marine,  and  in  the  ser- 
vice of  civilization.  I  hope  that  every  one  of  our 
countrymen  who  are  here  will  use  his  influence  to  that  effect 
with  his  congressmen,  and  with  all  men  who  have  influence, 
and  who  have  a  voice  in  the  aft'airs  of  the  nation.  And  in 
this  hope  I  take  leave  of  you,  thanking  you  heartily  for  the 
kind  attention  that  you  have  been  so  good  to  bestow  upon 
me.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

I  have  pleasure  in  introducing  to  the  delegates  General 
Emilio  Nunez,  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Cuba. 
(Applause.) 

(Jeiicral  Emilio  Nunez: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates  to  the  International  Commercial 
Congi'ess:  I  am  here  to  represent,  at  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress,  a  people  who,  after  four  years  of  war, 
of  cruel  war  and  desolating  war  still  finds  itself  between 
hopes  and  doubts,  busy  with  the  removal  of  the  ruins  under 
which  were  buried  one-third  of  its  population. 

Therefore,  you  will  not  wonder  if  I  only  refer  to  those 
days  of  horror  and  extermination,  as  if  passing  over  burn- 
ing coal,  and  draw  your  kind  attention  to  the  clearer  pres- 
ent, althoitgh  it  is  not  exempt  from  mist,  and  to  the  future, 
which  I  perceive  full  of  brilliant  promises. 

From  an  economic  point  of  view,  Cuba  once  occupied  a 
prominent  place  among  the  people  of  America,  to  such  an 
extent,  that  not  many  years  ago,  the  harbor  of  Havana 
ranged  third  in  this  continent,  as  to  its  commercial  import- 
ance. Its  exportation  reached  the  enormous  sum  of  $100,- 
000,000,  enormous  when  it  is  considered  that  the  population 
did  not  exceed  1,-500,000  inhabitants.  In  1893,  its  importa- 
tion from  the  United  States  alone  amounted  to  $24,000,000, 
according  to  statistics,  but  I  am  sure  that  it  was  much 
higher.  At  the  time,  the  statistics  on  this  subject  lacked  the 
necessary  exactness  on  account  of  the  then  peculiar  manner 
of  doing  business  with  Cuba. 

Nobody  will  deny  that  we  always  have  been  a  producing 
more  than  a  consuming  people,  and  nobody  will  deny 
that  the  motives  which  caused  this  were  of  a  very  compli- 


212 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


cate<1  character,  motives  which  could  never  be  the  subject  of 
thi?  paper;  aiul  1  am  inclined  to  believe  that  in  the  future 
ma-  consumption  in  relation  to  our  population  will  enor- 
mously increase  so  that  the  Cuban  markers  will  be  sought 
liv  all*  nations  i'or  the  interchange  of  goods,  and  on  this  I 
base  my  hope  that  the  L'nited  States,  even  considering  only 
its  own  interests,  will  open  its  doors  for  our  natural  and 
aoricuHural  products  in  exchange  for  its  manufactures. 

The  political  revcdution  brought  anarchy  into  the  business 
circles,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  show  to-day  their  dis- 
tinct tendencies  in  relation  to  other  people.  What  Spain 
had  to  lose,  the  United  States  had  to  win  by  necessity.  It 
could  not  be  otherwise.  Our  natural  market  is  this  country; 
here  we  have  sold  80  per  cent,  of  our  exportable  products, 
and  it  would  be  nothing  but  logical  to  have  imported  from 
liere  in  proportion.  This  would  have  been  the  case  were  it 
not  for  the  differential  duty  as  to  the  bottoms  that  carried 
the  goods,  a  duty  that  favored  our  old  mother  country  to  the 
detriment  of  Cuban  and  American  interests. 

It  I'an  be  foretold  that  our  future  commerce  will  be  almost 
entirely  with  the  LTnited  States,  and  that  we  will  export  to 
Europe  only  our  raw  and  manufactured  tobacco,  importing 
in  exchange  some  few  articles  ■with  wliich  so  far  the  United 
States  could  not  supply  us. 

Cuba  has  the  right  to  hope,  and  she  does  hope,  that  this 
country  will  give  her  the  benefit  of  a  most  favored  nation, 
or  otherwise  many  of  her  industries  would  perish.  If,  for 
example,  our  sugar  cannot  reach  this  country  under  the 
same  conditions  as  that  of  other  countries,  it  will  be  im- 
possible for  Cuba  to  compete  witli  them,  the  result  beint;- 
that  the  industry  would  be  extinguished  or  would  exist  only 
in  agony. 

We  do  not  fear  an  honest  comjx'tition.  We  can  ]ji-(iduce 
sugar  cheaper  than  any  other  land,  and  our  Havana  tobacco 
has  no  rival  as  to  its  quality,  besides  the  inexhaustible  nat- 
ural riches  of  our  country. 

It  has  been  stated  by  someliody  that  the  soil  adapted  for 
the  culture  of  tobacco  is  limited  to  a  small  territory  only, 
and  that  its  price  is  exorbitant,  a  .statement  which  has  macle 
many  interested  persons  believe  that  the  culture  of  that 
weed  could  not  possibly  be  extended.  I  can  assure  you  that 
we  have  enough  adaptable  lands  for  the  culture  of  tobacco 
to  suj/ply  half  of  the  total  consumption  of  this  article  in  the 
entire  world,  its  average  price  being  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
dollars  .per  acre,  and  I  do  not  think  that  I  am  exaggerating 
if  T  say  that  Cuba  can  produce  enough  sugar  to  su]iply  the 
needs  of  the  whole  world. 

Two  things  are  needed  in  Cuba,  capital  and  labor,  and  T 
believe  there  is  no  other  place  where  capital  could  be  invested 
with  larger  profits,  nor  where  emigrants  could  settle  with 
great  probabilities  of  making  a  fortune  in  a  short  time.  The 
country  has  an  area  of  43,000  square  miles,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  only  1,400,000  inhabitants,  and  only  two-fifths  of  our 
territory  is  under  cultivation.  Besides,  the  greater  number  of 
our  mines  of  iron,  manganese,  copper,  silver  and  gold  are 
still  in  an  undeveloped  condition. 

I  shall  not  finish  without  alhuling  to  the  present  situation 
of  the  Island  of  ("uba,  that  I  might  show  what  a  laborious 
people,  still  fighting  almost  insuperable  difficulties,  is  able  to 
accomplish.  Yo)i  all  k-now  what  the  war  has  been  for  Cuba. 
Entire  provinces  were  desolated.  Not  a  single  home,  mil  a 
single  domestic  beast,  not  a  single  planting  was  lel'l  uiuh-- 
stroyed,  even  the  fruit-bearing  trees  were  felled. 

The  seats  of  population  were  converted  inio  centres  of 
mendicity  and  foci  of  infection,  and  caused  deadly  fear  to 
those  who  visited  them.  Even  the  power  of  recupei-ation 
.seemed  extinguished  in  that  people.  All  of  this  T  could  still 
see  on  January  first. 

Nine  months  have  passed  and  the  change  realized   in  so 


short  a  period  of  time  seems  incredible.  The  homes  are  re- 
constructed, the  fields  are  cultivated,  the  seats  of  population 
are  clean  and  in  such  hygienic  condition  as  they  never  before 
experienced.  Everywhere  activity  and  labor  are  seen,  and 
the  beggars  have  disappeared.  This  is  the  work  of  Ameri- 
can intervention  united  to  the  energies  of  a  people,  as  heroic 
in  war  as  civic  in  peace. 

The  American  administration  in  Cuba  has  demonstrated 
that  the  country,  with  an  honest  government,  can  become 
in  a  short  time  one  of  the  most  flourishing  of  America.  Its 
well-administered  custom  houses  have  produced  sufficient 
to  cover  the  expenditures  of  the  government,  leaving  a  sur- 
plus of  $1,500,000  which  can  be  appropriated  for  public 
works. 

Taking  into  consideration  A\hat  has  so  far  been  3aid,  it 
seems  incomprehensible  that  the  Americans  have  not  yet 
perceived  the  great  possibilities  for  profitaljle  business  which 
present  tlieniselves  in  Cuba.  Machinery,  electric  plant.s, 
agricultural  implements,  building  materials  and  hardware  in 
general  would  find  a  ready  sale,  although  it  would  be  al- 
ways necessary  to  study  the  requisites  which  irldispensably 
have  to  be  filled  to  obtain  the  markets  of  the  island.  For 
this  purpose  it  seems  to  me  extremely  convenient  that  aH 
Association  of  American  Manufacturers  should  establish  in 
the  city  of  Havana  a  permanent  exposition  of  their  manu- 
factures. I  can  assure  you  without  fear,  that  no  other  peo- 
ple enjoy  greater  sympathies  in  my  country  than  the  people 
of  the  United  States,  and  it  could  not  be  otherwise,  for  to 
the  generosity  of  this  nation  we  owe  it  that  our  people  were 
not  exterminated.  Many  Cubans,  as  myself,  in  our  trial 
days,  found  a  home  in  this  land  of  liberty.  Many  Cubans 
have  American  children,  and  our  youth  have  visited  your 
universities.  Illustrious  Cubans  have  filled  high  positions 
in  your  institutions,  and  it  seems  as  if  our  social  and  com- 
mercial relations  are  destined  to  become  closer  every  day. 

It  only  remains  for  me  now  to  express  my  most  cordial 
thankfulness  for  the  mo.st  benevolent  reception  accorded  me 
l)y  the  Directors  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
and  to  beg  them  to  express  also  this  sentiment  of  thank- 
fulness to  the  people  of  Philadelphia  and  its  municipalitv, 
assuring  all,  that  I  make  myself  the  full  interpreter  of  the 
feelings  of  the  ]ieople  whom  I  have  the  honor  of  representing 
in  this  distinguished  assembly.     (Appiause.) 

1 
('apt.  J.  Ciirdi'irii  da  Graga:  '" 

.Mr.  Chairnian:  Only  a  word.  As  a  Brazilian  I  cannot 
lie  silent  to  the  expressions  of  the  two  gentlemen  who  occupy 
very  high  positions  in  my  countrj',  the  LFuited  States  Minister 
and  the  United  States  Consul-General.  I,  as  a  Brazilian,  will 
be  the  echo  in  my  country  to  tell  that  these  two  gentlemen, 
have  placed  justice  above  everything.  All  the  Brazilians  will 
be  very  much  gratified  at  the  good  expressions  and  with  the 
truthfulness  with  which  these  two  gentlemen  luxve  just  ex- 
pressed the  conditions  in  our  country.  We  have  here  three 
citizens  of  the  United  States — the  Minister  to  Brazil,  the 
Consul-General  and  the  Rev.  Chamberlain,  who  lived  in 
Brazil  for  about  thirty  or  thirty-five  years.  All  of  them  are 
our  friends  and  all  of  them  we  always  want  to  see  in  Brazil 
looking  for  the  interests  of  the  two  great  nations — the  United 
States  of  America,  the  greatest  Republic  in  the  world,  and 
the  Fnited  States  of  Brazil,  the  newest  Bepublic  in  the  world. 
(Ajij)lause.) 

Hull.  Hiihcrl  .\ilaiiis,  Jr.: 

This  Congress  now  stands  adjuurju'il   uulil  '.'..'io  jj.  ni. 

(Adjourned  at  12.54  p.  m.) 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


2l3 


Philadelphia,  Wednesday,  October  25,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  3  p.  m.,  by  Hon.  Robert 
Adams,  Jr. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Will  you  please  come  to  order?  I  ha\'e  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  to  you  Mr.  George  H.  Daniels,  General  Passen- 
ger Agent  of  the  New  York  Central  Railroad. 

Railroaps  and  Their  Relations  to  Oitr  Export 
Trade. 

Mr.  George  H.  Daniels: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress:  I  congratulate  the  United  States,  and 
every  commercial  country  on  the  globe,  upon  the  interest 
which  this  Congress  has  inspired,  and  which  has  secured  the 
attendance  of  representatives  of  commercial  bodies  from  prac- 
tically every  country  of  the  world. 

I  also  congratulate  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  the  greatest 
manufacturing  city  in  the  United  States,  upon  the  public- 
spirited  character  of  its  citizens,  who  have  organized  and 
carried  to  a  successful  issue  the  National  Export  Exposition. 

The  holding  of  such  expositions  as  this,  and  the  Pan- 
American  Exposition  to  be  held  in  Buffalo  in  1901,  cannot 
but  be  of  great  value  in  aiding  the  extension  of  international 
commerce,  and  the  whole  world  is  interested  in  its  extension. 

An  Age  of  Transportation. 

One  of  our  great  writers  has  said  of  this  closing  period  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  that  it  is  an  age  of  transportation. 

Transportation  underlies  material  prosperity  in  every  de- 
partment of  commerce.  Without  transportation  commerce 
would  be  impossible. 

Those  states  and  nations  are  rich,  powerful  and  enlight- 
'ened  whose  transportation  facilities  are  best  and  most  ex- 
tended. The  dying  nations  are  those  with  little  or  no  trans- 
portation facilities. 

Richest  Country  on  the  Globe. 

Mr.  Mulhall,  the  British  statistician,  in  his  work  on  "The 
Wealth  of  Nations,"  said  of  the  United  States  in  1895:  "If 
we  take  a  survey  of  mankind,  in  ancient  or  modern  times, 
as  regards  the  physical,  mechanical  and  intellectual  force  of 
nations,  we  find  nothing  to  compare  with  the  United  States." 

Mr.  Mulhall  proved  by  his  statistics  that  the  working 
power  of  a  single  person  in  the  United  States  was  twice  that 
of  a  German  or  Frenchman,  more  than  three  times  that  of 
an  Austrian,  and  five  times  that  of  an  Italian.  He  .said  the 
United  States  was  then  the  richest  country  in  the  world,  its 
wealth  exceeding  that  of  Great  Britain  by  35  per  cent.,  and 
added  that  in  the  history  of  the  human  race  no  nation  ever 
before  po.ssessed  forty-one  millions  of  instructed  citizens. 

Should  Mr.  Mulhall  revise  his  figures  to-day,  the  differ- 
ence would  all  be  in  favor  of  the  United  States,  for  in  the 
past  eighteen  months  we  have  demonstrated  the  superiority 
of  our  manufactures  in  every  direction,  and  our  ability  to 
cope  successfully  with  questions  which  have  heretofore  been 
handled  exclusively  by  the  older  nations,  is  now  recognized 
by  all  the  world. 


Results  of  War  Between  Japan  and  China. 

In  an  address  before  the  New  York  Press  Association, 
four  years  ago,  I  referred  to  the  future  of  our  export  trade 
as  follows:  "One  of  the  inevitable  results  of  the  war  be- 
tween Japan  and  China  will  be  the  opening  to  the  commerce 
of  the  world,  fields  heretofore  unknown,  perhaps  the  rich- 
est on  the  globe,"  and  in  urging  the  members  of  the  New 
York  Press  Association  to  do  everything  in  their  power  to 
assist  in  securing  to  the  United  States  a  portion  of  the  great 
commerce  to  be  developed  between  the  western  nations  and 
these  two  old  countries  of  the  world,  I  asked  these  ques- 
tions: 

"Shall  the  grain  in  China  and  Japan  be  harvested  by 
machines  manufactured  in  the  United  States,  or  will  the 
manufacturers  of  England  and  Germany  supply  them? 

"Shall  the  fires  in  Yokohama  and  Tientsin  be  extin- 
guished with  engines  built  at  Seneca  Falls,  or  will  France 
or  England  send  their  fire  engines  to  Japan  and  China? 

"Will  the  locomotives  to  haul  the  fast  mail  trains  be- 
teen  Yokohama  and  the  interior  of  Japan  and  through  the 
rich  valleys  of  China  be  built  at  Schenectady,  Philadelphia 
or  Dunkirk,  or  will  our  Oriental  friends  and  neighbors  in  the 
Pacific  buy  them  of  our  English  cousins? 

I  predicted  that  active  efforts  towards  the  extension  of 
American  commerce  by  Commercial  bodies,  supported  by  a 
liberal  and  broad-minded  policy  on  the  part  of  our  govern- 
ment in  connection  with  the  aggressive  action  of  the  trans- 
portation companies,  would  secure  to  the  United  States  the 
blessings  that  come  from  a  great  and  varied  commerce,  and 
I  said  that  the  New  York  Press  Association  and  similar  as- 
sociations all  over  the  country  could  stimulate  a  public  spirit 
that  would  insure  the  important  results  outlined. 

At  that  time  we  had  no  idea  that  a  war  between  one  of 
the  old  nations  of  the  earth  and  our  young  Republic  would 
be  fought;  at  that  time  we  had  no  idea  that  American 
manufacturers  would  be  furnisliing  locomotives  to  the  Eng- 
lish railroads,  as  well  as  to  those  of  nearly  every  other  coun- 
try on  the  globe.  No  one  thought  four  years  ago  that 
American  bridge  builders  would  go  into  the  open  market 
and  successfully  compete  for  the  building  of  a  great  steel 
bridge  in  Egypt;  nor  that  in  so  brief  a  time  American  engi- 
neers would  be  building  railroads  into  the  interior  of  China 
from  her  most  important  seaports. 

At  that  time,  no  one  supposed  that  the  Trans-Siberian 
Railway  would  be  laid  with  steel  rails  made  in  Penn.sylvania, 
upon  cross-ties  from  the  forests  of  Oregon,  and  that  its  trains 
would  be  hauled  by  American  locomotives;  nor  that  this 
great  railway,  which  is  to  stretch  from  St.  Petersburg  to 
Vladivostok  and  Port  Arthur,  a  distance  of  more  than  six 
thousand  miles,  would  be  completed  two  years  in  advance  of 
the  original  expectation,  as  the  result  of  the  use  of  American 
construction  tools  and  machinery. 

But  this  is  all  true  and  it  is  further  true  that  the  tools  and 
machiner}-  for  the  construction  of  the  western  portion  of  the 
Trans-Siberian  Railway  were  supplied  by  American  manu- 
facturers at  about  one-half  the  price  that  Russia  had  been 
paying  previously,  and  with  this  American  machinery,  the 
Russians  are  able  to  do  nearly  double  the  work  that  they 
could  perform  with  the  machinery  manufactured  in  other 
countries. 

An  Empire  Express  in  the  Orient. 

In  a  letter  from  a  friend  in  Tokio,  Japan,  written  only  a 
short  time  ago,  there  was  this  significant  sentence:  "You 
will  be  interested  in  knowing  that  I  have  hanging  on  the 
wall  of  my  office  a  framed  picture  of  your  Empire  State  Ex- 
press, and  expect  in  the  near  future  to  be  hauling  a  Japanese 


214 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Empire  Express  with  an  American  locomotive."  They 
liavo  now  in  Japan  more  than  one  hundred  locomotives  that 
'.vtre  bnilt  in  the  United  States.  In  Russia  they  have  nearly 
one  thousand  American  locomotives,  and  practically  every 
railway  in  Great  Britain  has  ordered  locomotives  from  this 
country  since  the  beginning  of  the  war  with  Spain. 

In  this  connection  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  in  passing 
that  the  second  American  locomotive  was  built  at  the  West 
Point  Foundry,  near  Cold  Spring,  on  the  Hudson  River, 
and  was  called  the  "Best  Friend,"  and  from  that  day  to 
this  the  locomotive  has  been  one  of  the  best  friends  of  this 
Republic. 

Our  Superior  Railway  Equipment. 

P)Ut  it  is  not  alone  our  locomotives  that  have  attracted  the 
attention  of  foreigners  who  have  visited  our  shores,  our 
railway  equipment  generally  has  commanded  admiration 
and  is  now  receiving  the  highest  compliment,  namely,  imi- 
tation by  many  of  our  sister  nations. 

Prince  Michael  Ililkoff,  Imperial  Minister  of  Railways  of 
Russia,  has,  since  his  visit  to  the  United  States  a  few  years 
ago,  constructed  a  train  on  much  the  same  lines  as  the 
"Limited  Trains""  of  the  New  York  Central  and  the  Penn- 
sylvania. 

Only  a  short  time  ago,  at  the  request  of  one  of  the  Impe- 
rial Commissions  of  Germany,  I  sent  to  Berlin,  photographs 
of  the  interior  and  e.xterior  of  our  finest  cars  and  other  data 
in  relation  to  the  operation  of  American  railways.  Several 
other  countries  have  asked  for  similar  information  and 
there  is  a  general  waking  up  of  foreign  nations  on  the  sub- 
ject of  transportation,  brought  about  mainly  by  the  wonder- 
ful achievements 'of  American  railways. 

The  demand  for  American  locomotives  from  all  parts  of 
the  world  is  attributable,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  superior 
quality  of  our  machinery,  and  in  the  second  place,  to  the 
fact  that  the  general  ])assenger  agents  of  the  American 
railways  have,  through  their  advertising,  made  the  marvel- 
ous results  accomplished  by  our  lucoiiintives,  liDusehnld 
words  in  every  country  on  the  globe. 

A  Naval  Object  Lesson. 

The  admiration  of  foreign  nations  for  us  is  not  by  any 
means  confined  to  railways.  One  incident  that  startled  the 
entire  world,  and  directed  the  attention  of  thinking  people 
everyhere  to  American  achievements  in  machinery,  was 
that  of  the  United  States  battleship  "Oregon,"  built  at  the 
Union  Iron  Works  in  San  Francisco,  and  which  steamed  a 
distance  of  more  than  half  around  the  globe,  without  loosen- 
ing a  bolt  or  starting  a  rivet,  and  amved  at  her  post  off  the 
Island  of  Cuba  prepared  to  perform  any  service  required  of 
her;  and  then  having  given  a  most  satisfactory  account  of 
herself  on  tliat  memorable  third  of  July,  1898,  off  Santiago, 
slie  steamed  back  to  the  Pacific,  and  without  unnecessary 
delay  crossed  that  great  ocean  to  join  Admiral  Dewey's  fleet 
at  Manila.  On  her  arrival  there  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy 
received  one  of  those  condensed  messages,  for  which  the 
Admiral — 'Who  has  shed  imdying  hustre  upon  the  name  of 
the  American  Navy — is  so  noted,"  which  read  as  follows: 

"Manila.  March  18,  1899. 
"The  'Oregon'   and   Tris"   arrived    to-day.     The   'Oregon" 
is  in  lit  condition  for  any  duty. — Dkwey."  " 

The.se  demonstrations  of  what  American  shipbuilders  can 
accomplish,  create  a  desire  on  the  part  of  every  naval  power 
in  the  woHd  for  ships  of  the  character  of  the  "Oregon,"  and 
the   logical     conclusion    of   thinking    people  was  tbnl   if  we 


could  build  ships  like  the  "Oregon,"  anything  else  that  we 
build  must  be  of  a  superior  quality,  and  the  demand  for 
American  manufactures  began  to  increase  and  is  increasing 
with  each  day  until  thousands  of  our  factories  are  now  run- 
ning night  and  day,  and  business  in  the  United  States  was 
never  in  a  more  prosperous  condition  than  it  is  in  these 
October  days  of  1899. 

Trade  and  the  Flag. 

It  has  been  said  by  a  great  American  writer  that  "Trade 
follows  the  flag."  Recent  events  have  placed  our  flag  upon 
the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  directly  in  the  natural  track  be- 
tween the  Pacific  Coast  of  the  U^nited  States,  and  Japan  and 
China,  and  as  we  contemplate  our  growing  commerce  with 
the.se  old  nations,  we  are  reminded  of  the  prophetic  state- 
ment made  at  the  completion  of  the  first  continuous  line  of 
railroad  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  by  the 
joining  of  the  Union  and  Central  Pacific  Railroads,  more  than 
thirty  years  ago,  by  that  prophet  of  his  time,  Thomas  H. 
Benton,  who,  standing  on  the  summit  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tain and  jjointing  towards  tlie  Pacific  Ocean  said:  "There 
is  the  East;  there  is  India." 

Previous  to  the  construction  of  this  artery  of  commerce, 
the  route  to  India  had  been  by  the  way  of  our  Atlantic 
seaports  and  Europe,  but  with  the  completion  of  our  trans- 
continental system  of  railways,  the  route  was  changed,  and  a 
better  way  was  found  by  way  of  the  Pacific  seaports  and  the 
Pacific  Ocean. 

Our  Commerce  in  the  Orient. 

There  are  some  who  seem  to  think  that  we  might  get 
along  without  trade  with  China,  and  that  it  is  a  new-fangled 
idea  that  Chinese  trade  can  especially  l)enefit  the  United 
States. 

Commerce  with  China  began  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years 
ago,  the  first  vessel  sailing  from  New  York  on  Washington's 
lliithday  in  the  year  1774.  This  vessel  returned  to  New 
York  May  11,  1775.  The  success  of  the  venture  was  such 
a.s  to  warrant  its  repetition,  and  from  that  day  to  this,  trade 
between  the  United  States  and  China  has  continued  without 
material  inteiTuption  until  it  is  now  greater  in  importance 
and  value  than  that  of  any  other  nation  trading  with  China, 
with  the  single  exception  of  Great  Britain.  If  we  are  to 
continue  as  one  of  the  great  nations  of  the  world,  we  can 
hardly  alford  to  ignore  a  country  that  comprises  one-twelfth 
of  the  land  area  and  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  jiopulation  of 
the  globe. 

Change  in  Sentiment. 

At  times  there  have  been  periods  of  legislation  in  the 
United  States  adverse  to  the  great  transportation  interests 
of  the  country,  almost  invariably  the  result  of  a  misunder- 
standing of  the  real  situation,  and  the  ha.sty  legislation  of 
such  times  has  usually  been  repealed  upon  the  sober  second 
thought  of  the  people,  for  in  the  language  of  our  great  Lin- 
coln: "You  can  fool  all  the  people  some  of  the  time,  some 
of  the  people  all  the  time,  but  vou  can"t  fool  all  the  people 
all  the  time." 

A  striking  illustration  of  the  change  in  sentiment  which 
has  taken  place  in  the  public  mind  in  regard  to  railroads,  is 
the  recent  election  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  to  I  be 
United  States  Senate  of  the  Honorable  Chauncey  M.  l)epe\v, 
a  man  whose  whole  life  has  been  spent  in  the  closest  associa- 
tion witli  the  transportation  interests  of  the  country.  This 
event  is  especially  significant,  and  marks  a  new  era  in  the 
history  of  our  country — an  era  of  better  undei'staiuling,  and 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


215 


closer  and  more  amicable  relations  between  the  commercial, 
agricultural  and  industrial  interests  and  the  transportation 
interests  of  the  United  States. 

Its  Peculiar  Significance. 

The  election  of  so  prominent  a  representative  of  the  trans- 
portation interests  of  America  to  one  of  the  highest  political 
positions  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  comes  with  peculiar  sig- 
nificance in  the  same  week  and  almost  in  the  same  day  that 
two  of  the  imperial  governments  of  Europe  gave  to  the 
world  their  endorsement  to  the  idea  that  modern  transporta- 
tion facilities  form  the  surest  foundation  upon  which  to 
build  and  sustain  a  nation. 


China  Joins  the  Army  of  Progress. 

More  than  twenty  years  ago,  one  of  the  imperial  ministers 
of  China,  in  a  report  to  the  Emperor  and  Empress,  urged 
upon  them  the  construction  of  a  system  of  railways  from 
their  principal  ports  to  the  interior  of  the  Empire.  In  his 
report  he  used  this  significant  sentence: 

"Japan,  which  is  a  mere  speck  upon  the  map,  is  building 
railways,  and  her  people  are  being  benefited  thereby.  Should 
not  your  Celestial  Empire,  which  comprises  one-twelfth  of 
the  land  area  and  one-quarter  of  the  population  of  the  globe, 
do  as  well  as  this  handful  of  people  among  the  islands  of  the 
sea?" 

To-day  this  suggestion  is  being  carried  out,  and  railroads 
are  being  constructed  in  a  dozen  different  directions  in  China. 


Germany  Extends  Its  Railroads  and  Praises  Ours. 


Railroads  Supersede  Canals. 


The  Emperor  of  Germany  in  his  speech  to  the  Prussian 
Diet,  in  January  last,  did  not  lay  the  greatest  stress  upon 
the  necessity  for  increasing  the  army,  or  for  the  construction 
of  additional  ships  for  the  navy,  but  he  did  impress  upon 
his  hearers  the  great  importance  of  extending  the  railroads 
and  the  navigable  canals. 

In  order  that  the  German  nation  might  have  knowledge  of 
the  most  advanced  theories  and  practice  in  the  construction 
and  operation  of  railways,  an  Imperial  German  Commission 
was  sent  to  the  United  States  a  short  time  ago,  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  American  railways  and  making  such 
recommendations  as  their  investigations  should  suggest.  In 
the  report  of  this  commission,  which  was  recently  published, 
one  of  the  first  sentences  is  as  follows:  "Lack  of  speed,  lack 
of  comfort,  lack  of  cheap  rates,  are  the  charges  brought 
against  the  German  Empire's  railways,  as  compared  with 
those  of  the  United  States."  They  recommend  the  adoption 
of  many  of  our  methods,  explaining  in  tlieir  report  that 
they  were  far  superior,  not  only  to  those  in  vogue  in  Ger- 
many, but  also  superior  to  those  of  any  other  country. 

Influence  of  Railroads  in  Russia. 

The  Budget  of  the  Russian  Empire  for  1899  discloses  the 
almost  incredible  efforts  in  railway  extension  that  the  im- 
perial government  of  the  Czar  is  putting  forth;  in  this  year 
alone,  one  hundred  and  nine  million  roubles  will  be  devoted 
entirely  to  the  railways,  and  during  the  past  twelve  years 
four  hundred  and  twenty-five  million  roubles  have  been 
thus  expended. 

The  immense  sums  which  the  Russians  are  devoting  to 
the  extension  of  their  railways  entirely  overshadow  the  de- 
mands of  both  the  army  and  navy. 

Railroad  Men  in  the  Cabinet  of  the  Czar. 

It  is  a  fact  not  generally  known  that  the  two  men  who 
are  closest  to  the  Czar  of  Russia,  and  who,  perhaps,  have  a 
greater  influence  than  any  others  in  shaping  the  commercial 
policy  of  the  present  government  of  that  great  empire,  are 
M.  de  Witte,  the  Imperial  Minister  of  Finance,  who,  sixteen 
years  ago,  was  a  station  agent  at  a  small  town  on  one  of 
the  railways  of  Russian  Poland;  the  other  is  Prince  Michael 
Hikoff,  who,  when  little  more  than  a  boy,  left  St.  Petersburg 
to  seek  his  fortune,  learned  mechanical  engineering  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia,  and  who  is  to-day  the  Imperial  Minister 
of  Railways  of  the  Russian  Empire,  and  a  member  of  the 
Cabinet  of  the  Czar. 


One  hundred  years  ago  the  Governor  of  the  great  State  "of 
New  York  advised  liis  friends  not  to  invest  their  money,  or 
waste  their  time,  in  aiding  the  building  of  railroads,  express- 
ing the  opinion  that,  while  it  was  possible  that  improved 
methods  of  construction  and  jjerfected  machinery  might,  in 
the  remote  future,  enable  the  people  to  move  a  ear  upon  a 
railroad  at  the  rate  of  five  or  six  miles  per  hour,  he  did  not 
believe  that  they  could  ever  be  made  of  material  advantage, 
and  that  any  attempt  to  transport  passengers  and  freight  by 
rtulroad  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another  must  result 
in  endless  confusion  and  loss.  The  Governor  died  in  the 
belief  that  the  canal  was  the  only  means  of  conveyance  for 
a  great  commerce. 

Notwithstanding  his  prediction,  the  railroads  have  grown 
to  such  vast  proportions  that  to-day  the  world's  entire  stock 
of  money — gold,  .silver,  and  paper — would  not  purchase  one- 
third  of  its  railroads. 

The  building  of  the  Erie  Canal,  extending  from  Buffalo 
to  Albany,  a  distance  of  363  miles,  was  commenced  July  -1, 
1817.  It  was  completed  in  1825,  at  a  cost  of  $7,602,000.  In 
1896,  the  State  of  New  York  appropriated  $9,000,000  for  en- 
larging and  improving  this  canal,  and  a  few  figures  from 
the  State  report  on  canals  may  be  of  interest  in  this  connec- 
tion. 

Rehable  statistics  of  its  traffic  are  not  obtainable  for  the 
earlier  years  of  its  operation,  but,  in  accordance  with  the 
last  "Annual  Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Works 
of  the  State  of  New  York,"  we  find  tliat  the  tonnage  of  all 
the  property  carried  on  all  the  canals  in  bo^;h  directions,  in 
1837,  was  1,171,296  tons,  valued  at  $55,809,288. 

The  tonnage  and  the  value  increased  until  1872,  when  it 
amounted  to  6,673,370  tons,  valued  at  $220,913,321. 

I'roin  1872,  the  tonnage  and  the  value  of  the  property 
carried  decreased,  imtil  in  1897  there  was  only  3,617,801 
tons  carried,  with  a  value  of  $96,063,338. 

This,  in  the  face  of  the  face  that  the  receipts  of  grain  and 
flour  at  Buffalo  had  increased  from  1.]  81.685  bushels  in  1837 
to  842,1-10,306  bushels  in  1897. 

Decline  in  Canal  Traffic. 

The  greatest  number  of  new  boats  registered  as  operating 
on  the  canals  in  a  single  year  was  in  1862,  when  there  were 
850  new  boats.  In  the  year  1897  there  were  only  16  new 
boats  registered.  You  will  wonder  what  has  caused  the 
abandonment  of  several  canals  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  the  steady  decline  in  the  commerce  passing  through  the 
Erie  Canal. 

There  are  three  general  causes  for  these  results.    The  first 


210 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEENATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


is  the  great  rediic-iion  in  the  rates  of  freight  by  the  railroads 
in  the  I'nited  Stales,  and  notably  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
'i'hc  second  cause  is  the  marrelons  development  of  the  motive 
power  and  rolling  stock  of  American  railways.  Less  than 
a  quarter  of  a  centui-y  ago,  upon  the  average  American  rail- 
road, the  capacity  of  a  freight  car  was  twenty  thousand 
pounds;  the  capacity  of  a  freight  engine  was  from  twenty  to 
thirty  of  such  cars  to  the  train. 

To-day,  on  the  New  York  Central,  whose  six  tracks  run 
alongside  the  Erie  C^anal  for  the  entire  distance  from  Buffalo 
to  Albany,  the  capacity  of  the  grain  cars  is  from  sixty  to 
sixty-six  thousand  pounds,  and  a  locomotive  of  the  latest 
type  will  haul  from  seventy-five  to  ninety  such  cars  loaded 
to  their  full  capacity.  It  is  not  an  infrequent  occurrence 
for  a  single  engine  to  haul  through  the  Mohawk  Valley, 
beside  the  Erie  Canal,  eighty-five  to  ninety  thousand  bushels 
of  grain  in  a  single  train.  The  same  engine  will  haul  from 
one  hundred  and  ten  to  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  empty 
cars.  When  you  consider  that  in  the  busy  season  there  are 
from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  such  trains  a  day  passing  over 
the  New  York  Central  alone,  you  will  get  some  conception 
of  the  sitnation. 

Export  Trade  Requires  Fast  Time. 

The  third  cause  for  the  failure  of  the  canals  is  the  general 
demand  of  the  American  ])idjlic  for  quick  time.  A  shi])per 
having  a  hundred  thousarui  barrels  of  flour,  or  a  million  bush- 
els of  grain  for  export,  must  move  it  from  Buffalo  to  New 
York  within  a  specified  time,  and  he  cannot  risk  the  slow  pro- 
gress by  way  of  the  canal. 

Railroads  Essextiae  to  Progress. 

In  a  recent  address  before  the  t'liamber  of  Commerce  of 
Rochester,  N.  Y.,  I  cited  this  illustration  of  the  ditference 
between  modern  railway  transportation  and  transpurtation 
by  canal: 

In  1822,  Thurlow  Weed,  one  of  the  great  newspaper  men 
of  his  day,  wrote  of  what  is  now  the  city  of  Rochester,  as 
follows: 

"Rochester  is  a  straggling  village  of  about  half  a  hundred 
inhabitants,  but  it  is  a  go-ahead  place,  and  from  its  advan- 
tages is  destined  to  become  an  important  inland  town." 

At  that  time  Rochester's  only  means  of  transportation  was 
the  Erie  Canal,  and  the  diiferenee  between  the  insignificant 
village  of  Rochester  in  1822  and  the  magnificent  city  of 
Rochester  of  to-day,  is  the  difference  in  its  transportation 
facilities.  This  difference  is  graphically  shown  by  a  com- 
liarison  of  the  canal  packet,  towed  Ijy  a  mule  at  the  rate  of 
fourniih's  an  hour,  and  the  Empire  State  Express,  thundering 
through  the  Genesee  Valley  at  a  speed  of  sixty  miles  an  hour. 

Influench  of  Railway  Advertising. 

American  railway  management  is  always  alert  and  ready 
to  take  advantage  of  every  opportunity  for  extending  the 
commerce  of  the  country,  and  railway  men  are  among  the 
very  first  to  seize  u])on  each  coign  of  vantage.  Within  a 
week  from  the  day  that  the  Paris  Peace  Commission  ad- 
journed, more  than  one  American  railway  had  ordered  the 
re-engraving  of  its  maps  to  include  the  West  Indies,  the 
Hawaiian  Lslands  and  the  Philippines.  The  description  of 
the  beauty  of  our  American  lakes  and  valleys,  the  magnili- 
cence  of  our  rivers,  the  grandeur  of  our  mountains,  the  fertil- 
ity of  our  soil,  the  wealth  of  our  mineral  resources  and  the 


superiority  of  our  manufactures,  with  which  our  railroad 
advertising  is  filled,  has  been  of  incalculable  value  to  the 
export  trade  of  the  United  States.  It  has  induced  thousands 
of  foreigners  to  visit  every  section  of  our  country  who  (ither- 
wise  would  never  have  come  here.  It  has  been  the  means 
of  the  investment  in  the  United  States  of  untold  millions  of 
foreign  capital.  It  has  been  one  of  the  strongest  aids  to  the 
expansion  of  American  commerce  in  every  direction. 

Marvelous  Increase  in  American  Exports. 

The  general  effect  upcni  our  export  trade  of  the  increased 
facilities  afforded  by  American  railways  is  shown  in  the  mar- 
velous increase  in  our  exports,  which  are  now  the  largest  in 
(lur  history:  the  increase  for  the  eight  months  ending  with 
August,  1899,  being  twelve  million  dollars. 

A  Century  of  Martels. 

Mr.  Chairman,  we  are  approaching  the  end  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  a  century  which,  Henry  Drummond  said, 
'"has  added  more  to  the  sum  of  human  learning  than  all  the 
centuries  that  have  passed.'' 

A  few  examples  of  the  achievements  of  American  railroads 
i  n  a  little  more  than  half  a  century,  and  many  of  them  within 
the  last  twenty-five  years,  cannot  be  inappropriate. 

Before  the  railroads  were  built,  it  took  a  week  to  go  from 
New  York  to  Bufl:'alo,  nearly  three  weeks  from  New  York  to 
Chicago;  and  at  that  time  no  man  would  have  thought  of 
taking  a  trip  from  New  York  to  the  Pacific  Coast,  except  a 
few  of  the  hardiest  pioneers.  When  on  such  an  occasion 
the  good-byes  were  said  it  was  expected  on  both  sides  that  it 
would  be  forever.  If  to-morrow  night  you  should  place  a 
letter  on  the  Pacific  and  Oriental  mail  train,  which  leaves 
New  York  at  9.15,  yon  may  be  sure  that  your  correspondent 
in  San  Francisco  will  be  reading  it  next  Monday  night — four 
days  from  New  York. 

The  framers  of  our  constitution  would  have  considered  a 
man  entirely  beside  himself  who  would  have  suggested  such  a 
possibility. 

What  the  Railroads  Have  Accomplished. 

In  1875  the  States  east  of  the  Missiuiri  River  were  sending 
food  and  clothing  to  the  starving  people  of  Kansas. 

Thanks  to  the  facilities  afforded  by  the  railroads  the  corn 
crop  of  Kansas  this  year  is  three  hundred  and  forty  million 
liushels. 

It  seems  l)ut  a  very  few  years  since  I  made  my  first  trip  to 
Colorado,  and  stopped  on  my  way  at  the  home  of  Buffalo 
Bill,  at  North  Platte,  Nebraska,  on  the  Union  Pacific.  At 
Ogalalla,  fifty-one  miles  west  of  North  Platte,  the  Sioux 
Indians  were  roaming  over  the  prairies  and  making  more  or 
less  trouble  for  the  early  settlers  who  ventured  so  far  out  of 
the  beaten  paths  of  civilization.  The  Nebraska  crop  this 
year  covers  eight  milion  acres,  and  the  yield  is  two  hundred 
and  ninety  million  bushels. 

Previous  to  the  construction  of  the  Northern  i'acific,  the 
(Ji'cat  Northern,  Northwestern,  St.  Paul,  Burlington,  and 
oilier  railways  that  traverse  that  wonderful  region  known  as 
llic  "wheat  belt,"  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen  but  ]irairi(> 
gi-ass.  and  an  occasional  baiul  of  untamed  savages. 

Minnesota  this  year  will  ship  ninety  million  bushels  of 
wheat.  South  Dakota  forty-five  million  bushels.  North 
Dakota  sixty-five  million  bushels  and  Montana  four  million 
bushels. 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


217 


Devklopment  of  the  Pacific  Coast. 

In  1849  there  came  across  the  continent  reports  of  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California,  but  the  only  means  of  reaching 
its  golden  gate  was  by  sea  round  Cape  Horn,  or  the  long  and 
perilous  journey  with  ox  teams,  across  the  plains,  including 
what  was  then  styled  in  our  geographies  the  American  desert, 
and  through  the  hazardous  mountain  passes  of  the  western 
part  of  the  continent. 

The  completion  of  the  Pacific  railoads  changed  all  this, 
and  opened  new  fields  for  all  kinds  of  enterprises,  in  an  un- 
explored territory  stretching  over  more  than  two  thousand 
miles  to  the  west,  northwest  and  southwest  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  the  products  of  which  region  were  practically  value- 
loss  until  the  means  of  transporting  them  were  provided  by 
the  railroads. 

The  wheat  crop  of  California  this  year  is  37,000,000  bush- 
els. The  largest  crop  ever  produced  in  California  was  in 
1880,  when,  owing  to  exceptionally  favorable  weather  con- 
ditions, that  State  produced  63,000,000  bushels. 

The  gold  output  of  California  for  the  year  1899  is  esti- 
mated at  $16,000,000. 

The  vineyards  and  orange  groves  of  California  would  be 
of  practically  little  value  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the 
railroads,  by  their  trains  of  refrigerator  and  ventilated  fruit 
cars,  make  it  possible  to  transport  the  products  of  her  fertile 
valleys  to  all  sections  of  the  country. 

It  seems  but  yesterday  that  the  railroads  were  completed 
into  Portland.  Oregon,  Tacoma  and  Seattle,  Washington,  and 
it  is  marvelous  that  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1899,  there 
were  exported  from  the  Columbia  River  valley  16,000,000 
bushels  of  wheat,  and  from  the  Puget  Sound  region  10,000,000 
bushels. 

Oregon  and  Washington  form  the  northwest  corner  of  the 
territory  of  the  Hnjted  States  south  of  the  line  of  Britisli 
Columbia,  and  are  directly  on  the  route  to  our  extreme  north- 
west possession,  Alaska. 

The  wheat  crop  of  the  States  of  Oregon  and  Washington  for 
the  year  1899  is  48,600,000  bushels. 

There  were  exported  during  the  year  ending  June  30th, 
1899,  from  the  Columbia  river  direct  to  foreign  ports,  1,100,- 
000  ban'els  of  flour,  and  from  Puget  Sound  points  300,000 
barrels. 

Colorado,  which,  with  its  inexhaustible  mines  of  gold,  sil- 
ver, lead,  iron  and  coal,  foims  almost  an  empire  in  itself, 
will  produce  this  year  of  1899,  of  gold  $24,000,000;  of  silver 
$14,200,000;  of  lead  $4,000,000;  in  addition  to  a  magnifi- 
eent  crop  of  wheat,  fruit  and  vegetables.  Thanks  to  her  rail- 
road facilities,  ilontana  is  to-day  the  richest  mineral  region 
of  its  size  in  the  world.  The  latest  published  statistics — 
those  of  ]897 — give  the  natural  output  of  Montana  as  $54,- 
000,000. 

Without  railroads,  Kansas,  Nebraska,  Minnesota,  North 
and  South  Dakota,  Montana,  Colorado,  California,  Oregon 
and  Washington  would  still  he  the  home  of  savages. 


third-class  fare,  for  vastly  inferior  service,  is  two  cents  per 
mile,  but  only  on  certain  parliamentary  trains. 
■    In  Prussia,  the  fare  is  3.00  cents  per  mile;  in  Austria,  3.05 
cents  per  mile,  and  in  I^anee,  3.36  cents  per  mile. 

Our  passenger  cars  excel  those  of  foreign  countries  in  all 
that  goes  to  make  up  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  a 
journey. 

Our  sleeping  and  parlor  car  system  is  vastly  superior  to 
theirs;  our  baggage  system  is  infinitely  better  than  theirs, 
and  arranged  upon  a  much  more  liberal  basis.  American 
railroads  carry  150  pounds  of  baggage  free,  while  German 
railroads  carry  only  fifty-five  pounds  free. 

The  lighting  of  our  trains  is  superb,  while  the  lighting  of 
trains  on  most  foreign  lines  is  wretched. 

Some  Striking  Examples. 

I  may  be  pardoned  for  citing  two  examples  of  what  I  mean 
by  the  unsurpassed  passenger  train  facilities  of  American 
railways. 

A  single  locomotive  recently  hauled  a  passenger  train  of 
sixteen  cars,  nine  of  which  were  sleeping  and  parlor  cars,  from 
New  York  to  Albany,  a  distance  of  14.3  miles,  in  three  hours 
and  fifteen  minutes,  which  is  forty-four  miles  per  hour,  and 
is  the  regular  schedule  time  of  this  train.  The  train  weighed 
1,832,000  pounds,  and  was  1,212  feet — or  nearly  a  quarter  of 
a  mile — long. 

The  Empire  State  Express  has  for  years  been  making  the 
run  from  New  York  to  Buffalo,  440  miles,  in  eight  hours 
and  fifteen  minutes,  an  average  speed  of  fifty-three  and  cme- 
third  miles  an  hour,  including  four  stops — two  of  them 
for  changing  engines — and  twenty-eight  slow-downs,  on  ac- 
count of  running  through  incorporated  towns  and  cities. 

For  one  stretch  of  twenty-two  miles,  another  of  seventeen 
miles,  another  of  sixteen  miles,  and  another  of  sixty  miles, 
the  regular  schedule  time  is  exactly  sixty  miles  an  hour. 
For  one  stretch  of  twelve  miles  it  is  63.40  miles  an  hour. 
For  another  stretch  of  nearly  ten  miles,  it  is  64.86  miles  an 
hour. 

The  weight  of  this  train  is  608,000  pounds,  and  it  has 
seating  capacity  for  248  passengers. 

These  are  some  of  the  achievements  of  American  railways 
in  passenger  service  that  have  not  been  approached  in  any 
other  country  on  the  globe,  and  in  my  opinion  it  is  achieve- 
numts  of  this  character  that  have  made  it  possible  for  the 
I'nited  States  to  expand  its  commerce  with  such  astounding 
rapidity. 

The  fact  that  American  passenger  service  attracts  the  at- 
tention' of  people  of  every  other  country  who  visit  our  shores 
is  demonstrated  by  the  desire  of  all  foreigners  to  ride  on  the 
Empire  State  Express — the  fastest  long  distance  train  in  the 
world,  and  the  further  desire  to  examine  the  magnificent 
machines  that  haul  our  great  trains. 


Extent  of  American  Commerce. 


Service  of  American  Railroads. 

It  is  beyond  question  that  American  railroads  of  to-day 
furnish  the  best  service  in  the  world,  at  the  lowest  rates  of 
fare,  at  the  same  time  paying  their  employees  very  much 
higher  wages  than  are  paid  for  similar  service  in  any  other 
country  on  the  globe. 

In  the  United  States,  the  first-class  passenger  fares  last 
year  averaged  2.14  cents  i>er  mile,  although  on  some  larger 
railways  the  average  was  several  mills  less  than  two  cents  per 
mile;  in  England,  the  first-class  fare  is  four  cents  per  mile; 


The  extent  of  our  commerce,  both  domestic  and  foreign, 
may  well  astonish  the  representatives  of  other  lands  who 
visit  us  for  the  first  time,  but  the  extent  of  the  territory  of 
the  United  States  made  possible  by  the  negotiations  of 
Admiral  Dewey  in  May,  1898,  supplemented  by  those  of  the 
Peace  Commission  at  Paris,  will  surprise  our  own  people,  as 
well  as  our  cousins  from  across  the  water. 

We  thought  before  the  purchase  of  Alaska  that  our  terri- 
tory was  large,  but  what  vistas  of  commercial  enterprise  pre- 
sent themselves  to  us  as  we  contemplate  the  fact  that  it  is 
3,144  miles  from    San  Francisco  to    St.  Michaels,    Alaska, 


lis 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


'.vliero  an  empire  in  exuiit  awaits  develi)p'nu'nt  by  Anierit-an 
.■api;;il  and  eiwrg}-;  tliat  it  is  T,T29  miles  from  San  Fran- 
.  isct.  to  ^lanila  nii  tlie  Island  of  Luzon,  and  that  this  is  only 
one  of  tlie  hundreds  of  rieh  islands  that  await  similar  de- 
velopment, not  overlooking  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  whicli  lie 
in  our  new  ocean  pathway. 

Saturday  afternoon  last,  a  ITnited  States  eniiser  left  Now 
York  for  Manila,  via  the  Suez  Canal,  and  the  Sunday  papers 
stated  it  would  take  her  three  months  to  reach  her  destina- 
tion. 

Kailroail  men  will  l^e  interested  in  kiinwiiig  that  the 
Manila  and  Dagujian  Railroad  on  the  island  of  Luzon, 
which  is  the  principal  one  of  our  Philippine  grouj),  is  laid 
upon  mahogany  ties,  the  road  passing  through  forests  of 
that  valuable  wood  and  over  inexhaustible  beds  of  coal  and 
other  rich  minerals.  Shall  we  wonder  then  that  American 
railroads  are  seeking  connections  that  will  secure  a  portion 
of  the  commerce  that  must  come  from  the  development  of 
this  rich  region,  which  has  recently  been  added  to  the  terri- 
toiy  of  the  United  States. 

Trapi^   Follows  the   Flag. 

If  it  is  true  that  "trade  follows  the  tlag,"'  then  with  co- 
operation and  reciprocity  between  the  great  tiansi>ortation 
interests  of  the  United  States  and  the  iiminu'rcial  ami  indus- 
trial interests  of  our  Republic,  and  with  proper  encourage- 
ment given  to  American  shipping,  our  commerce  should  be 
as  diversified  as  are  the  products  of  our  soil,  our  mines  and 
our  mills.  Our  export  trade  should  reach  every  mart  on  the 
earth,  and  it  should  flourish  on  every  sea  and  river  where 
vessels  ply;  for,  since  the  almost  miraculous  events  in  Ma- 
nila Bay  and  off  Santiago,  we  may  paraphrase  the  sentiment 
of  Joaquin  Miller  in  regard  to  Colorado  and  say  of  our  Jiag. 
"it  floats  forever  In  the  sun."     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Hiiherl  A  Jams,  Jr.: 

It  is  my  pleasure  now  to  introduce  to  the  Congress  Mr. 
William  (irant  ('lark,  of  Queensland,  who  will  address  you 
on  "The  Philipi)ine  Islands.''     (Applause.) 


Mr.  WilUdin   a  rant  Clnrl-: 

Mr.  President:  Ciuning  to  you  from  Queensland  I  spi'iit 
some  time  in  the  l'hilii)i)ines.  This,  I  presume,  is  the  rea- 
son for  being  asked  to  say  something  relative  to  your  far-off 
Eastern  possessions.  After  listening  to  this  morning's  paper 
read  by  Hon.  .1.  A.  Kas.son.  1  must  congratulate  the  honor- 
able gentlenum  for  the  able  manner  in  which  he  handled 
that  portion  of  his  subject  relating  to  the  Philippines.  The 
largest,  or  one  of  the  largest  islands  in  the  group  is  Min- 
danao. Traveling  from  Mindamio  in  the  South  to  Luzon  in 
the  North,  is  something  like  a  thousand  miles.  There  are 
many  islands  in  the  group  of  rather  extensive  nature. 
These  I  shall  leave  out,  and  dwell  on  the  one  where  1  s|ieiit 
most  of  my  time  during  my  sojourn  in  tlinl  pai'l  of  the 
world,  namely,  Luzon.  Manila,  llu'  |irincipal  town,  is.  or 
was  during  my  stay  there,  under  martial  law,  ubicli,  td  a 
stranger,  is  a  rather  awkward  condition.  Iniinedialcly  on 
my  arrival  I  went  to  the  headiiuarters  of  (u'ueral  Otis,  and 
asked  foi'  a  jja.ss  to  give  me  tlu;  liberty  to  visit  the  oulsidi' 
districts  within  the  lines  held  by  the  .\inerican  tronps.  My 
re(|uest  was  refuseil.  In  justice  to  (ieueral  Otis,  lioui'vei', 
I  learned  that  sever.d  visitors  there  hail  been  provided  uitb 
passes  by  the  General  and  did  not  make  good  use  of  them, 
and   therefore   they   have  written   derogatory   of  his   doings. 

The  following  day   I   went   to  head(]uarters  and   saw   his 


aide-de-camp,  informing  him  that  1  carried  from  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  our  colony  a  letter  of  introduction  to 
the  Commercial  Museum  at  Philadelphia.  I  also  pointed  out 
to  the  aide-de-camp  that  it  would  be  very  likely  I  should 
be  questioned  as  to  what  routes  I  traveled  to  this  country. 
I  certainly  indicated  that  I  could  only  say,  if  questioned, 
relative  to  the  condition  of  the  Americans  in  the  Philip- 
pines, that  I  knew  nothing,  because  the  city  was  under  mar- 
tial law,  and  that  I  had  to  be  inside  my  hotel  at  half-past 
eight  in  the  evening,  not  being  allowed  outside  of  the  city. 
The  aide-de-camp  took  a  kind  view  of  the  situation,  and  said 
that  he  would  see  the  General  again,  with  the  result  that 
(ieneral  Otis  handed  me  a  document  which,  in  its  reading, 
was  short  but  impressive.  The  wording  of  the  pass  that  was 
given  to  me  was,  "Pass  W.  Grant  Clark  along  all  lines  held 
by  the  American  forces.  By  order  of  General  Otis,  Com- 
manding Eighth  Army  Corjis,  Manila,"  and  signed  by  the 
aide-de-camp,  Lieutenant  Stanley.  A\'ith  that  pass  I  could 
travel  anywhere  within  the  lines,  on  tlie  train  or  on  the  steam- 
boat going  to  Cavite,  a  distance  of  seven  miles,  or  to  any 
place  flying  the  American  flag. 

During  my  stay  I  went  to  the  North,  to  San  Fernando, 
which  is  about  sixty  kilometere,  or  forty  odd  EngUsh  miles. 
That  was  the  most  distant  outpost  of  the  Americans  when 
I  was  there  in  June.  I  went,  of  course,  at  my  own  personal 
risk,  and  I  was  in  the  trenches  with  the  soldiers — I  saw  them 
on  duty — while  on  the  other  side  of  the  cane  field  was 
Aguinaldo  and  his  men,  also  entrenched  and  occasionally 
pegging  away  at  the  American  forces. 

The  American  soldier  is  one  far  above  the  ordinary,  in 
that  he  carries  with  him  a  humor  in  doing  his  duty.  Not 
only  has  he  to  fight  the  insurgent  forces,  but  he  has  also  to 
put  up  with  the  climate,  which,  to  say  the  least,  in  the  wet 
season,  is  a  most  trying  one.  Still  he  is  in  good  heart,  and 
at  his  best  when  the  enemy  rushes  the  trenches,  which  in- 
varialily  they  have  done  during  the  heat  of  the  day,  in  order 
that  the  American  soldier,  who  is  not  acclimated,  would  be 
used  up  by  the  exercise  and  the  wading  through  swamps  and 
rice  field.s,  under  a  tropical  sun,  with  a  temperature  of  ninety- 
five  degrees  in  the  shade. 

The  country  from  Manila  to  San  Fernando  is  perfect. 
Sugar,  rice,  tobacco  and  hemp  are  the  great  productions. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  continued  state  of  anarchy 
which  has  been  prevailing  in  that  country  for  something  well 
nigh  twenty  years,  has  caused  many  of  those  districts  to  sink 
into  a  deploralile  condition.  The  sugar  and  rice  fields  are 
devastated  by  the  insurgents,  not  by  the  Americans.  The 
Filipino  is  a  cruel  man,  and  not  even  to  lie  trusted  in  the 
city  under  the  pretense  that  he  is  a  pacifico.  He  is  treach- 
erous in  the  extreme.  So  far  as  the  country  is  concerned, 
very  little  is  known  owing  to  the  native  law  being  club  law. 
A'ery  few  outsiders  indeed  have  ventured  into  the  interior. 
I!u1  it  is  an  admitted  fact  that  minerals  abound,  and  when 
everything  has  quieted  and  settled  down  these  unknown  min- 
eral districts  will  be  explored.  I  have  every  confidence  in 
saying  that  this  will  be  effected  within  the  next  six  or  eight 
inoTitbs,  for  you  Americans  will  certainly  crush  the  rebellion 
before  the  next  wet  season. 

It  has  been  said  of  Aguinaldo  that  he  is  one  of  the  heroes 
of  the  world.  If  they  had  said  that  General  Cuna  was  a 
belli,  tlinl  would  have  been  more  :ip|ilicable,  for  Aguinaldo 
will  ne\cr  lie  found  in  the  roverrmil  of  the  battle.  He  is 
always  one  to  stay  in  the  rear.  That  the  late  (ieneral  Luna 
was  killed  in  front  of  Aguinaldo's  residence,  (it  is  generally 
belie\eil  by  the  consent  of  Aguinaldo),  simply  goes  to  show 
his  jealousy  of  Luna.  Both  General  Luna  and  his  aide-de- 
camp were  sot  upon  by  the  guard  at  Aguinaldo's  headquar- 
ters, and  actually  cut  to  pieces  with  bolo  knives,  very  dan- 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  25,  1899 


219 


geroUs  weapons,  which  are  always  to  Ije  found  on  the  Fili- 
pino, or,  as  he  is  generally  known,  a  Manila  man. 

The  population  of  Manila,  roughly  speaking,  is  four  hun- 
dred thousand,  three  hundred  thousand  being  Filipinos  or 
of  the  mixed  Filipino,  and  other  nations.  There  are  fifty 
thousand  Chinese  who  have  come  in  since  the  Americans 
took  possession.     The  balance  belong  to  other  nations. 

Although  Manila  was  under  martial  law,  it  had  its  better 
side.  There  is  a  famous  driveway  called  the  Lunetta,  which 
runs  probably  a  mile  or  more  along  the  Bay  of  Manila  on 
the  one  side,  and  the  walled  side  of  Manila  on  the  other. 
It  is  a  beautiful  place.  I  can  only  compare  it  to  something 
like  the  boulevards  in  Paris.  On  the  driveway,  between 
five  and  seven  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  there  are  many  car- 
riages and  vehicles  of  all  kinds  driving  around  the  circle  to 
the  band  stand,  which  is  now  under  the  control  of  one  of 
the  regiments,  and  the  music  performed  there  each  evening  one 
finds  is  something  to  be  remembered.  As  an  Anglo-Saxon, 
it  seemed  rather  unique  to  listen  to  the  good  old  piece,  "Kil- 
larney,"  being  played  on  a  foreign  soil. 

Speaking  about  railroads — Mr.  Daniels  gave  you  a  very 
interesting  paper  on  that — ^there  is  great  room  for  Ameri- 
can enterprise  in  that  particular  line  in  the  Philippines. 
The  railway,  I  believe,  is  an  English  corporation,  and  as  far 
as  San  Fernando,  when  I  was  there,  it  was  in  the  hands  of 
and  used  by  the  Americans.  Beyond  San  Fernando  the  rails 
were  torn  up,  and  that  portion  of  the  interior  was  in  the 
hands  of  Aguinaldo,  and  I  believe,  the  best  portion  of  the 
rolling  stock.  Americans  pay  for  the  use  of  the  line  but 
Aguinaldo  does  not.  His  aim  is  destruction.  I  do  not  think 
that  he  is  a  pure  Filipino;  he  is  an  adventurer  and  working 
for  a  point  which  he  will  never  get.  If  he  was  in  power  some 
other  Filipino  would  make  it  his  business  to  shift  him  as 
soon  as  possible.  I  think  the  name  of  the  bridge  was  Bagbag 
where  the  Filipinos  were  strongly  intrenched  before  our  train 
came  up.  Your  people  had  a  diflicult  foe  to  contend  with 
because  they  could  not  see  him,  while  the  keen  eye  of  the 
natives  could  pick  out  the  Americans  much  quicker  than  it 
was  possible  for  the  latter  to  sight  them,  owing  to  the 
natives  being  hidden  in  the  Ijamboo  thickets. 

Kelative  to  the  railway,  the  train  I  traveled  on  was  actu- 
ally known  as  an  armed  train.  It  was  carrying  the  fully 
equipped  soldiers  to  the  front,  and  relieving  other  detach- 
ments along  the  line.  The  soldiers  were  sitting  on  the  tops 
of  the  carriages  as  well  as  filling  the  interior,  and  they  were 
in  good  heart,  smoking  their  pipes  and  carrying  their  rifles 
loaded  for  emergencies.  The  pace  which  we  went  could  cer- 
tainly not  have  been  more  than  eight  or  ten  miles  an  hour. 
The  reason  of  this  was  owing  to  the  inequality  of  the  line 
and  the  possibility  of  its  having  been  tampered  with.  But 
when  your  nation  settles  this  rebellion,  the  railway  will  make 
the  country,  and  it  will  improve  its  commercial  value  to  this 
country.  Many  will  go  to  those  islands  to  see  what  a  truly 
tropical  paradise  it  is.  The  miner,  who  is  always  a  man  of 
venture,  will  not  be  afraid  to  penetrate  to  the  interior  in 
his  search  for  gold. 

The  American,  you  can  rest  assured,  will  open  the  door. 
The  various  islands  will  be  held  and  ruled  with  a  firm  hand, 
and  it  will  be  an  invitation  for  all  nations  of  the  world  to 
come  and  live  there,  knowing  that  the  American  flag  will 
secure  them  protection.     (Applause.) 

J  foil.  Eiihcrt  Adams.  Jr.: 

The  reading  of  the  papers  having  been  concluded,  if  any 
one  desires  to  make  any  comments  on  the  subjects  which 
have  been  delivered,  either  this  morning  or  this  afternoon, 
they  are  now  open  to  the  members  of  the  Congress. 


Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

Mr.  Chairman:  With  your  permis,sion  I  would  like  to 
make  a  motion  on  a  very  important  subject  which  Dr.  Wil- 
son very  well  understands.  To  rehearse  briefly,  unfortu- 
nately, at  the  session  held  at  the  Museum  last  week  there  was 
no  Committee  on  Resolutions  created.  Consequently  in  the 
ardor  of  our  first  two  or  three  days'  proceedings  some  mo- 
tions came  before  the  Congress  which  perhaps  could  have 
been  put  in  better  shape  had  they  been  before  the  Commit- 
tee on  Resolutions.  To  save  time  it  would  have  been  better 
that  the  same  resolutions  come  before  the  Congres.s,  which 
perhaps  were  not  exactly  fit  for  us  bearing  on  certain  sub- 
jects. Then  a  Committee  on  Resolutions  was  appointed,  and 
it  was  done  hurriedly  on  account  of  the.  resolution  coming 
up  at  a  time  when  we  could  not  give  it  immediate  attention. 
Unfortunately  in  the  rush  of  business  a  list  of  names  was 
handed  in,  and  there  were  too  many  Americans  in  it. 

A  resolution  was  then  introduced  later,  a  day  or  two  ago, 
in  order  to  make  it  fair  and  equal  to  all,  creating  or  adding 
to  this  committee  one  member  from  each  nation.  But  that 
was  done  perhaps  without  the  forethought  necessary,  and  as 
there  are  forty  nations  represented,  it  made  a  committee  of 
forty-seven,  which  was  unwieldy  and  it  was  found  impracti- 
cable to  handle,  as  we  could  not  get  a  quorum,  had  they 
been  appointed.  They  were  not,  however,  appointed,  so  the 
committee  still  stands  as  seven,  but  in  this  shape  we  cannot 
do  business.  We,  therefore,  in  talking  over  the  matter, 
thought  it  best  to  resign.  The  chairman  of  the  committee 
has  sent  in  his  resignation,  and  all  the  other  members  have 
expressed  themselves  as  perfectly  willing  to  resign,  so  that 
Dr.  Wilson  can  make  a  new  committee.  I  think  this  is 
suificient  to  bring  the  whole  thing  before  the  Congress,  and 
undoubtedly  a  new  committee  .should  be  an  international 
one. 

I,  therefore,  with  the  Chair's  permission,  will  make  a 
motion  that,  in  lieu  of  the  first  committee  appointed  on  reso- 
lutions and  the  proposition  to  add  to  it  a  member  from 
each  nation,  a  new  international  committee  on  resolutions 
be  appointed  with  Dr.  Wilson  as  ex-officio  member — two  mem- 
bers from  Australia,  four  jnembers  from  the  United  States, 
two  east  and  two  west  preferably;  two  from  the  continent 
of  Europe;  two  from  Great  Britain;  one  from  Asia,  one  from 
Africa,  one  from  the  West  Indies,  and  one  from  South  Amer- 
ica, making  a  total  of  fourteen,  the  quorum  being  seven. 


Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr. : 
Is  this  motion  seconded? 

A  delegate: 

I  take  pleasure  in  seconding  the  motion. 

Mr.  H.  Botherham : 

How  are  we  to  understand  this?  Are  the  preceding  motions 
to  be  cancelled? 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

1  would  state  that  the  Chairman  has  had  the  kindness  to 
hand  in  his  withdrawal  or  resignation,  and  all  the  other  mem- 
bers have  previously  withdrawn  from  this  committee.  So  it 
leaves  room  to  appoint  a  new  committee. 

Mr.  II.  Botherham: 

I  am  rather  asking  what  will  become  of  the  resolutions  re- 


220 


PJiOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEENATIONAL  COMMEECIAL  CONGRESS 


iVircfl  in  the  fornuT  r-diiini.ttef?  What  will  be  the  particular 
(liitii-.-  of  the  new  coiiiinittee  when  appointed!'  Will  the  reso- 
lutions framed  and  pasised  by  llie  old  committee  be  turned 
over  to  the  new  eonimittee  on  resolutions  for  their  consid- 
eration and  revision? 

Uircdor  11'.  P.  Wilson : 

I  will  state  that  such  a  course  is  not  really  possible.  As 
I  understand  it,  this  iiody  is  a  mixed  delegation  of  govern- 
ment delegates,  and  delegates  from  Chambers  of  Commerce 
and  Boards  of  Trade,  and  only  such  resolutions  as  are  outside 
of  the  pale  of  politics,  and  outside  of  the  policies  of  govern- 
ment, can  be  considered. 

I  may  cite,  as  an  illustration,  a  resolution  which  has  already 
been  presented  and  read  here,  and  which  I  deem  absolutely 
suitable  to  be  passed  upon,  namely,  the  resolution  with  refer- 
ence to  uniformity  of  statistics  over  the  whole  world,  to 
make  them  definite  and  practicable,  so  that  every  country 
shidl  have  the  advantage,  as  quickly  as  possible,  of  statistics 
from  every  other  country.  That  is  the  kind  of  resolution 
which,  1  believe,  is  gennane  to  this  Congress,  but  when  the 
resolutions  are  brought  up  which  have  a  decided  political 
bearing  in  them,  and  have  a  policy  in  them  on  which  our  gov- 
ernment or  your  government  may  take  this  side  or  that  side 
strongly,  then  I  believe  this  Congress  is  not  the  place  for  it, 
and  1  hope  that  when  the  committee  is  newly  formed  that  it 
will  rule  out  such  resolutions,  if  any  be  presented. 

.  I  delegate : 

Now,  I  suggest  that  all  the  resolutions  presented  hereto- 
fore, that  have  been  referred  to  the  former  committee,  shall 
lie  referred  back  to  the  Congress  to  be  referred  again  to  the 
new  committee. 


"Whereas,  Realizing  that  a  greater  measure  of  good  will 
inure  to  the  mutual  advantage  of  the  commercial  interests  rep- 
resented in  this  (.'ongress  through  the  establishment  of  various 
centres  throughout  the  United  States  for  the  purpose  of  the 
collection,  interchange  and  periodical  grouping  and  display  of 
such  data  and  products:  and 

"Wliereas,  Kealizing  the  great  advantage,  the  establishment 
of  such  centres  would  be  to  the  promotion  of  the  manufac- 
turing and  agricultural  interests  of  the  United  States;  there- 
fore be  it 

"Resolved,  That  we,  the  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress, do  suggest  and  recommend  that  centres  be  established, 
and  that  the  various  commercial  bodies,  agricultural  associa- 
tions and  centres  do  appoint  representatives  to  confer  with  the 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  for  the  purpose  of  further- 
ing this  work,  and  for  the  establishment  of  such  centres 
throughout  the  United  States;  and  be  it  further 

"Resolved,  That  through  these  representatives  the  matter 
be  presented  to  all  the  sections  of  the  United  States,  and  the 
importance  and  advantage  of  this  work  be  urged  upon  the 
various  centres,  and  through  them  their  respective  represen- 
tatives in  Congress,  that  this  work  should  receive  their  sup- 
port so  as  to  aid  and  foster  it  in  the  interests  of  the  manu- 
facturer and  aufriculturist." 


II (in.  Jidbert  Adams,  Jr.: 
Is  that  motion  seconded? 

.1  ddegate: 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  seconding  it. 


Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

That  is  to  be  understood. 


Hon.  Bobert  A  dams,  Jr. : 
It  is  moved  and  seconded- 


Ifiiii.  L'niirrt  Adams,  Jr.: 

J  should  think  as  a  matter  of  parliamentary  law  that  when 
this  committee  falls  those  resolutions  would  go  back  to  the 
body  that  created  tlie  committee.  Are  you  ready  for  the 
resolution? 

Till'  question  being  on  the  motion,  it  was  agreed  to  and  the 
motion  was  adopted. 

Mr.  ('.■/.  W'hi-lhims: 

1  have  the  following  resohition  to  offer: 

"Wliercas,  The  International  Commercial  Congress,  realiz- 
in<>'  the  advantage  and  great  good  that  has  been  inaugurated 
and  is  being  carried  on  by  the  Philiideljibia  Commercial 
Museum  for  international  trade;  and 

■•Whci'eas,  The  i'bila(lcl|ibia  Commercial  Museum  has  and 
is  collecting  foreign  exhibits  and  data  that  are  of  incalculable 
lienefit  to  the  various  business  interests  of  the  United  States; 
and 

"Wbereiis,  It  would  seem  that  it  would  bo  advisable  and  of 
great  advantage  to  tlie  business  interests  of  all  sections  of  the 
United  States  to  extend  these  facilities  for  the  procuring  of 
similar  data  and  exhil)ils  of  the  domestic  products;  and 


Mr.  H.  Eotherliam: 

I  would  like  to  say  that  I  support  that  resolution  heartily 
as  one  of  the  foreign  delegates  who  has  received  considerable 
Ijenefit  from  the  exhibits  from  other  countries  during  my  stay 
in  this  city. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Are  you  ready  for  the  question?  ^• 

Director  W.  P.  Wilso7i: 

I  would  like  to  make  one  remark  with  reference  to  this 
resolution.  I  only  hope  that  before  passing  to  the  committee 
to  which  it  is  refeiTed,  it  be  broadened  in  one  sense.  The 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  is  collecting  raw  materials 
and  products  from  every  counti-y  on  the  face  of  the  globe, 
and  it  invites  every  country  to  deposit  with  it  such  products. 
In  time  it  will  have  sixteen  acres  of  buildings,  only  three  of 
which  have  as  yet  taken  shape  here.  The  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum  will  coiiperate  with  similar  institutions  which 
may  be  established  in  Australia,  or  China,  or  Japan,  or  South 
America,  or  anywhere.  It  offers  them  the  exchange  of  its 
nuiterial  in  the  United  States,  and  the  exchange  of  duplicate 
material  which  it  may  receive  fnun  Mexico  or  other  foreign 
cmmtries.  I  would  broaden  this  resolution  somewhat,  and  I 
will  make  a  motion  that  it  be  referred  to  the  incoming  com- 
mittee. 


ELEVENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  25,  1899 


221 


Hon.  Robert  Adams.  Jr.: 
Is  that  motion  seconded? 

A  delegate: 
I  second  it. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr. : 

It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  the  resolution  just  offered 
be  referred  to  the  incoming  committee  which  is  to  be  ap- 
pointed under  the  previous  resolution. 

The  question  being  on  the  motion,  it  was  agreed  to. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

If  there  is  no  further  business,  1  have  to  announce  again 
that  the  meeting  for  Friday,  during  both  forenoon  and  after- 
noon sessions,  will  be  held  at  the  Bourse,  in  the  Assembly 
Room  of  the  Trades  League,  on  the  second  floor.  Not  only 
are  the  delegates  invited — the  delegates  from  the  United 
States  and  the  delegates  from  foreign  countries — but  all  of 
your  friends.  The  meetings  are  in  the  foreno'on  and  after- 
noon of  Friday,  and  a  lunch  is  to  be  given  at  midday.  All 
present  will  also  have  an  opportunity  to  go  on  the  floor  with 
the  business  men  of  Philadelphia  from  twelve  to  two  o'clock. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  announcing  that  there  will  be  a 
meeting  of  the  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  at 
the  New  Century  Drawing  Room,  124  South  Twelfth  Street, 
at  eight  o'clock  this  evening.  Mr.  John  H.  Converse,  who  is 
at  the  head  of  the  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  of  this  city, 
will  preside.  Brief  addresses  will  be  made  by  Hon.  Frederic 
Emory,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Foreign  Commerc-e  of  the  De- 


partment of  State  at  Washington,  on  "The  International 
Rivalry  in  Trade;"  the  Hon.  John  A.  Cockbum,  Agent-Gen- 
eral in  London  and  formerly  Premier  of  South  Australia,  on 
■'Recent  FIxtension  of  the  Sphere  of  State  Activity;"  Hon.  W. 
Pember  Reeves,  Agent-General  in  London  of  New  Zealand, 
on  '"Arbitration  in  Labor  Disputes." 

The  Congress  will  convene  to-morrow  morning  in  this  room. 
To-morrow  will  be  devoted  to  European  topics. 

Capt.  J.  Curdcirii  da  Oraqn: 

I  was  so  pleased  with  the  kind  words  to  which  I  have  list- 
ened as  they  were  uttered  liy  the  LTnited  States  Minister  to 
Brazil,  that  I  take  great  pleasure  in  announcing  that  I  have 
cabled  to  my  government  the  expressions  of  good  feeling 
that  exist  in  this  country  for  her  sister  nation,  Brazil.  I  shall 
do  all  in  my  power  to  bring  closer  and  closer  the  relation  of 
friendship  and  trade  between  the  two  countries,  and  will  do 
all  I  can  to  increase  the  strength  of  that  bond. 

On  this  occasion,  and  in  view  of  the  fact  that  Saturday 
will  be  South  American  Day,  I  should  like  to  specially  invite 
all  those  interested  in  our  country  to  be  here.  I  shall  be  very 
glad  to  see  this  room  crowded  with  people  who  take  an  in- 
terest in  Brazil,  and  I  shall  also  be  very  glad  to  give  any  ex- 
planations in-  any  information  which  they  may  desire  concern- 
ing my  country.    (Ajiplause.) 

Hon.  Eol)ert  Adams,  Jr.: 

It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  the  Congress  adjourn  until 
10.30  to-morrow  morning. 

Motion  carried. 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


TWELFTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


'  Philadelphia,  Thursday,  October  26,  1899. 
Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  11.12  a.  m.,  in  Conven- 
tion Hall,  Exposition  Building,  by  Director  W.  P.  Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  to-day  Mr. 
(ieorge  H.  Anderson,  who  will  preside  over  the  sessions.  Mr. 
Anderson  was  for  a  number  of  terms  State  Senator,  and  is 
now  secretary  and  manager  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
active  commercial  bcidies  of  the  State,  the  Chamber  of  Coiii- 
merce  of  Pittsburg.    (Applause.) 

If  (in.  (Inirge  II.  Anderson: 

Mr.  Director,  Ladies  and  (lentlemen  of  this  CJongre.-s:  I 
desire  to  say  that  I  have  been  called  upon  to  preside  over  the 
deliberations  of  this  honorable  body  without  a  moment's 
thought  or  preparation.  It  is  hardly  fair  to  me  or  to  the 
audience,  but,  at  the  same  time,  any  reciuest  that  comes  to  me 
from  Dr.  Wilson  I  could  not  very  well  decline,  es]>ecially  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  I  am  asked  to  preside  over  an  assembly 
of  exceeding  honor  and  dignity,  and  I  appreciate  it  very 
highly.  Without  the  slightest  ])reparafcion,  1  am  impressed 
with  "a  few  thoughts,  to  which  it  may  be  well  to  give  expres- 
sion at  this  time.  I  have  for  years  had  the  idea  of  cultivating 
peace  relations  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  with  all  the 
world,  believing  that  it  is  not  only  right,  but  that  the  com- 
mercial relations  of  the  world  would  be  benefited  thereby. 
It  seems  to  me  that  the  only  way  to  cement  business  and  cmii 
merce  is  to  bi-ing  men  together  face  to  face  from  every  part 
of  the  inhabitable  world.  I  like  to  see  your  faces,  and  I  hop'_' 
you  are  pleased  with  ours. 

The  Governor  of  our  State  mshes  ycui  the  greatest  success 
in  this  enterprise. 

This  is  all  very  well,  business  men  love  to  make  money  and 
build  up  their  nation,  f  think  the  right  of  hospitality  in  this 
country  proceeds  out  of  commerce.  I  think  so.  T  know  in 
our  part  of  the  country  it  i.s  so.  I  feel  also  that  the  work  (if 
this  body  will  be  taken  as  a  consensus  of  \\w.  business  judg- 
ment of  the  commercial  world,  and  as  such,  will  caiTy  weight 
such  as  no  other  body  could  i-iuiniinnd.  Kow,  Mr.  Direetnr, 
lilease  bear  in  mind  that  you  are,  here  in  Philadelphia, 
building  better  than  you  know.  Where  can  yon  find  a  com- 
munity of  interest,  of  men  in  commercial  life  who  know  sn 
much  about  the  needs  of  their  own  cmuitry,  |)olitical  ami 
commercial?  They  come  here  to  see  what  we  are  about,  and 
we  are  glad  to  exchange  ideas  with  them,  and  to  learn  sonic- 
thing  of  the  various  countries  that  we  ought  to  know.  Tt  is 
just  possible  that  they  may  take  Inune  some  ideas  also  that 
will  not  be  amiss  to  them.    Our  workshops  are  opi-n  to  insjjec- 


tion   everywhere,  so   when   the  time  comes   for  them   to  go 
away  they  will  find  that  their  trip  has  not  been  in  vain. 

With  these  brief  remarks  I  am  now  ready  to  proceed  with 
business.  Mr.  Enrique  Alzamora,  a  delegate  from  Majorca, 
Spain,  will  be  the  first  gentleman  we  shall  hear  from  this 
morning.  I  have  great  j^leasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Alza- 
mora. 

Trade  with  Spain'. 

Mr.  Eiirii/iie  AlzdnKira: 

Mr.  Chairman,  I^adies  and  (Jentlemen:  The  kind  recep- 
tion accorded  the  few  words  of  my  address  to  the  (Jongress 
some  days  ago  encourages  me  to  enter  to-day  into  somie  con- 
sideration about  the  trade  between  the  United  States  and 
Spain. 

According  to  the  data  collected  by  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum,  the  value  of  Spanish  goods  imported  into 
the  United  States  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  the  30th  of 
June  last,  amounts  to  $3,982,000.  This  sum  may  represent, 
])erhaps,  the  direct  imports  from  Spain,  but  I  have  reason 
to  believe  that  it  does  not  represent  the  total  value  of  Span- 
ish ]iroduets  consumed  in  the  ITnited  States,  as  I  know  that 
in  many  cases  those  goods  are  not  Innight  in  Spain,  but  in 
France  or  England,  and  therefore  their  value  is  credited  to 
the  imports  from  those  countries.  In  certain  cases  the  French 
and  English  sellers  cannot  deny  that  their  goods  are  from 
Spanish  sources,  but  in  other.s  they  succeed  in  concealing  it, 
and  I  have  been  able  to  verify  the  fact  thait  Spanish  products 
are  sold  in  the  United  States  with  French  labels  and  at  higher 
prices,  nn  account  of  being  French,  than  those  at  which  they 
might  be  sold  if  obtained  directly  from  Spain.  Although 
there  is  not  always  such  a  concealment  of  source,  still  there 
is  always  some  loss  for  the  American  buyer  in  obtaining  Span- 
ish goods  through  intermediaries  in  other  coimtries,  and  this 
fact  alone  is  enough  to  make  it  desirable  for  the  United 
States  consumers  to  de\'elop  direct  relations  with  Spain. 

To  obtain  this  development,  which  may  attain  great  import- 
ance, it  is  naturally  necessary  to  make  the  Spanish  products, 
as  such,  well  km)wn  here,  and  to  that  end  the  I'hiladelpbia 
Commercial  Museum  c(mld  in  tlie  first  place  confribule  with 
its  admirable  Information  Bureau  and  with  its  ])ermanent 
exiiosition  of  samples.  It  is  to  be  wished  that  the  Museum 
may  not  hesitate  in  increasing  its  collection  of  samples  of 
Spanish  products  till  it  can  give  a  good  idea  of  what  is  pro- 
duced in  Spain,  as  I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the  samples  of  Span- 
isli  goods  in  the  Museum,  procured  in  greater  part  from  the 
Cliicago  Kxjvosition,  do  not  represent  by  large  odds  the 
pi'cseut  Spanish  products.  Jfany  articles  from  Spain,  not 
shown  in  the  Museum,  are  ciuisumed  in  the  TInited  States, 
and  others  yet  uidctiown  might  find  a  good  market  here. 

]{eferriiig  to  file  export  trade  of  the  United  States  with 
Spain.  I  have  mi  ddiibt  that   the  sum  of  .$9,077,000  shown 


222 


TWELFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  26,  1899 


223 


by  the  official  statistics  for  the  last  fiscal  year,  could  be  in- 
creased considerably  if  the  American  goods  (to-day  known 
in  Spain  less  than  the  Spanish  articles  in  the  United  States), 
were  systematically  introduced  into  the  Spanish  markets, 
and  above  all,  if  at  their  introduction  the  patriotic  assertions 
of  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  in  the  Congress  could  be 
confirmed.  If  it  is  true  that  on  acount  of  the  low  price  of  raw 
materials  and  because  of  labor-saving  machinery  the  United 
States  is  in  a  condition  to  supply  foreign  markets  with  pro- 
ducts as  good  and  as  cheap  as  any  other  nation,  such  products 
can  obtain  in  Sj)ain  and  everywhere  an  easy  success,  and  the 
export  trade  of  the  United  States  might  realize  that  idea  of 
great  development  which  has  given  life  to  the  National  Ex- 
port Exposition,  and  perhaps  might  conquer  the  markets  of 
the  whole  world,  which  is  hoped  for  by  the  American  indus- 
tries, if  we  interpret  aright  the  words  of  Governor  Stone. 

All  this  might  be  attained,  but  I  woidd  not  dare  to  insure 
its  attainment.  Because,  even  if  we  accept  as  exact  and 
proven  the  above-mentioned  assertions,  it  is  not  enough  that 
the  United  States  products  be  as  good  and  as  cheap  as  those 
of  other  nations;  but  it  is  necessary  that  the  other  comitries 
be  willing  to  open  the  door  to  the  American  goods.  In  truth 
it  is  necessary  to  aver  that  to  attain  these  ends  it  is  not  the 
best  road,  the  one  on  which  the  United  States  is  marching, 
by  establishing  the  barrier  of  protective  duties  to  foreign 
articles.  The  idea  of  reciprocity  in  the  application  of  the 
customs  tariff  is  getting  hold  to-day  of  most  nations,  and  that 
being  so,  how  is  it  possible  not  to  see  a  drawljack  for  the  ex- 
portation of  the  United  States  in  its  own  tariff,  which  curtails 
importations?  I  am  not  able  to  harmonize  well  the  protective 
theory  with  the  idea  of  expansion  for  American  export  trade. 
I  fear  that  the  protective  system,  good  enough,  perhaps,  when 
the  aim  is  to  control  the  domestic  consumption,  is  neither  tiie 
most  appropriate  to  produce  cheap  goods  nor  the  fittest  to 
obtain  concessions  in  the  tarii?  of  other  nations.  These  two 
elements  being  of  first  importance  in  furthering  the  export 
trade,  is  it  not  natural  to  question  that  if  the  system  has  been 
suitable  for  certain  purposes,  may  it  not  be  so  for  the  opposite 
aim?  Is  it  not  reasonable  to  doubt  of  the  efficiency  of  pro- 
tection in  reaching  for  foreign  markets,  even  if  we  admit  that 
it  is  the  most  powerful  medium  to  control  the  home  market? 

On  the  other  side,  and  referring  particularly  to  Spain,  it 
is  yet  necessary  to  provide  for  the  shipment  of  American 
goods  at  a  low  rate  of  freight.  Unfortunately,  we  have  no 
direct  and  easy  means  of  transportation  between  both  nations, 
as  we  cannot  consider  as  such  the  isolated  and  irregular  ex- 
peditions of  Sjjanish  ore  sent  here  and  of  American  petroleum 
shipped  to  Spain.  The  trade  between  both  countries  is  done 
to-day  with  transhipments  in  France,  England  or  Italy,  caus- 
ing by  this  process  great  loss  of  time  and  large  increase  in 
the  expenses. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  in  proportion  as  the 
trade  increases  the  means  of  communication  will  improve 
(or  vice  versa),  and  that  before  long  trade  between  Spain  and 
the  United  States  will  reach  a  progressive  development  bene- 
ficial to  both  nations.  I  ardently  wish  that  may  happen  soon, 
as  I  understand  trade — which  is  the  symbol  or  embodiment 
of  peace,  because  it  cannot  exist  without  peace — is  the  best 
balsam  for  the  wounds  which  war  inflicts.    (Applause.) 

//((/(.  George  H.  Anderson: 

The  Austrian  Government  has  honored  this  Congress  by 
sending  one  of  its  distinguished  citizens  to  this  honorable 
body.  I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  to  you  Mr.  Richard 
Knoller. 

AUSTRIA-HUNGAET. 

Mr.  Richard  Knoller: 

As  a  delegate  from  the  Imperial  Royal  Ministry  of  Com- 


merce of  Austria,  I  should  have  addressed  the  Congress  on  its 
second  day's  session,  but  owing  to  a  misunderstanding,  this 
was  not  possible.  I  therefore  take  this  opportunity  of  tlrank- 
ing  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  and  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  in  the  name  of  the  Imperial  Royal  Ministry  of 
Commerce  of  Austria,  for  the  invitation  to  this  great  Congress, 
as  well  as  for  the  most  cordial  and  hospitable  manner  in  which 
both  my  coimtrymen  and  myself  have  been  received  here. 

My  Austro-Hungarian  fellow-delegates  have  requested  me 
to  inform  you  as  briefly  as  possible  in  reference  to  the  con- 
ditions of  trade  and  the  productions  of  our  monarchy,  which 
is  following  the  example  of  many  distinguished  previous 
sjieakers.  All  I  am  going  to  say  will  probably  be  found  in 
the  excellent  United  States  consular  and  other  reports,  but 
I  am  also  speaking  for  the  numerous  delegates  here  present 
who  come  from  very  distant  countries  where  Austria-Hungary 
is  not  so  well  or  generally  known  as  we  would  wish  it  to  be 
in  the  interest  of  universal  commerce. 

Austria-Hungary,  though  situated  in  the  heart  of  the  Euro- 
pean Continent,  is  difl'erent  from  most  other  European  states 
in  the  respect  that  its  population  of  forty-five  millions,  which 
is  composed  of  a  great  many  difl'erent  nationalities,  varies  in 
almost  as  many  ways  as  regards  its  necessities,  tastes  and 
industrial  facilities.  Importations  should  therefore  be 
adapted  to  these  requirements  and  customs,  except  perhaps, 
machinery  and  like  branches,  where  the  internal  capacity 
alone  covers  the  necessary  standard. 

This  diff'orence  in  the  national  character,  together  with 
climatic  conditions  and  the  nature  of  the  soil,  existing  in  the 
various  districts  of  our  monarchy,  manifests  itself  most  clearly 
in  their  different  productions.  Our  southwestern  provinces, 
traversed  by  the  high  Alps,  and  with  scenery  which  is  equal 
to  the  grandest  and  most  beautiful  of  Switzerland,  are,  on 
this  account,  somewhat  deficient  in  industrial  activity.  Yet. 
there  is  considerable  being  done  in  mining  operations  and  in 
iron  works,  and  they  form,  together  with  the  famous  medi- 
cinal springs  in  the  northwest  of  the  Empire,  the  principal 
attractions  for  the  foreign  tourists.  The  provinces  in  the 
northwest,  as  well  as  those  in  the  centre  of  the  monarchy,  are 
the  main  industrial  districts.  They  are  in  reality  the  New 
England  and  Pennsylvania  of  Austria-Hungary. 

From  the  southern  provinces,  which  are  washed  by  the 
waves  of  the  Adriatic  Sea,  the  great  commerce  with  the 
Orient  has  been  done  for  centuries.  It  is  now  being  concen- 
trated in  the  two  important  seaports,  Trieste  and  Fiume. 
Close  to  these  are  the  new  territories,  in  which,  during  the 
l)ast  twenty  years  of  our  government,  remarkable  acliieve- 
ments  have  been  accomplished  in  civilization.  By  means  of 
their  extraordinary  natural  treasures  they  are  beginning  to 
more  than  repay  us  for  our  endeavors. 

Our  monarchy  is  traversed  throughout  its  entire  extent  by 
the  Danube,  which  becomes  a  mighty  stream  on  its  entrance 
into  the  lowlands  of  the  east,  and  with  its  many  wide  tribu- 
taries, almost  covers  the  entire  country  with  a  network  of 
streams,  which  made  it  one  of  the  most  fertile  countries  in 
the  world.  Waving  cornfields  here  extend  like  an  ocean  over 
the  immense  plains,  as  far  as  the  mountains  of  the  eastern 
boundaries. 

I  am  too  much  limited  in  time  to  give  you  more  than  a 
brief  report  based  upon  approximate  figures  concerning  the 
most  imjiortant  products  of  our  monarchy,  more  especially 
those  which  are  of  some  importance  in  the  export  trade.  It 
might  be  well  to  give  y(.)U  first  tbe  figures  of  our  foreign 
trade  for  the  fiscal  year  1898-99. 

The  value  of  the  ijnport  was  $322,000,000. 

The  value  of  the  export  was  $3.53,000,000. 

The  wheat  crop  in  Austria-Hungary  approaches,  even  in 
time  of  poor  harvest,  about  200.000,000  bushels.  The 
amount  of  cattle  raised  is  sufficient  for  a  considerable  export 


•22-1 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


trade.  The  production  of  coal  foots  up  40,000,000  tons. 
Iron  and  steel  of  excellent  qualities  are  being  produced  to 
the  extent  of  about  2,000,000  tons,  entirely  sufficient  for  the 
needs  of  the  home  eountr\^  This  is  also  the  case  with  the 
liisrhly  developed  manufacture  of  locomotives,  steam  and 
other  engines.  However,  there  still  remains  some  demand 
for  textile  machinery  and  American  machine  tools. 

The  output  of  mineral  oil  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  with 
ninety  million  gallons  a  year  we  already  occupy  the  third  place 
in  the  world's  production,  although  still  much  behind  tlie  two 
leading  countries. 

One  of  our  most  important  industries  is  sugar,  which  yields 
al)out  one  million  tons  per  annum,  one-half  of  which  is  ex- 
ported. 

The  value  of  our  textile  industry  is  aliout  $200,000,000, 
and  in  this  branch  the  cloth  and  linen  are  largely  exported, 
they  being  known  all  over  the  world. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  our  manufactures  of  ancient  and 
highly  famed  glass  and  porcelain. 

In  short,  our  country  produces  nearly  everytliini;  in  the 
most  important  branches  of  consumjition.  We  know  very 
well  that  the  United  States,  with  her  immense  industrial 
establishments,  is  able  to  put  on  the  market  articles  in 
such  quantities  as  to  exclude  comparison  with  us.  Indeed, 
we  confine  ourselves  in  most  cases  to  providing  the  markets 
of  the  world  with  such  specialties,  the  exquisite  execution  and 
artistic  merit  of  which  make  them  of  great  value  on  account 
of  their  individuality,  and  it  is  therefore  evident  that  these 
industries  are  the  result  of  a  very  ancient  civilization.  We 
are,  however,  fully  alive  to  the  advantages  of  the  manner 
in  which  the  Americans  do  their  work,  and  it  is  therefore 
with  mud)  interest  that  we  come  over  here  to  see  this  coun- 
try and  its  immense  progress  in  order  to  learn  from  it,  and 
in  many  cases  we  have  adopted  American  systems  of  manu- 
facturing, especially  in  the  manufacture  of  staple  articles,  only 
the  cheapness  of  our  labor  frequently  obviates  the  necessity  of 
using  machinery  to  an  equal  extent. 

Finally,  permit  me  to  say  that  in  my  estimation  the  devel- 
opment of  international  commerce  depends  also  largely  upon 
the  free  interchange  of  international  information  and  exper- 
ience, and  I  wish  to  lay  particular  stress  on  the  fact  that  the 
Americans  give  us  a  very  excellent  example  by  not  conceal- 
ing anything,  knowing  full  well  that  secrets  cannot  exist  for 
any  length  of  time,  and  tliat  fair  coni|ietition  is  tlie  surest  way 
to  progress.    (Applause.) 

II oil.  George  H.  Anderson: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  We  have  listened  with  great  pleas- 
ure to  the  representative  of  the  Austrian  Government,  and  it 
gives  me  great  pleasure  now  to  state  that  we  have  with  us  Dr. 
Alexander  von  Dorn,  delegate  from  the  Austria-Hungarian 
Export  Association  of  Vienna.  The  Doctor  will  please  take 
the  floor.     (Applause.) 

Dr.  Ahxaiuler  von  Dorn  : 

T  only  wish  to  refer  bcielly  (o  the  princi])les  which  must  be 
observed  if  we  desire  to  develop  internati(nial  commerce.  It 
is,  further,  my  intention  to  take  an  e(|ually  short  view,  from 
the  standpoint  of  these  principles,  of  the  conclusions  which 
it  is  the  purpose  of  the  Congress  to  draw,  and  to  discuss  tlie 
question  as  to  which  measures  the  United  States  will  have  to 
lake,  if  they,  without  injuring  their  own  rightful  and  well 
understood  interest-s  or  prejudicing  their  economical  inde- 
pendence, really  and  sincerely  want  to  further  their  commer- 
cial relations  with  other  nations,  and  especially  with  the  Euro- 
pean ones,  and  establish  them  on  a  sound  basis. 

Above  all,  I  would  like  to  state  that  conunercial  intercourse 
cannot  be  one-sided.    Although  in  transacting  individual  busi- 


ness, goods  are  paid  for  in  cash,  such  payments  can  only  be 
considered  provisional  in  the  intercourse  between  two  com- 
mercial territories,  and  upon  the  whole  it  would  be  princi- 
l)ally  a  question  of  interchange  of  merchandise,  there  being  of 
lourse  many  cases  where  these  goods  may  consist  in  services 
i-endered,  as,  for  instance,  in  transportation.  If  the  equal 
balance  necessary  for  this  intercourse  between  two  nations 
be  seriously  and  continuously  disturbed,  the  interests  of  both, 
or  at  least  one  of  them,  would  be  very  much  prejudiced,  and 
the  intercourse  would  decline  and  might  even  under  circum- 
stances become  entirely  impossible. 

It  is  an  acknowledged  principle  of  science  which  must  be 
evident  to  every  one,  that  a  business  transaction  between  two 
people  nuiy  only  be  called  a  good  one  from  a  general  economic 
standpoint  if  it  is  advantageous  for  both  parties.  Further- 
more, business  relations  established  between  two  persons  or 
firms  can  only  be  permanent  if  the  individual  business  trans- 
acted between  them  be  at  least,  as  a  rule,  of  this  character. 
The  same  must  also  be  said  of  the  intercourse  between  the 
different  nations,  and  it  is  impossible  that  it  should  be  per- 
manently maintained  if  one  of  them  were  to  retain  for  itself 
all  the  advantages  or  only  the  greater  part  of  them.  As  far 
as  it  is  the  question  of  legal  or  administrative  measures  which 
are  employed  in  commerce  between  two  nations  as  regards 
the  transfer  of  goods  to  their  respective  territories,  it  is  evi- 
dently necessary,  with  reference  to  the  above-stated  principle, 
for  the  interests  of  a  uniform  development  of  trade,  that 
the  obstacles  which  are  constantly  being  put  in  the  way  of 
this  intercourse  must  not  be  greater  on  one  side  than  on  the 
other.  This  would  have  the  effect  of  decreasing  commer- 
cial intercourse,  and  even  be  the  means  of  stopping  it  en- 
tirely, and  only  the  country  presenting  the  greatest  obstacles 
would  be  placed  in  a  state  of  isolation  such  as  would  entail 
upon  its  commerce  the  most  injurious  consequences.  For  just 
as  in  the  present  organization  of  production,  the  single  in- 
ilividual  cannot  possibly  exist  without  availing  himself  of  the 
result  of  the  labor  of  innumerable  fellow-men,  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  are,  according  to  the  development  of  the  world's 
commerce  to-day,  dependent  upon  each  other,  and  any  nation 
excluding  itself  from  this  international  intercourse,  or  acting 
in  such  a  manner  that  it  would  gradually  be  excluded  from 
the  same,  will  some  day  have  cause  to  l)itterly  lament  the  con- 
sequences of  this  course  of  action. 

I  do  not  wish  to  discuss  here  the  question  of  protection, 
livery  nation  must  decide  for  itself  as  to  how  far  it  deems  a 
higher  or  lower  tariff  necessary  for  protecting  any  particular 
branches  of  its  production.  The  convening  of  this  Congress 
is  in  itself  the  best  proof  of  the  fact  that  the  protective 
tariff  and  the  exclusion  of  all  foreign  competition,  as  a  gen- 
eral principle,  are  found  to  be  very  disadvantageous,  and  that 
the  protectionists  themselves  feel  this  to  be  tlie  case.  For 
here  we  see  assembled  the  representatives  of  numerous  states 
which  are  strongly  in  favor  of  protection,  and  all  of  whom 
come  here  in  order  to  olitain  means  of  facilitating  iijterna- 
tional  commerce,  i.  e.,  in  reality  free  trade  measures — though, 
of  course,  each  one  more  anxious  to  demand  than  to  grant 
concessions.  Though  it  must  be  admitted  that  every  one 
has  a  perfect  right  to  be  as  much  of  a  protectionist  as  he 
wishes,  it  must  equally  be  admitted,  with  regard  to  the  char- 
acter which  the  relations  between  the  nations  have  a.ssumed 
■  in  all  other  respects,  under  the  l)eneficial  influence  of  pro- 
gressive civilization,  that  it  is  only  just  to  ask  that  at  least 
that  part  of  commercial  intercourse  which  still  has  a  pos- 
sibility of  existing  under  the  protective  tariflf  should  not  be 
constantly  endangered  by  new  and  incalculable  obstacles  liable 
to  appear  at  any  time.'  Those  European  states  which  are 
advanred  in  civilization  have  for  a  long  time  recognized  this 
claim  and  formed  their  commercial  and  tarifl'  policy  accord- 
ingly. 


TWELFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  26,  1899 


225 


The  merchant  or  the  producer,  iu  so  far  as  he  acts  as  mer- 
chant, will  need  above  all  a  safe  basis  for  his  calculations. 
If  he  now  should  wish  to  sell  to  some  foreign  country,  the 
tariff  of  the  latter  would  form  in  most  cases  a  very  impor- 
tant factor  in  his  calculations,  and  he  must  tliereforc  be  able 
to  take  these  charges  into  account  Ijeforehand.  But  a  safe 
basis  for  this  purpose  can  only  be  obtained  by  means  of  specific 
duties.  After  having  reached  the  conclusion  tliat,  in  the 
commercial  policy  of  nations  in  their  relations  to  each  other, 
clearness  and  loyalty  are  also  of  the  greatest  advantage  to  all 
participants,  the  former  very  popular  system  of  ad  valorem 
duty  was  given  up,  and  that  of  specific  duties  adopted.  The 
ad  valorem  duty  is  not  considered  by  us  consistent  wath 
the  present  conditions  of  commercial  civilization,  and  this 
antiquated  system,  so  far  as  Europe  is  concerned,  has  only  a 
home  in  Turkey. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  ad  valorem  system,  which  cer- 
tainly has  a  great  many  theoretical  advantages,  might  be 
very  well  carried  out,  if  it  were  possible  to  give  an  accurate 
standard  for  determining  the  value  of  the  merchandise  which 
would  exclude  all  inaccuracies  iu  the  valuation.  But  this  is 
quite  impossible,  and  as  no  sufficient  security  can  be  given 
against  mistakes  or  evil  intentions,  it  becomes  clearly  evident 
that,  with  the  ad  valorem  duty,  a  strong  element  of  unfair- 
ness and  corruption  would  almost  necessarily  be  introduced 
into  international  commerce.  Even  though  the  standard  of 
the  tariff  accepted  be  either  high  or  low,  the  equally  strong 
interests  of  all  states  as  well  as  of  the  commercial  world  de- 
mand absolutely  that  its  application  should,  as  far  as  possible, 
be  beyond  the  influence  of  errors  or  corruption,  and  this  end 
can  only  be  obtained  in  an  approximate  way  by  a  corres- 
ponding scale  of  specific  tariffs. 

If  the  business  man  be  in  a  position  to  make  an  estimate 
of  the  import  duties  on  his  goods  according  to  a  foreign  tariff, 
it  is  further  necessary  for  the  accuracy  of  his  calculations, 
that  he  should  be  sure  to  find  the  same  tariff  existing  at  the 
time  the  import  takes  place.  This  interest  has  also  been 
recognized  in  Europe  as  being  justified,  and  the  consequence 
of  this  acknowledgment  was  the  system  of  European  com- 
mercial treaties  by  which  the  tariff"  is  generally  made  binding 
for  a  longer  or  shorter  period.  In  this  way  the  necessary 
stability  is  assured. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  discuss  here  any  further  the  use- 
fulness of  these  measures  in  the  interest  of  the  commercial 
circles  as  well  as  of  the  nations  at  large.  The  application 
of  what  has  been  said  on  the  questions  which  are  occupying 
us  here,  the  promotion  of  the  commercial  relations  between 
the  United  States  and  the  European  countries,  is  self-evident. 
It  will  surely  be  not  only  in  the  interest  of  Europe,  but  also 
of  the  United  States,  to  remove  those  disagreeable  features 
from  the  commerce  existing  in  the  import  of  European  prod- 
ucts, which  are  the  consequences  of  the  tariff'  and  valuation 
system  existing  here,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
importation  of  European  products  is  of  immense  import<ance 
and  profit  to  a  large  section  of  the  American  people.  It  is, 
therefore,  my  opinion  that  exevy  American  who  is  favorable 
to  the  promotion  of  commercial  relations  on  a  general  prin- 
ciple of  fairness  and  honesty  will  agTee  to  the  wish  I  here  ex- 
press, namely,  that  the  United  States  should  abolish,  as  soon 
as  possible,  the  injurious  system  of  ad  valorem  duties,  intro- 
duce specific  duties,  and  also  adjust  the  system  of  commer- 
cial treaties  binding  the  nations  to  a  definite  tariff  for  a  fixed 
period. 

It  must,  unfortunately,  be  admitted  that  this  wish  will  en- 
counter opposition  in  influential  circles  and  may  not  be  ful- 
filled for  a  long  time  to  come. 

At  the  same  time  it  appears  most  necessary,  and  in  the  in- 
terest of  all  concerned,  to  remedy  the  most  obnoxious  feat- 
ures of  the  present  system — the  annoyance  arising  from  the 


valuations  by  the  appraiser,  which,  often  through  the  draconic 
severity  of  the  customs  law,  have  brought  thoroughly  honor- 
able men  into  great  trouble  in  an  altogether  undeserved  way. 

I  will  not  now  go  into  details,  these  will  be  discussed  by 
others,  but  I  should  like  to  call  attention  to  one  feature  which 
is  especially  obnoxious  and  unjust  and  wholly  unreconcilalile 
with  the  general  character  of  other  public  institutions  in  this 
country,  namely,  the  manner  in  which  contested  appraise- 
ments are  tried  by  the  Board  of  General  Appraisers. 

This  Board  has  the  power  of  a  full-fledged  inquisition,  from 
which  the  only  effective  and  otherwise  so  highly  lauded  public 
control  is  excluded,  so  that  not  even  the  simple  and  primitive 
maxim,  ^'Audiatiir  el  altera  pars,"  finds  apphcation. 

Whatever  the  reason  in  the  individual  cases  may  have  been, 
it  is  incontestable  that  numerous  decisions  of  the  Board  of 
General  Appraisers  have  been,  manifestly  unjust.  As  a  proof 
of  this  assertion  the  fact  may  be  cited  that,  when  on  account 
of  the  presumptive  fraud  alleged  in  the  law  the  matter  hais 
come  to  public  trial,  the  defendants  have  been  acquitted,  in- 
dicating that  the  appraisement  of  the  board  has  been  incor- 
rect and  without  foundation.  This  result  was  due  to*  -the 
public  trial  giving  the  defendant  a  chance  to  represent  and 
to  protect  his  interests  and  prove  the  correctness  of  his  asser- 
tions, as  well  as  to  the  cross-e.xamination  of  the  experts  whose 
opinion  was  the  basis  for  the  decision  given  by  the  appraisers. 

Even  from  the  most  conservative  point  of  view  the  tolera- 
tion and  fostering  of  manifest  injustice  can  hardly  be  in  the 
interest  of  any  state,  and  it  must  also  naturally  be  supposed 
that  such  cases  arise  from  incomplete  legislation  and  have  not 
been  anticipated  by  the  lawmakers. 

The  wish  that  the  secret  trial  of  the  Board  of  General 
Appraisers  be  abolished,  and  in  its  stead  a  public  trial  with 
cross-examination  substituted,  similar  to  other  tribunals  in 
this  countr}',  seems  most  just  and  capable  of  fulfillment. 

Only  in  this  way  is  it  possible  to  arrive  at  a  reasonably 
bearable  condition  and  guarantee  of  at  least  fair  play  to  both 
sides  in  the  disagreeable  but  for  the  present  unavoidaldo  con- 
flicts l)etwcen  importers  and  appraisers. 

Tliat  certainly  is  the  least  anyone  can  demand.    (Applause.) 

I/iiu.  Cieorfie  H.  Anderson  : 

Mr.  Director,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  the  honor 
n  )w  of  presenting  to  you  a  gentleman  from  the  Imperial  and 
Royal  Commercial  Museum  of  Vienna,  the  Hon.  A.  J. 
Ostheimer,  who  will  address  you. 

The  IjtrEBiAL-RoY.\L  Austrian  Commercial  Museum  of 

ViEXNA. 

Hon.  A.  J.  Ostheimer: 

Having  been  honored  by  this  institution  with  a  request  to 
act  as  tlieir  representative  at  the  International  Commercial 
Congress,  it  aff'ords  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  be  able  to  say 
a  few  words  about  a  commercial  school  of  an  entirely  original 
organization.  I  am  instnicted  to  felicitate  Dr.  W.  P.  AVilsou 
and  his  associates  upon  the  magnificent  success  of  the  Inter- 
national Commercial  Congress,  and  to  express  a  sincere  re- 
gret upon  the  part  of  the  officers  of  the  Imperial-Royal  Aus- 
trian Cimimercial  Museum,  that  important  duties  at  home 
]u  evented  their  accepting  in  person  the  very  cordial  invita- 
tion which  was  extended  to  attend  this  Congress,  and  further 
to  express  the  hope  that  the  high  objects  sought  to  be  at- 
tained through  the  medium  of  the  Congress,  be  speedily 
realized. 

With  the  increase  in  the  world's  commerce,  and  the  increas- 
ing power  and  influence  of  merchants  and  manufacturers, 
bankers  and  ship  owners,  a  new  era  has  begun,  and  by  bring- 
ing together  as  many  consumers  and  producers  as  possible. 


226 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  great  natural  highways  and  waterways  of  the  world  are 
about  being  opened. 

The  institution  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  is 
similar  in  many  ways  to  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum, excepting,  that  it  is  directed  by  a  high  official  of  the 
Austrian  Ministry  of  Commerce,  and  is  closely  allied  to  the 
Imperial  Academy,  which  has  for  many  years  been  the  Im- 
perial Austrian  Consular  Training  Academy. 

The  honorable  president  of  Harvard  College  remarked  in 
his  magnificent  paper  on  commercial  education,  that  '"in  this 
country  consulships  were  regarded  as  mere  political  prizes," 
and  he  advises  that  in  order  to  successfully  compete  for  in- 
ternational trade,  the  very  first  administrative  reform  needed 
in  the  United  States  is  the  conversion  of  consulships  into 
commerfial  intelligence  bureaus.  He  further  said,  that  a 
government  school  for  consuls  would  be  Just  as  legitimate  as 
a  government  school  for  the  army  or  the  navy,  and  would  be 
likely  to  lead  to  correspondingly  good  results. 

The  Imperial-Royal  Austrian  Commercial  Museum  has 
just  .such  an  institution,  and  although  yet  very  yoiiug,  the 
Vienna  Export  Academy,  about  which  I  wish  to  say  a  few 
words,  is  an  integral  part  of  the  Vienna  Commercial  Museum. 

Another  noted  commercial  school  in  Vienna  is  the  Com- 
mercial School  of  the  Association  of  Vienna  Merchants, 
which  is  represented  at  the  Congress  by  the  lion.  Emil  S. 
Fischer. 

Only  a  short  time  ago  the  Hon.  Carl  Bailey  Hurst,  the 
United  States  Consul-General  at  Vienna,  made  a  special  re- 
port on  the  Vienna  Exjwrt  Academy,  and  in  it  he  says: 
'Tt  cannot  help  being  of  s]jecial  interest  to  the  United 
States  and  that  he  would  advise  a  similar  school  to  be  added 
to  the  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia,  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  Export  Academy  is  proving  itself  to  be  emi- 
nently successful  in  achieving  practical  results,"  and  he  fur- 
ther says  that  such  a  school  would  be  of  untold  benefit  to 
the  commerce  of  the  United  States  if  attended  for  a  short 
while  by  the  men  about  to  enter  their  consular  service.  In 
other  words,  he  thinks  it  would  prove  an  ideal  consular 
training  school. 

Naturally  the  great  object  of  this  institution  is  to  prdmote 
the  Austrian  export  trade.  It  is  not  expected  that  young 
rnen,  immediately  after  finishing  their  stiidies,  should  at 
once  become  Austrian  exporters;  on  the  contrary  this  is  an- 
other phase  of  the  institution's  plans:  "It  is  desired  that 
the  graduates,  on  leaving  the  academy,  act  as  clerks  in  ex- 
porting and  manufacturing  firms,  there  to  learn  the  practice 
of  some  special  branch  of  the  business,  whereupon,  under 
special  support  of  the  Ministry  of  Comniei-ce,  the  graduates 
are  to  be  placed  with  larger  firms,  and  finally,  by  joint  pro- 
tection of  the  Au.strian  Government,  the  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce, and  the  particular  foreign  consulate  concerned,  tliey 
will  be  aided  to  establish  themselves  abroad." 

The  Imperial  Royal  Commercial  Museum  has  put  at  the 
disposition  of  the  Ivxport  Academy  its  library,  its  valuable 
trade  collections,  and  all  the  reiiuisite  geographical  nui])s 
and  apparatus.  The  Academy  has  a  yearly  subvention  from 
the  Mini.s-try  of  (,'ommerce  of  -.'d.ooo' florins  ($8,000).  and  a 
like  sum  i.s  being  raised  by  ])opular  subscription.  The  Acail- 
emy  has  a  preparatory  cour.se  of  one  year  and  a  regular 
course  of  two  years,  l)osides  having  special  courses  of  greater 
or  less  duration.     The  tuition  fee  is  150  llorins  ($G0)  a  year. 

Pupils  are  besides  given  o«'asional  opportunity  to  visit, 
under  the  supervision  of  thoroughly  informed  teachers  as 
guides,  tlie  most  ])rominent  industrial  esiablishments  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  ai'licles  foi-  export,  as  well  as 
certain  commercial  cities  and  ports  of  special  ini|)ortance. 
For  instance,  an  excursion  was  recently  made  to  Ilamburg, 
while  shorter  trips  to  mills,  sugar  refineries,  breweries,  and 
other  factories  are  frequently  undertaken.     Crnduates  of  the 


higher  commercial  schools  are  entered  as  regular  students 
at  the  Export  Academy.  Pupils  are  admitted  who  have 
passed  the  grammar  schools  and  possess  such  knowledge  of 
commercial  branches  and  of  the  Fi-ench  and  English  lan- 
guages as  can  be  acquired  in  the  commercial  schools.  All 
who  desire  to  be  admitted  as  regular  students  mu.st  pass  a 
preliminary  examination.  In  exceptional  cases,  students 
who  have  complected  their  studies  in  an  unusually  excellent 
way,  and  who  can  show  testimony  of  having  already  done 
praiseworthy  work  of  a  practical  kind,  might  be  admitted 
as  students  to  the  regular  course  by  the  faculty  without  pre- 
liminary examination.  Two  grades  of  students  can  be 
plainly  distinguished,  those  with,  and  those  without,  prac- 
tical experience.  In  no  class  of  the  academy  are  more  than 
thirty  students  admitted,  and  only  twenty  in  the  preparatory 
course.  The  actual  number  of  students  at  present  is  near 
the  maximum  allowance. 

Attendance  at  the  classes  and  lectures  of  the  Academy  is 
compulsory,  and  subject  to  strict  supervision.  An  absence 
of  eight  days  without  proper  justification  is  followed  by 
striking  the  student's  name  from  the  roll.  At  Christmas 
and  at  Easter  of  every  year,  an  oral  examination  is  held  in  all 
the  branches  of  study.  Luring  the  first  year  the  annual  ex- 
amination takes  place  in  the  first  half  of  July. 

Regular  students  have  to  undergo  a  severe  final  examina- 
tion at  the  close  of  the  second  year  before  a  board  of  exami- 
ners, presided  over  by  a  representative  of  the  Ministry  of 
Commerce.  The  names  of  students  who  do  not  pass  one 
oral  examination,  without  good  excuse,  are  stricken  from 
the  rolls.  There  are  thirty-four  hours  weekly  in  the  prepar- 
atory course,  and  in  the  first  year  thirty-four  or  thirty-five 
obligatory  hours  every  week,  besides  some  that  are  not  oblig- 
atory. The  preparatory  course  has  for  its  purpose  to  ad- 
vance graduates  of  "Gymnasia"  and  "Real"  schools  about 
as  far  in  one  year  as  ordinary  commercial  schools  do  in  two 
or  three.  Of  the  two  yearly  courses  of  the  academy,  only 
the  first  has  so  far  been  opened,  and  the  students  have,  in 
all  examinations  up  to  now,  given  brilliant  evidence  of  the 
excellent  curriculum.  In  this  course  great  stress  is  laid  on 
tlie  study  of  the  French  and  English  languages,  with  prac- 
tice in  correspondence  (six  hours  each,  weekly).  Four  hours 
a  week  are  devoted  to  foreign  and  domestic  law,  so  far  as 
it  concerns  commerce.  Three  hours  are  given  to  practical 
t'xercises  in  the  office  work  of  export,  import  and  factory 
businesses.  Instruc-tion  in  this  important  branch  is  entrusted 
to  the  vice-director  of  the  academy.  The  limited  time  given 
to  this  "muster  comptoir"  work  is  only  the  natural  conse- 
quence of  the  fact  that  all  students  must  be  familiar  with 
tlie  principles  of  office  work  before  their  admission. 

In  view  of  the  burden  entailed  by  tbe  large  number  of 
school  hours,  home  time  is  demanded  only  for  languages  and 
office  lessons.  Instruction  in  economics,  with  special  regard 
to  tariffs,  in  the  usages  of  export  trade,  in  commercial 
geography,  and  in  knowledge  of  the  world's  wares,  accord- 
ing to  kind  and  ])roduction,  is  imparted  in  so-called  .semi- 
naries— that  is,  insitiiutions  which  afford  immediate  practice 
iif  wlial  lias  been  learned  from  the  l('acd)ei'"s  lecture,  and  a.s 
far  as  po.ssible,  actual  inspection  of  the  modes  of  production 
and  of  samples.  This  experiment  of  giving  the  pupil  the 
most  inqjortant  facts  riu'ht  in  the  school,  instead  of  letting 
liim  learn  by  lirarl  what  lie  is  sure  to  forget  speedily,  and  to 
li.ive  bim  practice  it  nn  llie  <p(il  until  indelibly  engraved 
iiild  bi>  memory,  is  (Uic  of  ihe  iimsi  daring  as  well  as  ini- 
piirlanl  innovations  in  the  lield  nf  pedagogics,  and  de.servevs  to 
be  jinqiagated. 

Besides  all  thi>.  lertures  on  selected  subjects  of  actual 
interest  are  given  by  the  j)rofe.ssors  of  the  I'lxport  Academy, 
by  manufacturers  in  the  various  industries,  and  by  minis- 
terial oflicers,  and  are  attended  voluntarilv  bv    the  students. 


TWELFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  26,  1899 


227 


who  display  deep  interest  in  them.  lu  this  manner  they 
become  acquainted  with  special  questions  of  the  day  that 
are  engrossing  ])ublic  interest  in  a  manner  which  is  unbiased 
by  party  standpoints. 

The  Vienna  Export  Academy  claims  that  in  no  brancli  is 
knowledge  greater  power  than  in  a  commercial  one,  and 
that  commercial  knowledge  means  commercial  power,  and 
that  it  is  their  object  to  prove  the  truth  of  this  saying  by  the 
practical  results  of  their  institution.  They  claim  that  each 
year  the  international  commercial  situation  becomes  more 
and  more  complicated,  and  that  to  be  aide  to  quickly  judge 
of  a  situation,  and  to  act  immediately,  it  is  neces.sary  to  have 
had  a  practical  experience.  The  degree  to  which  science 
has  become  an  adjunct  of  industry,  and  the  vigor  of  inter- 
national competition,  add  materially  to  the  importance  of  a 
thorough  business  training  for  young  men  who  are  to  carry 
on  their  country's  commerce.  That  which  can  be  taught  in 
schools,  that  which  can  be  learned  from  books,  lectures,  and 
from  libraries,  is  practical  only  in  a  broad  sense  of  the  word. 
More  attention  should  he  paid  to  modern  languages  and  to 
the  materials  of  commerce,  so  as  to  render  the  pupil  more 
apt  to  pick  up  its  methods  and  practices,  and  later  on  when 
he  comes  to  a  position  of  responsibility  and  initiative,  he 
must  have  at  his  disposal  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge 
and  ingenuity,  acquired  at  a  practical  commercial  establish- 
ment. At  the  Vienna  Export  Academy  they  teach  the 
youth  to  think  clearly.  They  train  his  mental  powers,  and 
provide  him  with  alulity  to  rise  superior  to  the  most  difficult 
tasks  and  the  most  critical  situations.  As  was  well  said  by 
one  of  the  speakers  on  commercial  education:  "Our  times 
make  greater  demands  upon  the  man  of  business  and  indus- 
trial life  than  was  formerly  the  case,  demands  which  the  or- 
dinary commercial  schools  are  no  longer  able  to  fulfill." 
The  number  of  business  men  who  have  enjoyed  the  advan- 
tages of  an  academic  education  is  far  greater  to-day  than  ever 
before.  Political  and  economic  science  should  be  oblig'atory 
upon  all  students  desirous  of  obtaining  the  highest  commer- 
cial education,  and  is  insisted  upon  at  the  Vienna  Export 
Academy.  It  is  not  their  object  to  provide  a  better  class  of 
bookkeepers  and  commercial  travelers,  but  they  are  provid- 
ing the  Empire  of  Austria  with  merchants,  bankers  and 
manufacturers  who  have  a  keener  sense  of  the  commercial 
needs  of  their  own  great  country  and  of  the  world,  besides 
having  a  fuller  appreciation  of  the  incidences  of  economic 
legislation  and  a  better  understanding  of  the  great  commer- 
cial forces  of  the  world,  and  of  the  currents,  by  which  it  is 
to  be  swept  fonvard  to   prosperity.     (Applause.) 

Hov.  George  H.  Anderson: 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  announcing  that  we  will  be 
addressed  on  the  subject  of  "Arts  and  Artistic  Industry." 
The  gentleman  who  will  speak  to  you  has  attained  the 
highest  excellence  himself  in  his  department  of  life,  and  I 
am  tempted  to  say,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  without  offending 
anybody,  that  the  father  of  the  gentleman  represents  the 
highest  type  of  dramatic  excellence,  a  gentleman  who,  above 
all  others,  brought  the  drama  and  tlie  stage  to  the  highest 
point  ever  reached  in  this  age. 

i  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Professor  Mario  Sal- 
Tini.   ' 

Prof.  Mario  Salvini: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  In  the 
name  of  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Florence  and  Bologna, 
Italy,  which  I  represent,  I  have  the  honor  of  tendering  my 
.salutation  to  the  creators  and  organizers  of  this  International 
Commercial  Congress,  and  to  my  fello'W-delegates  convened 
here  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  I  earnestly  hope  that 
this  selected  reunion  will  be  the  means  of  facilitatins;  and 


extending    international    intercourse    and    commercial    ex- 
changes. 

It  may  seem  strange  to  you  that  an  artist  and  a  foreigner 
addresses  you  in  your  own  language,  which  he  does  not 
correctly  possess,  and  that  he  speaks  to  you  about  arts  at 
this  time  when  the  feast  of  the  manufacturing  industries  is 
celebrated.  Your  people,  however,  have  always  been  very 
courteous  to  my  family,  and  I  take  courage  from  your 
kindness. 

What  I  am  going  to  say,  if  not  expressed  in  the  same 
clear  and  elegant  language  which  was  spoken  by  the  orators 
who  preceded  me,  is  strictly  in  harmony  with  the  conception 
which  inspires  this  International  Congress,  and,  if  you  hear 
my, voice  to-day,  it  is  because  I  have  been  told  that  the  dis- 
cussions of  this  Congress  will  have  an  influence  on  the  future 
tariff  legislation  of  your  great  country.  I  do.  not  speak 
merely  for  the  interests  of  the  artistic  production  of  my 
country,  but  I  speak  for  the  common  interests  of  both  the 
American  and  the  Italian  people,  and  I  speak  in  the  name 
of  art,  which  knows  no  boundaries. 

The  easier  the  introduction  of  your  ingenious  machines 
shall  be  made  in  our  country,  the  easier  it  will  be  for  our 
people  to  compete  -with  your  manufactured  products.  The 
easier  you  make  the  introduction  of  art  works  and  other 
products  of  our  artistic  manufacturers,  who  use  no  machin- 
ery, into  your  country,  the  sooner  your  artists  and  your 
mechanics,  who  are  excellent  observers,  shall  become  as 
expert  in  art  as  our  own  people,  who  have  lived  for  centuries 
in  an  ambient  .saturated  with  art,  and  who  transmit  from 
father  to  son  that  innate  ability  which  has  slowly  gunc 
through  the  most  correct  transformations. 

The  interest  is  therefore  reciprocal  and  we  do  not  wish 
anything  better  than  to  enlarge  oiir  exchanges  in  the  com- 
mon interest. 

The  tariff  duties  which  are  now  ruling  with  you  are  so 
onerous  that  they  may  be  called  prohibitive;  nevertheless, 
since  they  have  been  enforced,  no  essentially  artistic  indus- 
tries have  been  established  in  your  country. 

Open  the  door  to  all  artistic  productions,  provided  that 
they  are  the  production  of  the  hand  and  of  the  arti.stic  cul- 
ture, and  let  your  homes  become  decorated  with  the  elegant 
articles,  always  reminding  you  of  the  individual  ability  of 
their  makers,  and  you  will  then  easier  and  quicker  create  in 
your  country  those  industries  which  you  are  now  trying  to 
promote  by  protective  tarifl's,  but  which  in  effect  do  not  mate- 
rialize, because  art  cannot  be  improvised.  A  long  period  of 
years  is  required  to  form  a  good  artistic  education,  and  the 
surroundings  must  be  adapted  so  that  the  eye  may  be  trained 
to  the  beautiful,  just  the  same  as  the  arm  is  trained  to  work 
by  exercise. 

Opinions  must  be  respected,  and  I  respect  your  own;  if 
you  prefer  to  be  protectionist  I  have  no  objection,  but  you 
should  select  the  proper  time  and  apply  your  high  tariffs 
when  your  countr}'  possesses  industries  which  will  require 
protection.  To-day  the  only  effect  of  your  high  tariffs  is 
to  make  it  harder  for  you  to  obtain  the  material  which  is 
necessary  for  the  diffusion  of  artistic  taste  amongst  your 
people.  This  artistic  taste  is  now  in  a  great  measure  lacking 
in  your  country  to  the  great  detriment  of  your  own  artists. 

Art,  from  which  artistic  industries  derive,  has  an  interna- 
tional flag,  and  the  artist  carries  with  him  the  best  passport; 
he  is  recognized  by  his  open  countenance  and  by  his  plain 
manners.  He  fraternizes  with  everybody,  and  in  any  part 
of  the  world  where  he  may  go  he  is  received  and  accepted  as 
a  friend.  He  carries  into  your  family  good  cheer,  the  love 
of  beauty  and  poetry,  he  leads  you  into  his  dreams  and  his 
visions  and  infuses  you  with  his  happiness  ,and  your  soul 
feels  itself  surrounded  by  a  spiritual  well-being,  which  ex- 
hilarates you. 


228 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


With  your  minds  continuously  enclosed  in  the  steel  circle 
of  your  vertiginous  husiness,  you  are  certainly  in  need  of  an 
eleiuent  which  may  hrino-  you  relaxation  and  joy. 

You  also  have  your  artists,  and  expert  ones,  and  snme  of 
them  have  heen  my  fellow-students,  and  with  others  I  have 
fraterni/A'd  here  in" Philadelphia;  hut  in  your  immense  coun- 
try they  are  too  few  and  too  scattered.  However,  those 
few  will  tell  you,  as  I  do,  that  art  must  always  have  free 
access  and  that  the  laws  made  for  the  same  must  partake  of 
the  character  of  the  artist,  who  is  always  free  and  will  not 
submit  to  any  bondage. 

Art  ed\icat.es  and  rehnes  the  people:  art  speaks  of  the 
customs,  manners  and  history  of  the  people!  Give  free  pass 
to  art! 

1  beg  your  jiardon,  gentlemen,  if  for  a  i\'w  iiiimites  I  have 
led  you  into  the  realms  of  poetry,  but  coming  down  to  prose 
again,  1  will  say  that  the  income  from  import  duties  collected 
on  artistic  works  imported  in  the  United  States  amounts  to 
such  a  small  figure,  that  your  government  could  well  afford 
to  be  liberal  and  abolish  the  .same.  It  is  needless  to  add, 
gentlemen,  that,  above  all,  technical  ditticulties  render  the 
appraisement  of  art  works  in  your  custom  houses  very 
difficult,  and  that,  consequently,  with  all  the  good-will  of 
the  officials,  injustice  is  often  done,  which  is  certainly  con- 
trary to  your  in.stinct  of  fair  play. 

Your  industries  are  now  looking  for  an  extension  of  their 
trade  abroad,  because  their  production  is  exuberant,  and  for 
this  purpose  you  have  opened  this  Industrial  Exposition  so 
well  appointed  and  organized.  This  extension  of  trade  you 
shall  obtain  because  your  ingenuity  and  your  work  will  lie 
appreciated  in  foreign  countries:  your  wonderful  machinery 
and  useful  production  will  be  admired  and  sought:  but  as 
you  expect  that  other  people  will  open  their  doors  to  you. 
it  will  only  be  an  aot  of  justice  that  you  also  show  more 
benevolence  towards  our  products. 

It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  tell  you  that  I  am  a  free-trader 
in  theory  as  well  as  in  practice,  but,  in  my  capacity  of  an 
artist,  I  am  led  still  farther  by  my  thoughts.  I  think  of  the 
hapj)y  days  when  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  will  fraternize 
with  each  other  so  that  even  the  inhabitants  of  the  frozen 
regions  may  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  soil  warmed  by  the  all- 
producing  sun,  while  the  others  may  enjoy  the  products  of 
the  rich  undersoil  thousands  of  miles  away,  ({od  has  created 
man  with  only  one  mould  and  T  think  that  it  is  eminently 
humanitarian  to  co-operate,  to  the  end  of  entirely  eliminating 
the  barriers  of  any  kind  which  now  separate  the  ]ieo])le  of  the 
earth. 

As  the  guest  of  a  free  country,  which  I  love  with  eiitlui- 
siasm,  I  am  and  feel  free,  and  freely  speak  to  you. 

I  defend  the  common  cause  in  the  name  of  art  which 
flourishes  over  there  in  my  dear  Italy,  in  tbat  country  iiii- 
fortunately  little  kno\\n  liei'c,  but  which  is  dear  lo  all  the 
Americans  who  live  under  her  beautiful  sky,  and  is  a|i- 
jireciated  by  all  your  countrymen  who  have  resided  there  U>y 
some  time. 

Our  industries  over  there  are  not,  like  ycmr  uww.  in  ;in 
intensely  prosperous  condition,  do  not  spring  and  iniiltiiilv 
as  with  you,  but  still  they  slowly  take  an  honorable  [losilion 
in  the  international  market,  and,  in  ])roof  of  this  a.«sertion, 
I  bog  to  state  that  in  the  com]K>tition  called  bv  the  .Adminis- 
tration of  the  Paris  Kx|)ositi(in  for  11H)(I.  the  Italian  (inn 
Tosi  has  won  and  obtained  the  contract  for  the  supplv  nnd 
installation  of  the  plant  for  the  electric  illumination  of  tlie 
Exposition. 

In  our  small  land,  talent  and  genius  have  never  lacked  in 
the  past  and  do  not  lack  in  the  present:  the  proof  of  this  lir- 
in  the  artistic  productions  .sought  by  all  the  world,  in  the 
sweet  melodies  of  our  great  masters  (which  your  orchestras 
so  wonderfully  execute),  in  the  young  scientist  well  known  in 


South  America,  the  di.?coverer  of  the  yellow  fever  bacillus, 
and  in  another  young  genius,  to-day  your  guest  in  New  York, 
the  inventor  of  wireless  telegraphy. 

Genius  and  talent  are  not,  however,  lacking  in  your  country, 
where  everything  is  great:  great  men  abound  with  you  as  well 
as  heroes:  but — pardon  the  artist  for  his  innate  frankness — 
you  have  not  the  artistic  ambient,  the  ambient  which  tends  to 
refine,  educate  and  complete  those  who  have  an  artistic  ten- 
dency, the  ambient  which  you  will  soon  po,ssess  if  you  give 
free  access  to  the  artistic  productions  from  my  country,  which 
is  rightly  called  the  Cradle  of  the  Arts. 

This,  gentlemen,  is  what  I  ask  of  this  Congress;  that  the 
same  recommends  the  maximum  liberality  in  regard  to  import 
duties  on  art  works,  so  that  my  words  receiving  your  appro- 
bation, may  exercise  the  necessary  influence  on  the  minds 
of  those  wise  men  who  will  have  the  task  of  enacting  the 
future  tariff  laws  of  the  United  States. 

I  shall  always  preserve  a  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
hospitality  of  your  admirable  country  and  e.s{>ecially  of  your 
lieautiful  city  of  Philadelphia,  which  resembles  so  much  my 
dear  Florence,  because  the  Philadelphians,  like  the  Floren- 
tines, are  gentle  and  refined. 

Your  ladies  adorn  them.selves  with  flowers,  the  perfume 
of  which  calls  to  my  mind  our  flowery  fields,  our  rose-laden 
hedges,  our  gardens  filled  with  candia  lilies.  From  this 
patriotic  city,  founded  by  the  great  Penn,  from  this  city, 
which  will  never  forget  the  sound  of  the  liberty  bell,  and 
which  will  always  have  a  deep  reverence  for  the  great  Henry, 
Hancock  and  Adams,  who  more  than  a  century  ago  inspired 
the  delegates  of  the  colony  with  strength  and  vigor  to  fight 
the  war  of  independence.  I  only  ex])ect  the  most  liberal  as- 
sistance. From  you,  kind  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  expect  to 
receive  the  indulgence  which  niily  great  and  generous  people 
like  yonrselves  can  grant.  (Prolonged  and  tremendous  ap- 
plause.) 

//()(/.  (ienrge  H.  Anderson: 

The  program  of  regular  addri^sses  has  now  been  gone 
through  with  for  the  forenoon  and  the  ("ongress  is  open  for 
a  general  di-cussion;  speeches,  say,  of  not  more  than  three 
or  four  minutes  at  the  outside.  These  speeches  will  be  ap- 
propriate as  corollaries  for  the  addresses  read. 

Mr.  Kmil  S.  Fisihrr: 

1  thank  you,  Mr.  Chairman,  for  giving  me  this  opportu- 
nity of  addressing  a  few  words  to  this  assembly  about  coni- 
mercial  educatiim.  In  the  first  place  I  have  to  thank  our 
oteemed  consul.  Mr.  Ostlieimer.  for  mentioning  the  school 
of  the  Association  of  Merchants  of  Vienna,  which  association 
I  reiiresent  here.  It  is  an  established  fact  that  the  superin- 
tendent of  schools  in  New  York,  at  the  beginning  of  this  year, 
pointed  out  the  deficiency  of  the  system  of  commercial  edu- 
cation of  the  United  States.  Of  ciuirse  there  are  highly  valu- 
able schools  for  higher  commercial  cdncnlion  in  the  United 
States. 

A  good  inanv  vcuing  men  leave  the  public  schools  to  enter 
linsincss  life  and  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  aiforded 
by  tlic  evening  high  schools  to  inipro\e  tluii-  commercial  edu- 
cation. When  I  visited  this  country  in  IS'.l-J,  1  wi'iit  to  one 
of  these  niuht  schools,  where  I  hail  occiision  to  acquaint  my- 
self with  its  working.  'J'hey  are  doing  good  work,  but  their 
education  i>  one-sided,  that  is  to  say,  a  man  can  attend  only 
certain  classes;  as  to  time  of  attendance,  viz.,  two  hours  a  day, 
for  live  days  in  the  week,  is  insnfiicient  to  allow  him  to  study 
more  than  one  oi-  two  subjects. 

To  advance  commercial  education  the  superintciiilcnt  oi 
schools,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New  York,  and  some 
e-rent  busine-s  establishments  of  that  cifv  have  conferred  with 


TWELFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  26,  1899 


229 


Columbia  College,  with  a  view  of  establishing  a  department 
of  higher  commercial  education,  for  which  the  Chamber  of 
Conxmerce  of  New  York  will,  I  believe,  contribute  $10,000 
a  year.  No  doubt  this  will  raise  the  standard  of  commercial 
education.  This  has  already  been  done  in  other  countries, 
and  it  is  a  peculiar  fact  that  the  United  States  has  not  done 
this  long  ago. 

When  in  1891  I  visited  Japan,  1  investigated  commercial 
education.  There  is  a  commercial  college  named  Koto  iShogio 
Gakko  at  Tokyo.  It  is  a  vei-y  large  school,  where  five  hundred 
young  men  are  educated,  not  only  by  Japanese  professors, 
but  also  by  teachers  from  Belgium,  Holland.  France  and  other 
countries.  It  is  to  institutions  like  this  that  Japan  owes  her 
recent  rapid  progress. 

President  Kliot,  of  Harvard  University,  spoke  before  this 
Congress  of  the  necessity  of  higlier  commercial  education. 
So  far  as  this  applies  to  Austria  it  has  not  been  neglected 
there.  Not  only  United  States  Consul-General  Hurst  has  re- 
ported this  fact  to  his  government,  but  I  can  also  refer  to  the 
report  of  the  secretary  of  the  British  I'hubassy  of  Vienna  to 
his  government  in  1S99,  "Conunercial  Education  in  Austria," 
in  wlrich  he  shows  the  high  grade  of  the  graduates  of  the 
school  of  the  Association  of  the  Merchants  of  Vienna  (Han- 
delsschule  des  Wiener  Kaufmiinnischen  Vereiues);  and  he 
furthermore  points  out  the  possibilities  of  commercial  in- 
fluence in  the  future,  owing  to  the  training  given  to  young 
men  in  a  special  P^xport  Academy  such  as  now^  exists  in 
Vienna. 

In  eonchision  allow  me  to  say  that  all  of  our  Austrian 
yormg  men  who  have  received  this  education  are  admirably 
equipped  for  working  in  business  houses  abroad,  and  I  take 
this  opportunity  of  recommending  them  to  business  men  who 
need  young  men  with  the  best  possible  educational  equip- 
ment. 

Mr.  William  E.  Tucker  (Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade): 

I  think  the  United  States  is  fast  recognizing  the  fact  of 
her  being  practically  verj'  far  behind  the  nations  of  the 
world  in  connection  with  the  subject  of  commercial  educa- 
tion. Allusion  was  made  by  Mr.  Adams,  who  presided  yes- 
terday, to  an  effort  which  is  being  made  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  to  secure  radical  reform  in  our  consular  service 
which  is  one  phase,  at  least,  in  the  direction  of  commercial 
education.  There  is  no  doubt  at  all,  that  our  consular  service 
up  to  the  present  time  has  hicked  that  element  of  commercial 
education  which  has  made  the  success  of  foreign  governments 
so  great  in  their  efforts  to  secure  for  their  citizens  in  different 
countries  the  information,  which  proves  so  valuable  to  them 
in  competing  for  the  commerce  of  the  world. 

One  of  the  elements  that  goes  to  make  a  consul  in  this 
country  is  certainly  not  that  of  education,  but  the  time  surely 
will  come,  as  this  country  is  reaching  out,  by  evidences  that 
you  have  here,  for  the  trade  of  the  world;  when  the  United 
States  will  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  it  will  be  absolutely 
necessary  that  this  one  seTvice  of  the  government  shall  be 
occupied  by  men  of  education,  who  have  secured  a  training 
fitting  them  to  handle  the  questions  they  are  called  upon  to 
deal  with  in  the  nations  of  the  world. 

The  question  of  the  education  in  foreign  languages  is  cer- 
tainly one  that  has  been  much  neglected.  While  I  have,  as 
an  American,  the  greatest  regard  for  the  English  tongue,  I 
recognize  that  in  international  relations  there  should  Ije  one 
tongue  which  the  most  of  the  nations  could  speak.  We  have 
up  to  the  present  time  recognized  French  as  the  diplomatic 
language.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  sense  that  we  must  adopt 
one  medium  of  intercourse  by  which  all  nations  should  ap- 
proach each  other.  In  this  country  our  common  schools,  I 
believe,  in  their  higher  branches,  attempt  to  teach  the  langu- 
ages— Grerman,  and  perhaps  French — and,  here  recently  with 


our  effort  to  extend  our  trade  with  tlie  countries  to  the  South, 
Spanish.  When  the  day  arrives  that  our  common,  schools  will 
see  the  necessity  of  turning  out  their  young  men  with  an 
eqrupment  of  more  than  one  language — Enghsh  and  French, 
(jierman  or  Spanish — America  will  then  be  in  a  position,  not 
only  by  the  value  of  her  great  manufactures  which  claim  the 
attention  of  the  world,  but  she  will  be  able  intelligently  to 
represent  the  value  of  those  productions  to  the  nations  of  the 
w"orld,  and  there  will  be  a  common  tongue  which  will  be 
spoken  in  lines  of  diplomacy  as  well  as  in  lines  of  business. 

Mr.  Adams,  who  presided  yesterday,  has  a  bill  before  our 
Congress  which  looks  towards  a  thorough  reorganization  of 
our  consular  service  on  lines  of  business  education,  and  of 
proper  equipment  for  the  performance  of  the  functions  of 
tliat  very  important  office  in  connection  witlr  the  commerce 
of  this  country.    I  thank  you  very  much.    (Applause.) 

Jliiii.  Geiirge  II.  Andcrsnn: 

I  understand  that  Mr.  Frederic  ICmory,  Chief  of  the  Bur^ 
eau  of  Foreign  Commerce  of  the  Department  of  State,  is 
present,  and  we  would  Ije  very  glad  to  hear  from  him. 

Mr.  Frederic  Emory  : 

It  is  always  more  or  less  dangerous  for  an  official  to  speak 
without  notes  and  I  had  intended  simply  to  listen  to  any 
reiuarks  and  not  make  any  expression  of  my  own  views,  but 
I  have  heard  so  much  about  the  deficiencies  of  the  consular 
service  of  the  United  States,  and  so  many  recommendations 
have  been  made  for  its  improvement,  that  it  has  occurred  to 
me  that  something  should  be  said  as  to  the  practical  utility  of 
the  American  consular  service.  People  naturally  think  that 
consuls  ai'e  appointed  in  such  a  way  that  the  chances  are  they 
are  inferior  men,  or  men  who  have  not  special  qualifications 
for  their  work.  Another  cause  of  the  feeling  is  this,  that 
foreign  considar  services  undoubtedly  are  made  up  of  men  who 
are  especially  trained  with  a  view  to  their  political  duties, 
their  social  duties,  and  generally  they  make  a  better  Impres- 
sion than  men  who  are  not  trained,  men  who  simply  go  into 
the  consular  service.  There  is,  however,  one  very  notable 
fact  about  oiir  consular  service,  to  the  general  intelligence 
and  we  may  say  the  business  genius  of  our  people,  and  that 
is  in  matters  of  trade  and  industry.  It  has  been  fomid — 
and  I  speak  more  particularly  from  the  testimony  of  foreign- 
ers, foreign  Chambers  of  Commerce,  foreign  trade  news- 
papers and  even  official  expressions — it  has  been  foimd  that 
the  American  consular  officers  generally  have  the  business 
instinct,  more  or  less,  that  they  have  a  general  education, 
and  that  they  have  a  certain  business  adaptability  which 
enables  them  to  get  practical  information.  I  think  it  will 
be  the  testimony  of  most  manufacturers  and  exporters,  W'ho 
have  received  the  reports  of  our  consular  officers  during  the 
past  three  of  four  years,  that  they  are  practically  complete, 
that  they  give  the  infomation  whicli  the  manufacturers  and 
exporters  actually  want,  and  it  seems  to  me  to  be  obvious 
that  in  devising  any  system  of  appointment,  of  education, 
we  shoidd  try  to  preserve  every  valuable  clue.  I  think,  of 
course,  we  should  have  a  better  system  of  appointment,  a 
better  system  of  tenure  and  the  greatest  possible  advantages 
of  education.  In  any  device,  in  any  such  scheme,  however,  I 
think  due  weight  should  be  given  to  wdiat  the  consular  service 
is  actually  doing,  and  one  thing  that  I  think  especially  valu- 
able is  the  progress  which  has  l>een  made  in  the  publication 
and  distribution  of  the  consular  reports,  commercial  reports 
T  might  say,  but  they  are  really  consular  reports  of  the 
diplomatic,  as  well  as  the  consular  officers  all  over  the  world. 
And  we  are  now  publishing  annual  volumes,  special  volumes, 
monthly  reports  and  daily  reports.  I  do  not  think  that  it  is 
as  widely  known  as  it  should  be  that  the  Government  of  the 


230 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


[rnir.ed  States  publishes  every  day  reports  of  its  consiJar 
ollieers,  as  they  are  received,  as  nearly  as  possible.  (Ap- 
jilause).  That  is  something  that  was  inaugurated  on  the  first 
of  January,  1898,  and  it  has  been  remai'kably  successful.  It 
has  excited  a  great  deal  of  comment  abroad.  I  am  not,  of 
coiu-se,  speaking  for  tlie  Department  of  State,  or  wishing  to 
o.xploit  its  work  in  any  way,  but  I  have  heard  so  much  about 
the  eonsidar  service  and  about  its  deficiencies,  that  I  think 
it  is  only  fair  to  the  service  and  to  our  own  government  that 
this  phase  of  the  matter  should  be  brought  out.     (Applause.) 

llim.  Geui-ije  H.  Anderson: 

Dr.  AVilson  will  make  the  following  announcements. 

Direclor  W.  P.  Wilson: 

1  want  to  remind  the  delegates  that  the  meeting  to-morrow 
does  not  occnr  in  this  hall,  but  at  the  Bourse  Building,  the 
immense  building  on  Fourth  street,  between  Market  and 
Chestnut  streets. 

I  would  state  a  little  something  about  the  program  for 
Friday — it  is  Pan-American  Day.  Friday,  the  presiding 
otticer  will  be  Mr.  Henry  W.  Peabody  of  Boston.  Saturday 
will  also  be  Pan-American  Day. 

We  will  be  called  to  order  again  here  at  three  o'clock  this 
afternoon. 

(Adjourned  at  12.45  p.  m.)  ,  .       . 


Philadelphia,  Thursday,  October  36,  1899. 
Afternoon  Session. 


The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  3  p.  m.,  by  the  Chair- 
man, Hon.  George  H.  Anderson. 

11 071.  George  H.  Anderson: 

The  Congress  will  please  come  to  order. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  announcing  that  the  distinguished 
representative  from  the  Valhalla  of  the  Vikings,  Mr.  Chr.  B. 
Lorentzen,  delegate  from  Drammen,  Norway,  will  now  ad- 
dress you. 

Mr.  Chr.  B.  Lorentzeri: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Gentlemen:  1  am  here  as  a  delegate  from 
the  United  Association  of  the  Chiunbers  of  Commerce  of 
Norway,  in  Christiania,  and  of  my  local  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Drammen. 

I  shall  not  take  up  much  of  your  time  and  not  weary  you 
'with  long  statistics,  but  only  make  a  few  brief  remarks  about 
the  trade  and  prospects  of  my  country. 

I  observe  that  many  foreigners  do  not  clearly  distinguish 
between  the  two  countries  on  the  Scandinavian  Peninsula, 
and  I  find  it  therefore  necessary  to  say,  that  when  I  am  speak- 
ing here  1  am  speakirig  aliout  Norway,  of  which  I  am  a  repre- 
sentative, while  the  Swedish  Chambers  of  Commerce  have 
tlioir  own  representative  here. 

I  suppose  that  many  of  you  when  mentioning  NorAvay, 
chiefly  let  your  thoughts  dwell  upon  "midnight  sun,"  carjole 
drives,  high  mountains  and  deep  fjords,  but  I  want  to  point 
out  to  the  representatives  of  the  world,  that  our  little  country 
is  of  interest  not  only  to  tourists.  It  has  a  great  many  natural 
resources,  which  makes  it  interesting,  also  if  seen  from  a  com- 
mercial point  of  view. 

If  you  will  cast  your  eyes  upon  the  map  of  the  world  you 
will  see  what  a  good  position  we  have  for  trade  with  other 
countries. 


Our  country  is  very  narrow,  our  mountains  with  minerals 
and  different  kinds  of  useful  stones  are  close  to  the  sea,  our 
waterfalls  which  contain  thousands  and  thousands  of  horse- 
power, with  large  lakes  and  snow  mountains  as  reservoirs 
behind  them,  are  also  practically  on  the  seaboard,  and  we  look 
forward  to  a  period  when  we  shall  be  able  to  ship  not  only 
products  made  by  electricity,  Init  even  power  in  the  shape  of 
electricity  to  all  parts  of  Europe,  perhaps  to  more  distant 
parts  of  the  world.  In  order  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
abundance  of  our  waterfalls,  I  beg  you  to  look  to  this  map. 

See,  for  instance,  in  the  Drammen  River,  what  a  number  of 
pulp  mills  on  the  map  pointed  out  by  the  red  lines,  and 
spread  along  the  river  a  distance  not  exceeding  sixty  English 
miles  from  the  sea  to  the  Randsfjord  Lake.  Every  one  of 
these  mills  requires  very  large  water  power. 

We  have  a  long  coast  washed  l:iy  an  ocean  abundant  with 
fish. 

Norway  exported  in  1898,  fish  and  products  of  fish  valued 
at  about  Kr.  4.'), 000, 000,  or  between  eleven  and  thiiieen  mil- 
lion dollars. 

Our  forests  are  rich,  and  the  export  of  wood  and  manu- 
factures thereof  amounted  in  1898  to  a  value  of  about 
$13,(100,000. 

Norway  supplies,  togetlier  with  Sweden,  the  greater  part 
of  Flurope  with  wood  pulp,  the  most  important  raw  material 
for  paper.  Germany,  Finland  and  Austria,  however,  supply 
themselves,  and  ship  some  quantities  abroad.  Norway  alone, 
in  1898,  shipped  315,374  tons  of  wood  pulp  chiefly  to  the 
different  countries  of  Europe,  while  Canada  and  the  States 
together  during  that  year  shipped  about  fifty  to  sixty  thousand 
tons  to  the  same  markets.  Paper  is  also  made  and  shipped  to 
nearly  all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  tonnage  of  the  Norwegian  vessels  is  only  beaten  by 
Great  Britain,  and  it  may  interest  the  American  shipbuilders 
to  know  that  Norway,  in  1898,  bought  from  foreign  coun- 
tries seventy-four  steamers  with  a  tonnage  of  70,517  to  the 
value  of  a  little  more  than  $4,000,000,  and  ninety-seven  sail- 
ing vessels  with  a  tonnage  of  57.487  to  the  value  of  a  little 
less  than  $1,000,000.  Most  of  these  vessels  were  bought  in 
England. 

Our  laborers  are  intelligent  and  broadminded,  partly  be- 
cause a  gi'eat  many  of  them  go  out  in  the  world  for  a  time 
on  our  vessels  before  they  settle  down  at  home,  and  our  cli- 
mate is  a  good  one,  not  too  hot  in  summer,  and  not  by  far 
as  cold  in  winter  as  most  foreigners  believe.  The  Gulf  Stream 
touches  our  coast  and  breaks  the  cold,  wliich  is  not  much 
lieavier  than  you  have  it,  for  instance,  in  New  York  during 
the  winter. 

Mr.  Henry  Miles,  from  Canada,  spoke  about  the  importance 
of  canals,  and  he  is  right.  But  if  you  look  to  our  country, 
you  will  find  that  it  is  practically  all  on  the  seaboard  and 
our  canals  are  the  North  Sea,  with  ndt  feet,  but  fathoms,  of 
water  to  Great  Britain,  France,  Belgium,  Germany,  etc.,  and 
Skagerak,  Kattegat  and  the  Baltic  to  Denmark,  Germany, 
Finhmd  and  Russia,  countries  with  hundreds  of  millions  of 
inhaliitants. 

I  ought  to  mention  here  that  a  motion  has  been  brought 
up  in  Norway  with  the  intention  to  pass  a  law  that  would  give 
an  opportunity  to  make  any  place,  where  power  and  labor 
are  cheap,  under  certain  conditions  a  kind  of  free  harbor, 
where  raw  materials  could  l)e  im]iorted  free  of  duty,  and  the 
different  manufactured  articles  tluis  shipped  to  other  mar- 
kets wilhout  having  any  part  of  it  passed  through  customs 
in  i^orway.  With  our  low  sea  freights,  our  cheap  water  power 
and  cheap  and  intelligent  labor,  Norway  may  in  tlie  future 
offer  a  good  opportunity  for  manufacturers. 

Our  industry  is  rapidly  increasing,  and  our  country  is  and 
will  lie  a  gor)d  market  for  different  classes  of  machinery. 

Norway  has  not   many  jiroducts  to  ship  to  this  country, 


TWELFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  26,  1899 


231 


but  she  lias  had  au  exjjort  to  America  which  lias  been  of  the 
greatest  importance.  She  has  sent  a  greater  percentage  of 
her  sous  and  daughters  to  this  eounti-y  than  any  other  nation, 
and  I  dare  saj'ithat  there  is  hardly  one  family  in  Norway 
which  is  not  in  correspondence  with  friends  or  relatives  on 
this  side.  I  believe,  therefore,  that  no  foreign  nation  feels 
more  for  America  and  the  American  people  than  the  Nor- 
wegians, and  many  a  blessing  is  sent  over  the  Atlantic  from 
old  mothers  and  fathera  sitting  in  their  small  homes  under 
or  on  the  side  of  our  mountains  when  they  receive  American 
dollars  sent  from  their  children  in  America  to  assist  them  in 
their  aged  years.  I  partake  with  them  in  their  blessing  of 
this  country,  which  has  become  a  good  second  fatherland  to 
many  of  my  countrymen,  and  our  intercourse  with  America 
has  developed  our  democratic  spirit  and  widened  our  views. 

Gentlemen,  I  invite  all  of  you  to  come,  not  only  to  visit  our 
hospitable  shores  as  tourists,  but  also  to  study  our  waterfalls 
and  other  natural  resources. 

Hon.  George  H.  Anderson: 

We  have  with  us  a  distinguished  gentleman  from  New 
York,  who  is  extremely  well  qualified  to  talk  about  the  value 
of  the  export  trade  when  pushed.  I  have  the  honor  of  intro- 
ducing to  you  Hon.  Charles  C.  Schieren,  of  New  York. 

Hon.  Charles  C.  Schieren: 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress:  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to 
be  here  tliis  afternoon  to  aid  somewhat  in  the  proceedings  of 
this  important  gathering.  Its  importance  to  you  I  cannot 
measure  by  the  audience  which  is  present,  its  importance  can 
only  be  measured  by  my  friends  and  the  world  at  large, 
hepapse  the  ideas  which  are  promulgated  will  go  around  the 
commercial  world,  and  will  be  read  with  a  great  deal  of 
interest.     (Applause.) 

yesterday  you  had  a  gentleman  here  from  New  York,  who 
gave  you  a  paper  on  the  wonderful  advances  made  in  trans- 
portation, but  he  did  not  tell  you  all.  He  did  not  tell  you, 
sir,  that  in  this  country  the  railroads  have  brought  down 
transportation  to  three  mills  per  mile  per  ton.  That  is,  they 
will  transport  a  ton  for  three-tenths  of  a  cent  per  mile.  There 
is  no  country  on  the  globe  that  can  bring  that  figure  down. 
He  told  you  about  railroads,  I  want  to  tell  you  that  our 
canals  transport  even  at  a  less  figure.  Some  of  the  canals 
have  transported  goods  for  less  than  one  mill.  Here  I  want 
to  say  a  word  of  the  importance  of  canals  for  transporting 
goods  for  the  benefit  of  commerce.  Look  at  what  the  Em- 
peror of  Germany  is  doing  to-day.  He  stands  firmly  to  it 
to-day.  For  what?  To  build  canals  from  the  inland  to  the 
North  Sea,  so  that  the  goods  do  not  need  to  go  through  a 
foreign  country,  but  can  pass  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Elbe, 
and  then  right  into  the  sea  through  their  own  country.  That 
is  what  he  is  trying  to  do  by  canals.  What  should  we  do 
in  this  country?  We  should  do  likewise.  We  should  im- 
prove and  deepen  our  canals  so  that  we  can  compete  with  all 
the  nations  of  the  world.  I  have  not  come  here  to  talk  on 
transportation,  I  have  a  different  subject  which  is  the  value 
of  the  export  trade  when  pushed.  As  printed,  this  subject 
is  not  as  it  was  given  to  me.  The  subject  that  1  received  was, 
"The  value  of  the  export  trade  when  continuously  worked 
up  at  home."  It  is  about  the  same  thing  with  a  difference. 
Therefore,  I  want  to  read  to  you  a  few  remarks  I  may  make 
about  the  subject  allotted  to  me. 

Every  foreigner  who  visits  our  industries,  and  is  interested 
in  manufacturing,  expresses  his  surprise  at  our  improved 
machines  and  machinery.  In  almost  every  article  manufac- 
tured in  this  country  we  excel  in  labor-saving  appliances. 
Our  mechanics  seem  to  be  more  diligent  and  to  produce  more 
goods,  even  when  operating  the  same  machinery,  than  for- 


eign workmen.  While  wages  are  higher  in  this  counti-y,  and 
in  many  instances  almost  double  what  they  are  abroad,  still 
liy  quick  and  skillful  handling  of  our  machinery  the  American 
workman  is  able  to  do  more  work,  which  enables  the  employer 
to  compete  with  foreign  manufacturers  even  at  the  low  rate 
of  wages  abroad. 

This  is  a  great  advantage  to  manufacturers  here,  producing 
a  large  amount'  of  W-ork  and  employing  comparatively  less 
labor.  It  has,  however,  also  a  disadvantage  in  this,  that  we 
are  more  liable  to  over-produce.  In  fact,  over-production  is 
the  national  evil  of  our  manufacturers.  In  prosperous  times, 
such  as  we  are  having  now,  when  orders  are  plentiful,  the 
average  manufacturer  is  likely  to  enlarge  his  plant  and  to 
put  in  more  machinery  in  order  to  supply,  as  he  says,  the 
growing  demand.  He  believes  these  prosperous  times  are 
going  to  continue  indefinitely,  and  the  belief  becomes  general 
that  we  have  entered  upon  an  era  of  prosperity  such  as  this 
country  has  never  witnessed  before.  Consequently  he  goes  on 
and  extends  his  facilities  until  they  have  reached  immense 
proportions.  Yoii  will  all  agree  with  me — such  as  have  visited 
our  factories — that  at  the  present  time  we  cannot  fill  our 
orders. 

Suddenly  a  change  takes  place,  perhaps  through  a  disturb- 
ance in  our  political  atmosphere,  which  is  liable  to  occur  at 
any  time  by  reason  of  our  peculiar  system  of  government, 
when  every  four  years  a  new  administration  begins,  whose 
policy  toward  business  and  financial  affairs  is  not  known  and 
may  threaten  to  make  radical  changes,  creating  uncertainty 
in  the  business  community.  We  have  experienced  such 
periods  when  business  became  depressed  to  an  alarming  extent. 

It  is  in  such  a  period  that  our  over-producing  and  sanguine 
manufacturer  suffers  most.  He  has  large  facilities  on  hand, 
even  when  working  on  reduced  time  is  piling  up  an  alarm- 
ing surplus  of  goods,  with  no  immediate  prospect  of  finding 
a  market  for  them.  It  is  at  this  stage  of  affairs  that  he  real- 
izes that  a  foreign  market  is  very  desiralde,  and  hastens  to 
send  his  representatives  or  agents  abroad  to  the  markets  of 
the  world  to  get  rid  of  his  accumulated  stock. 

But  he  learns  very  soon  that  a  foreign  market  cannot  be 
so  easily  obtained  even  by  offers  of  lower  prices;  yes,  even 
ruinous  rates.  He  finds  the  foreign  buyer  is  very  careful; 
indeed,  almost  suspicious;  and  very  likely  has  already  made 
a  connection  with  an  American  manufacturer  for  the  same 
class  of  goods.  A  firm  that  used  foresight  in  establishing 
an  export  trade,  whether  times  were  prosperous  or  bad  at 
home,  and  having  made  it  a  policy  to  establish  export  trade, 
reaps  the  benefit.  Such  a  firm  secures  a  foreign  trade  for 
its  surplus  and  follows  it  up  persistently  until  thoroughly 
established. 

Foreign  merchants  are  more  critical  than  ours.  It  takes 
linger  time  with  them  to  introduce  goods.  Reputation  is 
required  by  them  both  as  to  the  quality  of  the  goods  as  well 
as  in  regard  to  the  firm  offering  the  same.  Foreign  mer- 
chants require  a  great  deal  of  detail  as  to  the  mode  of  pack- 
ing, shipping,  regulations  of  custom-house  duties,  etc.,  all 
of  which  must  be  carefully  studied,  and,  in  fact,  every  detail 
of  a  foreign  business  must  be  religiously  followed  up  for 
success. 

No  nation  has  studied  the  foreign  markets  and  its  demands 
more  than  Germany,  and  she  has  captured  them  to  a  marked 
degree.  One  of  the  German  characteristics  is  persistency. 
The  German  will  pursue  his  object  continuously,  sacrificing 
]>oth  time  and  money  to  obtain  success.  He  does  not  feel 
discouraged  even  under  adverse  circumstances,  but  plods  along 
slowly,  but  surely.  This  characteristic  accounts  for  the  mar- 
velous development  of  Germany  as  a  manufacturing  nation, 
rivaling  England,  which  was  until  recently  considered  the 
greatest  industrial  nation  in  the  world,  hut  now  Germany 
seems  to  have  outstripped  her. 


232 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  I^*TERNATI01CAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


rjcniiaii  poods  arc  fniuil  in  all  the  markets  of  the  world. 
The  Gi-niiaii  nianurac-turer  never  loses  sight  of  his  exiDort 
trade,  and  seems  to  \n\y  more  attention  to  it  than  to  his 
home  trade.  Whether  "there  is  a  demand  for  his  goods  at 
home  or  not.  he  holds  his  foreign  trade  with  an  iron  grip. 
This  poliey  lias  made  Germany  prosperous.  She  studies  the 
vari«l  tastes  and  habits  of  the  foreign  customer;  sends  agents 
who  are  thoroughly  educated  and  understand  the  language 
of  the  eounttT  where  they  propose  to  do  business.  The  Ger- 
man merchant  is  careful  to  comply  with  the  revenue  laws 
and  custom  house  regulations  of  every  foreign  port.  And 
Germany  encourages  every  effort  made  by  her  manufacturers 
to  further  their  export  trade. 

The  American  manufacturer  may  take  an  object  lesson 
from  this.  Many  of  our  manufacturers  have  been  successful 
in  opening  foreign  connections.  Their  goods  find  favor  for 
their  quality  and  fine  workmanship,  their  orders  are  increas- 
ino-,  and  this  countij  soon  may  become  a  successful  rival  of 
Germany.  ]5ut  our  manufacturers  do  not  seem  to  have  per- 
sistency and  staying  qualities,  even  after  goods  are  intro- 
duced "and  a  foreign  demand  has  been  created.  In  many 
instances  they  ne2:lect  prompt  shipment,  and  especially  in 
these  prosperous  times  manufacturers  are  too  apt  to  supply 
the  home  demand  first,  so  easily  witliin  their  reach,  and 
neglect  their  export  trade.  This  is  a  fatal  mistake,  because 
the  foreign  buyer  resents  such  treatment,  he  is  sometimes  even 
unreasonable,  and  demands  more  attention  for  his  trade 
than  a  much  larger  corresponding  home  trade  requires;  but 
we  must  submit  to  his  whims  if  we  wish  to  Iniild  up  a  per- 
manent export  trade. 

The  old' maxim,  "In  time  of  jjcace  prepare  for  war,"  is 
applicable  to  our  export  trade,  namely,  in  prosperous  times 
prepare  an  outlet  for  your  surplus.  We  know  how  little 
sitability  may  be  in  our  prosperity.  A  political  cloud  or 
agitation  in"  this  country  may  create  a  threatening  storm  in 
our  financial  and  business  world,  which  may  bring  calamity 
to  our  industries.  Fortunate  is  that  Inisiness  concern  whicli 
has  pursued  a  wise  policy  and  encouraged  a  foreign  trade, 
even  in  prosperous  times,  and  is  not  dependent  upon  the 
brief  period  of  a  "boom"  at  home. 

Gentlemen,  sio  much  for  my  subject.  1  sliall  make  a  few 
remarks  in  reference  to  the  necessity  for  a  commercial  edu- 
cation, a  commercial  education  of  mir  people  who  desire  to 
do  a  foreign  trade. 

My  son  recently  took  a  tour  through  Europe,  and  there  he 
met  other  young  men  and  agent.s  and  representatives  nf 
American  firms.  They  did  London  in  a  half  a  day  and 
Paris  in  two  hours  a  la  Ainericaine.  They  would  storm 
into  a  man's  office  and  expect  to  get  an  order  in  five  min- 
utes and  then  in  a  half  hour  be  off  to  Berlin.  That  is  not 
the  way  to  do  foreign  trade.  My  son  took  one  week  to  get 
acquainted  with  one  man  in  Moscow,  Russia — one  week — 
but  he  got  that  man.  (Applause.)  He  went  from  there  to 
Buda])est.  It  took  him  four  days  to  get  an  introduction  to 
the  propel'  ])erson  whom  he  coiild  reach.  He  was  success- 
ful there,  but  it  took  persistency  and  study  and  it  took  him 
time  to  learn  just  what  these  people  wanted  and  their  char- 
acteristics. You  cannot  do  a  foreign  trade  unless  you  know 
that.  Now,  what  is  necessary,  is  to  send  out  young  men 
who  understand  their  l)usiness,  know  tlieir  business  thor- 
oughly, who  also  understand  what  their  customers  waiil. 
If  they  do  not  want  that,  let  them  understand  what  the 
customer  docs  want  and  then  oiler  him  the  goods.  It  is  all 
a  waste  of  time,  a  waste  of  money  and  a  waste  of  energy. 
My  son  siiys  one  of  the  young  men  presented  his  card  at 
this  ])laee,  at  Moscow.  He  was  referred  to  the  typewriter, 
who  understood  a  little  English,  and  when  the  young  man 
left  that  office  he  thought  he  niaile  an  impression.  'I'be 
only  impression  he  made  was  tlie  ini])ivssion  of  his  card  on 


the  typewriter  desk.  l)r.  Wilson  understands  that  I  am 
somewhat  cranky  on  that  subject,  but  I  know  its  importance 
and  I  feel  that  we  are  a  growing  manufacturing  nation,  that 
we  can  supply  the  markets  of  the  world.  Therefore,  we 
must  study  whait  the  markets  of  the  world  need.  And  I 
want  to  close  my  remarks  with  what  Cowper  says — Cow- 
]ier"s  lines  on  Commerce: 

"The  band  of  commerce  is  ^lesigned 
To  associate  all  the  branches  of  mankind. 
And  if  a  lioundless  plenty  be  the  robe 
Trade  is  the  golden  girdle  of  the  globe." 
(Applause.) 

//()//.  Gcnrf/c]!.  Anderson: 

We  will  liave  pleasure  in  hearing  Mr.  B.  G.  Assan,  a  dele- 
gate from  Roumania,  who  will  talk  to  us  about  "The  Ad- 
visaljility  of  a  Commercial  Treaty  Between  the  United  States, 
Russia  and  Roumania,  Concerning  tlie  (irain  and  Petroleum 
Trade."     Mr.  Assan.     (Applause.) 

TnK  Advisability  of  a  Commercial    Treaty    Between 
THE  United  States  of  America,  Russia  a\d  Rou- 
mania, Concerning  the  Grain  (Wheat,  Rye 
AND  j\1aize)  and  Petroleum  Trade. 

il/?-.  B.  U.  Assan.,  E.  M.: 

Gentlemen:  The  subject  which  I  have  the  honor  to  sub- 
mit to  your  high  consideration  is  quite  delicate,  and  I  feel 
assured  that  the  criticisms  it  will  receive  will  be  quite  at 
variance,  depending  whether  the  criticism  comes  from  a 
country  importing  or  from  a  country  exporting  grain  and 
petroleum. 

I'nder  the  grain  exporting  countries,  I  mean  those  in 
which  the  export  of  gi-ain  is  larger  than  the  import.  The 
countries  classified  according  to  the  importance  of  their  ex- 
ports are:  The  United  States  of  America,  Russia,  Roumania, 
part  of  British  India,  Argentine  Repidfiic,  Egypt,  Austria- 
Hungary,  Bulgaria,  Australia,  Ghile,  Canada,  Turkey,  Ser- 
via,  etc. 

It  is  in  favor  of  the  people  of  those  countries  wliich  consti- 
tute the  majority  of  the  bread-eaters,  that  I  propose  the  es- 
tal)lisment  of  a  "treaty,  first,  between  Russia  and  the  United 
States  of  America,  the  two  countries  which  are  of  pre- 
eminent importance  in  the  export  of  grain  and  petroleum, 
and  lietween  Roumania  which  1  have  the  honor  to  represent 
at  this  Congress,  and  whicli  is  classed  as  the  tliird  grain-; 
exporting  country. 

As  the  cereals  are  of  many  varieties,  the  treaty  would  only 
concern  itself  about  the  three  important  kinds  in  the  world, 
namely:  Avheat,  rye  and  maize,  which  serve  as  the  predomi- 
nant food  of  mankind,  having  a  large  consumption,  which 
is  continuous  and  increasing. 

The  commerce  of  grain  has  always  played  an  important 
part  in  the  commercial  movements  of  the  civilized  world, 
and  at  this  time  has,  in  consequence  of  a  persistent  decline, 
liecome  a  subject  of  particular  interest  for  study. 

The  words  "wheat  crisis"  may,  perhaps,  be  objected  to,  for 
a  crisis  is  a  condition  of  short  duration,  essentially  transitory, 
but  in  this  case  it  is  already  more  than  twenty  years  that  we 
liave  sulVercd  from  its  rigor,  witiumt  being  able  to  see  its 
end.  If  tlie  [irice  of  wlieat  was  increased  for  a  short  time  it 
was  due  to  the  energe'lic  and  speculative  means  of  ])urely 
,'\merican  device.  One  of  tlic  principal  causes  that  has 
clianged  tlie  condition  of  agricultnre  on  the  continent,  and 
reduced  tlie  jirices  of  wheat,  was  the  creation  and  develop- 
ment 111'  the  means  nf  rapid  coininnniealinn  between  the 
dilVei'eni   pai'ts  (d'  i*'.ur(i]ie  and  with  the  countries  across  the 


TWELFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  26,  1899 


233 


sea.  Steam  and  electricity  have  made  radical  changes  in  the 
commercial  relations  of  the  world,  so  that  the  exaot  knowl- 
edge of  facts  that  are  going  on  in  the  producing  countries 
has  become  indispensable  to  fanners  as  well  as  to  merchants. 

However  imperfect  and  biased  the  statistical  documents 
concerning  the  yields  of  grain  may  be,  they  are  none  the 
less  of  immense  use,  for  they  give  a  general  idea  of  the  re- 
sources of  various  coimtries,  and  state  with  precision  the  ele- 
ments of  competition,  which,  owing  to  the  progress  of  the 
means  of  transportation,  we  are  more  and  more  forced  to 
consider. 

The  approximate  number  of  the  world's  population  is 
estimated  to  be  1,500  millions,  which  number  has  been  un- 
equally distributed  on  the  surface  of  the  globe.  Europe  has 
thirty-seven  inhabitants  per  square  kilometer,  Asia  nineteen, 
Africa  five,  America  three,  and  the  Islands  of  Oceanica  four. 
The  average  number  for  the  whole  globe  would  be  eleven 
inhabitants  per  square  kilometer. 

Only  a  little  more  than  one-third  of  mankind  consumes 
bread;  the  number  of  bread-eaters,  as  they  are  termed  in 
England,  is.  according  to  the  estimate  of  Mr.  David  Wood, 
actually  510  millions,  there  were  371  millions  in  1871. 

In  twenty-five  years  the  number  of  consumers  would  be 
increased  37  per  cent,  while  the  area  cultivated  with  wheat 
is  only  increased  25  per  cent. 

Of  these  510  millions  of  bread-eaters,  300  millions  are  from 
the  exporting  countries  and  are  classified  in  the  following 
order: 

European  Countries  Exporting  Wheat. 

Country.                   Millions  of  Yield  of  wheat  per 
inhabitants.  capita  in  kilograms. 
Russia,   Poland    and     Cau- 
casus      115.9  93 

Austria-Hungary 43.2  121 

Turkey  in  Europe 6.2  149 

Roumania 5.5  283 

Bulgaria  3.3  325 

Servia   2.3  110 

Total 176.4 

Non-European  Countries  Exporting  Wheat. 

Country.  Millions  of  Yield  of  wheat  per 

inliabitants.  capita  in  kilograms. 

United  States   72.3  191 

Part  of  British  India 30.3  220 

Argentine     Republic      and 

Chile 7.4  420 

Canada 5.0  369 

Algeria   4.4  113 

Australia   4.2  219 

Total   123.6 

Thus,  it  appears  that  the  total  jiopulation  of  wheat-export- 
ing countries  is  300  millions. 

It  can  be  seen,  then,  that  included  in  the  510  millions  of 
bread-eaters  there  are  210  millions  that  are  from  the  import- 
ing countries,  the  remaining  300  millions  constituting  the  pro- 
ducers and  exporters  of  grain.  A  little  more  than  one-half  of 
these  300  millions  are  in  Europe,  and  the  remainder  (123.6 
millions)  live  in  the  non-European  countries. 

The  importing  countries  in  Europe  create  great  difficul- 
ties for  the  grain  trade  by  burdening  the  grain  with  high 
customs  duties.  Thus,  the  duty  in  France  is  7  francs  per 
100  kilograms  of  wheat.  In  Italy  the  duty  is  5  francs,  in 
Portugal,  10  francs,  etc.     These  enormous  taxes  var}'  from 


30  to  60  per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  wheat.  Against  these 
taxes  the  exporting  countries  are  compelled  to  wage  war 
with  entirely  unequal  weapons,  for  in  the  most  of  these  coun- 
tries agriculture  is  their  only  source  of  wealth.  Thu.s,  to 
mention  only  Roumania,  we  find  she  exports  produce  to  the 
value  of  about  380  millions  of  francs  per  year,  and  90  per 
cent,  of  the  value  of  these  products  is  grain.  Russia  is  near- 
ly the  same  way.  In  the  United  States  of  America  a  ten- 
dency manifests  itself  to  increase  the  exportation  of  agri- 
cultural products  in  a  manufactured  state,  and  to  decrease 
the  exportation  of  agricultural  products  in  a  raw  condition; 
this  tendency  is  quite  legitimate,  and  I  propose  for  considera- 
tion a  treaty  between  the  United  States  of  America,  Russia 
and  Roumania,  by  which  these  three  countries  shall  mutually 
agree  to  levy  an  internal  tax,  say  a  uniform  tax  of  5  to  10 
francs  per  100  kilograms  on  the  export  of  grain  (wheat,  rye 
and  maize)  in  a  raw  state,  and  to  exempt  the  export  of  grain 
in  a  manufactured  state  from  taxation.  In  this  way  the 
agricultural  interests  will  have  a  new  protection  in  these 
countries,  for  if  the  wheat  will  be  subject  to  an  export  tax, 
there  will  be  a  tendency  to  export  it  in  the  shape  of  flour, 
«hich  is  to  be  exempt  from  any  tax.  This  will  be  a  weapon 
against  those  countries  which  impose  high  duties  on  grain 
and  its  products,  and  this  weapon  could  be  put  in  force  im- 
mediately, for  there  is  at  present  no  treaty  in  existence  by 
which  a  State  binds  itself  not  to  impose  internal  excise  du- 
ties on  its  national  articles  for  export.  This  treaty  will  per- 
haps have  the  effect  of  forcing  the  importing  countries  to 
change  the  existing  customs  tariffs  into  a  more  equitable 
system. 

The  reason  why  I  have  proposed  a  treaty  only  between 
three  countries  (Russia,  the  United  States  of  America  and 
Roumania)  is,  that  these  three  countries  hold  the  record 
among  the  other  grain-exporting  countries  of  exporting 
more  than  30  per  cent,  of  all  the  exports  (wheat,  rye  and 
maize)  in  the  world. 

If  these  three  countries  succeed  in  establishing  such  a 
treaty,  it  will  be  in  the  interest  of  the  other  countries  to 
also  enter  this  new  kind  of  trust,  for  the  advantages  they 
will  obtain  by  it  will  be  enormous.  According  to  Ger- 
man official  statistics,  the  exporting  countries  have  exported 
thirteen  million  and  a  half  tons  of  wheat,  rye  and  maize 
per  annum  during  a  period  of  five  years  (1885-1889).  If  an 
internal  tax  equal  to  the  amount  of  the  French  customs  duty, 
which  is  70  francs  per  ton  (of  100  kilograms)  were  imposed, 
the  thirteen  exporting  countries  would  have  collected  abottt 
one  thousand  million  francs  in  one  year. 

This  treaty,  then,  deserves  to  be  taken  into  serious  consid- 
eration, especially  if  one  recognizes  the  other  general  ad- 
vantages that  will  be  secured,  particularly  the  encouragement 
of  agricultural  industries. 

And  here  are  the  complete  figures  of  the  German  official 
statistics;  although  somewhat  old,  they  must,  nevertheless, 
be  considered  as  true  according  to  the  comparison  I  have 
made  with  the  more  recent  statistics. 

Excess  of  Export  Over  Ijiport. 
(Annual  average  during  the  period  of  1885-1889.) 

^Vheat  Total  in  niil- 

and  Rye.       Maize,    lions  of  tons. 

1.  United  States  of  America  3,230  plus     1,561         4,791 

2.  Russia 4,046    "  373         4^419 

3.  Roumania 804    '•'  607         1,411 


Total  for  the  three  countries 10.621,  or 

80  per  cent,  of  the  exports  of  the  world. 


23i 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 
)f  Export  Over  Import — Continued. 


0. 

(). 

»%■ 
i . 

8. 

!1. 
10. 
11. 
12. 


W;.eat 
and  Rye. 

Argentine  Republic    ....  128 

Egypt   "-lOl    " 

Austria-Hungary    395  minus 

Bulgaria  and  Ronmania.  .  286  plus   i 

Au.^tralia   I<i2    " 

Algeria    '"'^    "■ 

Turkev  (in   luirope) "-Jii 

Servia   "20    ■' 


Maize. 

277 
313 
094 
0G9 
001 
000 
00.5 
005 


Total  in  mil- 
lions of  tons. 

395 
314 
301 
295 
163 
108 
025 
025 


Total  for  the  ten  countries 
20  per  cent. 


of  tlie  exports  of 


.    2,617,  or 
the  world. 


According  to  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  Austria-Hun- 
gary has  been  importing  94,000  tons  of  maize,  which  quan- 
tity must  be  deducted  from  the  quantity  of  wheat  exported, 
in  order  to  establish  the  excess  of  her  export  over  her  import 
of  wheat,  rye  and  maize.  Canada,  although  exporting 
wheat,  has  not  been  included  in  this  table  on  account  of  her 
importing  a  larger  quantity  of  maize  tlian  her  export  of 
wheat  and  rye. 

As  far  as  maize  is  concerned,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  United 
States  of  America  exi:)'orts  50  per  cent,  of  the  total  exports 
of  the  world.  Then  comes  Roumania  with  20  per  cent.,  or 
the  fifth  part  of  the  world's  exports,  and  then  Russia  with 
10  per  cent,  of  the  exports;  the  20  per  cent,  which  consti- 
tutes the  rest  is  exported  by  the  other  ten  countries. 

Concerning  rye,  I  can  state  that  Europe  imported  dur- 
ing 1892-1895,  on  the  average,  10,521,000  tons,  of  which 
5,538,000  tons  were  imported  from  European  countries,  and 
the  remainder,  4,983,000  tons,  from  non-Kuropean  countries. 
One-half  of  the  imports  of  wheat  to  Europe  comes  from 
European  countries,  the  other  half  comes  from  America, 
Asia  and  Australia. 

The  situation  of  Great  Britain  is  the  most  interesting  to 
note.  On  the  one  hand,  the  import  of  wheat  in  England  is 
nearly  equal  to  that  of  all  other  importing  countries  in  Eu- 
rope combined  (Germany,  Belgium,  France,  Italy,  Spain, 
Portugal,  Netherlands,  Switzerland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Nor- 
way and  Greece);  while  on  the  other  hand  it  is  equal  to  the 
export  of  all  exporting  European  countries  (Russia,  Rou- 
mania, Austria-Hungary,  Bulgaria,  Turkey  and  Servia). 

It  follows  from  those  comparisons  that  F>ngland  does  not 
need  to  ask  for  wheat  from  the  non-Eurojjcan  countries  to 
supply  her  need  for  l}read.  Continental  luiro]ie  could  meet 
England's  wants  wit'hout  her  being  compelled  to  resort  to 
the  countries  across  the  sea. 

What  I  have  said,  gentlemen,  about  a  treaty  relating  to 
grain  may  also  be  applicable  with  the  same  success  and 
with  greater  facilities  to  crude  petroleum;  for  the  export  of 
crude  petroleum  is  mostly  carried  on  by  two  countries  only 
— the  United  States  of  America  and  Russia.  By  imposing 
an  internal  export  tax  on  crude  petroleum,  and  exempting 
the  refined  petroleum  and  its  products  from  any  export  tax, 
the  industry  will  receive  a  new  protection,  and  will  take  on 
fresh  life  ill  tlie  countries  producing  lhi~  ]irerious  jiroduct. 
I  cannot  ho))e,  gentlemen,  soon  to  see  the  realization 
of  an  agreement  regarding  the  grain  and  petroleum  trade, 
but,  I  believe  that  we  shall  come  nearer  to  an  international 
understanding  as  regards  the  world's  statistics  concerning 
the  matter  of  stocks  and  prices  of  wheat,  a  project  which  Mr. 
de  Routkowsky,  rej>resentative  from  Russia,  is  striving  to 
bring  into  realization. 

I  mu6t  express  my  regret  tha.t  the  relations  between   the 


United  States  of  America  and  Ronmania  are  not  of  greater 
extent,  and  I  wish  that  this  state  of  affairs  could  be  improved 
to  the'  advantage  of  both  nations  by  establishing  official 
Roumanian  and  American  representatives,  the  need  of  which 
is  moi-e  and  more  felt  in  the  two  countries.  I  hope  to  be 
able  to  greet  before  long  in  Bucharest  the  future  United 
States  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Roumania. 

Gentlemen,  there  is  nothing  nujre  left  for  me  than  to  ex- 
press in  the  name  of  the  Government  of  Roumania  and  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Bucharest,  my  sincerest  thanks 
to  the  organizers  of  this  Congress  and  to  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia, for  the  hospitality,  cordial  reception  and  kind  con- 
sideration with  which  we 'were  treated  during  our  stay  in 
this  beautiful  city;  and  permit  me  to  express  my  gratitude  in 
the  Roumanian  language,  in  order  to  give  you  an  idea  of  this 
Neo-Latin  dialect: 

'•Exprim  oiiiaijhlc  nivlc  organisaloriUiv  a  cestui  emigres  pentru 
hiispitalitaiea  perfeda  ce  caracteriseda  pe  poporul  American." 
(Applause.) 

Hon.  Geo.  H.  Anderson: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Convention:  The  program 
for  the  afternoon  will  be  practically  closed  by  a  presentation 
of  the  work  of  the  German-American  Committee  by  Dr. 
Vosberg-Rekow,  Chairman. 

Now,  the  same  order  of  business  will  prevail  at  the  close 
of  this  gentleman's  report  as  we  had  in  the  forenoon.  At 
the  close  of  his  report  the  Congress  will  be  open  for  three 
minute  speeches,  commentaries  of  the  work  that  has  gone 
before,  and  the  management  will  be  ]>leased  to  have  the 
gentlemen  who  speak  on  the  subject  speak  promptly  and  an- 
nounce their  names  as  they  arise. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

It  would  be  pleasant  to  the  Congress  if  the  German  and 
Austrian  commissions,  which  have  been  working  together  for 
some  eight  or  ten  days  in  sections,  would  kindly  come  forward 
and  take  the  platform.  (The  gentlemen  then  assembled  on 
the  platform  as  requested.) 

I  would  explain  to  the  Congress  that  the  gentlemen  who 
are  representatives  from  Germany  and  also  from  Austria  have 
been  working  for  some  days  with  several  American  gentlemen 
considering  the  commercial  relations  between  the  United 
States,  Germany  and  Austria,  and  will  present  resolutions  of 
this  work  this  afternoon. 

Mr.  Emit  S.  Fischer: 

I  would  ask  that  the  names  of  the  gentlemen  who  com- 
pose the   commission  be  announced,  so  that  they  shall  be 
honored  by  their  names  appearing  in  the 
this  reason  that  I  make  this  suggestion, 
members  of  the  commission. 


record.     It  is  for 
I  am  not  one  of  the 


Dr.  Vosherg-Rekow: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The  German- 
American  commission,  as  delegates  to  the  Congress  from  Ger- 
many and  Austria,  together  with  certain  American  represen- 
tatives, begs  leave  to  submit  a  few  woi-ds  to  the  Congress. 

The  commission  was  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  consider- 
ing thoroughly  the  commercial  relations  existing  between  the 
United  States,  the  German  Empire  and  Austria-Hungary. 
The  commission,  after  earnestly  considering  the  question,  and 
after  liaving  heard  representatives  of  American,  German  and 
Austrian  industries,  has  reached  the  conclusion  that  a  more 
intimate  relation  of  the  commercial  conditions  between  the 
aforesaid  countries  is  desirable,  and  the  maintenance  and 
fostering  of  friendly  relations  between  them  is  to  be  sought 
and  may  be  secured.    As  the  f(uindation  for  these  views,  the 


TWELFTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  26,  1899 


235 


commission  refers  to  its  report  of  its  sessions  which  it  has  the 
honor  to  hand  to  the  President  of  the  Congress,  and  a  copy 
of  vvliich  it  will  imdertake  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the 
respective  gov«mments  interested. 

The  commission  requests  the  Congi'ess  to  agree  with  it, 
that  in  order  to  accomplish  this  aim,  first  of  all  the  forma- 
tion of  an  impartial  Customs  Advisor}'  ('ommission  in  each 
country  is  to  be  recommended. 

As  delegate  and  as  vice-president  of  the  commission,  I 
move,  therefore,  Mr.  President,  that  it  is  the  sense  of  this 
Congress  that  such  commissions  should  be  formed. 

Hon.  Geo.  H.  Anderson:  ■ 

That  will  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Eesplutions  with- 
out discussion.    (Applause.) 


Dr.  Vosberg-Bekow: 

The  names  of  the  members  of  the  commission  are: 
Mr.  E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Philadelphia,  formerly    United    States 

Consul  in  Braunschweig,  Gennany. 
Mr.  H.  C.  Cai-penter,  Philadelphia,  fonnerly  United  States 

Consul  in  Fiirth,  Germany. 
Major  Black,  Philadelphia,  formerly  United  States  Consul  in 

Niiremberg,  Gennany. 
Mr.  Monaghan,  present  United  States  Consul  in  Chemnitz, 

Gennany. 
Mr.  Wirth,  manufacturer,  Sorau,  Germany. 
Mr.  Post,  manufacturer,  Hagen,  Germany. 
Mr.  Goldschmidt,  Director-General,  Berlin,  Gennany. 
Mr.  L.  Vossen,  Aix-la-Chapelle,  Germany. 
Mr.  Van  Giilpen,  Wesel,  Germany. 
Mr.  H.  L.  Geissel,  Philadelphia." 
Dr.  Pistor,  Gratz,  Austria. 
Dr.  Alex,  von  Dorn,  Vienna,  Austria. 
Dr.  Otto  Thorsch,  Vienna,  Austria. 
Mr.  Julius  Ilerlitschka.  Vienna,  Austria. 
Mr.  Carlo  W.  Kiichler,  Trieste,  Gennany. 
Mr.  Marheinecke,  German  Consul  at  Philadelphia,  guest. 


Mr.  G.  E.  Waetzoklt,  Commercial  Attache  to  the  German 
Consulate  in  Chicago,  delegate  of  the  Imperial  German 
Government,  guest. 

Hon.  Geo.  H.  Anderson  : 

As  stated  to  you  a  moment  ago,  the  time  has  arrived  for 
commentary  speeches  not  exceeding  three  minutes  in  length. 
I  may  say  that  I  have  had  a  great  deal  of  faith  in  three- 
minute  speeches.  Gentlemen  can  compress  their  ideas  into 
few  words  and  deliver  them  in  a  short  time,  and  they  fre- 
quently lose  nothing  by  this  rule  being  enforced.  Now, 
while  the  matter  is  before  you,  we  would  be  pleased  to  have 
the  gentlemen  who  have  ajiything  to  say  to  speak  promptly. 

(After  a  pause.) 

There  seems  to  be  no  desire  on  the  part  of  our  friends  to 
make  three-minute  speeches.  I  would  just  say  that  Mr.  N.  B. 
Kelly,  of  the  Bourse  of  Philadelphia,  ajid  Secretary  and  Com- 
missioner of  Transportation  of  the  Trades  League,  will  make 
the  necessary  announcements,  after  which  the  body  will 
adjourn. 

Mr.  N.  B.  Kelly: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  On  behalf  of  the  various 
commercial  organizations  having  their  homes  in  the  Phila- 
delphia Bourse,  which  is  the  onl}'  institution  of  its  kind  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  I  desire  to  extend  to  the  for- 
eign delegates,  visitors  and  the  American  delegates  an  invi- 
tation to  meet  in  the  rooms  of  the  Bourse  to-morrow  at  9.30 
a.  m.  A  lunch  will  be  provided  between  twelve  and  one  to 
all  foreign  delegates  and  visitors  and  the  session  in  the  after- 
noon will  convene  at  two  o'clock.  During  the  hours  of  one 
and  two  p.  m.  there  will  be  a  public  reception  in  the  main  hall 
of  the  Philadelphia  Bourse,  to  which  you  are  all  invited. 

Hon.  Geo.  H.  Anderson: 

The  Congress  is  now  adjourned  to  the  time  appointed  to- 
morrow. 

(Adjourned  at  4.06  p.  ra.) 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


THIRTBENTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadeli'IIIA,  Friday,  Octolier  27,  1^99. 

Morning  Session. 

■  The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  lO.riri  a.  m.,  in  the 
Trades  League  Eoom,  Philadelphia  Bourse,  by  Director  W.  P. 
Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson  : 

I  have  the  pleasure  to-day  of  introducing  to  you  as  our 
presiding  officer,  Mr.  Henry  W.  Pealiody,  whom  you  all  know, 
and  have  long  known,  as  one  of  the  foremost  men  in  the 
United  States  in  furthering  the  foreign  trade  of  this  country. 
Mr.  Peabody  will  preside. 

Mr.  Eeivry  IF.  Penhody: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates  and  Ladies:  It  is  a  great  pleas- 
ure to  me  to  receive  this  renewed  honor  at  the  hands  of  the 
Commercial  Congress.  It  was  my  privilege  two  years  and  a 
quarter  ago,  when  it  was  first  formed,  to  be  a  delegate  from 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Boston.  Like  all  the  other 
delegates.  I  came  here  not  knowing  what  was  contemplated 
and  I  found  considerable  progress  made  toward  the  develop- 
ment of  what  we  have  seen  this  time  in  the  fruitage.  1  was 
then  honored,  greatly  to  my  surprise,  with  the  chairmanship 
of  the  Advisory  Board  which  represented  the  delegates  who 
attended  the  convention. 

It  has  been  very  pleasant  to  me  to  come  here  this  week  to 
meet  many  of  the  friends  whom  I  then  met,  and  especially 
to  come  in  touch  with  those  from  other  countries,  other  sec- 
tions of  our  great  America. 

The  United  States  is  an  important  country  and  its  people 
are  brothers  in  equality  and  freedom.  We  have  north  of  us 
the  great  Dominion  from  the  same  parentage  which  we  may 
call  a  "bi-other"  to  the  Ignited  States.  We  have  south  of 
us  and  on  the  Southei'n  Cimtinent  a  large  number  of  repub- 
lics, which  are  often  hap])ily  called  "sister  republics.''  It 
seems  to  nie  that  as  the  Dominion  of  Canada  may  be  called 
our  "Ijrother,"  and  these  republics  of  South  America  and 
Central  America  the  "sisters"  of  ilie  fTnited  Stat(>s,  the 
children  of  those  several  countries  may  be  regarded  as  our 
"cousins,"  and  as  such  we  are  very  glad  to  welcome  them  to- 
day, and  to  tiT  to  feel  that  in  all  onr  relations  we  should  be 
near  enough  to  each  other  to  become  ac(|nainted,  and  to  culti- 
vate all  business  channels  between  our  respective  countries. 

Canada  has  had  its  representation  lin-i'.  'I'borc  arc  none 
down  upon  the  program  of  this  day,  but  there  are  delegates 
present  from  that  ]i(n"tion  of  the  country.  Onr  attention 
is  mainly  directed  to  the  Spanish  sections  of  our  countrv. 
and  tliose  who  have  })een  appointed  to  speak  arc  from  tbal 
portion. 

It  may  not  be  known  to  many  <t(  you  that  while  niv  busi- 
ness is  that   of  exporlei-  and    inip(u-tcr,   I  bad   carlv   experi- 


ences in  that  calling.  My  father  was  a  merchant,  and  in 
my  early  days  he  was  a  resident  in  Buenos  Aires  and  Mon- 
tevideo. In  fact,  it  was  more  than  sixty  years  ago  that  I 
madt'  a  voyage  to  South  America,  and  I  arrived  at  Montevideo 
the  day  I  was  a  year  old.     (Laughter.) 

After  remaining  there  for  some  four  years  and  learning  two 
languages  together — learning  Spanish  better  than  I  did  En- 
glish at  first — I  returned  to  tliis  country.  So  I  was  re- 
imported,  and  I  have  remained  where  I  was  born  ever  since. 
Unfortunately,  very  much  to  my  regret,  in  my  later  years, 
my  knowledge  of  Spanish  faded  away.  It  was  a  trouble  to 
me  when  I  first  came  home,  a  little  boy  five  years  old,  for  the 
school  boys  would  ask  me  to  count  in  Spanish  and  say  other 
things  in  Spanish.  1  did  not  appreciate  it.  the  rich  possession 
to  have  command  of  the  language,  and  unfortunately  it  went 
into  disuse. 

The  business  of  America  with  the  Argentine  Eepublic  in 
those  times  was  largely  conducted  in  the  city  of  Salem,  where 
I  live,  and  I  well  remember  the  vessels  that  used  to  come  there 
with  hides,  wool  and  horns  and  other  products,  and  go  out 
again,  loading  at  the  wharves  in  my  native  city.  I  made  the 
voyage  and  returned  in  a  vessel  of  200  tons  register,  the  trip 
lasting  seventy  days.  So,  I  may  say,  the  facilities  of  trade 
have  been  immensely  improved  since  that  time.  One  of  the 
most  active  houses  in  the  trade  in  the  .\rgentine  Republic  is 
represented  by  a  delegate  who  will  shortly  address  you. 
Among  the  few  remaining  houses  in  the  coTnmerce  of  the 
United  States  which  do  a  compound  business  of  sending  out 
i-argoes  to  that  country  and  returning  cargoes  from  that  coun- 
try, are  the  houses  which  are  rejn-esented  by  the  first  speaker, 
who  is  now  a  resident  in  this  country,  but  fonnerly  ajid  for 
many  years  a  resident  of  the  Argentine. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Coolidge 
S.  Roberts,  delegate  from  Buenos  Aires.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  ('iKiliihjr  N.  Unhrrh: 

.Mr.  ('hairman.  Ivadies  and  (Jentlemen:  I  shall  speak  briefly 
regarding  the  outlook  of  the  Argentine  i-iepublic  and  matters 
of  the  enlargement  of  trade;  also  wdiy  American  trade  is  not 
larger,  and  will  incidentally  touch  on  a  few  other  subjects. 
]\fy  friend  and  colleague  will  undoubtedly  .speak  on  topics  that 
I  shall  hardly  mention. 

Till';  Ol'TT.OoK  OK  THE  ARGENTINE  pErrm.IG. 

Description  of  conditions  of  trade. — It  is  a  matter  of  sur- 
])ri«e  to  the  Argentine  )ieople  visiting  the  United  States  to 
(ind  bow  little  is  known  in  this  country  of  the  River  Plate 
l{e|mlilics.  A\niile  the  .\igeiitine  Republic  is  a  small  country 
as  regards  po])ulation.  yet  it  is  a  large  country  in  its  area,  and 
its  prospects  for  the  not  distant  future  are  ])romising. 

i'rovidence  has  favored  the  .Argentine  I^epublic  with  a 
climate  of  surpassing  health I'nlness.  and   a   soil   of  great   fer- 


236 


THIRTEEN'TH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  27,  1899 


237 


tility.  It  is  a  country  with  an  important  future  and  is  sure 
to  exercise  a  powerful  influence  in  South  American  affairs, 
which  will  also  be  felt  more  and  more  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  The  Argentine  people  are  active,  intelligent  and 
watchful  of  all  that  takes  place  in  the  United  States  and 
Europe  in  the  way  of  improvements,  and  all  new  discoveries, 
inventions,  etc.  are  at  once  noted  and  utilized  in  their  enter- 
prising cities. 

The  area  of  the  Argentine  Republic  is  a  little  more  than 
one-third  that  of  the  Ihiited  States  without  Alaska  and  the 
more  recent  possessions.  The  j)opulation  of  the  United  States 
is  about  thirty-five  persons  to  the  square  mile,  while  that  of 
the  Argentine  i.';  but  about  three  and  one-half  per  square 
mile.  If  the  population  of  the  Argentine  were  as  gTeat  per 
square  mile  as  that  of  the  United  States,  it  would  have  a  popu- 
lation of  about  28,000,000  souls. 

It  has  been  considered  by  competent  authorities  that  the 
Argentine  can  siipport  a  population  of  80,000,000  to  100,- 
000,000  in  the  near  future.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  United 
States  is  so  rapidly  tilling  up,  and  no  longer  offering  the  wel- 
come to  the  immigrant  as  formerly,  the  temperate  and  health- 
ful climate  of  the  Argentine  now  offers  a  greater  inducement 
to  the  people  of  the  overcrowded  countries  of  Europe  than 
does  any  other  country  of  either  North  or  South  America. 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  another  generation  wiU  wit- 
ness the  Argentine  Republic  occupying-  a  place  of  high  rank 
in  the  commercial  and  industrial  world.  With  the  increase  of 
population  will  come  an  ever-increasing  amount  of  commerce. 
Argentina  will  be  a  large  buyer  of  the  merchandise  of  the 
civilized  world,  and  will  offer  for  sale  a  continually  augment- 
ing quantity  and  variety  of  the  products  of  her  flocks,  herds 
and  agriculture.  With  increasing  immigration  and  with  the 
natural  increase  of  population,  will  come  an  enlargement  of 
opportunity  for  commerce,  and  when  it  is  remembered  that 
the  River  Plate  countries  now  depend,  and  will  depend  upon, 
other  countries  to  supply  their  needs  to  a  large  extent,  it  is 
only  pertinent  to  inquire  what  part  of  this  trade  will  be  con- 
trolled by  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

For  a  long  time,  Argentina  cannot  expect  to  be  an  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  manufacturing  world,  owing  principally  to 
her  great  drawback  in  being  unable,  as  yet,  to  obtain  coal  or 
iron  in  quantities  of  importance  within  her  own  borders. 
There  are  valuable  mining  ])roperties  in  different  sections  of 
the  Argentine,  es])ecial]y  in  the  northwestern  portions  of  the 
Republic,  where  undoubtedly,  coal,  iron  and  other  minerals 
exist,  and  will  later  be  discovered,  but  as  yet,  enterprise  and 
capital  have  not  been  directed  in  any  great  degree  toward 
the  investigation  and  development  of  the  mineral  wealth 
that  is  to  be  found  there.  A  few  coal  deposits  have  been  un- 
covered in  different  localities,  but  the  quality  has  not  yet  been 
found  satisfactory.  The  search  for  minerals  is  still  1)eing 
conducted,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  in  a  short  time 
mineral  wealth  of  great  value  wall  be  found. 

As  regards  the  industries  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  the 
government  of  that  country  has  watched  with  interest  the 
experiment  of  protecting  its  industries,  still  in  their  infancv, 
and  during  the  past  decade  or  two  its  manufactures  have  in- 
creased to  an  extent  not  anticipated  by  the  people  who  have 
predicted  that  Argentina  would  only  be  suitable  for  raising 
cattle,  sheep,  horses,  and  the  pursuit  of  agriculture. 

An  important  element  in  the  population  of  the  citv  of 
Buenos  Aires  is  the  number  of  mechanics  from  the  various 
manufacturing  centres  of  Europe,  who  have  gone  there  with 
their  capital  (usually  moderate),  and  their  mechanical  skill, 
with  the  intention  of  making  it  their  permanent  home. 

Enlargement  of  Tr.\de. 

It  is  a  question  worthy  of  serious  thought  how  to  enlarge 
the  volume  of  Argentina's  exports  to  the  United  States  so 


that  the  American  people  may  be  indiiced  to  buy  at  least  as 
much  in  return  as  they  sell  to  this  southern  Republic.  The 
amount  of  business  has  not  been  satisfactory  to  either  peetple. 
It  is  a  reproach  to  the  people  of  the  two  Republics  that  they 
know  so  little  of  one  another,  and  show  so  slight  an  interest 
for  a  more  extensive  intercourse.  The  Argentine  has  natur- 
ally turned  to  the  countries  of  Europe  whose  buyers  are  al- 
ways on  hand  in  Buenos  Aires,  Rosario,  and  the  other  com- 
mercial centres. 

Formerly,  the  export  business  was  largely  done  by  houses 
at  the  River  Plate  shipping  to  the  United  States  and  Europe 
on  consignment,  but  this  is  now  changed,  and  the  produce  at 
present  is  sold  either  on  f.  o.  b.  basis  at  port  of  shipment  or 
c.  i.  f.  to  the  foreign  port  interested  in  purchasing. 

At  the  present  time  the  owners  of  the  products  of  the  Ar- 
gentine do  not  feel  obliged  to  make  any  special  effort  to  at- 
tract the  buyers  of  the  world.  In  all  the  cities  of  the  River 
Plate  are  numerous  mercantile  houses  with  branch  houses  in 
the  cities  of  England,  France,  Gennany,  Belgium,  Spain  and 
Italy.  The  representatives  of  these  houses  in  the  Argentine 
are  in  close  cable  communication,  and  the  competition  be- 
tween the  different  foreign  houses  affords  an  excellent  op- 
portunity for  the  sellers  of  the  products  of  the  River  Plate  to 
obtain  the  full  market  price  at  all  times. 

Strange  as  it  may  seem,  yet  it  is  quite  true  that  there  are 
not  as  many  American  mercantile  houses  in  the  Argentine 
Republic  now  (I  refer  to  business  houses  with  a  fair  amount 
of  capital  and  standing)  as  there  were  one  or  two  years  ago, 
while  European  business  houses  in  the  meantime  have  mate- 
rially increased  in  number,  capital  and  iniluence.  To  give  a 
better  idea  of  commerce  with  the  Argentine,  we  find  in  the 
official  reports  of  the  United  States  Treasury  Department  that 
the  imports  of  Argentine  averages  about  $35  per  capita  per 
year,  or  two  and  one-half  times  as  much  per  head,  as  those 
of  the  United  States,  and  for  a  long  time  this  amount  is  not 
likely  to  be  materially  reduced. 

Some  Reasons  why  the  Trade  is  not  Larger. 

In  Argentina,  Americans  have  little  interest  and  influence 
in  the  general  affairs  of  the  country.  Most  of  those  who  go 
there  do  not  go  with  the  intention  of  settling,  but  desire 
only  to  remain  for  a  few  short  years,  at  most,  and  as  a  rule 
they  are  rarely  successful.  The  reason  for  this  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  find.  It  is  in  their  unwillingness  to  remain  for  a 
term  of  years,  and  do  as  other  foreigners  who  make  it  their 
permanent  home.  It  is  as  difficult  to  make  a  fortune  in  the 
Argentine  in  a  short  time,  as  it  is  in  other  countries.  The 
reward  of  industry,  there,  as  elsewhere,  is  only  achieved  by 
continual  effort  and  frugality.  One  of  the  reasons  why 
American  exjwrts  have  not  increased  with  the  River  Plate 
countries  is  that  the  methods  of  introducing  and  advertising 
the  goods  have  not  always  been  of  the  liest.  The  most  effec- 
tive way  to  introduce  the  exports  is  to  do  it  through  American 
commercial  houses,  especially  with  those  which  have  been 
long  established  and  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  mar- 
ket requirements,  and  also  with  the  customs,  langitage  and 
habits  of  the  people.  Although  it  is  often  said  that  there  is  no 
sentiment  in  business,  yet  in  some  ways  we  find  a  good  deal  of 
sentiment  among  the  natives  of  the  River  Plate  countries. 
Friendship  and  respect  go  a  long  way  in  opening  tip  rela- 
tions and  connections,  and  in  obtaining  a  carefitl  hearing  on 
the  part  of  the  customer  with  whom  we  wish  to  negotiate. 
One  who  has  not  lived  in  the  Argentine  can  scarcely  form 
an  idea  of  how  important  it  is  to  be  on  an  intimate  footing 
with  the  peo])le.  It  is  not  easy  to  get  their  confidence,  owing 
to  their  having  suffered  in  the  past  through  misrepresenta- 
tions: but  once  their  confidence  is  secured,  it  will  be  re- 
tained l:)y  honest  and  upright  dealings,  and  by  delivering  in 


238 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


every  case  the  exact  quality  sold  whether  by  sample  or  in 
other  ways.  The  man  who  goes  there  with  low  ideas  of 
conimerci"al  integrity  is  foredoomed  to  failure.  Character  and 
honesty  count  for  as  much  in  the  Argentine  as  in  any  other 
country,  and  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  a  commer- 
cial house  secure  a  name  for  upright  dealing.  In  order  to 
sell  goods  in  the  Argentine  suitable  stores  should  be  taken, 
and  a  stock  kept  up  all  the  time,  so  that  there  shall  be  no 
long  interval  of  waiting  for  replenishing.  The  selling  price 
of  course,  must  be  on  a  parity  with  that  of  similar  articles 
made  in  Great  Britain,  France  and  Germany,  and  the  mer- 
chandise should  be  put  up  in  an  attractive  manner. 

Another  needed  quality  is  patience.  It  takes  a  long  time 
in  the  Argentine  to  get  a  business  well  established,  losses  are 
not  unusual  during  the  elementary  period,  and  final  success 
can  only  come  through  honesty,  enterprise,  and  patience. 
It  is  essential,  in  doing  business  in  the  Argentine  Republic, 
that  one  have  sufficient  capital,  as  the  foreign  houses,  of  which 
there  are  many  of  high  financial  standing,  will  be  found  to 
be  strong  competitors,  and  the  American  going  into  business 
there  must  have  the  ability  and  willingness  to  sell  merchan- 
dise on  long  credit,  usually  six  months  time.  The  foreigner 
sells  with  this  credit,  and  if  the  American  is  not  willing  to 
conform  to  the  market  usages,  he  will  be  materially  handi- 
capped in  placing  his  goods.  In  fact,  long  credit  is  almost 
indispensal)le. 

The  English  and  (.{erman  houses,  with  their  strong  Euro- 
pean financial  support,  are  only  too  willing  to  take  such 
business  risks,  as  it  gives  them  an  opportunity  for  investing 
their  money  at  a  fair  rate  of  interest,  and,  as  they  have  coui- 
petent  men  on  the  spot,  with  ample  knowledge  and  experi- 
ence, they  are  naturally  in  a  good  position  to  act  intelligently 
in  £;iving  credit. 

There  is  a  large  demand  for  American  machinery  of  all 
kinds,  especially  agricultural  implements,  which  enter  with 
only  a  nominal  custom-bouse  duty.  The  variety  of  Amer- 
ican manufactures  is  being  extended  continually,  and  with 
better  facilities  for  making  buyers  acquainted  with  what  the 
manufacturers  of  the  United  States  have  to  olfer,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  trade  will  be  an  increa,sing  one.  In  this  con- 
nection it  is  rather  surprising  to  learn  that  during  the  last 
few  years  tlie  export  trade  from  the  United  States  to  the 
Argentine  has  not  kept  pace  with  the  exports  from  the 
leading  European  nations. 

It  would  seem  as  if. the  American.s  were  rather  larking  in 
enterprise  in  this  direction.  We  believe  the  export  trade  in 
machinery  has  been  profitable  for  the  manufacturers  in  the 
United  States  and  satisfactory  to  the  Argentine  buyers. 
The  quality  of  the  goods,  as  a  general  rule,  is  better  than 
those  imported  from  Europe.  Oftentimes  American  articles 
cost  more  than  Euro])can,  owing  to  better  material  used  and 
more  care  exercised  in  the  manufacture  and  finish;  it  takes 
quite  a  time  for  the  Argentine  to  apfjreciate  the  fact  that  the 
difference  in  price  results  from  a  better  quality.  But  all 
such  things  become  known  in  time,  and  are  accorded  their 
rightful  place. 

A  reason  often  given  wliy  the  United  States  does  nut  in- 
crease its  business  with  the  countries  of  South  America  is 
because  steaii:ships  carrying  the  Ameiican  flag  ai'e  wanting; 
hut  this  rea.soning  is  fallacious,  because  wherever  there  is 
freight  to  be  had,  there  the  steamers  (lying  (he  flags  of  dif- 
ferent countries  are  to  be  fouiul  competing.  From  personal 
observation,  I  know  that  there  is  no  ditTiculty  in  securing 
room  at  all  times  for  merchandise,  whether  outward  or  home- 
ward, at  reasonable  rates.  The  freight  bu.siness  is  being  done 
more  and  more  by  steamers  which  are  replacing  sailing  ves- 
sels. The  American  flag  is  scarcely  ever  seen  on  steamers 
at  the  River  Plate,  except  on  vessels  of  war,  or  other  ves.sels 
in  the  United  States  Government  service.     During  (he  year 


1898,  not  a  single  mercantile  steamer  entered  or  cleared  from 
River  Plate  ports,  flying  the  American  flag. 

A  few  American  sailing  vessels  are  still  plying  between 
the  United  States  and  South  American  ports  but  their  nuni- 
lier  is  diminishing  yearly. 

The  Policy  of  Protection. 

The  Argentine  Government  lias  adopted  the  policy  of  en- 
couraging home  manufactures,  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of 
aiding  infant  industries.  At  the  present  time  the  question 
nf  reducing  the  tariff  and  curtailing  the  amount  of  protection 
u])on  local  manufacture  is  being  agitated  with  strenuous 
efforts  in  favor  of  and  against  the  measure.  Argentina  has 
considered  that  as  the  protective  system  is  so  popular  in  the 
United  States,  it  must  be  a  good  thing  for  the  Argentine 
also,  and  is  giving  it  a  fair  trial,  but  not  without  strong  op- 
position in  various  quarters.  The  pastoral  and  agricultural 
interests  desire  a  tariff  for  revenue  only,  while  the  protective 
manufacturers  are  making  a  hard  struggle  to  hold  the  advan- 
tage they  have  gained,  and  are  striving  to  obtain  larger 
favors. 

The  Argentine  Republic  is  anxious  to  increase  her  vol- 
umes of  commerce  with  the  United  States,  and  has  earnestly 
desired  a  better  understanding  and  larger  opportunity  for 
the  excliangc  of  the  products  of  the  two  countries. 

The  important  exports  from  the  Argentine  are  hides,  wool, 
sheepskins,  goatskins,  horsehair,  together  with  the  products 
of  it^  fertile  soil,  as  wheat,  maize,  linseed,  barley,  oats  and 
hay;  also,  live  cattle,  sheep,  hardwoods  and  others  of  lesser 
importance.  Of  late,  an  increasing  business  has  been  done 
in  exporting  the  many  and  excellent  hardwoods  of  the  Cran 
( 'haco,  chief  among  which  is  the  quebracho,  used  in  Europe 
and  the  United  States  with  growing  acceptance  for  chemical 
and  tanning  purposes. 

The  attitude  of  the  United  States  Government  with  re- 
spect to  the  Argentine  exports  has  at  times  rather  surprised 
and  disappointed  us,  more  particularly  so  when  we  consider 
the  repeated  declarations  made  by  the  American  people  of 
their  desire  to  have  a  closer  and  more  intimate  union,  both 
of  international  comity  and  trade  with  their  sister  republics 
of  the  south,  and  much  time  and  eft'ort  have  been  given  to 
attain  this  desired  result.  But  while  the  Americans  are 
naturally  looking  forward  to  increasing  the  sale  of  the  prod- 
urts  of  their  inventive  skill  and  of  their  factories — and  it  is 
admitted  that  they  are  excelled  by  no  .nation  in  Europe — 
the  Argentines  likewise  desire  to  increase  the  sales  of  the 
jiroducts  of  their  country.  They  claim,  and  it  seems  to  be 
with  some  degree  of  justice,  that  while  all  the  leading  con- 
suming markets  of  Europe  are  freely  open  to  their  exports, 
and  the  governments  of  Europe,  at  the  requi^sf  of  the  mer- 
chants, have  removed  almost  all  the  obstacles  that  restrict 
the  enfi-ance  of  River  Plate  exports,  yet  the  United  States 
(Jovernment,  wliile  professing  deep  interest  and  sympathy 
with  the  Republic  of  Argentina  in  her  desire  for  a  larger  com- 
mercial friendship,  has  given  us  a  feeling  of  disappointment 
that  her  evidently  good  wishes  should  not  have  taken  a 
more  material  and  practical  An'm  in  reducing  or  removing 
the  tariff  restrictions  upon  merchandise  peculiar  to  the  Ar- 
gentine Reinililic.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  governments 
have  through  their  tarifl's  endeavored  to  put  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  an  increasing  volume  of  merchandise  from  tlie  United 
States  to  the  Argentine  with  American  manufacturers,  etc., 
and  from  the  River  Plate  to  the  United  States  with  raw 
matei-ials  needed  by  her  factories  for  the  wants  of  (lie  Amer- 
ican pi'o]il(\  This  is  a  pi'actical  tiiu-stion.  ami  sliould  lie 
treated  with  the  elear,  good  sciis(<  of  the  peo|ile  of  llie  I'nited 
States. 

To  show  the  relative  position  of  the  I'nited  States  in   the 


THIETEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


239 


commercial  life  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  I  will  briefly 
state  that  during  the  year  1898  the  value  of  Argentina's  ex- 
ports to  the  United  States  were  about  -ii  per  cent,  of  her 
total  exports,  the  other  95^  per  cent,  went  mostly  to  Europe, 
while  during  the  same  year  the  value  of  Argentine  imports 
from  the  United  States  were  about  10^  per  cent,  of  the  entire 
amount  of  her  imports;  truly  a  poor  showing  of  trade  for 
both  countries. 

The  Argentine  Republic  would  like  an  unrestricted  en- 
trance for  her  natural  products  into  the  United  States;  and 
she  does  not  feel  wholly  satisfied  with  the  present  United 
States  tariff,  which  seems  to  her  to  be  unfavorable  to  her 
pastoral  interests.  For  two  or  three  years  before  the  tariff 
act  was  passed,  in  1897,  her  wool  came  into  the  ports  of  the 
United  States  without  payment  of  duty.  The  hides  from 
the  Argentine  Republic  had  not  been  dutiable  since  1872. 
The  present  tariff  bill  of  1897  imposed  a  duty  of  15  per  cent. 
ad  vahirem  on  hides  and  also  placed  the  largest  import  duty 
on  wool  in  the  history  of  the  country.  Of  course,  Argen- 
tina felt  this  to  be  an  effort  to  keep  these  articles  from  en- 
tering the  ports  of  the  I'nited  States,  or  at  least  to  reduce 
the  quantity  imported  as  much  as  possiljle. 

Reciprocity  Treaty. — The  matter  of  commercial  reciproc- 
ity between  the  United  States  and  the  Argentine  Republic 
has  received  careful  attention  by  the  representatives  of-  the 
respective  countries,  and  it  is  undci'stood  that  the  Hon.  W. 
I.  Buchanan,  United  States  Minister  to  the  Argentine  Re- 
pxiblic,  has  recently  returned  to  this  country  bringing  with 
him  a  provisional  treaty  which  has  been  signed  by  the 
authorities  of  both  nations,  and  is  subject  to  the  ratification 
by  the  Congress  of  each.  This  treaty  covers  the  admission 
of  a  number  of  articles  peculiar  to  each  country,  to  be  im- 
ported into  the  other,  subject  to  a  material  reduction  in  the 
duty.  This  treaty  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  and  it  is 
one  of  the  most  encouraging  features  that  we  have  recently 
seen  in  the  direct  interest  of  the  extension  of  f  rade,  and  we 
trust  it  is  but  the  beginning  of  an  era  when  the  bars  will  be 
let  down  more  and  more,  and  tariff  modifications  will  have 
a  beneficial  influence  in  permitting  the  merchants  of  both 
countries  to  exchange  their  products  with  as  little  legislative 
hindrance  as  possible.  We  trust  this  treaty  will  be  ac- 
cepted by  the  respective  governments,  and  that  the  mercan- 
tile element  of  both  countries  will  be  enabled  to  do  all  else 
that  it  needed  to  bring  to  a  successful  issue,  the  object  for 
which  the  Congress  is  assembled.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Peabody: 

Mr.  Roberts  ha,s  covered  the  ground  very  interestingly, 
but  he,  as  he  says,  has  a  colleague  who  is  going  to  tell  us 
more  on  the  same  subject,  and  we  shall  be  very  glad  to  hear 
from  him.  I  have  very  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you 
Mr.  John  C.  Zimmerman,  delegate  from  Buenos  Aires. 

Mr.  John  C.  Zimmerntaii : 

Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 
The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  city  of  Buenos  Aires, 
the  city  from  which  I  come,  has  done  me  the  honor  to  name 
me  one  of  its  delegates  for  this  Congress.  I  wish  to  record 
my  high  appreciation  of  the  welcome  which  has  been  ex- 
tended to  us  by  the  President  of  the  TTnited  States,  through 
the  efficient  Assistant  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Hill,  and  also 
to  the  good  citizens  of  this  city  through  their  ^Vfayor,  ilr. 
Ashbridge;  and  at  the  same  time  I  wish  to  express  my  thanks 
to  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mixseum  for  their  generous 
hospitality  and  many  kind  attentions. 

My  colleague,  Mr.  Roberts,  has  already  addressed  you 
upon  subjects  relating  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  so  I  may 


trench  a  little  upon  the  subjects  he  has  touched  upon.  I 
shall  be  as  brief  as  possible,  and  I  desire  your  indulgence. 

If  I  may  judge  by  the  questions  which  are  sometimes  put 
to  me,  Buenos  Aires  is  to  many  of  the  people  of  this  country 
a  sort  of  indefinite  quantity  in  the  great  Continent  of  South 
America.  That  it  is  in  South  America  somewhere  is  so  far 
geogi-aphically  known,  but  less  accurately,  supposed  to  be 
in  Brazil.  Now  this  is  very  flattering  to  our  neighbors  of 
Brazil,  as  rather  indicating  that  their  country  is  better  known 
to  our  North  American  friends,  and  yet  it  is  not — I  may  be 
allowed  to  say,  as  it  should  be.  I  would  remind  the  citizens 
of  this  country  that  there  is  another  sister  republic  lying  to 
the  south  of  Brazil,  which  has  made  vast  strides  of  advance 
in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  and  of  which  productive  soil 
and  natural  resources  open  up  a  vista  of  great  future  possi- 
bilities, which  will  be  well  worth  watching  closely. 

Buenos  Aires,  the  capital  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  is 
the  largest,  if  not  the  finest  city,  of  the  continent  of  South 
America.  It  stands  seventeenth  on  the  list  of  the  largest 
cities  of  the  earth,  is  population  to-dav  being  estimated  at 
about  780,000  souls  (779,872  in  July,  i899).  It  is  situated 
on  the  right  bank  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  in  latitude  thirty- 
four  degrees  thirty-six  minutes  south,  and  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  from  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  It  enjoys  one 
of  the  most  beatttiful  and  salubrious  of  climates,  its  average 
temperature  being  about  sixty  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  as 
regards  its  healthfulness,  the  death  rate  has  been  lately  under 
17  per  thousand,  which  will  bear  favorable  comparison  with 
any  city  of  the  world.  In  it  are  to  be  found  all  the  com- 
forts of  modern  life,  and  an  adaptability  to  absorb  the  latest 
inventions  of  the  age,  which  is  often  surprising.  If  my 
memory  serves  me  right,  we  have  at  least  ten  daily  organs, 
of  which  two  are  English,  one  German,  one  French,  one  Ital- 
ian and  one  Spanish;  and  while  you  gentlemen  are  reading 
daily  news  of  great  events  that  are  taking  place  in  the  world, 
we  are  reading  them  in  Buenos  Aires  almost  at  the  same  time. 
I  lay  a  little  stress  upon  it  because  I  found  that  that  some- 
times lias  caused  surprise  to  many  who  ha^■e  gone  from  here 
to  see  the  daily  cables  which  come  from  Europe  and  all  parts 
of  the  world  to  us. 

The  city  has  an  excellent  system  of  drainage  and  water 
supply,  which  were  constructed  at  a  cost  to  the  nation  of 
$40,000,000  gold  (an  Argentine  gold  dollar  equals  96.36  of 
United  States  money).  It  is  the  grand  centre  of  the  com- 
mercial life  of  the  nation,  and  there  are  to  be  found  the 
headquarters  of  its  many  banks,  i-ailways,  industrial  and  finan- 
cial associations.  It  possesses  a  chain  of  fine  stone  docks, 
built  also  by  the-  nation  at  a  cost  of  $3.5,000,000  gold,  and 
from  the  city  radiate  the  main  railway  lines  of  the  country. 
Its  urban  and  suburban  service  is  well  supplied  by  horse  ears, 
and  within  the  last  twelve  months  the  electric  car,  due  to 
the  enterprise  of  the  American  citizen,  has  made  its  appear- 
ance. Soon,  no  doubt,  the  latter  will  supplant  the  horse; 
362  kilometers  of  horse  traction  and  63  kilometers  of  electric 
traction,  or  a  total  of  26.5  miles  of  line  being  in  operation 
at  present.  The  materials  for  these  electric  lines  were  all 
supplied  by  this  countiy.  As  a  sample  of  the  passenger 
traffic  in  the  city  I  may  state  that  the  total  number  of  per- 
sons carried  by  the  surface  cars  in  1898  amounted  to  106,- 
000.000,  and  the  total  number  of  persons  entering  the  city 
by  the  railways  in  the  same  year  was  11,000.000.  Of  banks 
there  are  twelve,  viz.,  the  Bank  of  the  Nation  and  two  Ar- 
gentine, four  British,  one  French,  one  Gennan,  two  Italian, 
and  one  Spanish.  Their  paid  up  capital  aggregates  $49,- 
500,000  gold,  and  in  addition  to  these  there  are  the  Mortgage 
Bank  of  the  Nation  and  two  English  trust,  loan  and  land 
mortgage  companies,  besides  many  important  commercial 
firms,  insurance  companies,  etc.,  all  prosperous  and  paying 
good  returns  to  their  shareholders.     One  of  the  difficulties 


240 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


which  commerce  and  capital  have  to  face  is  the  inconvertible 
paper  currency,  uiiicli  i.';  subject  to  continual  variations;  yet 
not\rithstanf1in<j  this,  foreign  capital  flow,s  into  the  country 
for  investment.  In  the  year  1868  the  first  foreign  bank  was 
started  in  the  city  of  Buenos  Aires,  the  London  and  River 
Plate  Bank  being  the  pioneer  in  that  field  of  enterprise;  and 
now,  as  you  will  have  heard  by  my  preceding  statements, 
there  are.  nine,  but  among  that  number  we  regret  to  see  no 
North  American  banking  firm. 

The  Argentine  Republic,  whose  territory  stretches  with 
more  oi'  less  variation  between  latitudes  20  and  55  south,  and 
whose  area  amounts  to  about  1,200,000  square  miles,  offers 
with  its  genial  climate  a  great  field  for  immigration  and  fu- 
ture expan.sion,  and  owing  to  its  natural  richness  of  soil"  it 
is  undergoing  extraordinary  development  as  an  agricultural 
and  farming  region.  Witliin  the  la.st  fifteen  years  many 
local  industries  and  manufactories  have  sprung  up,  fostered 
in  many  cases,  it  is  true,  by  a  protective  tariff,  but  neverthe- 
less supplying  many  articles  which  were  formerly  of  exclu- 
sive importation  and  giving  employment  to  many  hundreds 
of  hands.  The  absence  of.  coal  and  iron,  however,  must  act 
adversely  on  many  branches.  Its  population  is  sparse — the 
census  of  1895  gave  the  number  of  inhabitants  as  4,094,911, 
but  this  has  always  been  stated  to  have  been  imperfect,  and 
the  general  estimate  is  4,500,000 — still  a  small  number  for 
so  large  an  area  of  country. 

The  government  of  the  country  is  federal  republican — in 
fact,  a  copy  of  the  United  States,  with  its  executive,  legisla- 
tive and  judicial,  and  a  con.stitution  modeled  after  that  of 
the  United  States.  The  nation  is  composed  of  fourteen 
provinces  or  states  and  nine  territories.  The  head  of  the 
executive  is  a  President,  elected  for  six  years,  and  each  prov- 
ince has  its  own  Governor  and  State  Legislature.  The  terri- 
tories are  ruled  by  governors  named  by  the  government.  The 
commercial  and  civil  codes  of  the  country  are  copied  very 
largely  from  those  of  the  United  States.  Thus,  you  will  see 
that  your  southern  sister  has  imitated  you  in  many  ways. 

It  was  in  1816  that  the  Republic  declared  its  independence 
from  Spain,  and  in  1824  it  was  admitted  into  the  world's 
family  of  nations  by  the  recognition  of  its  independence,  first, 
by  Great  Britain,  which  also  signed  with  it  a  treaty  of  com- 
merce, and  secondly,  by  President  Monroe  for  the  United 
States,  and  by  Portugal.  From  those  early  years  there  have 
been  continued  commerciarrelations  between  the  two  coun- 
tries— at  one  time  of  more  importance  than  now.  Many  arti- 
cles of  import,  of  which  the  United  States  then  held  the 
larger  share,  have  diminished  or  entirely  become  a  thing  of 
the  past,  such  as  flour  and  sugar  now  produced  by  Argentine 
herself  sufficient  for  all  her  home  consumption  and  a  large 
excess  for  export.  Jn  former  years,  also,  the  United  States 
was  Argentine's  liest  customer  for  her  fine  wools,  but  unhap- 
pily your  dr>ors  have  been  closed  against  her  by  the  tariff,  and 
]'!uro|)e  now  is  her  best  friend.  For  dry  hides,  however,  the 
United  States  is  her  best  custoiiii'r.  A  few  statistics  here  may 
not  come  ami.ss:  The  export  of  wheat  and  flour  for  the 
season  of  1897-98  was  770,000  tons.  This  season's,  1898-99, 
will  be  about  1,700.000  to  1,800,000  ton>.  Home  consump- 
tion is  estimated  (1898)  at  650,000  tons. 

Wool,  l)ales 5(),').  1  1.") 

Sheepskins,  bales 78,1 69 

Sundry  skins,  bales 13,;?3S 

Hair,  bales 4,443 

Tobacco,  bales 7. 11 7 

Minerals,  hugs   12,.'53S 

Sugar,  bags 24:i.651 

Frozen  sheep   2,035,168 

Frozen  sheep,  quarters   123,332 


Live  stock,  steers 115,124 

"            sheep 543,932 

"            horses    4,544 

mules    2,659 

JViaize,  bags 8,885,787 

Linseed,  bags 1,884,144 

Hay,  bales,  and  sundry  minor  articles 490,546 

Dry  hides " 1,790,896 

Dry  hor.se   144,000 

Salted  ox  and  cow 1,210,786 

Salted  horse   143,897 

Tallow,  pipes 69,051 

Jerked   beef,   bales 301,686 

Preserved  beef,  boxes 22,858 

Extract  of  beef,  boxes 14,527 

Preserved  tongues,  boxes   10,150 

Butter,  boxes   25,898 

Bone  ash,  tons 32,000 

Hardwood,  tons 122,435 

Sundry  seeds,  bags 60,023 

Bran,  bags   1,378,463 

Oil  cake,  bags 96,588 

Now  the  value  of  all  this  in  dollars  is  cal- 
culated at $133,829,458  gold 

And  the  imports  into  the  country 107,428,900    " 

Total  trade  of  1898 $241,258,358    " 

The  returns  for  the  half-year  ending  June  30,  1899,  show: 
Exports.  . .  $89,050,762,  an  increase  over  1898  of  $7,417,937 
Imports.  .  .     57,452,942.  an  increase  over  1898  of    7,899,567 


$146,503,704 


$15,317,504 


If  this  is  maintained  till  end  of  year  the  total  trade  of 
Argentina  for  1899  will  amount  to  "$293,007,408  gold,  say 
$293,000,000. 

ily  statistics  for  1898  give  the  trade  with  the  LTnited  States 
as  follows: 

Exports  from  Argentina  to  the  United  States. .  .   $  5,874,295 
Imports  from  the  United  States  to  Argentina.  .  .      11,129,005 

Total $17,003,300 

Therefore,  of  tlie  total  trade  of  Argentine  in  1898,  the 
United  States  took,  of  the  $241,258,358,  $17,003,300,  or  s;iy 
7  1-20  per  cent. 

This  would  show  that  there  is  room  for  improvement,  and 
that  Argentine  buys  more  from  you  than  you  from  her. 


Percentage  oe  Imports  .wd  ExpoitT.s  eor  1898. 

Imports.       Exports.       Both. 

United  Kiiigilom 36.3  14.4  24.4 

(icrmanv    11.7  15.2  13.2 

France  " 9.9  22.4  16.8 

Italv 12.7  3.9  7.9 

Belgium 8.8  10.4  9.8 

United  States   10.4  4.4  7.0 

All  others   10.2  29.3  20.9 

Note. — In  exports,  under  "all  others,''  are  shipments  "for 
orders."    These  chiefly  go  to  Great  Britain. 


GEORGE    MITCHELL,   M.  P.  P., 
Halifax.  Nova  Scotia. 

FRANCISCO   GARBONELL  W. 

Barranquilla.  Colombia. 

J.  W.    HUMPHREYS, 
Colon,  Colombia. 


JAMES    PATON, 
Charlottetown.  P,  E.  I. 

BENJ.  E.   PIZA, 
San  Jose.  Costa  Rica. 

JULIO   A.  CASTELLANO, 
Barranquilla,  Colombia. 


P.  G.  VAN    VLEET. 
Toronto.  Canada. 

J.  M.  KEITH, 
San  Jose.  Costa  Rica. 

M.  A.  DE  LEON, 
Colon.  Colombia. 


TIIIETEENTH  DAY\S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  27,  1699 


241 


Table  Showing  Argentink's  Imports  and  Exports, 

1893-97,  IN  Millions  of  Gold  Dollars. 

Imports. 

1893.  1894.  1895.  1896.  1897. 

United  Kingdom   32.5  33.2  38.5  44.7  36.4 

Germany    11.0  10.7  11.2  13.9  11.1 

France    12.1  10.2  9.1  12.0  11.0 

Italy 9.3  8.9  10.4  11.4  10.9 

Belgium 9.6  9.0  7.4  8.4  8.1 

United  States   9.6  10.1  6.7  11.6  10.1 

All  others 9.4  7.9  9.6  10.4  9.4 

Total 93.5       90.0       92.9     112.4       97.0 

Exports. 

1893.  1894.  1895.  1896.  1897. 

United  Kingdom   18.5  20,4  14.7  14.4  13.0 

Germany    11.5  11.5  13.3  13.3  14.0 

Eranee    18.2  18.8  20.3  23.7  23.0 

Italy 3.4  3.1  3.5  3.09  4.1 

Belgium 10.8  12.8  15.4  12.1  8.9 

United  States   3.4  5.3  8.9  6.5  8.3 

All  others    15.1  16.0  15.2  14.9  12.3 

Total 80.9       87.9       91.3       88.8       83.6 

Beth. 

1893.  1894.  1895.  1896.  1897. 

United  Kingdom    51.0  53.6  53.2  59.1  49.4 

Germany    22.5  22.2  24.5  27.2  25.1 

France    30.3  29,0  29.4  35.7  34.0 

Italy 12.7  12.0  13.9  15.3  15.0 

Belgium 20.4  21.8  22.8  20.5  17.0 

United  States 13.0  15.4  15.6  18.1  18.4 

All  others   24.5  23.9  24.5  25.3  21.7 

Total 174.4     177.9     184.3     201.2     180.6 

From  these  figures  it  is  apparent  that  Argentine  imports 
more  from  the  United  Kingdom,  and  exports  more  to  France. 

Thirty-three  years  ago  the  country  possessed  four  railways; 
now  there  are  twenty-five,  of  which  the  Buenos  Aires  Great 
Southern  Company,  with  its  1,960  miles  in  operation  and  174 
in  construction,  and  with  a  capital  of  20,000,000  pounds  ster- 
ling, is  the  largest.  The  total  mileage  of  railway  lines  in  work- 
ing order  in  the  country  in  1898  was  9,820  miles,  of  which 
525  miles  were  the  extensions  of  tlie  year. 

Total  number  of  passengers  carried,  17,074.015. 

Total  freight  carried,  tons,  10,657,689. 

,  Total   revenue,   $75,143,171    currency,   eiiuals   gold,   $29,- 
092,560. 

Total  expenditure,  $43,275,258  currency,  equals  gold,  $16.- 
754,524. 

The  total  capital  invested  in  Argentina  in  railways  amounts 
to  gold,  $524,699,579,  of  which  the  greater  part  is  British. 

The  immigration  into  Argentina  during  1898  was  95,190 
jiersons,  of  which  39,135  were  Italians  and  18,716  Spanish. 
Of  the  total  immigration  into  Argentina,  about  60  per  cent, 
of  it  has  been  Italian.  Thus  you  will  understand  how  they 
turn  to  their  own  countiy  for  their  wants,  and  this  senti- 
ment is  becoming  a  factor  in  the  trade. 

Europe  has  more  zealously  sought  the  trade  of  Argentina, 
and  as  she  is  the  principal  consumer  of  Argentina's  produc- 
tions, so  in  turn  Argentina  buys  more  from  lier.  Consider- 
ing the  many  millions  of  dollars  invested  in  national  bonds, 
in  banks,  railways  and  many  important  undertakings,  com- 
bined with  every  facility  given  by  wealthy  banks,  and  by 


large  and  important  lines  of  steamers  from  England,  France, 
Germany,  Italy  and  Spain,  it  is  only  natural  that  the  bulk 
of  Argentina's  trade  goes  to  those  countries.  If  the  manu- 
facturers of  this  country  seek  a  larger  share,  they  will  have 
to  study  more  closely  the  South  American  markets,  and  learn 
the  tastes  and  requirements  of  its  people.  Agents  are  often 
sent  who  neither  speak  the  language  nor  bring  credentials 
of  their  identity,  and  who  in  a  hurried  visit  expect  to  learn 
what  it  has  cost  others  years  of  work  and  expense  of  capital 
to  obtain. 

The  international  relations  between  the  two  republics  have 
happily  always  been  friendly  and  cordial,  and  I  should  like 
to  call  your  attention  to  the  followin,g  facts: 

Twice  has  Argentina  submitted  questions  of  dispute  with 
her  neighbors,  to  the  United  States — first,  in  a  question  with 
Paraguay  over  the  ownership  of  part  of  the  Chaco  territory, 
which  was  decided  by  President  Hayes;  second,  the  Misiones 
question  with  lirazil,  decided  by  President  Cleveland — both 
of  these  adversely  to  her.  Then,  again,  in  her  contention 
with  Chile  over  the  possession  of  Patagonia,  through  the  good 
otliees  of  the  United  States  Ministers  to  Chile  and  Argentine, 
that  vexed  question  was  brought  to  an  amicable  solution; 
and  now  the  final  settlement  of  the  boundary  line  of  that 
great  territory  is,  by  mutual  agreement  of  the  two  nations, 
in  the  hands  of  her  Majesty,  Queen  Victoria.  Only  this  year, 
in  another  difference  with  Chile  over  the  possession  of  the 
Poma  de  Atacama,  on  the  frontiers  of  Bolivia,  by  agreement 
of  the  two  powers,  the  United  States  Minister,  resident  in 
Buenos  Aires,  Mr.  W.  I.  Buchanan,  was  appointed  arbitrator, 
and  a  peaceful  and  satisfactory  -solution  of  the  affair  arrived 
at — thus  removing  all  the  war  clouds  which  at  one  time  hung 
around  those  questions.  May  I  not  say,  therefore,  all  honor 
to  Argentina  and  her  neighboring  sister  republics,  who  have 
given  to  the  world  a  practical  example  of  what  arbitration  will 
do  to  smooth  away  the  discords  which  will  at  times  arise  be- 
tween nations? 

In  conclusion,  I  beg  to  add  my  hopes  that  out  of  the  delib- 
erations of  this  Congress  good  may  come,  and  through  the 
medium  of  commercial  inter-communication  of  the  nations 
represented,  obstacles  may  be  smoothed  away,  and  all  may 
learn  to  know  each  other  better,  and  so  draw  more  closely 
together  the  ties  of  trade,  of  mutual  friendship  and  esteem. 
(Applause.) 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Peabody: 

Yesterday,  in  going  through  the  sample  room  of  the  Ex- 
hibition, and  looking  at  the  products  of  various  foreign  coun- 
tries, the  collection  of  photogi'aphs  very  much  interested  me 
as  I  looked  at  those  of  Venezuela,  indicating  a  climate  and 
surroundings  of  fascinating  beauty.  We  judge  of  merchandise 
by  the  samples  that  are  presented;  we  have  the  privilege  of 
judging  of  men  by  the  samples  that  are  sent  to  us  as  dele- 
gates, and  I  could  wish  nothing  better  for  Venezuela  than 
that  all  of  its  inhabitants  should  be  of  the  tj-pe  which  is 
represented  to  us  to-day  by  Mr.  Antonio  E.  Delfino,  Consul- 
General  of  Venezuela,  now  resident  of  N"ew  York,  whom  I 
have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  to  you.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Antonio  E.  Delfino: 

I  must  present  my  acknowledgments  to  the  chairman  for  his 
personal  compliments.  It  is  kind  of  him,  but  I  feel  they 
are  undeserved.     (Applause.) 

It  was  my  privilege  two  years  ago  to  come  to  this  city  at 
the  invitation  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  as  a 
delegate  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Caracas,  the  same 
which  I  now  represent,  and  to  be  honored  as  your  guest.  I 
retain  a  vivid  impression  of  the  marvelous  sight  offered  to 


•242 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTEENATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


115  in  this  and  in  all  cities  that  so  cordially  welcomed  us, 
tlioir  wonderi'ii]  workshops,  of  the  infinite  variety  of  their  in- 
dustries, and  of  their  great  productive  power. 

Now  it  is  highly  gratifying  to  me  to  be  present  at  this 
Congress,  the  first  Commercial  Congress  that  has  ever  been 
assembled,  including  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the  earth, 
and  I  compliment  the  directors  of  the  Museum  and  the  city 
of  Philadelphia  for  the  great  civilizing  work  of  universal 
benefit,  and  of  international  comity,  which  they  have  acoom- 
])lished. 

1  beg  to  lay  before  this  assembly  some  of  the  possibilities 
of  A'enezuela  which,  in  my  judgment,  may  be  of  interest  to 
international  commerce,  and  especially  to  this  large  consum- 
ing country. 

Venezuela  is  situated  on  the  northern  coast  of  South 
America,  and  has  an  area  twice  as  large  as  that  of  France. 
Half  of  this  large  area,  the  southern  part,  is  covered  by  im- 
mense forests  scarcely  yet  touched  by  the  axe,  and  is  watered 
by  many  navigable  rivers.  It  keeps  almost  intact  its  hidden 
treasures  of  gold,  quicksilver  and  vanadium,  its  luxuriant 
vegetation  of  valuable  woods,  of  medicinal  plants,  rubber 
trees  and  textile  plants.  Some  of  its  smaller  rivers  and  natural 
channels  are  sometimes  impassable  on  account  of  thick  shoals 
of  turtles,  and  sometimes  great  flocks  of  herons,  aroused  by 
the  rare  passage  of  a  traveler,  take  their  flight  and  darken 
the  light  of  the  sun.  This  region  is  to-day  the  same  as  it 
was  described  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  in  glowing  terms. 

The  other  half,  or  the  northern  part,  is  equally  divided 
into  agricultural  and  grazing  land.  The  chief  export  prod- 
ucts of  Venezuela  are  coffee,  cacao,  hides,  cattle,  rubber, 
woods,  asphalt,  copper  and  gold  in  bars.  Our  exports  amount, 
roughly  speaking,  to  about  $20,000,000.  The  coffee  repre- 
sents ab(jut  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  total  value.  This  amount 
increases  or  decreases  according  to  the  oscillation  of  the 
market  prices.  Our  imports  do  not  reach  the  value  of  our 
exports,  but  are  always  fluctuating  according  to  our  buying 
power. 

The  principal  market  of  Venezuela  for  imports  or  exports 
is  the  United  States.  We  sell  here  half  of  our  crops;  the 
other  half  is  bought  by  France  and  Germany.  Our  cattle  are 
shipped  to  the  West  Indies.  Our  money  markets  are  London, 
Paris  and  Hamburg. 

\'enczuela  is  very  thinly  peopled  and  the  population  is 
scattered  along  the  northern  c  last.  It  may  be  said  that  Vene- 
zuela to-day  in  agriculture,  in  forestry,  and  in  mining  ha.s 
its  wealth  still  unexploited  and  undeveloped.  But  still,  apart 
from  the  mines  there  are  lines  on  which  trade  could  be  carried 
on,  which  are  of  great  importance  to-day,  and  which  will  be 
more  so  in  the  future. 

The  cattle  in  Venezuela  ^outnumber  the  population  many 
times,  and  nature  keeps  a  large  part  of  the  country  fit  only 
for  grazing  purposes. 

The  overflowing  of  the  rivers  of  the  interior  during  the 
rainy  season  covers  immense  plains  which,  as  soon  as  the 
waters  retire,  are  clothed  with  tho  best  pasturage.  The  rap- 
idly increasing  population  nf  (he  Tuited  States  and  the  con- 
secjuent  diiiiiinition  of  its  grazing  territory,  will  force  it  to 
look  abroad  for  its  beef  supply.  No  country  can  alfer  a 
larger,  a  better  and  a  nearer  supply  of  cattle  to  this  country 
than  Venezuela.  Its  coast  is  nof;  three  days  distant  from 
New  Orleans,  and  scarcely  six  from  New  York  and  Philadel- 
phia, with  steamers  of  moderate  speed  in  direct  communica- 
tion with  those  cities.  I  would  call  the  attention  of  the  great 
packing  industries  of  this  country  and  of  Eiirdpe  to  the  facili- 
ties that  Venezuela  offers  for  this  trade.  Our  ports,  PiR>rto 
Cabello,  Ouanta  and  Carenero,  are  the  best  natural  ports  for 
sliipping  that  can  be  imagined.  It  is  from  these  ports  that 
we  supply  (,'uba  with  cattle.  Our  race  of  cattle  is  large  and 
hardy,  and  as  oxen  for  working  in  a  tropical  country,  they 


liave  not  their  equals.  The  nearness  of  Venezuela  makes 
possible  the  export  not  only  of  cattle  on  the  hoof  but  also  of 
dressed  beef.  I  am  convinced  that  in  a  few  years  we  shall 
see  the  establishment  of  a  great  packing  house  near  one  of 
the  above  mentioned  sea  ports  that  will  supply  the  West 
Indies  and  the  southern  coast  of  the  United  States  with 
dressed  beef.  Just  as  Chicago  does  cities  fifteen  hundred 
miles  away.  Not  long  ago  a  European  corporation,  aware 
of  the  increasing  needs  of  the  world,  and  of  the  grazing  lands 
of  Venezuela,  purchased  a  large  tract  near  one  of  the  sea- 
ports for  raising  cattle. 

There  is  another  large  industry  in  the  I'niled  States  that 
is  paying  to-day  for  its  raw  material  twice  its  former  price, 
and  that  Venezuela  could  furnish  with  an  ample  supply.  I 
speak  of  henequen  or  liemp.  It  grows  wild  all  over  the 
coast.  A  recent  traveler  interested  in  the  cordage  industry 
in  going  through  the  western  part  of  the  country  was  struck 
by  the  great  quantity  of  the  textile  plant  that  spread  in 
uninterrupted  course  for  miles,  and  he  noticed  that  the 
leaves  were,  on  the  average,  two  feet  longer  than  those  of 
the  Yucatan  plant.  I  should  not  be  surprised  at  Venezuelan 
hemps  being  on  the  market  before  long. 

Along  the  coast  there  are  mines  of  coal,  asphalt  and 
copper,  and  ([uarries  of  marble,  and  mucli  remains  to  be 
develo])ed. 

To  sum  up,  men  of  enterprise  with  some  capital,  knowl- 
edge and  perseverance,  will  have  their  labors  repaid  in  Vene- 
zuela by  large  returns,  whether  they  choose  to  enter  the  field 
of  the  mining,  agricultural  or  grazing  industry. 

I  thank  the  Director  and  Staff  of  the  Commercial  Museum 
of  Pliiladel])hia  on  behalf  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Caracas,  and  on  my  own  behalf,  for  their  invitation  and 
courtesies,  and  through  them  the  Honorable  Mayor  and 
official  representative  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia.   (Applause.) 

Mr.  Iliiiiij  11'.  Pcahody: 

We  have  been  enjoying  to-day  this  beautiful  room  by  the 
courtesy  of  the  Philadelphia  Bourse.  It  gives  me  great 
pleasure  to  know  that  \\'e  may  hear  a  few  words  from  the 
President  of  the  Philadelphia  Bourse,  Mr.  George  E.  Bartol. 
(Applause.) 

]\[r.  Gcanje  E.  Bartol: 

Gentlemen  of  the  Congress:  I  do  not  propose  to  tire 
you  with  any  extended  remarks.  1  simply  want  to  say  that 
you  have  lieen  officially  welcomed  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  through  his  representatives,  by  the  mayor  of 
this  city,  and  now  it  affords  me  great  pleasure,  on  behalf  of 
tlie  Philadelphia  Ijourse,  and  on  behalf  of  the  trades  asso- 
ciations whose  headquarters  are  with  us  in  these  liuildings, 
whose  names  appear  on  this  invitation,  to  welcome  you  to 
the  Philadelphia  Bourse.  AVe  have  been  very  glad  to  see 
the  busines  men  of  foreign  countries  come  here  and  meet 
the  business  men  of  Philadelphia. 

Our  program  is  a  very  brief  one.  and  1  hope  it  will  not  be 
tedious.  We  expect  to  adjourn  ininiediately  on  the  conclu- 
sion of  my  remarks  to  lunch.  We  expect  to  adjourn  from 
hiiieh  at  1  o'clock  to  tlie  main  lloor,  wlieve  the  nu'inliers  of 
the  trades  assoeiation  of  l'liila(h'l|i|iin  have  been  invited  to 
meet  vou  at  a  genera!  |iulili<-  i-i'ee|ilion  lasting  from  1  to  ■-' 
o'eliiek.  During  that  time,  or  up  lo  •.'  o\loek,  if  any  of  you 
are  inleresteil  in  nieclianieal  appliances  or  machinery  or  any- 
lliiim-  of  thai  kind,  wc  will  lie  glad  In  have  you  go  down 
■lo  the  main  lloor.  or  lo  Ihi'  room  below  tlie  main  floor,  into 
the  basement,  and  ins|>ect  the  exhibition  of  machinery  there. 
At  2.30,  as  vou  know,  the  Cpngress  will  reassemble  in  this 
room.  That  is  all  I  have  to  say.  As  soon  as  the  chairman 
announces  that  you  are  ready,  we  will  be  glad  to  escort  you 


THIRTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


243 


in  to  lunch.  I  should  remark  that  you  will  find  a  good 
many  gentlemen  present  with  yellow  badges  or  buttons  who 
are  the  members  of  the  trades  association.  They  are  the 
directors  and  members  of  the  various  trades  bodies  in  these 
buildings.  It  will  afford  them  very  great  pleasure  to  act  as 
your  escorts,  individually,  and  to  give  you  any  information 
about  the  city  and  the  commerce  and  the  various  trade 
organizations  or  anything  of  that  kind.  You  will  find,  I 
believe,  every  class  of  trade  in  Philadelphia  thoroughly 
represented  here  in  this  building,  and  through  the  directories 
you  will  be  able  to  get  any  and  all  the  information  you  wish. 
The  rooms  of  the  various  societies  are  largely  to  be  found 
on  this  floor,  and  if  any  of  you  wish  to  visit  the  individual 
rooms  of  the  Trades  League,  Board  of  Trade  or  Lumber- 
men's and  Drug  Exchanges,  you  will  find  the  secretary 
there  ready  to  furnish  any  and  all  information  you  may 
desire.     I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Henry  11'.  Peabody: 

Gentlemen,  the  Congress  will  stand  adjourned  until  2.30 
this  afternoon. 

(Adjourned  at  12.06  p.  m.) 


Philadelphia,  Friday,  October  27,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  2.30  p.  m.  by  Mr. 
Henry  W.  Peabody. 

Mr.  Henry  11'.  Peabody: 

DL4egates  of  the  Congress  and  Ladies:  The  hour  has  ar- 
rived for  our  afternoon  session,  and  we  must  lose  no  moment, 
as  the  program  is  long,  and  I  beg  leave  to  introduce  to  you, 
as  the  first  speaker  of  the  afternoon,  Mr.  Affonso  A.  Rutis, 
delegate  from  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil.     (Applause.) 

The  State  of  Sao  Paulo  (Brazil)  Commercially  Con- 
sidered, With  a  Few  Obsertations  on 
THE  Coffee  Trade. 

Mr.  Affonso  A.  Rutis: 

Honorable  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  My  first  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  was 
about  three  years  ago,  when  a  circular  concerning  its  aims 
and  objects  fell  into  my  hands.  I  confess  most  willingly 
that  the  circular  made  a  deep  impression  upon  me,  for  it 
showed  me  in  what  manner  this  great  institution  could  as- 
sist me  in  the  work,  which  I  was  engaged  in,  namely,  in  in- 
troducing and  spreading  new  ideas  and  culture  by  practical 
propaganda.  I  made  up  my  mind  firmly  then  to  enlist  the 
efforts  of  the  Museum  in  behalf  of  the  development  of  Pan- 
American  interests,  and  was  fortunate  enough  in  subsequent 
correspondence  with  its  honorable  Director  to  attract  the 
attention  of  this  model  institution  to  Brazil,  and  especially 
to  the  State  of  Sao  Paulo. 

A  visit  from  the  capable  chief  of  the  Foreign  Department 
of  the  Museum,  Mr.  Wilfred  Harvey  Schoff,  who  is  known 
to  all  of  you,  has  caused  our  business  and  commercial  ad- 
vantages to  be  judged  at  their  right  value,  and  the  Museum 
possesses  thereby  valuable  material  for  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial enterprises. 

I,  therefore,  avail   myself  of    the  opportunity  upon  this 


occa.sion  to  express  my  special  and  sineerest  thanks  to  the 
Honorable  Director  for  the  interest  shown  my  State. 

Brazil  is  known  all  over  the  world  as  a  large  and  rich 
country.  It  is  often  underestimated,  however,  and  as  we 
are  now  in  the  United  States,  I  may  add,  in  order  to  give 
you  a  good  idea  about  its  size,  that  its  area  is  equal  to  that 
of  this  beautiful  country,  which  is  now  entertaining  us  as 
guests,  exclusive  of  Alaska.  No  other  South  American  Re- 
public can  show  3,000  miles  of  sea  coast. 

The  Honorable  Captain  da  Graga,  the  distinguished  rep- 
resentative of  the  Brazilian  Government,  will  have  the 
pleasure  to  inform  you  of  other  details,  and  I  will,  therefore, 
confine  myself  to  the  State  of  Sao  Paulo  and  its  develop- 
ments. 

Sao  Paulo  has  in  Santos  the  largest  coffee  shipping  port 
in  the  world.  With  an  area  of  106,939  square  miles,  and  a 
population  of  2,500,000,  it  may  be  considered  the  model  ag- 
ricultural State  in  Brazil,  especially  as  no  other  State  has 
olfered  such  inducements  to  immigrants,  or  made  such  sacri- 
fices for  the  development  of  agriculture.  Of  the  14,700,000 
sacks  of  coffee,  which  represent  the  estimated  crops  of  the 
world  for  1897-1898,  Brazil  produced  about  11,000,000,  of 
which  four-fifths  came  from  the  State  of  Sao  Paulo.  The 
sacrifices  made  by  our  coffee  planters  in  the  last  years  have 
unfortunately  in  no  way  been  rewarded  with  good  results,  as 
the  same  symptoms  have  appeared  which  were  formerly  ob- 
served in  wheat-producing  countries,  i.  e.,  the  price  obtained 
is  simply  sufficient  to  pay  the  expenses  of  production.  Con- 
sidering the  enormous  capital  which  flows  into  the  country 
in  payment  for  exported  coffee,  it  is  well  worth  our  while 
to  occupy  ourselves  a  few  moments  with  this  important 
product. 

The  coffee  planters  caused  the  State  Government  to  create 
laws  for  the  introduction  of  suitable  labor,  which  was  lack- 
ing owing  to  the  liberation,  in  1888,  of  the  slaves  who  had 
been  employed  in  the  agricultural  industry;  free  passage 
and  maintenance  for  several  days  after  landing  were  offered 
as  inducements  to  such  families  in  Italy,  Portugal  and  Spain, 
as  were  willing  to  come  over  and  devote  themselves  to  cort"ee- 
raising.  In  this  way  hundreds  of  thousands  of  European 
workmen  coine  over  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  and  into 
the  State  Imdget  are  charged  large  amounts  to  pay  the  Euro- 
j)ean  steamship  companies  for  their  passage. 

The  practical  revenue  is  derived  from  the  export  duty  on 
cofl'ee,  which  is  payable  when  the  coffee  is  loaded  into  ships 
for  trans-oceanic  points  of  destination. 

You  know,  perhaps,  that  a  coffee-tree  does  not  yield  any 
returns  until  the  fourth,  and  usually  not  until  the  "fifth  year 
after  planting,  while  the  expenses  up  to  this  psychologic 
point,  if  I  may  be  permitted  to  use  the  expression,  become 
greater  from  year  to  year.  No  wonder,  therefore,  that  the 
State  revenue,  and  the  material  welfare  of  the  inhabitants, 
depend  on  this  production,  and  it  may  be  said,  without 
going  into  other  minute  details,  that  the  production  and 
export  of  coffee  alone  has  a  decided  influence  on  the  rise  of 
exchange,  the  so-called  intrinsic  value  of  our  money  sys- 
tem. 

The  price  of  coffee  has  declined  year  by  year  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  planter  now  gets  very  little  profit  out  of  his 
formerly  very  lucrative  plantations.  In  foreign  countries 
this  fact  is  usually  attributed  to  the  so-called  over-produc- 
tion, but  I  for  my  part  place  the  blame  in  an  entirely  dift'er- 
ent  direction,  and  say  it  is  caused,  mainly,  by  speculation  in 
the  world's  markets,  w-hieh  supply  the  demand  for  coffee  in 
other  countries,  especially  London.  New  York,  Hamburg, 
Trieste,  etc.,  and  secondly,  by  the  too  high  import  duty, 
which  in  some  European  countries  makes  it  enormously  dear 
and  limits  the  consumption.  As  the  coffee  is  almost  as  ne- 
cessary an  alimentary  substance  as  bre^d,  it  has  been  seized 


'244 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


upon  by  the  speculator,  and  coffee  exchanges  have  been  es- 
tablished in  many  large  cities.  In  this  way  large  quantities 
of  bags  are  sold  daily  on  futiire  delivery,  never  delivered, 
but  settled  for  by  simply  paying  or  receiving  the  difference 
between  the  buying  and  selling  prices.  This  forces  the  price 
diwn  systematically  to  the  detriment  of  the  planter  who, 
instead  of  getting  for  his  products  the  prices  he  should  have 
according  to  the  actual  supply  and  demand,  only  receives 
what  represents  the  speculation  value. 

As  the  time  is  too  limited,  I  will  not  say  anything  about 
the  tricks  of  which  the  speculators  avail  themselves  in  order 
to  get  control  of  the  goods.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  look 
through  one  of  their  so-called  bulletins,  to  have  this  state- 
ment confirmed. 

.\nother  chief  factor  affecting  the  consumption  to  an  enor- 
mous extent,  as  already  stated,  is  the  unrea.soiiable  import 
duty  in  force  in  some  European  countries,  especially  Italy, 
France,  England  and  Austria.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  talk 
about  the  politics  of  other  governments  or  to  make  allusions 
that  would  be  out  of  place  in  an  International  Congress,  but 
when  coffee  is  being  treafed  as  an  article  of  luxury  and 
subjected  to  a  duty  of  fifty  cents  per  kilogram  in  Italy,  and 
thirty-live  cents  in  France,  while  according  to  quotations 
published  in  the  latest  Brazilian  papers,  the  price  obtained 
by  the  planter  for  his  coffee  is  rs.  700  per  ten  kilograms 
(equal  to  about  thirteen  cents  per  kilogram  taking  the  ex- 
change value  of  one  milreis  to  be  sixteen  cents),  this  tariff 
must  appear  almost  prohibitory.  The  United  States,  the 
largest  buyer  of  coffee,  admits  it  free  of  duty,  considering  it 
to  be  a  national  beverage  and  a  necessary  alimentary  article 
for  the  working  classes. 

But  even  in  the  United  States  the  prices  quoted  are  greatly 
in  favor  of  the  dealer,  for  the  name  of  Brazil  coffee  is  used 
seldom  or  never,  !Mocha  and  names  of  otlier  countries  being 
substituted  in  its  place. 

The  United  States  import  from  Brazil  coffee,  rulilier  and 
other  products  to  the  value  of  $54,000,000  annually,  wliile  it 
exports  to  that  country  about  $14,000,000  only. 

This  difference  of  about  $40,000,000  ought  to  stimulate 
the  efforts  of  our  nothern  friends  who  wish  to  sell  their  goods 
in  our  markets,  and  this  successful  Exposition  which  we  have 
before  us  daily,  is  a  sufficient  demonstration  of  the  fact  that 
they  can  easily  compete  with  any  P^uropean  nation. 

But  two  things  are  absolutely  necessary  if  they  want  to  do 
so  successfully;  a  regular  steamship  connection,  represent- 
ing only  American  interests,  and  the  establishment  in  Brazil 
of  an  American  bank,  through  which  all  your  business  would 
naturally  be  transacted. 

'{'here  never  has  been  a  inm-c  opportune  moment  for  hoist- 
ing the  American  flag  on  a  line  of  .steamers  which,  loaded 
with  the  products  id'  American  industry,  would  take  their 
course  toward  our  beautiful  "Cruzeiro,"  and  tlien  return  (o 
the  "Home  of  the  Free  and  the  Brave"  iliarged  with  a  full 
freight  of  Brazilian  products. 

Another  article  of  which  i^razil,  and  e.<pccially  oui-  Stafi' 
of  Sao  I'aulo,  coulil  consume  enormous  quantities,  is  coal, 
which  is  found,  especially  in  the  State  of  i'ennsylvaii'n,  in 
almost  inexhaustible  beds.  Cardiff  has  so  far  had  cniiic 
control  of  the  sale  of  this  article  to  our  consumers,  while. 
according  to  analyses  I  have  before  me,  the  Pennsvlvaira 
product  is  in  every  way  equal  to  the  British  one,  and  be=ide- 
cheaper  in  price. 

This  beantiful  and  rich  field  \'nr  .Amri'ican  c.\[iort  ti-ade  is 
therefore  open  to  enterpi-ise,  and  in  the  rich  manganese  ore 
and  other  minerals  to  be  found  in  Brazil,  and  which  would 
only  have  to  be  explored,  every  vessel  could  easily  take  in  a 
return  freight  which  would  be  sure  to  make  any  steamship 
line  a  profitable  one. 

In  order  to  give  to  .my  esteemed  audience  a  few  data  con- 


cerning railway  conditions  in  the  State  of  Sao  Paulo,  1  will 
present  the  following  figures,  illustrating  their  development 
in  this  State,  which  have  been  compiled  from  official  reports 
published  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  Commerce  and 
Public  Works  for  the  year  1897.  According  to  these  reports 
the  following  important  railroads  are  in  existence  in  our 
State: 

Central  Railway  of  Brazil 274  kilometers. 

Sao  Paulo  Railway  Company I'A'J 

Estrada  de  Ferro  Paulista 791  " 

"       "       Mogyana 809 

"         "       "       Uniao  Sorocabana 851  " 

"       "       Bragantina  e  Ytuana ...  52  « 

"       "       Itatibense 20  « 

"       "       Rio  Sao  Paulo IS  " 

"       "       Bananal 11 

The  Minas  &  Rio  Railway 23 

Ramal  Dumont 23  " 

Ramal  FeiTeo  (,'ampineiro 43  " 

Estrada  de  Ferro  Sao  Paulo  a  S.  Amaro..  .  21  " 

"       "       Santos  a  S.  Vicente....  9  " 

Tramway  da  Cantareira 21  " 

Total 3,105  " 

The  gauges  vary  considerably,  viz: 
492  kilometers  have  a  guage  of  1  meter  60  centimeter. 
9  "  "     "      "       "  1       "     36 

2,153  "  "     "      "       "  1 

261  "  '■     "      "       "  "96  " 

169  "  "     "      "       "  "     60 


3,105  kilometers. 

Sao  Paulo  might  therefore,  easily  become  a  valuable  field 
for  American  manufacturers  of  railway  materials. 

In  order  to  convey  some  idea  of  the  advantages  of  these 
lines,  and  the  profits  that  may  accrue  from  there.  I  will  give 
the  following  statement  of  the  more  imjiortant  lines  for  the 
first  six  months  of  the  year  1897.  Of  their  earnings  the 
percentage  of  expenses  was  as  follows: 

Per  cent. 

Sao  Paulo  Railway  (English  Co.) 57.98 

1'].  Ferro  Paulista  (Domestic  Co.) 59.9 

K.  FeiTo  Mogyana  (Domestic  Co.) 66.49 

Unione  Sorocabana  &  Ytuana  (Domestic  Co.) 64.12 

You  will  readily  see  from  these  rates  that  investments  in 
railways  already  pay  better  than  in  most  other  countries  of 
the  world,  and  with  the  extension  of  these  lines  and  the 
opening  up  of  the  most  fertile  sections  in  the  interior  of  the 
State,  each  new  railway  enterprise  would  prove  still  mcu-e 
|irofitable. 

Allow  me  to  add  a  few  words  concerning  our  banking 
system. 

.\longside  of  the  very  well  established  and  successful  do- 
mestic banks,  there  are  operating  in  oiii-  principal  cities,  as 
for  instance,  Sao  Paulo  and  Santos,  three  JMiglish  banks,  one 
German  and  one  I'^rencb  baidc,  to  which  a  Belgian  one  will 
be  added  in  a  feu  months.  .Ml  these  banks  have  deposits  to 
an  amount  which  is  nearly  e(|ual  to  their  capital,  and  are 
able  to  distribute  among  their  fortunate  shareholders  divi- 
dends amounting  to  from  10  to  25  jier  cent,  annually. 

How  rich  a  field  wmdd  therefore  be  opened  for  an  Ameri- 
can bank,  the  natural  mediator  of  our  interests.  It  is  with 
great  .satisfactioTi  that  I  am  able  to  state  that  enterprising 


THIETEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


245 


Philadelphia  merchants  will,  in  a  very  short  time,  call  into 
existence  an  institution  of  this  liind,  and  that  the  tirst  steps 
in  this  direction  have  already  been  taken,  so  that  the  Amer- 
ican exporter  will  be  able  to  place  his  interests  in  the  hands 
of  a  trustworthy  concern. 

Sao  Paulo  has  a  very  important  industry  in  cotton  prod- 
ucts, the  cultivation  of  cotton  being  carried  on  throughout  the 
State  with  great  facility,  and  it  can  easily  compete  in  the  so- 
called  "resgados"  with  either  England  or  Germany,  having 
made  itself  entirely  independent. 

The  manufacture  of  felt  hats  has  also  assumed  very  large 
proportions  and  not  only  covers  the  home  consumption,  but 
also  that  of  the  other  States.  A  jute  spinning  mill  furnishes 
the  material  for  the  sacks  in  which  coffee  is  exported. 

Immense  waterfalls,  with  a  horse  power  of  several  thou- 
sands, lie  still  in  unharnessed  condition,  and  from  them  could 
be  easily  utilized  motive  power  for  many  industrial  estab- 
lishments. This  should  especially  appeal  to  the  enterprising 
American  as  a  hrst-class  opportunity  for  a  profitable  invest- 
ment. 

Sao  Paulo,  possessing  breweries  which  represent  a  capital 
of  millions  of  dollars,  is  also  entirely  independent  of  imported 
beer.  iSTot  far  from  the  capital  is  situated  the  largest  and  only 
factory  of  Portland  cement  existing  in  South  America  which 
produces  cement  of  a  quality  that  is  equal  to  the  best  foreign 
brands. 

One  of  nature's  great  blessings  favoring  the  development 
of  our  State  is  a  healthy  climate.  Santos,  which  until  a  few 
years  ago  was  held  to  be  the  most  unhealthy  place  in  the 
world,  has  had  its  hygienic  conditions  so  much  transformed 
by  magnificent  constructions,  as,  for  instance,  quays  and  other 
improvements  of  its  harbor,  that  it  is  now  equal  in  this  respect 
to  any  other  port. 

One-half  of  the  population  of  the  State  may  be  said  to  con- 
sist of  Europeans,  so  that  there  is  a  market  for  every  article 
which  can  compete  with  European  products.  From  a  politi- 
cal point  of  view  we  may  say  that  we  have  a  very  good  ad- 
ministration: from  our  conservative  elements,  which  are  rep- 
resented by  the  "Fazendeiros"  (planters),  who  devote  their 
time  and  money  to  agriculture,  a  very  fine  race  has  developed 
which  is  equal  to  the  best  in  Brazil  as  regards  intelligence 
and  culture.  I 

Sao  Paulo  takes  great  pride  in  calling  her  sons  "Paul- 
istas,"  and  the  best  proof  of  their  excellent  qualities  is  the 
fact  that  the  last  President  of  Brazil,  Dr.  Prudente  de  Mo- 
rass, as  well  as  the  present  head  of  the  government,  Dr.  Cam- 
pos-Salles,  are  both  sons  of  this  great  State,  and  also  both 
planters. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  enumerate  here  many  more  fav- 
orable factors;  a  study  of  the  consular  reports,  and  a  new 
book  on  this  subject  which  is  about  to  appear,  will  supply 
all  supplementary  facts  of  the  statements  which  I  have  made. 

While  inviting  American  interests  to  make  a  special  inves- 
tigation of  the  advantages  of  our  State,  I  have  the  honor  of 
calling  their  attention  also  to  the  rich  material  which  is  open 
to  their  inspection  in  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
this  model  institution  where  detailed  information  on  all  trade 
conditions  can  be  obtained.  I  have  the  greatest  satisfaction 
in  expressing  to  the  directors  of  this  institution  my  thanks 
for  the  many  courtesies  they  have  shown  us,  and  also  desire 
to  thank  this  audience  for  the  attention  with  which  you  have 
listened  to  me.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Henry  TF.  Peahody: 

All  the  delegates  who  have  to  speak  here  have  indicated 
their  great  want  and  desire  for  communication  and  facilities. 
One  of  the  most  important  houses  in  the  city  of  Xew  York 
is  represented  here  by  a  delegate  who  needs  no  initroduction 


to  the  Spanish-American  countries.     I  have  great  pleasure 
in  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Eddy,  of  Flint,  Eddy  &  Co.,  New 

York. 

I 

Mr.  Ulysses  G.  Eddy: 

Some  thirty  years  ago  I  left  New  York  for  South  America, 
taldng  with  me  some  twenty  tons  of  samples  of  American 
manufactured  goods.  At  that  time  the  South  American  coun- 
tries took  from  the  United  States,  principally,  such  merchan- 
dise as  lumber,  flour,  some  agricultural  implements,  hatchets 
and  axes,  and  certain  classes  of  woodenware,  but  the  volume 
was  small.  Merchandise  was  shipped  entirely  in  sailing 
vessels,  and  the  business  was  a  limited  one,  carried  on  in  an 
old-fashioned  way. 

I  first  reached  the  city  of  Buenos  Aires,  then  a  place  of 
perhaps  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  In  due 
course,  I  obtained  a  proper  room,  and  opened  a  sample  dis- 
play. This  included  a  great  variety  of  American  hardware, 
a  number  of  styles  of  American  house-furnishing  goods,  as 
well  as  small  machines,  and  some  agricultural  implements  and 
tools.  I  was  then  informed  that  no  such  goods  had  ever  been 
exhibited  in  that  city  before.  In  a  very  short  time  I  succeeded 
in  taking  orders  for  more  than  three  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars' worth  of  merchandise,  all  from  responsible  firms  who 
promptly  paid  for  what  they  bought. 

It  is  perhaps  interesting  to  compare  the  business  methods 
of  to-day  which  are  used  by  firms  trading  with  South 
America,  with  those  of  thirty  years  ago.  At  that  time,  orders 
were  sent  by  mail.  It  was  some  six  weeks  before  letters  con- 
taining orders  reached  the  United  States.  It  would  fre- 
quently take  a  month  or  two  to  accumulate  the  merchandise 
called  for.  Meantime  a  sailing  vessel  was  chartered,  loaded 
in  a  leisurely  manner  and  would  very  possibly  take  sixty  days 
on  the  outward  voyage.  After  the  arrival  of  the  vessel  in 
the  outer  roads  of  Buenos  Aires  it  was  necessarj-  to  lighter 
the  cargo  for  several  miles,  transfer  it  in  shallow  water  to 
high-wheeled  carts,  in  which  it  was  transported  to  the  custom 
house.  To  receive  merchandise  from  the  United  States  with- 
in six  months  of  the  date  of  the  order  was  an  extraordinary 
event — it  was  more  likely  nine  months.  To-day  in  all  im- 
portant staple  lines  the  merchandise  is  offered  by  the  Ameri- 
can merchant  to  the  buyer  in  Buenos  Aires  by  cable;  the 
price  so  offered  is  in  sterling  money,  and  includes  delivery  in 
the  harbor  there.  As  a  rule,  such  cable  offers  are  only  good 
for  twenty-four  hours.  If  accepted  there,  merchandise  is 
almost  always  shipped  by  steamer.  As  there  are  weekly  op- 
portimities  for  such  shipments,  it  frequently  happens  that 
the  merchandise  is  delivered  in  Buenos  Aires  forty  days  after 
offering  it  to  the  buyer.  On  its  arrival  the  steamer  enters  a 
magnificent  dock  with  every  modern  facility  for  unloading 
and  the  merchandise  is  promptly  transferred  to  the  customs 
warehouses. 

While  thirty  years  ago  Buenos  Aires  was  a  mediaeval  city, 
to-day  it  is  modern,  with  a  population  of  nearly  800,000  in- 
habitants! Much  of  this  transformation  from  the  ancient  to 
the  modern  has  been  accomplished  by  Americans,  and  by  the 
utilization  of  American  inventions  and  productions.  Amer- 
ican boilers  fed  with  American  coal  furnish  steam  to  American 
engines;  these  drive  American  dynamos  and  send  electrical 
current  over  American  copper  wires:  this  current  is  fed  to 
American  trolley  cars,  which  run  upon  American  rails.  Amer- 
icans are  laying  asphalt  pavements  there.  Important  commer- 
cial houses  are  established,  and  devoted  entirely  to  the  exten- 
sion of  trade  with  the  United  States.  These  houses  are  follow- 
ing the  custom  of  England  and  Germany  in  taking  young  men 
from  the  United  States,  and  educating  them  in  the  necessities 
of  the  trade  of  that  region.  Retail  establishments  devoted 
solely  to  selling  American  merchandise  are  springing  up,  such 


246 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


as  American  shoe  stores,  American  bicycle  agencies,  American 
t ypewi-itcr  agencies,  etc. 

"  \V]iik'  1  speak  of  i'>iienos  Aires,  the  same  conditions  will 
lie  found  in  most  of  the  countries  of  South  America,  and  the 
same  transformation  lias  come  about. 

I'lie  increased  volume  of  export  trade  to  South  America 
is  not  due  solely  to  the  effort  of  American  merchants  and 
manufacturers  to  sell  their  goods.  It  is  largely  due  to  our 
improved  methods  of  organization,  in  product  and  transpor- 
tation. 

A  study  of  the  exports  from  the  United  States  for  recent 
years  will'  sliow  that  their  great  growth  is  due  to  the  fact  of 
the  ability  of  the  large  units  to  produce,  transport,  and  market 
at  cheaper  prices  than  the  smaller  units  doing  a  like  business 
in  other  countries. 

A  field  in  which  the  increase  has  been  most  remarkable  of 
late  is  that  of  iron  and  steel,  and  the  various  articles  made 
from  these  materials.  The  main  elements  in  the  cheapening 
of  these  products  to  a  point  where  they  are  able  to  compete 
for  the  world's  trade  are,  first,  the  gigantic  supply  of  raw 
material  and  the  enormous  scale  upon  which  it  is  mined  and 
transported.  The  ores  of  Lake  Superior  are  removed  from 
the  earth  by  the  most  complicated  and  elaborate  machinery, 
costing  many  millions  of  dollars  at  the  lowest  possible  cost. 
Smaller  mines,  operating  individually,  could  not  possibly  raise 
the  ore  at  any  such  jirice.  It  is  transported  from  the  mines 
to  the  Great  Lakes  over  railways  specially  devoted  to  that 
purpose,  in  cars  of  most  ingenious  construction  each  one 
carrying  an  enormous  weight.  It  is  deposited  in  the  steamers 
of  the  Great  Lakes  at  a  minimum  cost  withoiit  being  touched 
by  the  hand  of  man.  This  is  only  possible  by  the  use  of  great 
aggregations  of  capital,  and,  by  doing  the  business  on  a  great 
scale.  The  steamers  carrying  it  from  the  shipping  ports  of 
the  lakes  are  of  immense  capacity  and  carry  freight  at  lower 
cost  than  any  tonnage  in  existence.  The  unloading  arrange- 
ments at  the  ports  where  it  is  put  on  shore  are  marvels  of 
economy,  and  their  capacity  to  handle  vast  bulks  at  minimuiu 
cost  has  never  been  equaled.  Railways,  liy  means  of  wliich 
this  ore  is  transported  to  furnaces  not  situated  upon  the  lake 
borders,  are,  in  some  cases,  entirely  devoted  to  such  transport, 
and  over  them  are  operated  cars,  each  one  carrying  fifty  tons 
of  ore  which  has  never  been  touched  by  any  human  labor: 
from  tlie  moment  it  was  extracted  from  the  mine  it  has  been 
handled  by  machinery.  This  ore  is  deposited  at  steel  works  in 
which,  owing  to  their  enormous  capacity,  every  possible  econ- 
omy of  production  is  made.  The  finished  product  is  trans- 
ported over  the  most  efficient  and  economical  railroads  in  the 
world  from  the  stand])oint  of  production  to  the  seaboard,  and 
is  landed  there  at  prices  that  enable  it  to  hold  its  own  in  the 
markets  of  the  world.  All  this  is  impossible,  except  by  oper- 
ating large  units. 

The  cost  of  the  transportation  of  grain  of  all  kinds  from 
the  farm  to  the  seaboard  has  been  enonnously  decreased  by 
the  improvement  of  railways,  their  consolidation,  the  larger 
cars  in  which  it  is  transported,  and  the  gradually  improved 
facilities  for  storing  and  handling.  The  farmer  of  the  country 
can  only  look  with  satisfaction  upon  the  enormous  benefits 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  consolidation  of  railway  interests, 
and  their  operation  in  larger  units. 

The  export  of  meat  has  been  rendered  possible  by  the 
superior  facilities  given  by  the  operation  of  large  aggrega- 
tions of  capital.  The  position  of  the  United  States  as  the 
greatest  producer  of  copper  is  due  not  only  to  the  supply  of 
ores,  but  also  to  the  fact  that  these  are  worked  ujjon  a  great 
scale.  The  comparatively  moderate  growth  in  the  exporta- 
tion of  cotton  goods  is  d\ie  to  the  lack  of  organization  in  that 
branch  of  business,  and  to  the  fact  that  so  far  there  have  been 
few  consolidations,  and  the  imits  now  organized  are  not 
sufficiently  large. 


The  rapidly  growing  exportations  of  American  locomotives 
would  not  be  possible  except  for  the  enormous  plants  in  ex- 
istence, insuring  rapid  delivery  and  the  greatest  economy  in 
production.  But  for  the  organization  called  the  ''Standard 
Oil  Company,"  a  large  share  of  more  than  fifty  million  dol- 
lars" woith  of  the  products  of  petroleum  would  go  from  Rus- 
sia and  other  countries  rather  than  from  the  United  States. 
There  are  many  regions  where  the  crude  oil  can  be  procured 
far  more  cheaply  than  in  the  United  States;  but  by  the  pipe- 
line transportation,  the  best  known  methods  of  refining,  and 
the  thorough  utilization  of  all  by-products,  the  producer  at 
the  well  is  able  to  get  a  satisfactory  price  for  the  raw  mate- 
rial, and  the  foreign  buyer  finds  the  United  States  the  cheap- 
est place  to  buy  his  products  ready  for  consumption.  Were 
the  trade  not  so  highly  organized  and  so  unified,  other  coun- 
tries would  be  making  the  profits  of  this  commerce  instead  of 
(lurselves. 

It  will  be  noted  by  a  study  of  the  export  trade  of  the  United 
States  that  our  exports  and  manufactures  are  almost  ex- 
clusively of  articles  that  can  be  made  by  machinery,  and  in 
which  the  same  articles  can  be  reproduced  of  the  same 
pattern  again  and  again.  In  order  to  produce  economically 
and  to  export  against  the  competition  of  other  manufactur- 
ing nations  of  the  world,  it  is  necessary  to  manufacture  in 
larger  quantities  in  order  to  obtain  the  economies  that  are 
not  obtainaljle  except  by  buying  raw  materials,  transporting 
and  turning  them  into  merchandise  in  very  large  quantities. 
The  small  savings  made  at  these  various  points  by  the 
larger  buyers  and  the  larger  sellers  are  sufficient  to  make  a 
profit. 

The  evolution  in  the  export  trade  of  manufactured  goods 
from  the  United  States  has  and  wall  move  on  the  lines  of  the 
ex])ortation  of  goods  of  large  consumption  which  can  be 
cheaply  repeated.  The  LTnited  States  cannot  expect  to 
excel  in  the  supply  of  merchandise  for  the  individual — that 
trade  can  be  properly  left  to  Europe;  it  involves  smaller 
units  of  manufacture  and  more  hand  labor. 

Much  criticism  has  been  made  of  the  slow  expansion  of 
the  export  of  American  cotton  goods  as  compared  with  the 
sales  made  from  jManchcster.  In  Manchester  it  is  possible 
to  have  five,  or  fifty  pieces  of  a  certain  pattern  made  up  on 
an  ordei-.  ^I'heir  manufacture  is  so  organized  that  this  can 
1)0  done.  In  the  United  States  it  is  impossible,  without  ser- 
ious loss,  to  do  business  in  such  a  way.  With  a  spread  of 
European  and  American  civilization  throughout  the  world, 
there  is  gradually  coming  about  a  uniformity  in  the  articles 
called  for.  There  is  a  tendency  to  make  sizes,  lengths,  thick- 
nesses, etc.,  t<i  the  same  scale  or  standard. 

This  is  more  highly  developed  in  the  United  States  than 
elsewhere,  and  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  this  tendency  will 
be  accentuated  with  the  passage  of  time,  for  there  is  no 
other  way  by  which  the  consumer  can  be  served  so  cheaply, 
and  can  have  this  labor  reduced  to  minimum  in  using  such 
manufactures  for  the  purpose  which  they  are  destined.  If 
this  tendency  be  recognized  as  existing  and  growing,  it  speaks 
for  the  future  advantage  of  the  TTnited  States,  as  this  is  the 
country  in  which  re-duplication  has  reached  its  greatest 
development. 

In  American  electrical  machinery,  certain  types  are  pro- 
duced, which  are  the  results  of  the  best  experience  of  the  most 
accomplished  engineers.  A  plant  is  equipped  with  machines 
of  the  accredited  type  which  can  be  made  in  large  numbers 
with  the  greatest  economy.  In  England  the  engineer  de- 
signing an  electrical  plani  will  generally  insist  upon  modifi- 
cations of  more  or  less  importance.  As  a  result,  great  num- 
bers of  patterns  have  to  be  made,  and  many  changes  which 
involve  a  much  higher  first  cost  for  the  manufacturer,  and 
the  disadvantage  that  the  electrical  engineer,  who  is  con- 
stantly designing  machinery  for  the  largest  users,  is    much 


THIRTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


247 


more  expert  and  knows  better  what  is  the  best  construction, 
than  can  any  engineer  who  to-day  designs  an  electrical  plant 
and  to-morrow  a  plant  of  some  other  branch  of  manufacture. 

The  re-duplication  principle  is  applied  by  us  from  watches 
to  locomotives,  and  it  is  also  largely  applied  in  our  modern 
fire-proof  structures.  The  most  scientific  dimensions  for  iron 
beams  and  girders,  such  as  are  used  in  our  modern  buildings, 
are  to-day  universally  accepted  in  the  United  States,  and  are 
gaining  acceptance  abroad.  If  the  export  of  American 
manufaotures  is  to  continue  to  increase  in  the  future  as  it 
has  in  the  past,  it  will  be  necessary  to  still  further  perfect 
our  organizations  for  production  and  transportation.  This 
can  only  be  done  in  other  fields  as  it  has  been  done  in  the 
field  of  railway  transportation  by  a  series  of  combinations  and 
consolidations. 

The  larger  units  involve  the  organization  of  combinations, 
which  are  to-day  called  trusits.  Such  combinations  are  con- 
demned as  in  restraint  of  trade.  Yet  if  the  facts  before  stated 
are  correct,  instead  of  restraining  trade  they  stimulate  it. 

A  friend  has  called  my  attention  to  the  fact  that  every 
citizen  of  the  United  States  is  a  stockholder  in  what  to  us  is 
the  great  trust.  It  prepared  and  issued  to  the  world  its  pros- 
pectus and  articles  of  association  in  the  last  century.  Its 
operations  directly  or  indirectly  affect  the  well-being  of 
every  inhabitant  of  this  continent,  and  its  influence  is  prac- 
tically world-wide.  The  prospectus  is  signed  by  some  fifty- 
five  gentlemen  who  undertook,  as  is  usual,  mosit  of  the  risks 
connected  with  the  formation,  and  agreed  to  devote  their 
energies  and  fortunes  to  the  enterprise.  The  prospectus 
promised  to  respect  the  rights  of  all,  and  to  guarantee  equality 
of  treatment;  yet  opportunities  arise  by  which  many  of  the 
shareholders  grow  rich  while  others  remain  poor.  The 
avowed  object  of  the  promoters  was  clearly  and  boldly  an- 
nounced in  the  prospectus  to  be  fo  avoid  obnoxious  legisla- 
tion and  competition. 

This  trust  began  with  about  a  dozen  corporations  taken 
over  as  going  concerns,  and  has  enlarged  its  operation,  until 
it  is  now  composed  of  nearly  fifty.  Its  power  extends  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  and  it  is  reaching  across  the 
oceans  for  new  fields  of  conquest.  The  articles  of  association 
define  the  powers  of  the  board  of  directors  and  of  the  chair- 
man, and  place  the  whole  conduct  of  affairs  in  their  hands. 

The  shareholders  have  a  vote  for  director,  only  once  in 
two  years,  and  a  vofe  by  proxy  for  the  chairman  every  four 
years.  The  board  is  not  obliged  to  meet  oftener  than  once 
a  year.  The  chairman  selects  the  heads  of  departments,  and 
may  force  their  resignation  at  any  time.  The  board  deter- 
mine their  own  remuneration,  and  have  unlimited  power  to 
borrow  money,  and  to  assess  the  shareholders.  In  spite  of 
set-backs,  the  business  of  the  trust  has  grown  beyond  all 
expectations.  Never  was  it  so  prosperous,  and  never  have 
so  many  people  been  benefited  by  it.  It  is  rich,  yet  it  does 
not  hesitate  to  tax  the  poor.  It  is  monopolistic  and  suffers 
no  infringements  upon  its  rights.  All  the  most  unpopular 
features  of  the  industrial  trust  system  are  present  here,  and 
anathemas  launched  against  these  minor  trusts,  working 
with  small  powers  in  restricted  fields,  apply  -with  greater 
force  to  the  prototype  of  all  trusts  formed  in  the  year  of  1770, 
whose  prospectus  is  called  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
whose  articles  of  association  are  known  as  the  Constitution, 
whose  motto  is  "E  phiribus  mnim,"  and  whose  coinage  bears 
the  legend  "in  God  we  trust." 

Mr.  Henri/  W.  Pedbody: 

The  Congress  would  like  to  hear  from  the  Commissioner 
of  the  Pan-American  Exposition,  now  resident  in  Washin"-- 
ton,  Mr.  William  E.  Curtis.  '^ 


Mr.  William  E.  Curtis: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  If  I  had  had  a  little  notice 
that  I  would  have  been  called  upon  to  speak  to-day,  I  would 
have  been  much  better  prepared  to  appear  before  you,  as 
I  always  like  to  be  well  prepared  to  meet  an  audience  like 
this.  Professor  Wilson  says,  however,  that  I  can  do  a  little 
talking.  I  am  always  able  to  do  a  great  deal  of  talking.  I 
have  been  talking  on  the  subject  which  you  have  before  you 
for  sixteen  years  everywhere  I  go,  and  I  see  some  disciples 
here  and  some  peo2>le  who  were  with  me  at  the  start. 

I  once  knew  on  old  Methodist  clergyman — this  story  is 
not  for  the  foreign  delegates — I  once  knew  an  old  Methodist 
clergyman,  down  in  Missouri,  a  circuit  rider — missionary — 
who  told  me  that  he  had  been  going  about  there  preaching 
for  more  than  forty  years,  and  I  said,  "Have  you  done  any 
good  here?  I  don't  notice  much  evidences."  He  said, 
■'You  don't  suppose  that  I  could  tell  that  Jesus  Christ  died 
to  save  sinners  for  forty  years  without  getting  somebody  to 
believe  it?"  And  I  have  succeeded  in  getting  a  good  many 
people  to  believe  that  there  is  an  opportunity  for  trade 
between  this  country  and  the  Latin  American  countries,  but 
they  don't  go  at  it  right,  and  our  government  has  stood  in 
our  way.  As  soon  as  we  get  a  policy  defined  for  the  encour- 
agement of  trade,  we  change  our  Congress,  and  we  change 
our  President,  and  they  knock  it  all  over.  That  has  been 
done  twice,  and  it  will  probably  be  done  again. 

We  hold  conventions,  and  we  meet  in  various  places,  and 
we  have  expositions,  and  those  expositions  promise  us  great 
things,  but  finally  something  new  comes  up  and  the  atten- 
tion is  turned,  and  the  great  harvest  is  not  so  large  as  we 
expected,  although  it  is  large  every  time.  We  have  not 
done  a  thing  without  making  progress,  and  a  meeting  like 
this  indicates  it. 

Ten  years  ago  in  this  country  it  would  not  have  been  pos- 
sible to  have  a  Philadelphia  Museum.  We  went  before 
Congress  and  got  an  appropriation  of  $.500,000  to  establish 
such  an  institution  in  Washington.  The  amendment  to  the 
appropriation  passed  the  House  of  Representatives;  it  passed 
the  Senate,  and  we  went  home  thinking  we  had  it  all  right, 
and  it  dropped  out  in  the  Conference  Committee..  It  was 
possible  that  we  were  not  up  to  it  then,  but  we  are  up  to 
it  now,  and  this  meeting  which  you  are  holding  to-day  will 
do  it,  I  hope. 

Professor  Wilson,  are  you  not  going  to  have  a  convention? 
Professor  Wilson  is  not  so  hopeful  as  I  am,  but  if  we  do  not 
have  it  in  this  country  we  will  get  some  other  country  to 
have  it,  and  we  will  meet  somewhere  every  year  and  talk  over 
trade  topics  until  we  get  better  acquainted. 

I  have  just  come  from  South  America.  I  have  been  spend- 
ing the  greater  portion  of  the  year  down  there,  and  I  have 
the  most  striking  evidences  of  what  Mr.  Eddy  has  been 
talking  about.  I  had  not  visited  some  of  those  countries 
for  twelve  or  thirteen  years,  and  the  progi-ess  that  has  been 
made  in  trade  and  in  handling  trade  and  the  class  of  goods 
that  will  help  make  trade  now,  as  compared  with  that  of 
fifteen  years  ago,  is  quite  remarkable.  I  am  speaking  now, 
not  to  the  foreign  delegates,  but  to  the  American  delegates. 
The  Germans  are  now  ahead  of  you:  the  Germans  are 
monopolizing  the  country.  They  are  driving  the  English 
out.  Fifteen  years  ago  when  I  went  to  South  America  the 
Enghsh  were  in  control  of  the  trade;  now  the  Germans  are 
controlling  it,  not  on  the  east  coast  or  the  west  coast,  but  up 
in  the  centre  of  Bolivia.  I  was  there  this  summer,  and 
where  any  business  wa.s  going  on  there  was  a  German  in 
charge  of  it.  Fifteen  years  ago  it  was  an  Englishman  you 
met:  now  the  German  commercial  traveler  is  everywhere, 
on  the  cars  and  in  the  steamships.  You  very  seldom  meet 
an  English  traveler.     I  saw  a  good  many  more  than  I  saw 


248 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Americans,  ihou.irh  very  few;  but  you  see  lots  of  Germans, 
and  vol!  will  find  on  every  steamer  seven  or  eight,  five  or  six 
in  every  town,  and  in  every  hotel  you  will  find  five  or  six 
German  comniereial  travelers.  They  are  there  for  business, 
not  for  pleasure,  and  they  are  getting  the  trade. 

We  do  not  go  at  things  right.  We  are  too  proud,  we  are 
too  independent,  we  are  not  patient  enough.  An  English- 
man or  an  American  will  go  into  a  town  in  Bolivia,  for  ex- 
ample, wliich  is  proliahly  the  most  |irimitive.  the  must 
isolated  c(juntry  in  South  America — lie  will  go  into  a  t(uvn 
there  and  call  ai'ound  upon  the  customers,  asking  them  it' 
they  want  any  goods  to-day.  They  will  tell  him,  no;  they 
do  not  want  any.  "Well,  can  I  not  sell  yon  something  of 
this  or  that  or  something  else?'"'  "No.  T  dont  want  any- 
thing at  all,"  and  he  goes  off. 

Tlie  German  commercial  traveler,  when  he  comes  in,  sits 
down.  He  understands  the  character  of  the  man  he  is  deal- 
ing with,  and  he  will  let  it  work  out.  He  will  sit  down. 
He  does  not  say  anything  about  the  trade  at  all.  He  will 
get  acquainted,  and  either  he  will  ask  the  merchant  to  din- 
ner or  the  merchant  will  ask  him.  He  won't  say  anything 
about  trade  that  night,  and  he  will  go  around  and  call  on 
some  other  people,  and  he  won't  say  anything  about  trade 
for  'two  or  three  days,  and  by  and  hy  the  merchant  will  in- 
quire what  he  is  doing  down  there,  and  he  will  want  to  see 
his  samples,  and  the  German  will  say,  "Oh,  that's  all  right; 
I  don't  believ^e  I  have  anything  you  like."  "Well,  I  want 
to  see  the  samples,  any  how,"  and  he  will  sell  him  a  whole 
cargo  of  goods. 

Now,  that  would  not  work  in  England,  and  it  would  not 
work  in  the  United  States,  hnt  dowTi  there  you  are  losing 
the  trade  because  you  do  not  adopt  these  methods. 

There  has  been  a  great  improvement  in  all  South  Ameri- 
can countries  during  the  last  few  years.  They  are  growing 
fast  and  richer  than  we  know  of.  Every  year  piles  u))  a 
growth  in  wealth,  in  culture,  in  general  intelligence  and  in 
education  that  makes  them  more  ready  to  receive  us  and  to 
accept  our  hospitality  than  they  used  to  do. 

I  still  find  a  bugbear.  The  same  old  hoodoo  is  going 
about,  the  fear  that  the  United  States  wants  to  dominate  the 
hemisphere,  and  the  people  who  have  been  talking  that  way 
for  a  great  many  years  are  able  to  prove  it  now  because  we 
have  taken  the  Philippines.  You  will  see  in  the  conservative 
papers — not  in  the  liberal  papers,  in  the  conservative  papers 
- — the  liberal  papers  understand  the  situation  and  the  con- 
servative papers  understand  it,  too,  but  they  use  this  bug- 
bear for  palitieal  reasons,  because  they  want  to  suppress 
the  influence  of  the  United  States;  they  want  to  keep  out 
our  ideas  and  make  our  institutions  unpopular — the  old 
biigliear  that  we  want  to  seize  tliem  and  eat  them  up. 
We  don't  want  to  seize  anybody  or  eat  up  anybody.  We 
didn't  want  the  Philippines.  There  isn't  a  man  in  office  in 
Washington,  I  don't  believe,  from  the  President  down,  who 
wanted  the  Phili])pines.  There  is  not  a  man  in  office,  from 
the  President  <iown,  who  would  not  be  glad  to  get  rid  nf 
them  if  we  could  do  so  honoralily.  Tbis  nation  was  i'lU'ced, 
by  a  combination  of  circumstances.  \n  take  charge  of  that 
people.  Jf  we  hadn't  falcon  chari;e  of  them  there  would 
have  been  a  univer-al  war.  instead  of  fighting  the  Boers. 
England  would  have  been  lighting  the 
the  Russians,  or  the  French,  or  some 
the  possession  of  these  islands  which 
to  take  in  order  to  keep  the  peace  in 
We  have  got  them,  we  are  going  to  keep  them,  we  are  going 
to  make  a  good  government  for  them,  and  we  are  going  to 
have  their  trade.  (Applause.)  ]?ut  we  don't  want  anything 
else,  and  I  hope  that  will  be  firmly  impressed  on  the  Tuinds 
of  these  foreign  delegates  before  they  go  home,  because  no- 
body knows,  who  has  not  been  in  those  countries  recently,  how 


Gei'mans  to-day,  or 
other  nation,  over 
we  were  com]ielb'(l 
God's  ercat  I'amilv, 


often  and  how  much  the  cession  of  the  Philippines  is  talked 
about  as  evidence  that  the  United  States  is  a  nation  of  con- 
quest, and  that  we  are  grabbing  everything  we  see.  Pro- 
fessor Wilson,  I  fear  that  I  have  overstepped  my  five  min- 
utes. (Dr.  Wilson,  "Not  at  all.")  But  I  thank  you  very 
luueh  for  the  opportunity. 

^fr.  Henri/  W.  Peahody: 

We  are  honored  by  the  presence  of  the  L^nited  States  Min- 
ister to  the  Argentine  Republic.  I  have  great  jileasure  in 
])resenting  to  you  the  Hon.  W.  I.  Buchanan.     (Applause.) 

Hull.  IF.  /.  Buchanan: 

]\Ir.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  Wlieu  1  recall  the  many 
instructive  addresses  and  papers  you  have  had  the  good  for- 
tune to  listen  to  during  the  sessions  of  this  Congress,  I  can- 
not avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  people  of  the  United  States 
owe  the  Museum  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  its  initiative  in 
bringing  about  this  admirable  method  for  the  international 
exchange  of  views  in  regard  to  commerce. 

I  am  especially  glad,  Mr.  (Chairman,  to  be  here  to-day,  as 
it  enables  me  to  again  meet  many  acquaintances  from  my 
own  country  and  from  South  America,  and  to  enjoy  the 
excellent  addresses  I  have  been  pennitted  to  hear. 

I  several  times  advised  Dr.  Wilson  within  the  past  month 
that  I  feared  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  find  the 
requisite  time  to  prepare  an  address  to  be  read  before  you,  as 
lie  so  kindly  requested  I  should  do.  But  he  was  so  cour- 
teous and  so  complimentary  in  his  wish  that  I  should  to  some 
degree  participate  in  your  sessions,  that  I  could  biit  modestly 
accede. 

I  have  no  special  topic  to  speak  upon  and  believe,  there- 
fore. I  can  possibly  do  no  better  than  to  make  use  of  this 
opportunity  to  answer  a  number  of  inquiries  I  have  received 
since  my  return  home  with  regard  to  my  opinion  of  the 
proliabilities  surrounding  South  American  commercial  and 
industrial  development. 

I  lay  no  claim  to  a  thorough  or  even  partial  knowledge  of 
all  of  South  ximerica.     But  I  Itelieve  I  will  not  be  far  wrong 
ely  apply 
republics 

I  recall  no  part  of  the  world  to  which  more  attention  has 
Ijecn  given  during  the  past  three  years  than  to  South 
America:  and  especially  to  the  republics  of  Southern  South 
America. 

France  within  that  time  sent  a  special  commi*ion  there, 
who  spent  a  year  in  the  study,  and  whose  report  has  been 
acted  upon  with  distinct  advantage  to  their  interests  by 
P'rench  manufacturers  and  capitalists. 

The  British  Board  of  Trade  also  sent  a  representative  there 
who  went  over  the  whole  industrial  ground  carefully,  and 
reported  his  conclusions  (most  favorable  ones)  to  his  asso- 
ciation. Germany,  too,  sent  special  attaches  to  several  of 
lier  prominent  consulates  there,  and  they  have  gone  about  in 
all  directions  and  have  transmitted  to  their  government 
lengthy  reports  with  regard  to  the  development  to  be  seen  in 
the  republics  I  refer  to,  and  in  South  America  generally. 

One  commission  from  among  the  manufacturers  of  this 
country  visited  the  same  countries  within  that  time,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Museum  here,  while  even  now  reprcsen- 
l.ilives  of  some  of  our  great  packing  interests  are  engaged  in 
uiakinir  a  detailed  stu(iy  of  the  (leld  they  cover,  as  it  exists 
in  nil  of  Soul  b  .Vincrici. 

In  ndililicjn  to  the  aliove  there  is  to  be  taken  into  account 
the  elVorN  that  have  been  and  arc  being  made  by  such  insti- 
tutions as  tli(>  Philadelphia  Musicnm,  and  similar  ones  in  the 
old  world,  and  by  private  firms,  to  secure  information  regard- 
iut;  the  couufries  of  which  T  speak. 


in  conservatively  applying  to  all  wliat  I  do  know  regarding 
several  of  the  republics  there. 


THIKTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  2^,  1899 


249 


Applying  the  above  facts  to  my  own  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, I  am  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  commercial  world 
is  to-day  more  interested  in  forecasting  future  possibilities 
in  South  America  than  has  ever  been  the  case  heretofore; 
and  that  the  gi-eat  changes  which  have  occurred  in  recent 
years  in  the  productive  character  and  capacity  of  several  of 
the  South  American  Kepublics,  have  attracted  the  world's  at- 
tention and  mark  but  the  beginning  of  those  which  can  and, 
I  think,  will  be  brought  about  in  others  and  expanded  where 
they  have  occurred. 

Until  we  stop  and  think,  few  of  us  realize  how  striking  and 
remarkable  have  been  the  changes  that  have  taken  place  in 
the  character  of  the  production  of  North  and  South  America 
during,  say,  the  past  thirty  or  forty  years. 

For  instance:  Chile,  not  so  many  years  ago  either  as  one 
might  be  inclined  to  think,  produced  and  sold  almost  all  the 
flour  used  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America  and  Central 
America,  and  even  as  far  north  as  California. 

To-day,  California  and  Oregon  and  Wasliington  not  only 
produce  the  flour  they  consume,  but  export  toward  the  South 
and  Europe  millions  of  bushels  of  wheat  and  enormous  quan- 
tities of  flour;  while  Chile,  having  ceased  being  a  great  ex- 
porter of  flour,  has  become  prominent  as  an  exporter  of  nitrate, 
copper  and  wines,  and  a  producer  of  splendid  fruit  with  an 
exceeding  bright  future,  I  tliink,  ahead  in  that  direction, 
while  her  mineral  and  forest  wealth  has  as  yet  hardly  been 
touched,  nor  it  is  so  long  ago  since  the  Argentine  Republic 
imported  flnur  from  the  United  States  and  exported  nothing 
but  dry  hides,  bones  and  coarse  wool;  to-day  she  exports  in 
flour  and  grain  thirty-five  million  bushels  of  wheat;  one-third 
of  that  amount  of  maize,  gi"eat  quantities  of  butter;  more 
than  two  million  frozen  carcasses  of  sheep  and  some  hundreds 
of  thousand  of  fat  live  sheep  and  cattle. 

Part  of  all  this,  be  it  remembered,  goes  to  Brazil  and  there 
replaces  a  commerce  once  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  United 
States. 

Brazil,  a  few  years  ago,  produced  nothing  but  cofl^ee  and 
sugar,  and  but  a  limited  quantity  of  the  first.  To-day  her 
coffee  crop  has  reached  nearly  nine  million  bags,  while  present 
probabilities  indicate  that  her  southern  section  bids  fair  to 
liecome  in  the  future  a  great  cattle-producing  zone. 

All  present  can  easily  remember  when  the  Missouri  River 
constituted  the  western  line  of  the  producing  section  of  the 
United  States.  To-day  the  small  section  of  territory  west  of 
that  river,  comprising  Nebraska,  alone  produces  S44  million 
bushels  of  maize,  thirty  million  bushels  of  wheat,  and  fifty 
million  bushels  of  oats. 

Not  many  years  ago,  United  States  breadstuff s  and  provis- 
ions commanded  the  markets  of  Brazil  and  the  River  Plate, 
and  found  an  outlet  there. 

To-day  the  Kiver  Plate  Republics,  the  Argentine  Republic 
and  Uruguay,  furnish  more  tlian  65  per  cent,  of  Brazil's  im- 
portations of  breadstufEs  and  provisions,  and,  in  addition,  com- 
pete with  those  of  the  United  States  in  the  old  world.  The 
United  States,  having  ceased  being  an  exporter  of  breadstufEs 
to  the  River  Plate,  has  become  an  exporter  to  the  same  coun- 
tries of  manufactured  products,  indicating  the  change  taking 
place  in  the  character  of  our  production  here  at  home.  This 
changed  condition  is  being  continuously  accented  and  aug- 
mented among  us  here  in  the  United  States. 

The  logical  result  to  be  expected  from  these  changes  in 
tlie  producing  capacity  of  Eastern  South  America,  the  shift- 
ing to  and  the  extension  of  South  America's  consuming  mar- 
ket in  the  world,  was,  that  banking  facilities  and  steamship 
connections  should  grow  up  and  extend  themselves  between 
the  producing  Republics  and  the  points  of  greater  consump- 
tion. 

These  brought  witli  tlicni  an  interested  curiosity  on  the 
part  of  the  old  world  in  the  development  of  these  new  produc- 


ing Republics,  and  this  built  up  immigration  towards  the 
same  Republics,  which  has  continued  and  will  continue.  What 
I  have  said  explains,  to  me  at  least,  the  existence  of  Euro- 
pean and  the  absence  of  United  States  banking  interests  in 
South  America,  and  of  steamship  connections  therewith. 

1  am  not  one,  however,  who  believes  this  condition  of  things 
will  continue;  on  the  contrary,  I  fully  expect  to  see  in  the 
near  future  results  showing  that  changes  are  beginning  in 
the  North  and  in  South  America  which  will  tend  to  increase 
the  commerce  between  the  latter  and  the  United  States.  I 
think  there  are  indications  of  this  now,  when,  for  instance, 
I  realize  that  our  population  is  rapidly  increasing,  and,  am 
told  we  have  here  ten  millions  less  cattle  than  we  had  five 
years  ago.  I  know  how  extensively  and  cheaply  good  beef 
cattle  and  sheep  are  and  can  be  produced  in  the  Argentine 
Republic  and  in  Uruguay,  I  am  quite  prepared  to  consider 
the  entire  probability  that  within  five  years  River  Plate 
mutton  and  beef  will  be  sold  in  the  United  States. 

On  the  other  hand,  judging  from  what  I  personally  know, 
I  shall  be  very  much  surprised  if  within  that  time  many 
United  States  manufactured  products  do  not  wholly  supplant 
in  South  American  markets  similar  goods  now  sold  by  the  old 
world. 

Each  of  the  Republics  of  South  America  has  its  own  eco- 
nomic problems  to  work  out,  and  all  are,  I  know,  desirous 
that  both  the  old  world  and  the  United  States  shall  partici- 
pate in  the  benefits  which  will  follow  the  development  of  their 
natural  wealth  and  possibilities. 

So  far  as  the  United  States  are  concerned,  I  am  convinced 
from  my  own  observations  that  commercial  acquaintance  now 
somewhat  fitfully  kept  up  between  them  and  all  of  South 
America,  will  grow  and  widen  rapidly  within  the  next  five 
years.  It  will  be  but  a  short  time  until  United  States  bank- 
ing capital  will  turn  toward  several  of  the  South  American 
Republics,  there  to  remain  and  become  active  leaven,  which 
shall  expand  and  solidify  our  commerce  with  those  countries. 

These  clianges  will  create  steamship  connections  under  the 
United  States  flag,  and  will  tend  to  bring  the  people  of  the 
Western  Hemisphere  into  closer  and  better  understanding 
than  those  existing  at  present. 

As  opportunities  to  make  money  by  the  development  of 
land  and  mines  and  forests  lessen  in  the  United  States,  specu- 
lative and  inditstrial  capital  and  restlessness  will,  I  believe, 
drift  toward  South  America,  and  I  fully  expect  to  see  the 
greatest  proportionate  commercial  develipment  during  the 
next  ten  years  located  in  the  Antilles  and  in  .South  America. 

Certainly  great  possibilities  and  opportunities  exist  in  both 
localities.  It  must  be  understood  that  in  what  I  have  said 
there  is  implied  the  continued  existence  and  influence  of 
stable,  broad-spirited  and  justly  administered  government  in 
all  of  the  countries  to  which  I  have  referred. 

Without  that  condition  no  success  can  be  hoped  for  or 
expected  by  any  country.  So  true  is  this  that  it  has  become 
an  axiom  to  say  that  peace,  reasonable  laws,  good  courts,  and 
an  honest  ptiblie  administration  of  affairs,  are  the  most  allur- 
ing and  attractive  inducements  any  country  can  hold  out  to 
immigration,  to  capital  and  to  industry.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Henri/  W.  Peahody: 

We  would  now  like  to  hear  from  the  delegate  from  Para- 
guay, Mr.  Carlos  R.  Santos. 

The  Commeecial  Conditions  of  Paraguay. 

Mr.  Carlos  R.  Santos: 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen. — As  the  beautiful 
language  of  Shakespeare  is  not  my  own,  I  confidently  hope 
you  will  be  indulgent  enough  to  excuse  any  incorrectness  in 


250 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


my  pronunciation,  while  I  take  the  liberty  to  claim  your 
kind  attention  for  a  few  moments,  in  order  to  say  a  few  words 
about  my  native  country,  Paraguay,  the  government  and  com- 
mercial centre  of  which  I  have  the  honor  of  representing  upjn 
this  occasion. 

Before  going  any  further,  1  think  it  will  be  necessary  for 
me  to  give  you  a  short  description  of  the  general  conditions 
of  Paraguay,  as  it  will  be  evident  to  your  enlightened  judg- 
ment that  not  only  the  natural  resources  of  a  nation,  but 
also  its  topographical  position,  its  climate,  and  facilities  for 
communication  have  a  powerful  inthience  on  the  future  de- 
velopment of  its  commerce.  I  shall,  however,  try  to  make 
it  as  brief  as  possible,  as  the  time  at  our  disposal  is  rather 
limited. 

Paraguay  is  situated  in  the  centre  of  the  South  American 
continent,  and  has  an  area  of  317,000  square  kilometres.  It 
is  divided  into  two  vast  sections.  The  eastern  section,  or 
I'araguay  proper,  which  is  the  most  thickly  populated,  is 
bounded  by  two  immense  rivers,  the  Parana  and  the  Para- 
guay, the  latter  being  a  tributary  to  the  former.  By  means 
of  these  rivers  the  country  is  in  direct  communication  with 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  as  thev  are  navigable  at  all  times  of  the 
year  to  vessels  of  large  tonnage  drawing  as  much  as  twelve 
feet.  The  other  section,  or  Chaco,  is  an  immense,  fiat  area 
covered  with  extensive  forests  and  excellent  plains  suitable 
for  the  cattle  industry,  and  settled  only  along  the  river-banJis 
by  establishments  devoted  to  wood-cutting  and  stock-raising. 

The  climate,  although  sub-tropical,  is  one  of  the  most 
favorable,  if  we  take  in  consideration  that,  when  in  some  of 
the  countries  of  Southern  Europe,  according  to  Flammarion, 
the  temperature  rises  as  high  as  43  degrees  Celsius  (equal  to 
107.6  degrees  Fahrenheit),  in  Paraguay  the  highest  is  40 
degrees  (equal  to  104  degrees  Fahrenheit),  and  the  average 
23  degrees  (equal  to  73.4  degrees  Fahrenheit).  This  varies, 
however,  with  the  topographical  conditions,  and  in  some  parts 
of  the  country  the  temperature  is  known  to  be  from  3  to  5 
degrees  lower  (equal  to  from  37.4  to  41  degrees  Fahrenheit). 
The  winter  is  so  mild  that  numerous  families  from  the  River 
Plate  go  there  every  year.  There  are  also  some  exceptionally 
cold  days,  in  which  the  'hermometer  falls  as  low  as  3  degrees 
above  zero  (equal  to  35.6  degrees  Fahrenheit).  As  regards 
the  salubrity  of  the  climate,  all  foreigners  who  have  visited 
the  country  have  unaniimusly  expressed  themselves  as  de- 
lighted with  it;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  endemic  diseases  are 
entirely  unknown,  and  epidemics,  such  as  small-pox  and  scar- 
let fever,  are  of  very  rare  occurrence  and  always  appear  in  a 
mild  fonn.  To  corroborate  this  statement,  I  take  the  liberty 
of  quoting  the  opinion  expressed  by  the  learned  naturalist, 
Mr.  Balansa,  in  his  work,  "Studies  of  Paraguay,"  which  was 
published  in  Paris,  and  in  which  he  says,  "It  is  an  object  of 
general  interest  that  Paraguay  should  be  known.  The  fer- 
tility of  the  soil,  the  salubrity  of  its  climate,  and  its  ad- 
mirable topographical  position  between  two  large  navigable 
rivers  make  it  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  important  coun- 
tries of  South  America,  and  one  of  the  most  advantageous  for 
the  immigrant." 

Paraguay  has,  in  reality,  very  little  cause  for  envying  coun- 
tries better  endowed  with  the  gifts  of  nature.  The  admirable 
fertility  of  its  soil  makes  it  possible  to  raise  all  the  products 
of  temperate  and  tropical  zones,  and  the  country  has  a  rich 
variety  of  natural  vegetable  priiducts,  such  as  medicinal  and 
textile  plants,  dye-stuffs,  oleaginous  and  tanning  materials. 
Among  the  minerals  found  are  copper,  iron,  manganese,  sul- 
phate of  lime,  rock-crystal,  lime,  marble,  feldspar,  etc. 

The  immense  forests  of  the  country  contain  precious  woods, 
ranging  fr  nn  the  lightest  and  most  delicate  to  the  heaviest 
kinds,  which  wear  like  iron,  and  are  utilized  for  innumera- 
ble purposi's.  On  its  extensive,  rich  plains  cattle-raising  will 
yield  a  profit  of  3.5  to  30  per  cent,  annually.     These  inex- 


haustible treasures  have,  however,  hitherto  been  exploited  on 
a  comparatively  insignificant  scale,  owing  to  lack  of  work- 
men and  capital,  which  have  Ijeen  extremely  scarce  in  Para- 
guay ever  since  the  disastrous  war,  the  most  cruel  in  the 
annals  of  modern  history,  which  was  waged  for  five  yeai's 
against  us  by  the  allied  armies  of  three  nationalities,  namely, 
what  was  then  the  Brazilian  Empire,  and  the  Republics  of 
Argentine  and  Uruguay.  Paraguay,  having  spilt  its  best 
blood  on  the  battlefields,  and  being  overcome  by  the  over- 
whelming number  of  her  enemies,  blockaded  on  every  side 
and  \\'ithout  either  food  or  ammunition,  was  at  last  prostrated 
and  vanquished.  We  had  a  population  of  over  one  million 
in  1865,  but  only  331,000,  composed  for  the  greater  part  of 
aged  invalid,?,  women  and  children,  remained  at  the  end  of 
this  terrible  war.  The  present  number  of  inhabitants  is  again 
nearly  seven  hundred  thousand.  On  the  feeble  basis  men- 
tioned the  reconstruction  of  the  nation  was  commenced  in 
1S70,  and  in  the  same  year  the  new  constitution  was  adopted, 
founded  on  the  same  liberal  principles  which  make  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States  sacred  to  the  rights  of  man, 
and  thereby  has  been  accomplished  the  miracle  attributed 
to  the  Phwnix  of  the  fable,  of  rising  again  from  its  own 
ashes.  Since  that  time  the  country  has  been  making  slow  but 
sure  progress,  while  enjoying  the  blessings  of  undisturbed 
peace,  and  trying  to  overcome  by  self-denial  and  faith  the 
transitory  difficulties  through  which  every  new  nation  has  to 
pass.  Our  progress  has  been  aided  by  immigration,  which, 
although  as  yet  small,  has  crossed  the  borders  of  the  country 
since  1881,  under  the  auspices  of  our  liberal  laws  and  the 
facilities  accorded  by  the  government  to  all  foreigners  who 
advance  as  far  as  they  are  able  the  prosperity  of  the  nation, 
after  settling  in  the  republic  to  which  they  have  been  at- 
tracted by  the  inducements  offered  to  small  investors  in  the 
different  branches  of  growing  industry,  which  gives  promise 
nf  good  returns  and  large  increase  in  the  future. 

I  would  like  to  tell  you  many  other  things  about  the  pres- 
ent and  past  of  Paraguay,  which  was  peopled  before  the  other 
countries  of  the  River  Plate,  and  has  been  the  source  of  the 
civilization  of  that  region.  We  had,  for  example,  the  first 
railways,  telegraph,  ship-yard,  navy-yard,  and  merchant  and 
naval  marine,  but,  as  several  of  my  honorable  colleagues 
have  to  speak  after  me,  I  must  confine  myself  to  its  com- 
merce, which  is  the  primordial  topic  to  be  discussed  in  the 
( 'ongress.  If  incidentally  I  have  touched  upon  the  history 
of  the  past,  it  has  been  with  the  sole  object  of  explaining 
the  principal  reason  for  our  hitherto  slight  commercial  devel- 
o])ment  judged  from  an  international  point  of  view  and  rela- 
tive to  its  resources.  I  will  also  avail  myself  of  the  oppor- 
tunity on  this  occasion  to  point  with  pride  to  the  fact  that 
altlunigh  the  Paraguayan  commerce  does  not  have  large 
amounts  of  capital  at  its  disposal,  it  has  always  been  guided 
in  its  transactions  by  the  strictest  observance  of  honorable 
conduct,  a  matter  which  has  been  duly  appreciated  in  its 
exterior  relations. 

Our  principal  products  and  articles  suitable  for  commerce 
are  corn — two  crops  per  annum  yield  5,000  pounds  per  10,000 
stpiarc  yards.  Mandioca  (Mainlmt  vtilissima).  a  plant  belong- 
ing to  •  the  family  of  euphorbiaceae,  produces  tubers  from 
which  starch  pure  and  of  excellent  quality  is  extracted. 

Tobacco  produces  leaves  which  when  properly  cured  are 
i'i|ual  to  the  best  produced  in  other  countries.  Paraguayan 
tdbiicc'O  obtained  prizes  at  various  European  Expositions, 
iiinong  others,  the  Exposition  of  1855  in  Paris,  of  1889  in 
.\ntwerp,  and  in  Barcelona,  at  which  it  received  a  gold  medal. 

The  i^ianco  Agricola  del  Paraguay,  founded  to  aid  the 
agriciili  ni-al  industry,  lias  recently  erected  several  dryers 
where  the  tobacco  is  cured  after  the  Cuban  system,  and  part 
of  the  first  ero])  has  been  exjKirted,  principally  to  Germany. 

Verba  ]\rat('',  i'aragunyan  tea  (ilc.r  paraijuciisis),  made  from 


THIRTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


251 


the  leaves  of  a  shiaiL  which  are  pulverized  or  simply  cured 
as  other  tea,  affords  a  drink  known  by  the  name  of  "Yerba 
Mate"  all  through  South  America,  where  the  people  drinking 
it  number  over  20,000,000. 

Until  a  few  years  ago  it  was  totally  unknown  in  Europe, 
but  to-day  it  is  prescribed  by  physicians  in  Germany  in  cer- 
tain cases  of  illness;  it  is  not,  however,  as  a  remedy  that  it 
has  acquired  its  importance,  but  as  a  beverage  to  replace 
coffee,  tea  and  liquors.  The  low  price,  and  not  only  hygienic 
but  also  nutritious  and  invigorating  properties,  recommend 
it  especially  to  laborers.  It  has  always  been  recommended 
for  these  properties  by  scientific  journals  and  notabilities, 
and  that  its  general  use  in  Europe  and  the  United  States  de- 
pend solely  on  its  becoming  more  widely  known  is  a  fact  be- 
yond doubt. 

The  forests  in  which  yerba  mate  grows  wild  are  called 
"yerbales,"  and  comprise  immense  areas  in  the  northern  and 
eastern  parts  of  the  Republic,  where  on  an  average  9,000,000 
kilograms  per  annum  are  produced;  of  these  one-half  is  ex- 
ported and  the  other  half  consumed,  in  the  Republic. 

The  productions  can,  however,  easily  be  tripled  when  the 
projected  railway  shall  be  built  in  order  to  furnish  suitable 
and  necessaj-y  transportation  facilities  to  those  parts  of  the 
country. 

Coft'ee:  The  soil  and  climate  of  Paraguay  are  splendidly 
adapted  to  the  cultivation  of  coffee,  as  well  as  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  vineyards,  which  yield  thirty  hectolitres  of  wine 
per  hectare. 

Sugar-cane  yields  thirty  tons  per  hectare. 

Wliite  and  yellowish  cotton  yields  on  an  average  seven 
poimds  per  plant. 

Rice  is  grown  in  excellent  places  for  its  cultivation,  and  is 
also  found  in  some  parts  growing  wild  on  the  banks  of  creeks 
and  rivers  and  usually  on  the  side  of  gulches.  Rice  can  be 
made  to  yield  G-5,000  pounds  per  cuadra,  a  cuadra  being  equal 
to  10,000  square  yards. 

Ramie  grows  with  extraordinary  vigor,  and  if  the  difficulty 
of  cleaning  it  could  be  overcome  by  having  suitable  machinery 
it  would  become  an  important  article  of  export. 

Alfalfa  yields  six  crops  per  annum. 

Oleaginous  products,  such  as  castor  beans,  peanuts  and 
cocoanuts,  are  beginning  to  be  exported  to  Europe. 

All  kinds  of  vegetables  mature  two  months  earlier  than  in 
the  neighboring  countries,  to  which  they  are  exported.  Fruits, 
such  as  bananas,  melons,  peaches,  pineapples,  tomatoes, 
lemons  and  oranges,  are  also  shipped  to  Argentine  and  Uru- 
guay in  considerable  quantities. 

Of  oranges  alone  the  exports  for  the  present  year  have 
amounted  to  $100,000  in  round  figures. 

We  are  exporting  at  present: 

To  Argentine  and  Uruguay,  hardwood  in  logs,  planks  and 
sleepers,  salted  and  raw  hides,  yerba  mate,  tobacco,  tobacco 
extract,  essence  of  orange  leaves,  sweets,  liquors,  fruits,  gar- 
den produce  and  ornamental  plants. 

To  the  Brazilian  State  of  Matto  Grosso,  with  which  com- 
munication is  had  by  the  Paraguay  River:  beer,  cocoa  and  pea- 
nut oil,  stai'ch,  candles,  soap,  matches,  sweets,  biscuits,  vermi- 
celli, syrups  and  shoes. 

The  exports  to  Europe,  especially  to  Germany  and  Eng- 
land, are  tobacco  and  hides,  which  are  much  in  demand  owing 
to  their  good  quality,  hardwoods,  quebracho  extract  for  tan- 
ning, cocoanuts,  orange  essence,  hair  and  other  animal  pro- 
ducts. 

As  one  salting  establishment  has  been  built  recently  and 
others  projected,  the  Paraguayan  salteries  will  soon  be  able 
to  occupy  a  prominent  place  and  compete  advantageously 
with  the  Argentine  salteries  in  the  exportation  of  dried  moats 
to  the  markets  of  Cuba  and  Brazil,  owing  to  low  freight  rates 
and  the  cheapness  of  the  cattle  which  are  ready  to  slaughter 


two  months  earlier  in  our  country  on  account  of  the  advanced 
season. 

Our  imports  consist  of  the  following  manufactured  arti- 
cles, received  mainly  from  Germany  and  England:  Silk, 
woolen,  linen  and  cotton  goods,  burlap,  china,  earthenware, 
general  hardware,  canned  goods,  wine,  oil,  spirituous  liquors, 
beer,  agricultural  machinery  and  implements. 

The  banks  which  facilitate  business  transactions  are  Banco 
Mercantil  del  Paraguay,  Banco  de  los  Rios  y  Compania. 

The  following  tigures  will  give  an  idea  of  our  imports  and 
exports  from  1895  to  1897: 


1895   

1896   

1897 


Imports. 

$1,308,662.2-1 

2,830,873.81 

2,371,765.08 


Exports. 

$1,958,250.44 

1,888,061.63 

2,181,809.00 


As  stated,  our  direct  commercial  relations  with  some  of 
the  European  countries  are  already  established,  but  if  the 
North  American  manufacturers  could  offer  us  the  same  terms, 
and  if  the  future  would  bring  better  transportation  facilities, 
and  more  equable  customs  tariff  between  the  two  countries, 
then  we  could  export  to  the  United  States  hides,  yerba,  fibres, 
oleaginous,  tanning  and  dyeing  raw  materials,  and  receive  in 
exchange  manufactured  goods,  agricultural  implements, 
machinery  and  general  hardware. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  obstacles  existing  between  the 
United  States  and  some  South  American  countries  will  soon 
be  removed  for  the  sake  of  convenience,  and  better  knowl- 
edge of  our  mutual  resources  and  necessities,  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  which  result  the  Commercial  Museum  is  devot- 
ing its  splendid  energies. 

Through  the  exhibition  of  samples  it  teaches  a  practical 
lesson  of  indisputable  utility  and  it  has  been  the  originator 
of  the  idea  of  this  International  Congress,  in  the  realization 
of  which  we  have  the  honor  to  participate,  and  for  the  happy 
termination  of  which  I  offer  my  most  fervent  wishes. 

Finally,  permit  me,  in  the  name  of  my  government  and  the 
commercial  centre  of  my  country,  to  congratulate  this  mer- 
itorious institution  upon  its  noble  purposes  and  the  progres- 
sive city  of  Philadelphia  which  has  extended  its  hospitality 
to  the  first  International  Commercial  Congress,  bringing 
together  the  representatives  of  all  the  nations  of  the  globe, 
in  order  to  deliberate  upon  the  interests  dearest  to  humanity, 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  which  are  universally  held  to 
be  the  symbol  of  liberty  and  industry.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  William  R.  Tucker  (Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trade): 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  The  large  attendance  to- 
day has  been  attributed  by  some  of  our  Philadelphia  mer- 
chants and  those  deeply  interested  in  the  Philadelphia  Mu- 
seum and  Exposition,  to  the  fact  that  the  Congress  is  being 
held  closer  to  the  business  centre  of  our  city,  and  it  has  been 
thought  by  a  number  with  whom  I  have  spoken,  that  if  it 
were  possible  that  the  closing  days  of  the  sessions  of  this 
Congress  should  be  held  in  this  assembly  room,  or  possibly 
in  the  assembly  room  of  the  Commercial  Museum,  that  per- 
haps there  would  be  a  larger  attendance. 

I  do  not  know,  not  being  in  intimate  relation  with  the  di- 
rection, how  far  this  might  interfere  with  the  plans  for  the 
conduct  of  this  Congress,  but  if  it  does  not  seriously  interfere, 
and  I  think  I  speak  for  the  Philadelphians  in  this  vicinity 
(applause),  they  would  consider  it  a  gi-eat  favor  to  be  per- 
mitted, as  their  time  would  allow  them,  to  join  with  you  in 
the  closing  hours  of  the  sessions  of  this  great  Congress  and 
show  you  by  their  presence  their  interest  in  it — not  that  the 
presence  of  the  business  men  here  would  add  anything,  but 
it  would  bring  the  idea  before  them  that  there  is  such  a  Con- 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


gross.  Tliey  are  busy  men  niul  they  come  here  daily  from 
their  worksliops  and  their  dlliees,  and  would  like  to  hear 
sometliing  that  is  said  by  these  delegates  from  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  would  like  to  see  some  of  them,  and  show  by  their 
pi-esence  their  appreciation  of  what  you  are  bringing  to  them 
in  the  way  of  information,  of  which  we  hope  to  avail  ourselves 
in  the  future. 

If  not  inconsistent,  I  would  like  to  suggest  that,  if  possible, 
the  sessions  of  the  Congress  from  now  on  be  held  here,  to- 
morrow and  Monday,  in  this  room.  I  do  not  know  that  it 
can  be  arranged,  but,  as  I  said  before.  I  understand  it  is 
earnestly  desired  tliat  it  shall  be  aiTanged  that  the  meetings 
will  be  held  here  or  in  the  Commercial  Museum.  I  would 
like  to  make  that  a  motion,  and  I  would  suggest  that  this  be 
the  home  of  the  Congress  in  its  concluding  sessions. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  woidd  like  to  say  one  word  with  reference  to  the  location 
of  the  meeting.  There  is  not  the  slightest  objection  to 
changing  the  already  announced  location  of  the  meeting  from 
the  Exposition  hall  to  this  room  in  the  Bourse  building  for 
to-morrow.  The  gentlemen  connected  with  the  various  Ex- 
changes and  connected  with  the  Bourse  are  here,  where  the 
central  business  of  the  city  is  done,  and  have  given  us  the 
courtesy  of  the  floor  to-day,  and  they  have  specially  invited 
the  business  men  to  come  and  meet  the  foreign  delegates  for 
discussion  on  business  interests  which  may  come  to  hand. 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Peabody: 

Some  of  our  most  ardent  advocates  of  protection  in  this 
country  have  also  been  friends  of  reciprocity.  We  should  be 
glad  to  hear  something  upon  that  subject  from  one  of  our 
largest  manufacturers  of  agricultural  implements  and  plows, 
Mr.  A.  B.  Farquhar,  of  York,  Pa. 

How  TO  PnoMOTE  Reciprocity. 

Mr.  A.  B.  Farquhar: 

Reciprocity  in  commerce  is  not  merely  a  desirable  thing  to 
have — it  is  indispensable.  Commerce  is  reciprocal  in  its 
very  essence,  like  the  movements  of  the  piston  in  the  engine, 
like  the  inhalation  and  exhalation  in  lireathing,  or  the  arte- 
rial throl)  and  venous  How  in  blood  circulation.  Obstruct 
the  movement  in  one  direction  and  you  arrest  it  in  both;  you 
cannot  have  the  flow  outward  if  you  stop  the  flow  inward, 
the  action  if  you  bar  the  reaction,  or  the  free  delivery  of 
your  own  goods  if  you  hamper  your  customers  in  paying  for 
them.  Every  act  of  commerce  is  an  act  of  mutual  service, 
■each  ]jarlicipant  gaining  something  tliat  he  wants  more  at 
the  cost  of  something  that  he  wants  less;  and  if  an  act  of 
commerce  is  arrested,  both  sides  suiTer  by  the  amount  that 
the  thing  olTered  to  each  is  tnore  desired  than  the  thing  each 
has  to  offer.  Truly,  then,  in  discussing  reciprocity  we  are 
coming  to  the  ven-  heart  oT  um  sul)ject — an^  ukisI  (>iVertually 
carrying  out  the  luisiness  we  are  here  for. 

The  policy  of  ol)>tructing,  by  import  taxes,  tlie  introduc- 
tion of  goods  to  pay  for  the  goods  that  otir  citizens  send 
abroad,  is  one  adopted  for  the  jjurpose  known  as  protection; 
that  of  establishing  certain  lines  of  industry  within  tlie 
country.  In  some  cases  that  ptu-pose  is  accomplished  bv  the 
means  ado]>ted.  The  general  question,  whether  its  sncccss- 
ful  accomplishment  in  these  eases  is  full  compensation  for 
the  cost  paid— a  clogged  foreign  trade,  higher  prices  of  manu- 
factures so  protected,  ending  ])crhaps  in  the  establishment 
of  a  prodiu-live  monopoly  that  proves  a  vexatious  burden 
eeonomically  and  politically — there  is  not  time  to  discuss  to- 
day. I'ni  to  another  item  in  the  cost  of  a  protective  polic-y. 
additional   to   those  just  named,   it  seems   cminenily    fitting 


that  attention  should  be  directed  in  the  meetings  of  this  Con- 
ference. This  item  is  not  less  important  because  often  over- 
looked. We  might  convince  ourselves  that  the  establishment 
of  an  industry  well  repaid  all  the  rest  of  what  its  protection 
cost  us,  and  yet  vote  it  too  expensive  on  finding  that  our 
method  of  establishing  it  was  calling  out  retaliatory  duties  in 
countries  where  we  desired  to  sell.  It  is  to  this  negative, 
back-acting,  hostile  form  of  reciprocity,  known  as  retaliation, 
that  I  wish  to  ask  your  attention,  with  a  view  of  showing  the 
need  of  a  true  reciprocity  to  replace  it. 

When  our  country  undertakes  to  exclude  a  product  of 
another,  by  placing  a  high  import  duty  upon  it,  the  second 
country  rarely  remains  indifferent.  A  return  is  provoked, 
which  is  apt  tn  take  a  shape  resembling  the  first  blow.  We 
are  not  at  all  unfamiliar  with  this  sentiment  in  our  own 
country,  having  felt  a  considerable  measure  of  it  ourselves 
when  certain  F]uro])ean  countries  took  steps  a  few  years  ago 
ill  keep  American  jiork  frcun  crossing  their  frontiers.  Some- 
thing of  the  same  disposition  that  we  felt  then,  to  attack  in 
some  other  way  the  trade  of  coimtries  that  had  atfacked  our 
pork  trade,  inevitably  actuates  every  country  affected  by  a 
prohibitive  duty  enacted  at  Washington.  This  retaliation 
is  sometimes  only  threatened,  but  sometimes  actually  carried 
out.  When  carried  out  it  strikes,  like  all  retaliative  meas- 
ures ever  projected,  a  mark  very  different  fom  the  one  nat- 
urally aimed  at,  for  the  sufferer  by  such  blows  is  never  the 
one  responsible  for  the  prohibitiim  complained  of,  but  always 
the  one  most  exjjosed — the  one,  that  is  to  say,  who  has  the 
largest  interest  in  export  trade.  The  wolf  in  the  old  fable 
that  justified  himself  in  devouring  the  lamb  because  .some 
other  sheep  had  once  spoken  ill  of  him;  the  boy  in  the  fa- 
miliar story  who,  unable  to  "lick"  his  schoolfellow,  proceeded 
to  make  faces  af  the  hitter's  little  sister;  the  savage  of  the 
plains,  who  consoles  himself  for  being  swindled  by  one  white 
man  in  scalping  and  braining  tlie  wife  and  children  of  an- 
other, all  show  the  exact  kind  of  spirit,  the  exact  grade  of 
intellect  embodied  in  all  acts  of  international  hostility — pro- 
nouncements, notes,  ultimatums,  reprisals  and  retaliatory 
legislation.  If  some  German  official  vexes  us,  we  plot  the 
punishment  of  divers  and  sundry  private  Germans  who  never 
heard  of  the  transaction.  If  the  inhabitants  of  a  British 
colony  transgress  our  notions  of  jiropriety.  British  property 
and  British  people  thousands  of  miles  away  are  at  once  sug- 
gested to  us  as  suitable  object.s  of  attack.  Naturally  enough, 
then,  the  foreigner,  aggrieved  by  the  barrier  raised  against 
bis  trade  through  the  influence  of  rival  producers  in  this 
country,  is  set  on  fire  and  furiously  impelled  to  rear  up  a  bar- 
rier of  his  own  in  the  way  of  a  very  different  set  of  producers 
here,  and  all  his  compatriots,  naturally  enough,  uphold  and 
aid  him.  Thus  he  secures  a  retaliatory  duty;  he  does  not 
increase  his  foreign  trade  or  improve  the  national  standard  of 
living,  but  he  does  accomplish  something  and  so  feels  easier. 

It  is  the  exporting  producer  in  this  country  who  suffers 
by  the  retaliatory  duties  enacted  abniad.  wliieh,  instead  of 
striking  such  manufacturers  as  obtain  a  prolit  from  duties 
imposed  on  tins  side,  bear  Avith  their  whole  force  upon  those 
nf  us  \\h(i  ha\e  no  use  for  duties,  because  assured  of  om' 
home  market  without  any.  'I'lie  fact  that  we  are  able  to  ex- 
]iort,  our  wares,  and  meet  foreign  ])roducers  on  equal  terms 
in  markets  outside,  is  of  itself  conclusive  proof  that  we  have 
nothing  to  fear  in  meeting  them  on  equal  terms  here,  where 
we  have  not  only  the  advantage  of  less  charge  for  transpor- 
tation, but  the  greater  advantage  of  having  made  a  thorough 
studv  iif  tile  market.  F.xporting  manufacturers,  therefore, 
while  ili'awing  no  direct  biMii'dl  rnmi  Ihe  tariff,  and  while 
.■icluallv  (ippressed  by  it  in  the  nuTe  liuiiled  choice  and 
higher  cost  of  their  raw  material,  have  to  take  such  con- 
sequences of  the  nation's  policy  as  foreign  nations  choose  to 
impose  in  the  foi'm  of  retaliatory  larifTs.      It  cannot  be  won- 


THIRTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


253 


dered  that  we  tind  having  to  submit  to  blows  from  two  di- 
rections a  little  too  much  for  our  patience. 

Eaniiliar  as  we  are  with  provisions  in  our  own  tariff  laws 
framed  with  the  avowed  object  of  vexing  some  particular 
foreign  country,  though  expressed  in  general  terms,  we  ex- 
pect to  tind  the  retaliatory  provisions  which  they  provoke 
expressed  in  general  terms  also.  There  is  a  general  custom, 
in  phrasing  the  commercial  treaties  by  which  most  countries 
are  conneoted,  to  provide  that  each  party  shall  enjoy  in  the 
ports  of  the  other  "all  the  rights  allowed  the  most  favored 
nation."  Naturally,  therefore,  when  one  country  wishes  to 
show  disfavor  to  another,  without  at  the  same  time  appear- 
ing to  break  its  promise  to  treat  it  as  most  favored,  the  way 
to  do  so  is  to  employ  words  which  on  their  face  apply  to  all 
alike.  When  our  lumber  tarill',  for  example,  provides  for 
an  increased  duty  on  imports  from  ''any  country  or  depend- 
ency" in  which  a  duty  on  the  export  is  imposed,  it  is  as 
well  understood  that  reference  is  made  to  Canada  as  though 
that  Dominion  had  been  expressly  named.  Similarly  when 
our  sugar  tariff  puts  increased  duties  on  imports  from  coun- 
tries allowing  in  any  form  a  bounty  on  the  export,  no  one 
fails  to  see  that  Germany  is  intended. 

Let  a  country  tax  its  exports  to  us,  or  let  it  favor  them 
in  any  special  way;  in  either  case  the  philosophy  of  tariff 
legislation  leads  us  to  tVeat  it  as  a  hostile  act,  and  prescribe 
for  it  the  same  nostrum,  a  higher  discriminating  tax.  As 
we  treat  sister  nations,  so  do  they  treat  us.  Any  excuse — 
that  of  alleged  contagion  in  our  hog  and  hog  product  ex- 
ports is  the  most  familiar — ^-ill  answer  when  legislation  of 
this  kind  is  contemplated;  and  so  the  measure  we  mete  is 
meted  again  to  us. 

It  is  true  that  recent  tariff  legislation,  the  world  over,  has 
not  in  all  cases  had  an  upward  tendency.  In  New  South 
Wales,  for  instance,  a  general  increase  of  duties  came  in 
1891,  just  in  time  for  the  severe  commercial  depression  a 
year  or  two  later.  Of  course,  there  was  the  same  impulse  to 
change  it  that  we  always  feel  in  this  country  when  anything 
goes  wrong.  There  the  trouble  was  as  naturally  ascribed  to 
the  high  tariff"  as  it  often  is  here,  in  exactly  similar  cases,  to 
a  low  tariff;  so  the  rates  had  to  be  reduced  again  in  1896. 
But  since  then,  countries  that  are  given  to  tariff  tinkering 
have  generally  increased.  In  the  Argentine  Republic,  the 
new  schedule  has  provided  higher  duties  along  the  whole 
line,  and  our  manufacturers  who  are  trying  to  introduce 
their  goods  there  must  feel  the  greater  difficulty  in  their 
way.  When  we  levy  a  tax  on  their  jwoducts, — wool,  hides, 
etc., — we  certainly  cannot  blame  them  for  making  retaliatory 
duties  against  ours.  Our  manufacturers  of  woolen  and 
leather  goods  are  made  to  suffer  with  no  corresponding 
benefit  to  anyone.  America  has  a  large  trade  abroad  in 
labor-saving  machinery  of  various  kinds.  We  import  practi- 
cally none,  hence  no  revenue  is  derived  from  that  source, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  retaliatory  or  compensating  duties 
in  foreign  countries,  levied  against  our  machinery,  seriously 
interfere  with  the  value  and  profits  of  oiir  export  trade. 

The  manufacturers  of  machinery  in  America  no  longer 
need  protection,  and  wish  the  widest  possible  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations.  The  taxes  levied  on  foreign  producers 
of  metals  yield  the  government  practically  no  revenue,  and 
they  serve  to  enhance  the  price  at  home  to  the  injury  of 
all  who  are  engaged  in  manufacturing  for  the  export  trade, 
and  not  only  this,  but  the  whole  American  people  must  suffer 
in  discouragement  of  new  enterprises  and  enhanced  price  of 
fanu  tools,  hardware  and  other  necessaries.  Since  the  manu- 
facturers of  iron  and  steel  can  make  abundant  profit  without 
protection,  it  is  not  right  that  the  whole  people  should  be 
taxed  to  still  further  swell  their  profits. 

Legislation  has,  as  we  have  seen,  some  power  to  promote 
industries.     But  it  has  a  much  greater  power  to  arrest  and 


embarrass  them.  For  us  who  are  interested  in  the  export 
business,  the  legislation  most  earnestly  sought  is  not  what 
may  promote,  but  what  may  cure  what  has  been  done  to 
arrest  and  embarrass.  We  ask  the  law  to  help  us  in  being 
For  that  purpose,  what  is  needed  is  only  to  avoid 
other  countries  to  retaliation  by  hostile  tariff 
by  setting  them  the  example  of  liberal,  gentle- 
treatment,  to  persuade  them  or  perhaps  shame  them 


let  alone, 
provoking 
provisions; 
manly 


into  according  the  like  to  us.  It  is  better  not  to  wait  for 
them  to  act;  our  liberality  will  be  more  effective  and  more 
certain  to  be  accepted  as  genuine  if  it  comes  unrestrained 
and  unprompted.  Do  I  recommend  this  selfishly,  as  one 
whose  interests  are  largely  in  the  export  trade,  in  opposition 
to  producers  without  such  interests?  No.  Bound  up  with 
the  exporters  are  thousands  of  workingmen  to  whom  their 
business  gives  employment,  and  tens  of  thousands  of  con- 
sumers of  their  goods  in  this  country,  who  are  benefited  by 
whatever  aids  in  the  production  of  such  goods.  And  even 
if  all  these  formed  but  a  part  of  our  population,  instead  of 
the  majority,  I  might  still  plead  that  some  consideration  be 
allowed  them.  The  producer  who  cannot  compete  abroad  has 
had  so  long  a  turn  in  the  enjoyment  of  legislative  favors,  that 
it  seems  only  fair — does  it  not? — that  those  who  are  able 
to  illustrate  their  country's  ability  to  produce  against  the 
world's  competition  be  at  lea,st  allowed  to  do  so  unimpeded 
by  retaliatory  duties. 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Peabody: 

The  millennium  will  come  to  American  trade  when  all 
manufacturers  will  say,  as  did  Mr.  Farquhar,  that  they  do 
not  care  for  protection  for  their  industries.  I  wish  that 
many  may  take  the  same  position,  and  that  those  who  do  not 
need  protection  will  ask  to  be  relieved  from  it. 

Mr.  Eliodoro  Infante  V.,  Charge  d'Afl'aires  and  delegate 
from  Chile,  has  requested  to  have  his  part  in  the  Congress 
deferred  until  to-morrow. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  now  the  delegate  fmm 
Iquicjue,  Chile.  Mr.  John  A.  Myers.     (Applause.) 

John  A.  Myers.  Ph.  I).: 

The  subject  that  has  been  assigned  to  me  for  discussion  to- 
day is  nitrate  of  soda,  a  blessing  to  the  arts  and  to  agriculture. 

Perhaps  the  first  question  that  should  be  considered  is, 
what,  in  common  phraseology,  is  nitrate  of  soda?  The 
answer  to  this  is,  that  nitrate  of  soda  is  called,  by  chemists, 
sodium  nitrate.  It  is  sold  and  recognized  in  commerce 
either  as  Chile  saltpetre  or  as  nitrate  of  soda.  Scientifically, 
it  is  a  fixed  compound,  closely  related  in  chemical  nature 
to  the  potassium  nitrate  or  nitre  of  commerce,  which  is  so 
largely  used  in  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder,  explosives, 
etc.;  the  difference  between  the  nitrate  of  .soda  and  the 
nitre  being  that  sodium  in  the  nitrate  of  soda  takes  the 
place  of  potassium  in  the  nitre.  For  the  purposes  in  which 
we  are  interested,  the  valuable  portion  of  this  compound  is 
the  nitrogen.  When  nitrate  of  soda  is  chemically  pure, 
there  is  present  16.4  per  cent,  of  this  element,  but  the  nitrate 
of  soda  of  commerce  usually  contains  approximately  5  per 
cent,  of  impiirities,  5  degrees  of  refraction,  consequently  the 
commercial  article  usually  contains  about  15.75  per  cent,  of 
nitrogen.  It  is  shipped  into  this  country  in  sacks  weighing 
from  280  to  300  pounds,  the  variation  being  largely  due  to 
the  quantity  of  moisture  contained  in  the  crystals.  In  ap- 
pearance it  does  not  differ  materially  from  impure  salt. 

Nitrate  of  soda  is  a  natural  product  existing  in  enormous 
quantities  in  the  arid  regions  of  Chile,  where  it  is  mined  in 
the  crude  state  in  the  form  of  caliche.  The  caliche  is  broken 
into  lumps,  dissolved  in  water,  and  by  the  application  of 
well  known  chemical  principles,  the  nitrate  of  soda  is  sepa- 
rated from  the  impurities  by  crystalization. 


254 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


The  centre  of  the  nitrate  of  soda  industry  is  Iquique,  a  city 
of  about  30,0D0  inhabitants,  existing  under  the  most  artifi- 
cial conditions.  They  have  neither  food,  water,  nor  fuel, 
except  as  it  is  transported  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  people 
engaged,  in  one  form  or  another,  in  the  nitrate  industry. 

The  nitrate  fields  are  estimated  to  cover  220,356  acres  and 
to  contain  227,939,893  long  tons  of  sodium  nitrate.  Tlie 
total  production  is  said  to  have  been: 

In  1884,  550,000  tons;  1885,  420,000;  l.S8(;,  443,000;  188T, 
702,000;  1888,  779,000;  1889,  903,000;  1890,  1,009,000;  1891, 
877,000;  1892,  804,000;  1893,  938,871;  1894,  1,082,285;  1895, 
1,220,000;  1896,  1,092,000. 

The  importations  into  the  Atlantic  Coast  ports  of  the 
United  States  were: 

For  1897,  approximately,  98,750  tons;  for  1898,  approxi- 
mately, 130,580  tons. 

The  consumption  for  1899  to  date  is  approximately  thi' 
same  as  for  1898. 

These  figures  do  not  include  the  importations  nn  the 
Pacific  Coast  of  the  I'nited  States,  which  are  steadily  in- 
creasing. 

In  1899,  up  to  September  1,  the  exports  to  the  United 
States  had  been  115,125  tons. 

The  distribution  of  nitrate  in  the  world  is  indicated  ap- 
j)roximately  as  follows: 

Thirty-nine  per  cent,  of  tlie  total  product  goes  to  tiermany, 
17  per  cent,  to  France,  15  per  cent,  to  the  United  States,  12 
per  cent,  to  Great  Britain,  1-0  per  cent,  to  Belgium,  and  the 
remainder  is  distributed  among  other  countries. 

The  consumption  of  nitrate  of  soda  by  a  country  may  l)e 
considered  as  giving  a  fair  indication  of  the  develoj)ment  of 
its  chemical  industries,  as  well  as  in  a  measure  the  intensity 
of  its  system  of  agriculture. 

In  this  connection  I  may  say  that  in  the  United  States 
there  are  about  twenty-one  different  chemical  industries 
uhicii  rely  for  their  profit  and  success,  eitlier  wholly  or  in 
part,  upon  the  facility  and  cheaj)ness  with  which  they  are 
able  to  secure  nitrate  of  soda.  Wlien  we  remember  (1)  thai 
witliout  sulphuric  acid  the  extension  of  the  great  majority 
of  ciiemical  industries  in  this  country  would  be  impossible, 
and  (2)  that  without  the  use  of  nitrate  of  soda  in  the  present 
advancement  of  science  it  would  be  impossible  to  manufac- 
ture sulphuric  acid  cheaply,  its  importance  in  these  industries 
of  the  United  States  cannot  well  be  exaggerated.  It  is  true 
that  many  of  the  minor  industries  might  for  a  time  flourish 
if  the  importation  of  nitrate  were  stopped,  but  most  of  tlie 
more  important  ones  would  be  paralyzed  at  once,  as  tlie  ni- 
trate of  soda  contributes  directly  to  their  success. 

i'lfforts  have  been  made  to  liiid  this  valualile  chemical 
compound  within  the  boundaries  of  this  country,  liut,  while 
it  is  found  here  in  small  quantities,  the  supply  is  not  ade- 
quate to  meet  the  demands  of  agi'iculture.  Kven  in  tln' 
arid  regions,  where  it  might  be  exjiected  to  exist,  it  has  not 
been  found  in  sufficient  quantity  to  be  utilized.  In  fact, 
while  it  is  found  in  various  portions  of  the  world,  it  is  only 
in  the  desert  regions  of  Chile  that  we  find  a  large  amount  of 
this  valuable  product.  There  the  continued  iiclivity  of  micro- 
organisms through  uncounted  ages  has  st<ire(l  up  a  supjdv 
sufficient  to  meet  the  deniaiids  of  the  entire  civilized  world 
for  at  least  a  hundred  years  to  eoinc,  at  the  jiresent  rate  of 
consumption. 

These  beds  of  natural  nitrate  of  soda  were  jjrescrved  in 
the  barren  and  desert  regions,  undisturbed  by  the  band  of 
man,  until  within  the  last  fifty  years,  and  were  protected 
from  solution  by  tin'  muuntain  chains  to  the  east  of  them. 
They  remained  unuseil  until  they  were  required  by  the  prog- 
ress of  our  civilization.  Just  as  our  beds  of  coal  represent 
the  accumulated  energy  of  the  sun,  which  has  been  stored 
away  in  the  compressed  vegetation  of  wonderful  periods  of 


plant  growth,  so  these  beds  of  caliche  represent  the  accu- 
mulated activity  of  micro-organisms  upon  organic  matter 
through  long  periods.  As  the  former  supphes  the  energy 
for  developing  our  steam  power  and  electricitj',  so  the  latter 
supplies  the  materials  for  driving  the  chemical  industries  of 
the  world,  and  for  the  development  of  an  intensive  system 
of  agriculture. 

The  other  day,  on  the  twenty-eighth  floor  of  one  of  our 
tall  buildings  in  New  York,  I  amused  myself  by  taking  a 
powerful  field  gla.ss  and  for  a  short  time  studying  the  extent 
of  the  industries  within  the  range  of  vision.  The  atmos- 
phere was  particularly  favorable,  and  with  a  powerful  glass 
one  could  see,  with  moderate  distinctness,  objects  within 
twenty  miles.  The  chemical  works  scattered  over  the  neigh- 
boring sections  of  New  Jersey,  the  island  of  Manhattan,  and 
Long  Island,  could  in  many  cases  be  distinguished  by  the 
clouds  of  steam,  tlie  smoke,  and  the  fumes  that  were  rising 
from  them.  There  were  to  be  seen  chemical  industries  in 
full  activity,  representing  more  in  money,  in  time,  and  in 
labor  than  the  entire  manufacturing  enterprises  of  any  an- 
cient civilization;  chemical  industries  greater  than  those  of 
the  Chinese  Empire,  with  its  402,680,000  people;  or  than  that 
of  India,  with  its  287,223,000  people;  greater  than  those  of 
the  entire  United  States  of  thirty  years  ago;  and  with  the 
exception  of  about  four  countries  in  Europe,  greater  than 
those  of  any  civilized  country.  Concealed  beneath  those 
clouds  of  fumes  and  smoke,  carefully  guiding  the  operations 
of  those  great  manufacturing  enterprises,  were  the  skilled 
chemists,  trained  in  tliis  country  and  abroad,  who  were  bring- 
ing to  bear  upon  their  respective  industries,  the  highest 
knowledge  and  most  accomplished  skill  that  can  be  attained 
in  the  lalxiratories  of  this  or  foreign  countries.  It  cannot 
be  forgotten  that  one  of  the  chief  starting  points  for  all  this 
industry,  representing  the  investment  of  millions  upon  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  is  the  nitrate  of  soda.  Without  it,  most  of 
these  industries  could  not  be  carried  on,  as  they  are  largely 
dependent  upon  it,  directly  or  indirectly. 

But  it  is  not  alone  of  its  value  in  developing  the  chemical 
industries  of  the  country  that  I  would  speak.  A  little  while 
ago  I  referred  to  the  fact  that  nitrate  of  soda  was  produced 
by  the  action  of  micro-organisms,  but  in  inadequate  supplies, 
in  our  agricultural  lands.  Under  the  conditions  of  climate 
and  soil  now  prevailing,  this  activity  of  microscopic  life  con- 
tinues, perhaps  not  with  the  intensity  of  ages  past,  yet  with 
sufficient  intensity  to  meet  the  demands  of  a  limited  crop. 
1  f  an  agriculturist  is  fortunate  enough  to  secure  fresh  land, 
where  the  conditions  are  especially  favorable  for  the  activity 
of  these  micro-organisms,  he  is  able  to  secure  a  larger  crop 
I  ban  where  he  is  operating  upon  lands  which  have  been 
under  cultivation  for  one  or  more  generations. 

The  exhaustion  of  the  soil  and  the  wastage  of  plant  food 
that  continually  goes  on  during  the  agricultural  operations 
(if  the  farmer,  long  since  attracted  the  attention  of  scientific 
men,  and  they  have  sought  in  various  ways  to  prevent  it. 
One  (if  the  most  gigantic  strides  in  modern  chemistry  was 
the  fdniiulation  of  methods  for  the  manufacture  of  artificial 
fertilizers.  It  marked  an  era  in  the  advancement  of  our 
civilization  when  successful  chemists  in  almost  every  country 
sought  to  utilize  the  plant  food  that  had  accumulated  as  liy- 
pKidiicts  in  manufaciuring  operations,  or  which  existed  in 
crude,  naliii'al  form.  This  plant  food  is  found,  in  its  natural 
stale,  ill  ilie  form  of  pdtash  salts,  in  connection  with  beds  of 
reck  salt,  in  (iermany;  it  is  found  in  liniies  m-  phosphatic 
residues,  which  represent  all  that  is  left  of  the  swarming 
animal  life  that  jiojuilated  the  earth  in  the  [last;  it  is  pro- 
duced also  as  a  by-product  in  the  manufacture  of  steel.  From 
the  beds  of  caliche,  in  the  rainless  regions  of  Chi-le,  we  pro- 
cure arn]ile  supplies  of  nitrogen  as  nitrate  of  soda,  for  meet- 
ing the  demands  for  agricultural  purposes.     And  where  the 


THIETEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  27,  1899 


■255 


skillful  chemist  combines  the  products  of  the  pliosphate 
mines  of  the  United  States  with  those  of  the  potash  mines 
of  Germany  and  the  nitrate  mines  of  Chile,  he  produces  a 
complete  chemical  fertilizer  surpassing  in  efiicieucy,  certainty 
of  action,  and  convenience  of  application,  any  natural  fertili- 
zer that  has  ever  been  produced,  and  where  land  or  crops 
do  not  require  all  three  of  these  ingredients,  they  may  be 
appFied  separately. 

One  hundred  years  ago  it  had  not  occured  to  scientific 
men  to  attempt  to  use  this  plant  food  accumulated  in  the 
form  of  potash  salts  and  phosphate  beds  and  nitrate  of  soda. 
This  is  all  comparatively  new,  but  so  rapid  has  been  the 
progress  that  in  this  country  alone  a  business  of  at  least 
$50,000,000  is  done  in  fertilizers  annually.  Who  would 
have  thought  that  by  the  destruction  of  the  wonderful  ani- 
mal life  of  the  past  there  was  being  prepared  the  means  for 
supporting  the  human  life  of  the  present?  When  the  sun 
pumped  dry  the  inland  lakes  of  Germany  and  left  the  crys- 
tallized residues  to  be  buried  far  beneath  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  who  could  have  dreamed  that  there  was  being  stored 
up  the  element  for  sweetening  the  wine,  for  stiffening  the 
straw  and  for  improving  the  quality  of  the  food  products  of 
the  present  age  ?  Who  could  have  imagined  that  the  swarm- 
ing microscopic  life  acting  through  the  ages  could  succeed 
in  providing,  from  organic  matter,  the  most  concentrated, 
the  cheapest  and  the  most  active  plant  food  now  upon  the 
market  in  the  form  of  nitrate  of  soda? 

A  year  or  two  ago  the  distinguished  president  of  the 
British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  Sir 
Wm.  Crooks,  called  the  attention  of  the  world  to  the  possi- 
bility of  a  wheat  famine,  due  to  the  exhaustion  of  the  nitro- 
gen of  the  soil.  More  recently  a  distinguished  scientist, 
Prof.  Bela  Kovascy,  has  warned  Hungary  that  that  country 
cannot  continue  indefinitely  to  impoverish  its  soil  by  the 
cultivation  of  wheat,  without  suffering  in  the  near  future 
from  inadequate  production.  Both  Prof.  Crooks  and  Prof. 
Kovascy  have  pointed  out  that  it  is  necessary  for  the  farmer 
to  consider  the  restoration  of  the  nitrogen  supply  to  the  soil. 
Both  have  mentioned  nitrate  of  soda  as  at  present  forming  the 
cheapest  and  most  important  natural  sotirce  from  which  to 
derive  the  supplies  of  nitrogen. 

Last  summer  the  chemist  of  the  North  Dakota  Experi- 
ment Station,  Prof.  E.  F.  Ladd,  told  me  that  chemical  analy- 
sis of  the  soil  of  the  great  Eed  Eiver  Valley,  which  for  years 
had  been  furnishing  more  wheat  than  any  other  quarter  of 
the  globe,  shows  that  there  has  been  a  gradual  falling  off  of 
the  nitrogen  supply  in  those  wonderful  wheat  lands,  and  that 
the  farmers  are  beginning  to  feel  that  sometliing  is  wrong 
with  them,  although  the  time  has  not  yet  arrived  for  them 
to  properly  appreciate  the  value  of  chemical  fertilizers. 

Prof.  Ladd  said  that  in  lands  which  had  been  under  wheat 
cultivation  for  twenty  years  the  nitrogen  supply  there  in  the 
soil  has  fallen  from  a  total  of  from  8,000  to  10,000  pounds 
per  acre  to  from  3,000  to  6,000  pounds  per  acre,  with  a  cor- 
responding decrease  per  year  in  the  yield  of  wheat.  He 
stated  further  that  the  farmers  of  that  section  are  pursuing  a 
wasteful  system  of  agriculture;  that  for  every  pound  of 
nitrogen  that  is  removed  from  their  land  by  growing  crops 
four  or  five  pounds  of  nitrogen  are  wasted.  This  is  going 
on  in  land  of  such  extraordinary  physical  and  chemical 
properties  that  the  wheat  plant  has  a  remarkable  opportu- 
nity for  seeking  food.  I  have  seen  wheat  plants  that  had 
grown  in  that  soil  washed  out  under  the  careful  manipula- 
tion of  a  member  of  that  experiment  station  staff.  The 
roots  had  penetrated  to  a  perpendicular  depth  of  five  feet. 
It  is  not  impossible  that  some  of  this  remarkable  work  of  that 
experiment  station  will  be  exhibited  at  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion. 

Scientific  men  like  Sir  Wm.  Crooks  and  Prof.  Kovascy  and 


Prof.  Ladd  may  call  attention  to  the  impending  danger  and 
point  out  the  means  whereby  it  may  be  averted,  but  can  they 
check  the  farmer  in  his  wild  extravagance,  in  his  wastefulness 
of  the  bounties  of  nature?  I  doubt  it.  At  least  not  until  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  principles  of  scientific  agricul- 
ture and  of  proper  fertilization  of  the  soil  is  more  generally 
diffused. 

We  may  confidently  expect  that  the  time  is  not  far  dis- 
tant when  the  intelligent  farmers  of  that  section  will  realize 
that  it  is  cheaper  to  increase  the  yield  of  their  wheat  fields 
from  five  to  ten  btishels  per  acre,  by  the  judicious  use  of  150 
pounds  of  nitrate  of  soda,  than  it  is  to  continue  to  farm  them 
at  constantly  increasing  cost  and  at  constantly  decreasing 
yield. 

In  the  crowded  countries  of  Europe,  where  intensive  farm- 
ing is  more  generally  pursued  than  in  this  country,  the  value 
of  this  powerful  stimulating  fertilizer  has  long  since  been 
recognized,  but  it  is  not  so  generally  known  in  the  United 
States.  I  said  that  our  chemical  fertilizers  were  composed  of 
the  waste  products  of  the  present  and  of  past,  but  in  com- 
pounding these  chemical  fertilizers  our  manufacturers  too 
often  attempt  to  produce  a  fertilizer  of  medium  or  low  nitro- 
gen content,  without  properly  considering  the  availability  of 
the  nitrogen  which  they  are  using,  and  the  farmers  of  the 
country  have  not  acquainted  themselves  sufRciently  with  the 
value  of  the  different  combinations  of  plant  food  to  appre- 
ciate the  necessity  of  having  the  nitrogen  supply  in  com- 
mercial fertilizers  in  a  form  which  will  readily  become  avail- 
able for  plant  food.  The  most  serious  criticism,  perhaps, 
which  can  be  made  upon  the  commercial  fertilizers  manu- 
factured in  the  United  States,  is  that  for  general  purposes 
their  nitrogen  content  is  too  low,  and  there  is  hardly  a  fer- 
tilizer prepared  in  this  country  which  may  not  be  much  im- 
proved either  by  the  addition  of  nitrate  of  soda,  or  by  hav- 
ing nitrate  of  soda  applied  as  a  supplemental  fertilizer  dur- 
ing the  early  period  of  plant  growth. 

What  has  been  said  in  regard  to  wheat  is  quite  applicable 
to  other  cereals,  and  in  the  great  Northwest,  where  there  has 
been  a  reduction  in  the  producing  capacity  of  the  soil  for 
wheat,  there  is  also,  as  a  rule,  a  corresponding  reduction  in 
the  jiroducing  capacity  for  all  the  other  cereals.  As  a  sort 
of  rest  to  the  land,  the  farmers  may  sometimes  change  to  oats 
or  barley,  but  in  either  case  they  continue  the  exhaustion  of 
the  soil. 

I  have  purposely  selected  the  great  wheat  fields  of  the 
Northwest  as  illustrating  a  principle  that  has  been  disas- 
trously applied  to  all  the  great  producing  sections  of  this 
country.  T  care  not  whether  you  refer  to  the  States  of  the 
East,  Middle  West,  or  to  the  Pacific  Slope.  This  summer, 
in  the  Association  of  Agricultural  College  Presidents  and 
Expeiiment  Station  Directors  who  visited  California.  I  doubt 
whether  there  was  one  of  that  body  of  scientific  men  who 
was  not  impressed  with  the  fact  that  even  there,  where 
Nature  has  apparently  dealt  more  generously  than  elsewhere 
in  the  world,  in  providing  available  plant  food,  are  evidences 
of  the  effect  of  continuous  soil  robbery.  In  fact.  Nature  is 
not  so  constittvted,  that  man,  by  wasteful  habits  and  the 
application  of  false  principles  of  agriculture,  may  not 
finally  exhaust  the  greatest  stores  of  plant  food  that  she  has 
seen  fit  to  place  at  his  command.  The  present  generation  is 
wasting  the  fertility  of  the  rich,  new  wheat  lands  of  the 
Northwest,  as  a  former  generation  impoverished  the  rich 
agricultural  lands  of  the  East  and 'Middle  West,  and  this 
wastage  has  begun  already  to  bear  its  fruits  in  the  failure  of 
soil  to  produce  remunerative  crops.  In  many  sections  of  the 
Eastern  and  Southern  states,  the  farmers  have  arrived  at  a 
point  where  they  do  not  think  of  attempting  to  grow  a  crop 
withcuit  first  fertilizing  their  land.  The  wheat  lands  of  many 
sections  of  the  Northwest  and  of  Oregon  and  California  are 


250 

aUo  rapidlv  aj.proaching  this  stage  of  exhaustion.  The  advice 
of  scientific  men  should  be  sought,  and  their  expenmental 
work  made  (he  basis  of  agTieultural  practice. 

In  till'?  connection  I  desire  to  say  a  word  concerning  the 
scientific  work  that  is  going  on  at  the  American  agricultural 
experiment  station?.  The  government  of  this  countij  pro- 
vide*  bounf  if  idly— perhaps  more  bountifully  than  any  other 
government  in  the  world— for  the  support  of  scientific  inves- 
tigations bearing  upon  subjects  relating  to  agriculture. 

In  the  endowment  of  the  agricultural  experiment  stations 
and  a<rricultural  colleges  of  the  United  States,  there  has  been 
laid  a^foundation  for  scientific  work,  the  extent  and  import- 
ance of  which  no  man  can  even  form  a  conjecture.     In  this 
country  a  stalf  of  over  COO  scientific  men,  employed  in  more 
than  fifty  experiment  stations,  are  pre.ssing  many  of  the  great 
problems  relating  to  scientific  agriculture  to   solution,  and 
publishing  to  the  world  the  results  of  their  work.     It  may 
be  of  interest  to  you  to  know  that  at  more  than  thirty  of 
these  experiment  stations,  scientific  work  is  being  conducted 
upon  the  eifect  of  nitrate  of  soda  upon  the  various  soils  and 
crops,  under  a  gi'eat  variety    of    meteorological    conditions, 
and  under  various  systems    of    cultivation.      These    experi- 
ments consider  nitrate  of  soda  alone,  in  varying  quantities, 
and  also  in  combination  with  other  elements  of  fertility.    At 
some  of  these  experiment  stations  work  has  been  going  on 
for  several  years;  at  others  it  has  recently  been  inaugurated. 
Similar  careful  scientific  work  is  being  conducted  in  most  of 
the  European  countries,  notably  in   Germany,   France   and 
England.    Perhaps  there  has  never  been  a  compound  offered 
to  Uie  scientific  experimenters  that  has  attracted  wider  at- 
tention on  account  of  the  certainty,  unifonnity  and  accuracy 
with  which  results  may  be  obtained.     Its  importance  as  a 
source  of  instantly  available  ])lant  food  is  so  great  that  scien- 
tific men  of  world-wide  reputation  have  deemed  it  a  fit  sub- 
ject for  study  and  experimentation.    Dr.  Paul  Wagner,  Prof. 
Miircker,  and  others  in  Germany;  Lawes  it  Gilbert.  Dr.  Bern- 
ard Dyer,  Dr.  Voleker,  and  others  in  England;  Profs.  Cas- 
sarini,' Migneaux,  Cadoret,  and  many  others  in  France;  Prof. 
Bernardo  Giner  Alino  and  others  in  Spain;  and  Drs.  Voor- 
hees,  Wheeler,  Brooks,  Thorne,    Eedding,    Scovell,    Stubbs. 
Patterson,  Armsby,  Jenkins  and  others  in  this  country,  have 
devoted  a  large  share  of  personal  attention  to  scientific  ex- 
periments with  it,  in  ascertaining  and  applying  its  properties 
to  the  solution  of  fertilizer  problems.    It  would  be  no  difficult 
task  to  catalogue  the  names  of  more  than  one  hundred  scien- 
tific men,  who  within  the  last  two  years  have  contributed 
original  investigations  increasing  our  knowledge  of  the  prop- 
ertTes  and  uses  of  nitrate  of  soda.     Some  of  their  investiga- 
tions have  been  going  on  in  most  civilized  countries,  and  have 
appeared  in  at  least  a  dozen  different  languages.    Manifestly, 
the  time  at  my  disposal  will  not  permit  me  to  mention  in  de- 
tail the  work  that  has  been  done  by  the  gentlemen  whom  1 
have  named,  and  by  many  others  whom  I  have  not  mentioned, 
illustrating  the  certainty  with  which  this  compound  acts  upon 
vegetation,  the  character  of  its  effect  upon  plant  growth,  the 
ease  and  accuracy  with  which  it  nuxy  be  aiiplied  to  agricul- 
tural crops,  and  the  financial   profits  that  may   be  derived 
from  its  use. 

The  uniformitv  of  the  results  obtained  by  these  gentlemen 
may  be  classified  as  follows: 

1.  The  nitrate  of  soda  acts  very  beneficially  and  with  ,^rcat 
certainty  upon  all  straw-growing  plants. 

2.  It  is  of  special  value  for  forcing  rajud  deveinpmmt  ami 
early  maturity  of  most  garden  crops. 

.3.  It  is  of  exceeding  importance  in  the  ]n-oduetii>u  >>l'  -i;^;ii 
beets,  potatoes,  hops,  fodder  crops,  fibre  i)lants  and  tobarcn, 

■1.  It  is  exceedingly  valuable  in  developing  and  maintain- 
ing meadow  grass  and  pasture  lands. 


THIKTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


.5.  In  the  early  stages  of  development  it  produces  favor- 
able results  upon  peas,  vetches,  lupines  and  clover. 

6.  It  has  been  applied  with  great  advantage  to  various 
kinds  of  berries,  bush  fruits,  vineyards,  orchards  and  nurs- 
ery stock. 

7.  It  provides  the  means,  in  the  hands  of  the  farmer,  for 
stimulating  his  crops  to  enable  them  to  better  withstand  the 
ravages  of  drought,  or  the  onslaughts  of  plant  diseases  or 
insect  pests. 

8.  It  may  be  used  as  a  surface  application  to  the  soil,  from 
time  to  time,  as  the  plants  indicate  by  their  color  and  growth 
that  it  is  required. 

9.  It  is  immediately  available,  and  under  favorable  con- 
ditions its  effect  upon  many  crops  may  frequently  begin  to 
be  noticed  within  a  few  hours  after  its  application. 

10.  It  may  be  used  either  as  a  special  fertilizer,  as  a  sup- 
plemental fertilizer,  or  as  a  mixed  fertilizer,  in  -combination 
with  other  fertilizer  ingredient*. 

11.  The  best  results  are  obtained  from  its  application  when 
the  soil  has  been  treated  with  ample  supplies  of  available 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash  salts,  or  where  these  are  already 
present  in  ample  sujiplies  in  the  soil.  It  should  always  be 
remembered  that  it  furnishes  but  one  element  of  plant  food, 
namely,  nitrogen. 

12.  Its  uniform  action  seems  to  be  to  stimulate  the  powers 
of  the  plant  for  absorbing  water  and  developing  foliage  and 
plant  growth.  Its  action  is  characterized  by  imparting  to 
the  plant  a  deep  green,  healthy  appearance,  and  by  causing 
it  to  grow  rapidly  or  to  put  out  numbers  of  new  shoots. 

13.  The  immediate  effect  of  an  application  of  nitrate  of 
soda,  therefore,  is  to  develop  a  much  larger  plant  growth, 
and  the  skillful  application  of  potash  salts  and  phosphoric 
acid  must  be  relied  upon  to  act  in  combination  with  this 
effect,  to  secure  the  largest  yields  of  fruits  and  grain. 

11.  Under  favorable  conditions  of  moisture  and  cultiva- 
tiim,  these  effects  may  be  confidently  anticipated  upon  all 
kinds  of  soils.  . 

1.5.  All  of  the  plant  food  contained  m  nitrate  ot  soda  is 
available  and  existing  in  a  highly  soluble  form.  The  farmer 
should  understand  that  it  is  not  economical  to  apply  more  of 
it  than  can  be  utilized  bv  the  growing  crop,  one  of  the  most 
valuable  qualities  of  this  fertilizer  being  that  it  does  not  lie 
dormant  in  the  soil  from  one  season  to  the  next. 

IG.  The  best  results  are  secured  when  it  is  applied  during 
the  early  growing  periods  of  the  plant,  and  if  applied  later 
in  the  development  of  the  plant,  it  has  a  tendency  to  pro- 
tract its  growing  period,  and  to  delay  the  ripening  of  the 
fruit,  as  the  energies  of  the  plant  are  immediately  concen- 
trated upon  developing  plant  growth,  after  a  liberal  applica- 
tion of  nitrate  of  soda. 

17.  The  farmer  must  not  expect  it  to  excuse  him  from 
applving  proper  principles  of  land  drainage,  or  cultivation 
of  the  s'oil,  lior  should  the  nitrate  of  soda  be  used  in  exces- 
sive quantities  too  close  to  the  plants  that  are  fertilized  with 
it  I'or  most  agricultural  crops,  an  application  of  100  to 
1.50  pounds  to  file  acre  is  ample.  Where  a  liighly  intensive 
svMem  of  farming  is  pursued,  should  it  be  desirable  to  apply 
mcn-e  nitrate,  it  should  be  done  in  broken  doses  of  not  exceed- 
ing loO  pounds  to  the  acre,  at  intervals  of  not  less  than  two 
weeks  between  the  applications. 

18.  It  mav  be  applied  to  either  agricultural  or  garden 
buuU  either  "in  the  form  of  a  solution  in  water,  or  by  sowing 
it  broadcast  upon  the  land,  or  bv  means  of  any  fertilizer  dis- 
tributing machine  in  use.  If  applied  in  the  dry  state,  in 
(U-der  to  insure  uniform  distribution,  a  convenient  method  is 
i„  mix  it  with  twice  its  weight  of  air-slacked  lime  land 
pla<ter  potash  salts,  phosphates,  or  even  with  sand,  before 
ai.plving  it.  It  can  be  supplied  to  the  surface  and  without 
cultivation  will  be  alKsorbed  bv  the  soil,  or  it  may  be  culti- 


LEO  VOSSEN. 
Aachen.  Germany. 

Prof.  CARLO  BETOCCHI. 

Naples.  Italy. 


Dh.  V03BERG-REK0W. 

Berlin,  Germany. 

GUSTAV  H.  RICHTER, 
Georgetown.  British  Guiana. 


JOSHUA   L.  MADURO, 
Panama.  Colombia. 

EDMUND  WIRTH. 

SoRAu.  Germany. 


T.  MIZUTANY. 
Tokyo.  Japan. 


PIETRO  TAPPARI, 
Florence.  Italy. 


Prof.  MARIO  SALVINI, 
Florence,  Italy. 


THIRTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  27,  1899 


257 


vated  into  the  soil  by  some  light  agricultural  implement,  such 
as  a  harrow,  weeder,  cultivator  or  horse  hoe.  The  capillary 
movement  of  the  soil  waters  will  distribute  it  in  the  soil,  but 
excessive  rains  immediately  after  its  application  may  largely 
wash  it  out  of  the  soil. 

It  is  not  possible  for  me  to  give  credit  to  the  labors  of  dis- 
tingiushed  men  whose  work  has  contributed  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  knowledge  summarized  in  the  foregoing  state- 
ments, but  the  principles  above  indicated  may  be  considered 
as  being  as  well  established  as  most  principles  applied  to  agri- 
cultural science.  The  nitrate  of  soda  is  so  uniform  and  reliable 
in  its  action  upon  plant  growth,  that  it  is  now  generally  ac- 
cepted as  the  standard  of  comparison  for  all  fertilizer  experi- 
ments involving  the  comparison  of  the  fertilizing  value  of 
dilTerent  sources  of  nitrogen.  It  has  been  a  most  valuable 
means  of  enabling  scientific  investigators  to  study  the  prob- 
lems of  plant  growth  and  fertilization,  and  without  it,  it  is 
probable  that  much  of  our  present  knowledge  of  these  prin- 
ciples would  not  have  been  secured. 

In  connection  with  this  I  want  to  exhibit  to  you  some  of  the 
results  of  experiments  with  nitrate  of  soda  by  Professor  Wag- 
ner, of  Germany,  upon  beets,  showing  the  regularity  of  an  in- 
creased quantity  of  nitrate  upon  a  soil  especially  prepared  for 
the  purpose.  (Showing  diagrams  of  stock  beets.)  These  soils 
are  prepared,  as  carefully  mixed  as  a  chemist  can  mix  them, 
and  this  (referring  to  diagram)  represents  the  producing 
capacity  of  the  soil  for  beets,  without  any  nitrate  of  soda, 
and  then  they  begin  by  adding  one,  two,  three,  four  and  five 
portions  as  additional  rations.  I  want  to  say  that  this  rep- 
resents some  of  the  finest  scientific  work  that  has  ever  been 
done  in  any  case.  (Applause.)  What  I  showed  you  was  upon 
stock  beets,  or  beets  for  feeding  cattle. 

Here  we  have  its  effects  on  the  celebrated  sugar  beets. 
(Exhibiting  diagram.)  Here  is  a  little  variation  in  the  ex- 
periment. This  shows  the  production  of  the  natural  soil. 
Here  we  add  a  ration  of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid  without 
any  nitrate  of  soda,  furiously  enough,  this  produces  a 
reduction.  Then  we  begin  by  adding  one,  two,  three  and 
four  portions  of  nitrate  of  soda.  I  had  other  illustrations 
that  I  expected  to  .show  you,  but  somehow,  through  the 
express  company,  they  have  not  succeeded  in  reaching  me. 
To  Germany  we  owe  this  magnificent  work,  but  in  this  coun- 
try much  similar  work  has  been  done.     (Applause.) 

Accepting  the  conclusions  of  these  scientific  men  as  being 
correct,  we  may  confidently  anticipate  a  much  larger  con- 
sumption of  nitrate  of  soda  by  farmers  engaged  in  highly 
intensive  systems  of  gardening  or  agi-iculture.  We  may 
expect  a  large  exteuision  of  its  use  in  the  sugar  beet  indus- 
ry,  in  the  hop  industry,  in  the  fruit  and  grape  industries, 
in  the  cultivation  of  tobacco  and  filn-e  plants,  and  also  in  the 
extensive  grain  fields  which  are  gradually  becoming  impov- 
erished all  over  this  country.  Generally  the  first  element  in 
the  soil  that  becomes  exhausted  is  the  nitrogen,  and  in  a 
large  percentage  of  cases  greatly  increased  yields  of  grain 
and  garden  crops  may  be  secured  by  the  use  of  nitrate  of 
soda  as  a  special  fertilizer.  In  most  cases  it  is  found  [>rofit- 
able  to  use  it  as  a  supplemental  fertilizer  to  the  ordinary 
commercial  fertilizers  in  the  market,  for  the  reason  that 
nearly  all  of  them  contain  too  small  a  supply  of  available 
nitrogen  to  properly  balance  the  amounts  of  phosphoric  acid 
and  potash  in  them.  We  confidently  expect  to  see  the  ferti- 
lizer manufacturers  in  this  country  using  more  and  more  of 
this  valuable  salt  in  compounding  their  complete  fertilizers. 
It  is  one  of  the  cheapest  sources  of  nitrogen  availalile  for  com- 
pounding mixed  fertilizers,  and  as  farmers  become  acquainted 
with-  its  important  qualities  they  should  and  will  insist  upon 
the  introduction  of  more  nitrate  of  soda  into  the  mixed  fer- 
tilizers of  the  market. 

I  think  from  what  I  have  said  that  no  one  can  fail  to  be 


convinced  that  nitrate  of  soda  is  one  of  the  most  important 
compounds  entering  into  the  agricultural  and  manufacturing 
industries  of  this  country.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  evidence 
offered  is  sufficient  to  convince  any  one  that  it  is  an  exceed- 
ingly valuable  product,  and  that  an  increased  use  of  it  must 
largely  contribute  to  the  material  advancement  of  these  in- 
terests in  the  United  States.  Approximately,  three-fourths 
of  the  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  the  Re])ub- 
lic  of  C'hile  is  represented  by  the  contributions  of  Chile  to 
the  material  development  of  this  great  republic  in  the  expoi-t 
of  this  indispensable  article  to  the  United  States.  Without 
it,  it  would  be  difficult  or  impossible  for  many  of  its  greatest 
chemical  industries  to  flourish,  and  in  the  present  develop- 
ment of  agricultural  science  it  appears  that  the  time  is  not 
far  distant  when,  if  the  American  grain  producers  would 
compete  with  the  cheap  lands  and  still  cheaper  labor  of  other 
countries  in  furnishing  food  jjroduets  to  the  world,  it  will 
be  necessary  for  them  to  study  and  carefully  apply  a  more 
scientific  and  intensive  system  of  agriculture  than  they  have 
been  practicing,  to  understand  more  fully  than  they  have  in 
the  past  the  facilities  offered  by  this  wonderful  provision 
of  nature  for  overcoming  the  difficulties  pressing  upon  them. 
If  it  is  a  good  thing  to  consume  a  small  amount  of  nitrate 
of  soda,  would  it  not  be  profitable  to  increase  its  consump- 
tion? May  not  those  chemical  industries  be  largely  increased 
and  the  profits  of  those  agricultural  operations  be  assured, 
and  very  largely  increased  by  a  more  extended  consumption 
of  this  exceedingly  valuable  Chilean  product? 

Nature  in  her  distribution  of  riches  has  not  seen  fit  to 
concentrate  everythina;  within  the  borders  of  one  country. 
By  a  natural  exchange  of  commodities  all  countries  may  be 
benefited.  The  natural  resources  of  Chile,  existing  under 
favorable  conditions  for  agriculture  in  that  republic,  may  in 
this  republic  be  converted  into  merchantable  articles  of  fond 
demanded  by  a  swarming  European  population,  which  ex- 
changes its  labor  and  products  for  the  products  of  our  wheat 
fields,  so  that  we  may  have  a  chain  of  benefits  by  which  the 
producer  of  nitrate  in  Chile  is  made  rich,  the  American 
farmer  and  manufacturer  more  prosperous,  and  the  laboring 
liopulation  of  Europe  is  fed,  clithed  and  provided  with  an 
ample  supply  of  the  comforts  and  blessings  of  life.  Hurrah 
for  nitrate  of  soda!     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Henry  W.  Peabodi/: 

There  are  two  delegates  from  Central  America  remaining 
on  our  list,  from  whom  we  hope  to  hear.  First,  I  will  an- 
nounce to  you  the  delegate  from  Costa  Rica,  Mr.  Benjamin 
E.  Piza.     (Not  present.) 

Then,  shall  we  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  from  the  dele- 
gate from  Panama,  Mr.  Joshua  L.  Maduro? 

Joshua  L.  Madvro: 

My  subject  is  Panama,  and  I  want  to  promise  that  I  have 
purposely  refrained  from  touching,  in  this  paper,  on  climatic 
conditions  or  on  the  canal  question.  Both  these  subjects 
have  been  touched  upon  on  Canal  Day. 

Panama. 

It  is  time  I  made  myself  known  to  you  from  the  platform. 
I  think  I  have  been  the  longest  listener  at  this  Congress, 
having  attended  its  sessions  every  day,  morning  and  after- 
noon, with  two  exceptions.  I  propose  now  to  be  the  shortest 
speaker,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  keep  up  my  reputa- 
tion as  a  listener.  The  paper  I  am  about  to  read  is  com- 
piled from  the  few  statistics  obtainable  on  Panama.  They 
are,  however,  reliable.  My  own  experience  of  eighteen  years' 
residence  on  the  Isthmus  has  enabled  me  to  add  a  few  facts 
known  to  myself. 


f 


UNIVF 


258 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMJVfEliCIAL  CONGRESS 


Panama  is  one  of  the  nine  departments  of  the  Republic  of 
Colombia,  and  is  situated  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  Re- 
])ublie.  Its  boundaries  are,  north  by  the  Caribbean  Sea,  south 
by  the  Pacific  Ocean,  east  by  the  department  of  Cauca  and 
west  by  the  Republic  of  Costa  Rica.  Its  area  is  32,380  square 
miles,  of  which  one-half  is  inhahited.  The  population  is  esti- 
mated between  285.000  and  311,000.  Its  greatest  length  is 
420  miles;  its  widest  part,  118  miles,  and  its  naiTowest  in  a 
straisjhl  line,  31  miles.  Its  principal  ports  are  Panama  on  the 
Pacific  and  Colon  on  the  Atlantic.  There  are  several  minor 
ports  through  which  the  trade  between  the  capital  and  the 
provinces  is  conducted. 

The  department,  which  is  administered  by  a  governor 
nominated  from  Bogota,  is  divided  into  six  provinces, 
namely:  Panama,  capital,  Panama;  Colon,  capital.  Colon; 
X'eraguas,  capital,  Santiago;  Code,  capital,  Pemnome;  Chir- 
iqui,'^capital,  David;  Los  Santos,  capital,  Pese.  Each  of  the 
provinces  is  presided  over  by  a  prefect,  and  eacli  municipality 
liy  a  mayor.  The  whole  interior  of  Panama  is  in  telegraphic 
communication  with  the  capital. 

Tlie  minerals  to  be  found  in  Panama  are  gold,  copper, 
iron,  salt  and  manganese.  The  gold  and  manganese  mines 
have  already  been  partly  explored,  as  is  shown  'by  the  exist- 
ence of  at  least  three  gold  mining  companies — all  British;  and 
two  manganese  companies  owned  and  controlled  by  botli 
United  States  and  British  subjects. 

We  have  only  forty-eight  miles  of  railroad  in  the  whole 
department,  and  that  was  constructed  by  American  capital 
and  enteri)rise.  To-day,  its  shares  are  controlled  by  the 
Panama  Canal  Company,  who  require  the  road  for  the  uses 
of  the  canal,  the  works  of  which  are  in  progress. 

Our  trade  consists  of  $1,000,000  gold  value  of  exports,  and 
over  $2,000,000  gold  value  of  imports  per  year.  Our  exports 
consist  chiefly  of  pearls,  pearl  and  tortoise  shells,  rubber, 
ivory  nuts,  mahogany,  sarsaparilla,  ipecacuanha,  hides,  skins, 
cocoanuts,  bananas  and  cattle. 

Our  tariff  consists  of  a  ten  per  cent,  ad  valorem  duty  on 
the  gold  values  of  invoices  of  dry  goods,  and  of  a  specific 
duty  on  liquors. 

The  large  productions  of  silver  in  tlie  world  bave  affected 
our  market  tn  the  same  extent  as  other  countries  having  a 
silver  standard;  probably  a  little  less,  owing  to  the  existence 
in  our  midst  of  foreign  railroad  and  steamship  eomjianies 
who  pay  tiieir  employes  in  gold. 

The  rate  of  exchange  to-day  is  1.57  per  cent,  premium,  or 
$257  Panama  silver  for  every  $100  United  States  currency. 
Notice  the  difference  from  twenty  years  ago  when  I  came  to 
Panama.  Then  TTnitcd  States  gold  could  be  had  abundantly 
at  twelve  and  one-half  per  cent,  premium.  'I'o  gn  farther 
back,  and  take  as  my  authorities,  jnoneers  of  the  Isthmus 
with  whom  1  liave  come  in  contact,  gold  was  at  a  discount 
in  Panama  during  the  California  golden  times. 

I  have  to  add  that  Panama  is  governed  by  a  sjiecial  clause 
of  the  (Jonstitulion  of  the  Republic  of  (!olomliia;  hence,  its 
tariff,  as  well  as  its  monetary  system,  difi'er  widely  fnim  the 
other  departments.  Thus,  we  luive  no  paper  muiiiv  in  eii- 
culation,  nor  have  wo  exorbitant  import  duties  to  cope  with. 
Commerce  is,  and  always  has  been,  on  friendly  terms  with 
the  authorities,  who  have  shown  us  on  various  occasiim- 
the  highest  consideration.  Our  trade  with  the  United  Stales 
has  visibly  increased  since  1894;  and  we  iiope  to  see  it  in- 
crease from  year  to  year  with  this  great  Republic. 

I  want,  in  conclusion,  Mr.  Chainnan,  to  express  my  thanks 
to  the  I'hiladelphia  Museum,  and  fhrougli  that  Institution 
to  the  people  of  I'hiladelphia  for  the  hearty  vveleonie  with 
which  we  have  been  received,  and  the  courtesies  and  atten- 
tions and  hospitality  which  have  been  extended  to  us.  (Ap- 
plause.) 


Mr.  Henry  W.  Peahody: 

Before  closing  the  session  of  the  Congress,  Dr.  Wilson  has 
a  notice  to  give  you,  and  I  wash  to  say  just  a  few  words  to 
expressi  my  gratification  at  the  experience  which  I  have  had 
to-day  of  meeting  you  and  presiding  over  your  meeting.  And 
I  wish  also  to  say  that  I  would  like  to  be  known  by  you  gen- 
tlemen from  South  America  and  Central  America  as  being 
more  identified  with  you  than  jjerhaps  you  have  realized.  My 
business  in  its  own  nanu^  in  Merida  and  Yucatan.  So  we 
are,  in  a  sense,  Pan-Ameriean  as  well  as  North  American. 
(Applause.) 

Dr.  Wilson  will  now  nuike  an  announcement. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

It  was  placed  on  me  as  a  duty  the  other  day  to  appoint  a 
committee  for  the  consideration  of  all  resolutions  which  may 
come  before  this  Congi'ess.  In  response  to  the  action  of  the 
Congress,  I  shall  announce  the  committee  as  follows;  From 
Great  Britain,  Mr.  Henry  Sell,  of  the  London  Commercial 
Bureau.  (Applause.)  Mr.  William  Angus,  of  the  London 
Chamber  of  Commerce. 

From  Australasia,  Mr.  II.  Rofherham,  of  Melbourne,  Vic- 
toria. (Applause.)  Mr.  W.  T.  Todd,  of  the  Invercargill 
(New  Zealand)  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

From  Europe,  Mr.  Richard  Knoller,  delegate  from  the 
Austrian  Government,  and  Jlr.  Antonio  Ciiyas,  of  the  Madrid 
Chamber  of  Conimerce. 

From  the  Orient,  Mr.  William  Stuart  Davidson,  of  the 
Vladivostok  (Siberia),  Chamber  of  Conmierce. 

From  Africa,  Mr.  M.  Berliner,  of  the  Cape  Town  Chamber 
of  Commerce. 

From  the  West  Indies,  Mr.  Simon  Soutar,  of  the  Royal 
Jamaica  Agricidtural  Society  and  Merchants'  Exchange. 

From  South  America,  Mr.  J.  C.  Zimmerman,  of  the  Cam- 
ara  de  Comercio  de  la  Bolsa,  Buenos  Aires. 

From  the  United  States,  Mr.  William  Harper,  Chief  of 
the  Bureau  of  Information  of  the  Commercial  Museum.  Mr. 
J.  B.  Johnston,  President  of  the  Northwestern  Manufactur- 
ers' Association.  Mr.  N.  B.  Kelly,  of  the  Philadelhia  Trades 
League,  Secretary  of  the  organization  here,  and  Mr.  W.  II. 
Schoff,  Chief  of  the  Foreign  Department  of  the  Commercial 
Museum,  and  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  at 
Mollendo,  Peru. 

That  is  a  general  committee  to  which  all  resolutions  will 
be  referred. 

Mr.  Henri/  11'.  Peahodi/: 

There  being  no  further  business,  I  declare  the  Congress 
ailjourned  until  to-morrow. 

Direclor  11'.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  one  more  announcement  to  make.  Dr.  Johnston, 
delegate  from  the  Government  of  Jamaica,  a  noted  explorer, 
who  crossed  the  African  continent,  accompanied  only  tiy  na- 
tives, something  like  six  thousand  miles,  without  losing  a  man. 
will  lecture  this  evening  at  the  Manufacturers'  Cfub.  'Ihe  dele- 
gates are  cordially  invited. 

.1    Delegate: 

Are  cards  necessary? 

Dirrrlur   11'.   /'.    W'ihon: 

1  thijik  if  you  present  y(Uirselves  there  will  be  no  trouble. 
No  cards  have  been  sent  io  me.  1  have  been  asked  to  nud<e 
the  announcement. 

(Adjoiiiiieil  at  4. IS  p.  m.) 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


FOURTEENTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadelphia,  Saturday,  October  28,  1899. 

Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  11.12  a.  m.,  in  the 
Trades  League  Eoom,  Philadelphia  Bourse,  by  Director  W.  P. 
Wilson. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  waited  a  moment  this  morning  for  the  Hon.  W.  W. 
Rockhill,  who  is  to  preside  to-day.  I  presume  the  train 
may  be  a  little  delayed,  as  he  is  coming  in  from  Washington. 
We  will  begin  the  program,  and  Mr.  Rockhill  will  take  his 
seat  when  he  arrives. 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  introduce  to  you  this  morning,  for 
the  first  paper,  Mr.  Salvador  Echagaray,  delegate  from  the 
Mexican  Government.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Salvador  Echagaray: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  may 
perhaps  seem  strange  to  you  that  I,  with  my  very  limited 
practice  in  speaking  the  English  language,  shoidd  venture 
to  address  you  in  the  same  upon  this  occasion.  The  excuse 
which  I  must  give  is  my  desire  to  be  understood  by  the 
greatest  possible  number  of  those  present,  and  also  a  senti- 
ment of  courtesy  and  gratitude  that  I  feel  toward  this  city. 

Some  Notes  on  Mexican  Trade. 

During  the  last  twenty-five  years,  the  Republic  of  Me.xico, 
under  President  Diaz's  government,  has  enjoyed  peace.  The 
construction  of  10,000  miles  of  railroads,  the  improvement 
of  some  of  the  ports,  the  general  development  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  increase  of  public  wealth  have  been  made  possible. 

Our  imports  for  the  fiscal  year  of  1874-75  did  not  reach 
19,000,000  Mexican  dollars,  while  in  the  last  fiscal  year  they 
amounted  to  106,285,307  dollars,  an  increase  of  nearlv  600  per 
cent.  Our  exports  in  1875  were  27,318,788  Mexican  dollars, 
and  in  the  last  year  138,478,137  Mexican  dollars,  an  increase 
of  500  per  cent. 

Following  in  the  order  of  importance,  the  principal  articles 
imported  into  Mexico  are  as  follows: 

Machinery $16,775,562 

Cotton  textiles 12,292.190 

Iron  and  steel  11,920,291 

Wines  and  liqiiors 5,590,984 

Wood  textiles 3,877,971 

Paper  and  manufactures 3,841,244 

Textile  fibres 2,541,878 


The  most  important  products  exported  were  in  the  last 
fiscal  year: 

Silver $66,431,.541 

Henequen 18,711,325 

Gold  8,843,081 

Cofl'ee 7,936,908 

Cattle  4,918,572 

Lead 3,786,144 

Copper ' 4,135,613 

Hides  3,646,915 

Precious  wood 1,896,908 

Zacaton  root 1,055,669 

The  foreign  commerce  of  Mexico  in  the  last  seven  years  has 
been  as  follows: 

Commerce  of  Mexico. 

Fiscal  Years  from-  1892  to  1899  (seven  years). 


Importation. 
Declared  Value  in  Gold. 


From  the 
U.  S.  A. 


S2«,2.35,963 
14,351,78.5 
15,130,367 
20,145,763 
22,593,860 
21,4911,604 
24,164,687 


From 

Other 

Countries. 


Total. 


$17,177,168' 
15,935,701 
18,870,073 
22,108,175 
19,610,235 
22,112,^88 
26,704,507 


$43,413,131 
i0,287,489 
34,000,440 
42,253.938 
42,204,19. 
43,603,492 
60,C6;>,194 


E.YPORTATION. 

Declared  Value  in  Silver. 


Years. 


1892-93.. 
1893-94.. 
1894-9.5.. 
1895-96.. 
ll-9'-.-97.. 
1897-98.. 
lS98-'.9.. 


To  the 
U.S.  A. 


To 

other 

Countries. 


$63,791,741' 
60,660,243 
67,322,986 
79,651,693 
86,742,951 
94,974,616' 

103,553,486; 


Total. 


$23,717,466 
18,683,044 
23..531,967 
25,365,107 
24,603,543 
33,908,133 
34,924,651 


$141,113,029   $142,518,750'  $286,631,779      Totals $556,697,718   $184,824,011    $741,521,729 


$87,509  207 
79,343  2S7 
90,854,953 
105,016,902 
111,346,494 
128.972,749 
138,478,137 


Although,  legally,  Mexico  is  a  bimetallist  country,  we  have 
really  the  silver  standard.  The  low  price  of  this  metal  has 
had  a  great  influence  in  our  economic  situation.  It  is  impor- 
tant to  note,  first,  that  the  increase  of  prices  of  foreign  goods, 
which  we  pay  in  gold,  compels  us  to  consume  less  of  these 
wares,  and,  second,  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the  high  price 
of  gold  produces,  as  a  result,  protection  to  Mexican  indus- 
tries, which  enables  them  to  compete  with  foreign  indus- 
tries of  a  similar  class.  The  efl^ect  of  this  has  been  the  im- 
provement of  our  old  industries  that  pay  their  workmen  in 
silver,  and  consume  a  great  amount  of  material  produced  in 
Mexico  and  bought  with  silver,  besides,  the  starting  of  new 
industries  whose  existence  would  have  been  impossible  with- 
out the  efficient  protection  due  to  the  high  price  of  gold,  but 
which  are  now  in  excellent  condition. 

The  greater  demand  for  cotton  goods  in  Mexico,  at  this 
time,  due  to  the  increase  of  public  welfare  and  population, 
produces  scarcely  any  effect  in  the  increase  of  imports  of 
foreign  cottons,  because  the  new  demand  has  been  supplied 

259 


260 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


by  the  native  factories,  of  which  there  are  a  large  number 
equipped  with  every  modern  improvement.  Mexico  has,  to- 
day, 185  cotton  mills  in  operation,  and  many  others  under 
construction. 

Foreign  beer  has  practically  disappeared  from  Mexican 
markets,  its  place  being  filled  by  excellent  domestic  beer;  the 
imi)orta1ion  of  white  jiaper  is  also  likely  to  disappear  within 
a  short  time,  and  we  have  also  many  smelting  plants  of  great 
importance. 

The  lowering  of  the  price  of  silver  has  produced  an  en- 
tirely different  effect  on  the  silver  production  in  Mexico  than 
it  did  in  the  United  States.  When  the  price  of  this  metal 
reached  a  certain  point  in  this  country,  several  mines  had 
to  he  closed;  while  in  Mexico  veins  were  daily  opened,  the 
cost  of  jiroduction  remaining  almost  the  same,  its  extraction, 
lalior  and  transportation  being  paid  as  formerly.  In  the 
price  of  some  imported  goods,  such  as  iron,  steel,  dynamite, 
coal  and  engines,  we  must  pay  a  larger  amount  than  formerly, 
hut  while  this  reduces  the  miner's  earnings  a  little  it  con- 
stitutes an  incentive  for  the  increase  of  production,  because 
as  is  well  known,  a  small  profit  from  an  increased  number 
of  units  is  a  mighty  incentive  to  the  increase  of  production. 

Mexico  which,  in  years  past,  occupied  the  second  place 
as  a  silver  producer,  ranking  next  to  the  United  States,  took 
the  first  in  the  year  1897-98,  and  if  she  is  again  in  the  sec- 
ond ])lace.  it  is  only  by  a  very  small  margin,  a  little  over 
$1,000,000. 

The  exports  of  other  metals  and  agricultural  products  is 
strongly  protected  by  the  high  rate  of  exchange  which 
makes  mining  and  husbandry  productive  in  places  where  the 
great  distance  from  the  ports  would  otherwise  prevent  their 
being  worked  with  profit. 

As  gold  producers  we  keep  the  fourth  place,  the  fifth  as 
lead  producers,  and  the  sixth  as  producers  of  copper.  With- 
in four  years  we  shall  double  our  exports  of  the  last-named 
metal,  of  which  we  have  extensive  mines. 

The  sudden  fall  in  the  price  of  silver  jilaced  our  govern- 
ment in  embarrassing  economical  circumstances,  as  it  caused 
larger  sums  to  be  required  for  the  jiayment  in  gold  of  the 
interest  on  our  external  public  debt,  precisely  when  our 
revenues  were  at  a  low  ebb  on  account  of  crop  failures  in 
Mexico,  coincident  with  the  depreciation  of  silver. 

It  is  not  in  the  scope  of  these  brief  notes  to  review  tke 
measures  taken  by  our  countij  to  face  the  silver  crisis  when 
it  Ijroke  out.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  they  are  the  best  ])roof, 
and  a  silent  ])anegyric  of  the  financial  abilitv  of  President 
Diaz  and  his  Secretary  Limantour,  and  ol'  thi'  good  scU'^e 
of  our  people. 

I'.iit  our  industrial  awakening  cannot  be  credited  solely 
t(j  the  depreciation  of  silver.  The  building  up  of  railroad  lines, 
which,  like  tTu>  meshes  of  a  vast  net.  now  cover  my  country, 
and  the  introduction  of  foreign  capital,  attracted  bythe  favors 
of  a  government  which  knows  how  to  ins]iire  life  into  those 
works  and  confidence  to  the  outside  world,  are  factors  which 
also  have  contributed  to  the  flourishing  conditions  we  enjoy 
lo-day. 

Of  course,  the  |irofitalilc  cxpdrtation  of  some  products 
raises  their  prices  for  us,  but  those  of  a  gem'ral  use.  as  corn 
and  beans,  have  suff(>red  no  alteration. 

It  is  evident  that  there  is  a  tendencv  in  Mexico  (o  ,-idvancc 
the  cost  of  living,  luit  as  this  is  accompiinied  hy  iin  increase 
in  wages,  and  both  evolutions  work  slowly,  there;  is  not  the 
slightest  danger  of  economic  troubles;  instead,  a  steady  mareli 
toward  the  betterment  of  the  country  will  take  place.' 

The  previously  mentioned  table,  cmbracintr  a  period  of 
seven  years,  .shows  that  we  are  growing  very  rai)idlv  as  an  ex- 
porting country,  and  very  slowly  as  an  importing  one  wliieh 
confirms  the  correctness  of  what  I  .said  about  the  elimination 


of  ai-ticles  practiced  by  our  industry  in  competing  with  the 
foreign  countries. 

Our  foreign  commerce  is  at  jiresent  divided  by  countries  in 
the  following  manner: 


Importation. 

r»eclared  value 

in  Aitterican 

gold. 


Fiscal  Ye.vr  1898-99. 


Countries. 


Importation. 
Oeclared  value 
Mexican  Dol- 
lars. 


$  5,677,925  Germany 4.020.307 

2,909.936 Spam 1.172.948 

5,929,292  France 6.252.293 

9,592,797  England 14.100,928 

380,889  Italy 34,952 

707,408 Belgium 2.577.688 

24,164,687  United  States 103.553,486 

24,205 Cuba 5,257,884 

1,431,055  Other  Countries 1,507,651 


•-f  50,878.1 94 


.Total 138,478,137 


The  importatiou  of  American  merchandise,  during  the  fis- 
cal year  of  1898-99,  has  been  as  follows: 

Goods  classified  accoi  ding  to  Mexican  Declared  value  in 

Custom  House  Tariff.  American  Dollars. 

Animal  industry $1,619,706 

Agricultural  products 5.054,116 

Metals  and  its  manufactures 7,335,447 

Fabrics 1,131,230 

Chemical  products,  drugs,  oils  and  paints 840,653 

Wines,     liquors,     fermented     and    uufermeuted 

drinks  272,246 

Paper  and  its  manufactures 521,689 

Machinery  and  apparatus 4,826,291 

Carriages   934,590 

Arms  and  explosives 961.295 

Sundries  661J424 


Total 


$24,164,687. 


The  ex]>orts  of  merchandise  from  the  United  States  to 
IMexico  which  in  1888  were  about  $10,000,000,  were  in  the 
last  fiscal  year  about  $24,000,000,  an  increase  of  140  per  cent. 

Mexico  buys  from  the  Americans  more  than  Italy,  Russia 
or  Spain,  more  than  China  or  Japan,  and  more  than  every 
other  country  in  America  with  the  exception  of  Canada.  As 
a  consumer  of  American  goods.  Mexico  comes  next  only  to  six 
oilier  countries. 

.After  the  United  States, — England,  (xermany  and  France 
hold  important  places  in  our  commerce.  The  first  with  its 
cotton  goods  and  its  iron,  the  second  with  its  hardware  and 
iron  goods,  and  the  third  with  its  clothes,  silks,  carpets  and 
manufactures  of  hosiery.  In  icur  country  there  are  a  great 
ninnher  of  Germans  in  the  hardware  trade,  Frenchmen  in 
clothing,  and  Spaniards  in  groceries.  Americans  have  hardly 
begun  to  establish  ret<iil  commercial  houses,  and  they  jircfer 
to  establish  agencies,  buying  their  goods  from  the  TTnited 
States.  I  think  that  the  branches  of  iron  work,  furniture, 
habs.  agricultural  im|)lements.  stationery,  veliieles,  saddlery, 
sanitary  plumbing,  shoes  and  some  otiiei-  ai-ticles  would  give 
excellent  results  for  retail  selling. 

.\nieriean  trade  in  Mexico  is  inferior  lo  the  iMii'opean  in 
that  the  .Xmerican  merchants  want  to  do  liiisini'ss  exclusively 
on  a  cash  basis,  while  the  luiropeans  are  willing  to  grant  five 
or  more  months  I'or  |iayineiit.  The  custom,  already  firmly 
estalilished  by  long  practice  among  the  large  Mexican  mer- 
chants, is  to  buy  at  long  tenns  abroad,  and  to  sell  in  the  same 
manner  to  the  tradesman.  Hanking  accommodations,  which 
we  now  begin  to  enjoy,  perhaps  will  make  easy  the  ado]ition 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


261 


of  the  American  system;  but  such  a  change  is  by  no  means 
certain,  as  a  long  habit  of  many  years  is  opposed  to  it. 

I  have  noted  recently  that  one  of  the  United  States  consuls 
in  Russia  recommends  the  adoption  by  that  empire  of  the 
same  policy  which  I  advise  as  convenient  for  the  North 
Americans. 

To  the  present  American  system  is  undoubtedly  due  the 
fact  that  the  trade  in  American  goods  has  not  had,  in  Mexico, 
the  rapid  development  which  might  have  been  expected  on 
account  of  the  proximity  of  both  countries. 

The  latest  report  of  tiie  American  Consul-General  says: 
"As  the  terms  of  our  American  merchants  are  often  verv' 
rigid,  it  is  hard  to  reach  an  agreement,  and  much  trade,  which 
by  the  exercise  of  a  little  tact  and  judgment  could  be  handled 
by  American  merchants,  goes  elsewhere." 

Mexican  merchants  are  noted  for  their  integrity-  The 
quoted  report  concerning  commerce  and  industries  in  Mexico, 
says:  "There  are  very  few  concerns  here  doing  business  that 
have  not  ample  capital  to  caiTy  out  all  contracts  into  which 
they  may  enter.  Failures  are  very  rare,  indeed,  and  when 
they  do  occur,  are  carefully  investigated  by  the  authorities, 
in  the  interest  of  creditors,  and  any  attempts  to  defraud  are 
severely  punished.  Book  entries  are  regarded  a.~  sacred;  all 
books  kept  by  business  houses  are  known,  small  stamp  taxes 
are  paid  on  them,  and  thus  a  sort  of  surveillance  is  kept  over 
them  by  the  government  authorities." 

Transportation  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States  is 
very  easy.  A  Philadelphia  business  man  of  trade  can  travel  to 
Mexico  City  and  back  again  in  ten  days,  on  first-rate  lines, 
at  a  cost  of  $200.  Between  Europe  and  Mexico,  besides 
New  York  route,  people  can  travel  direct,  via  the  steamer  lines, 
from  France,  England  and  Spain  to  Vera  Cruz  and  Tampico. 

The  interior  communications  are  also  very  important  in 
Mexico.  We  have  completed  four  railways  that  bind  us 
with  the  United  States,  through  which  35,000  loaded  cars 
come  yearly  into  Mexico;  four  lines  unite  the  Atlantic  Coast 
to  the  great  cities  of  the  central  plateau;  several  lines  pene- 
trate to  the  Southern  regions,  and  another  traverses  the 
Tehuantepec  Isthmus,  together  with  some  others  in  Yucatan 
peninsula. 

Excepting  the  want  of  a  direct  communication  from  the 
centre  of  the  country  to   the   Pacific   Ocean,  the   binding   of 


that  with  the  Yucatan  system,  and  some  other  lines  of  gen- 
eral interest,  we  are  already  in  a  condition  to  continue  vig- 
orously the  development  of  a  railroad  system  subordinate  to 
the  great  lines. 

The  government,  during  the  last  years,  is  putting  great 
stress  on  the  formation  of  good  ports  and  harbors  on  both 
oceans,  and  the  suitable  lighting  of  our  shores.  We  have 
68,250  kilometers  of  telegraph,  and  2.457  postal  stations,  both 
perfectly  served.  We  have  also  established  the  system  of 
domestic  postal  and  telegraphic  money  order,  and  this  insti- 
tution will  soon  be  extended  and  made  international  with 
this  country. 

The  American  business  man  can  find  at  the  very  doors  of 
his  country  an  extensive  territory  for  the  employment  of  his 
capital.  Enterprises  for  the  building  of  irrigation  works, 
the  execution  of  municipal  works,  that  the  Mexican  cities 
are  desirous  of  carrying  into  effect  (chiefly  in  matters  of 
water  supply  and  the  establishment  of  sewerage  systems), 
demand  capital.  For  the  establishment  of  small  industries, 
such  as  manufactures  of  soap  of  all  kinds,  oils,  furniture, 
doors,  etc.,  there  are  also  opportunities  all  over  Mexico. 
The  cities  of  Mexico  and  Guadalajara  will  have  electrical 
power  for  sale  very  soon.  For  establishments  on  a  large 
scale  it  will  be  easy  to  utilize  the  waterfalls,  chiefly  in  the 
regions  forming  the  descent  of  the  central  plateau  to  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific. 

Coke  is  very  scarce  in  the  central  region  of  the  country, 
and  this  has  been  one  of  the  causes  that  have  prevented  the 
rapid  development  of  industry.  But  now,  thanks  to  the  pos- 
sibility of  transmitting  power  at  a  distance,  the  waterfalls 
are  available  everywhere;  almost  every  day  a  new  installa- 
tion is  inaugurated.  I  believe  that  the  industrial  and 
agricultural  future  of  Mexico  depends  on  the  utilization  of 
its  waterfalls. 

With  extensive  zones  being  properly  irrigated  and  rail- 
roads better  developed,  we  should  be  in  a  position  to  provide 
the  United  States  with  every  kind  of  tropical  fruits  that 
they  may  need. 

Capital  invested  along  these  lines  would  be  extremely  pro- 
ductive, I  do  not  fear  to  predict,  even  more  so  than  those  in- 
vested for  the  same  purpose  in  the  Western  States  of  this 
country. 


Summary  of  Estimated  Federal  Expenses  for  the  Fiscal  Years  from  1879  to  1899. 


Powers. 

Secretaryships. 

Fiscal 
Years. 

LegislatiTe. 

Executive. 

Judicial. 

Foreign 
Affairs. 

Interior. 

Justice  and 

Public 
Instruction. 

Improvement   Communica- 
and               tioiis  and 
Industry-      Public  Worlis 

Treasury. 

.Marine. 

$8,004,5.''9  18 
9,186,964  95 
8,618,033  12 
8,314,178  13 
8,252,352  18 

Total. 

1879-80 

8980,242  00 
1,022,842  00 
990,102  00 
1,071,712  00 
1.015,632  00 
1,087,232  00 
1,007,144  15 
1,052,913  45 
1,002,928  75 
1,053,839  40 
1,009,036  50 
1,0.54,036  50 
1,009  036  50 
1,050,638  00 
1,005,638  00 
1,005,638  00 
1,005,638  00 
1,011,643  90 
1,018,643  90 
1,019,242  50 

848,832  40 
48,832  40 
48,832  40 
48,83J  411 
48,832  40 
48,832  40 
49,251  50 
49,251  50 
49,846  45 

49.848  19 

49.849  45 

8347,878  00 
355,878  00 

8176,660  00 
228.460  00 

$2,488,296  30 
2,574,.'09  70 
3,152,697  55 
3,2:(.5,11S  88 
3.285,577  75 
3,339,213  77 
3,441  616  10 
3,227,529  20 
3.466,882  30 
3,696.329  90 
3,553,128  89 
3,6/8,679  70 
2,480,896  76 
2,564,161  00 
2.459,301  20 
2,660,741  70 
2,605,642  25 
3,361,849  25 
3,652,K17  45 
3,685.516  25 

81,103,862  20 
1  174.345  20 
l,35-',820  01  p 
1,215,473  00 

1.243.310  00 
l,234,71s  Oil 
1,2.32,376  83 
1,431,081  24 
1,398,850  00 
1,421,204  75 
1,3.50,471   111 
1,393,972  40 
1,639,636  25 
1,657.215  60 
1,614.652  45 
I,547,.S24  54 
1,-563,771  79 
2,031,906  85 
2,288,1  52  86 

2.345.311  05 

$1,849,722  00 
3,570,077  00 
6,162,627  00 
7,551,683  00 

11,127,1100  110 
6,151  870  no 
8,330,728  26 
2,698,116  30 

$3,89.5,116  57 

4,366.609  35 

4,173,.585  75 

4,648,377  67 

4,966.261  81 

4,903,438  78 

11,832,6)4  95 

10,863,485  78 

11,664,391  97 

12,0.39,535  94 

11.310,380  29 

11,365,207  09 

14,4:12,995  81 

15,.S37,292  61 

22,399,403  2n 

24,n0ll,570  85 

24,246,384  51 

24,541,185  40 

24,923,320  85 

26,165,716  90 

$18,89.5,198  65 
23,128,218  60 
25  il7  633  82 



1881-82  

370,976  00:           317,660  Oil 
389.554  no,           336,280  00 
406,652  no            367.580  OO 
429,674  00            377,680  00 
432,392  90            418,762  60 
4-36,387  80            417,726  00 
430,994  00            434,930  60 
464,0'5  45            434,783  20 
465.095  53            432.695  70 

1882-83 

27,011,609  08 

1883-84 

1884-85          

8,252,771  88  '    25,'825'!433  83 
12,138,435  SB       38,9113,353  16 
11..559,714  00      31,736,205  27 
13,386,495  24       36.270  451  ix 

1886-87  

1887-88 

4,426,132  171 

5,965,450  54| 

6,145,.555  69  -  -- 

1888-89 

l:i,4.82,152  47 
12,449,693  :i7 
12,656,021  07 
12,638,101  37 
12,681.685  67 
11,329,618  82 
10.378,683  .32 
10,326,454  26; 
10,297,019  84 
11,4.30,190  47 
11,996,356  24 

38,527,239  84 
36,765,906  .54 
38,439,494  21 

1889-90 

1390-91 

49,849  45          46S.S84  23            462.517  25 

7,310,326  50 
672,106  95 

1891-92 

49,977  20 
49,977  20 
49,977  20 
50,977  30 
60,369  35 
60.971  60 

476,784  30  ,          558,483  .54 
478,083  90            590,379  84 
478,083  90.           553,-560  SO 
47.8,171  6l|.           516,965  ,iO 
478,171  50            493,993  80 
435  197  00              519.476  .30 

<U  399  343   97 

38,377,364  85 
40,367.047  58 
44,634,793  33 

1892-93 

951,054  51.      4,4S3,.569  25 
822,414  16       .3,922.141  60 
615.610  06       4,455,097  15 
619,472  76i      4,669,515  .30 
660,587  21        4  635  '  88  03 

1893-94 

1894-95 

189-5-96 

1896-97. 

46,069,412  72 
47,554,926  50 
50,581,983  98 
52,672,448  19 

1897-98  

80,968  eo-         443.051  8U            531.741  50 

742,973  11 
745,626  86 

5,450,217  45 
6,652,111  04 

1893-99 

82,468  75 

449,450  80;         540.647  80 

Total 

$20,474,079  65 

$1,076,578  14 

$3,724,456  86  i    88.710.984  63 

$62,410,195  90 

$30,261,056  12 

877,119,734  07 

$37,667,086  91 

$272,605,903  08 

5218,252,820  44 

$737,302,900  69 

262 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


The  progress  of  mining  industry  is  clearly  proved  by  the 
great  increase  in  the  mineral  production.  The  development 
of  credit  institutions  during  the  last  years,  as  a  consequence 
of  the  new  banking  legislation,  more  liberal  than  formerly, 
is  now  more  pronounced.  In  1884  we  had  only  two  emis- 
sion banking  houses,  whereas  now  we  have  eighteen,  with  a 
paid  up  capital  of  $42,008,785. 

The  standing  rate  of  discount  still  continues  at  8  per  cent, 
and  upon  mortgages  at  6  per  cent.  Everything  indicates  a 
tendency  to  lower  these  rates,  owing  to  the  greater  confidence 
of  the  caijitidists,  and  to  the  increase  of  capital. 

The  growing  prosperity  of  foreign  commerce  gives  the 
measure  of  the  progress  of  the  country,  but  what  confirms 
even  more  the  optimistic  opinions  about  the  future  of  Mexico 
is  the  examination  of  the  constant  increase  in  the  public 
revenue,  due  only  to  a  greater  return  from  the  productive 
sources  and  not  to  new  or  higher  taxes.  The  administration 
of  Mexican  finances  in  the  hands  of  Messrs.  Romero  and 
Limantour  has  been  noteworthy  for  its  unspotted  integrity, 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  country's  economic  situation,  and 
by  its  well  understood  savings. 

Till  the  latest  epoch,  before  the  present  ministry,  our 
treasury  had  lived  amidst  difficulties  and  deficiencies.  In 
the  last  years,  notwithstanding  the  increase  of  expenses  in 
public  works,  there  remains  a  surplus  due  to  a  greater  income 
originating  from  the  increa.-ie  of  national  wealth,  and  the 
most  judicious  management  on  the  part  of  the  government. 

As  in  the  last  years  the  revenues  have  been  larger  than 
the  effective  expenses,  we  have  had  surpluses  which  are 
deposited  in  our  treasury.  The  surplus  last  year  was  over 
five  million  dollars. 

A  bright  testimony  of  the  trust  the  world  bestows  upon 
us  to-day  has  been  the  conversion  of  our  5  per  cent,  debt, 
lately  realized  in  Europe  and  this  country. 

Mexico  throws  its  doors  wide  open  to  the  men  of  enter- 
prise, and  tenders  to  them  its  natural  richnesj?  under  the  pro- 
tection of  an  unalterable  peace  and  of  liberal  legislation. 
The  foreigner  who  brings  us  his  capital,  talents  and  lalior, 
is  highly  welcome  to  our  country. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  next  to  introduce  Mr.  Carlos  Basave  y  del  Castillo 
Negrete,  delegate  from  Guadalajara,  Mexico.  I  desire  to 
say  for  Mr.  Ba.save  that  he  thinks  he  does  not  speak  English 
well  enough  to  talk  before  this  audience  and  has  begged  me 
to  announce  that  he  will  speak  what  he  has  to  say  in  Spanish. 
I  presume  quite  likely  that  he  could  speak  in  English,  but 
feels  diffident  about  it.  A  translation  of  his  paper  will  bo 
published  in  the  oflicial  proceedings. 

Mr.  Carlos  Basave  y  del  Castillo  Negrete  : 

Gentlemen:  1  speak  here  in  the  name  of  the  Ch.amber  of 
Commerce  of  Guadalajara,  the  most  important  city  in  the  Re- 
public of  Mexico,  after  the  capital. 

In  having  the  honor  of  greeting  you  in  the  nnme  of  that 
association,  I  wish  to  express  to  you  my  personal  apprecia- 
tion for  the  splendid  and  cordial  way  in  which  you  have 
treated  me. 

I  have  very  little  to  add  to  what  you  have  heard  from  the 
representatives  of  my  government,  and  I  limit  myself  to  mod- 
estly assure  you  that  in  my  country  we  worlc  with  energy 
and  perseverance  towards  a  recuperation  of  the  time  lost. 
You  will  find  this  design  clearly  exhibited  in  the  national  gov- 
ernment and  in  all  classes  of  society. 

We  see  already  that  our  hopes  will  be  realized  and  every 
day  that  paases  wc  experience  an  increased  satisfaction  iii 
comparing  it  with  the  day  before.  We  have  invited,  and  wc 
shall  go  on  inviting,  foreign    capital    for  its  employment  in 


business  whose  success  can  be  guaranteed.  From  the  estab- 
lishment of  all  sorts  of  manufactories  for  the  exploitation  of 
the  soil  on  a  large  scale  (be  it  in  agriculture  or  mining), 
the  difficulties,  which  formerly  presented  themselves,  and 
which  consisted  especially  in  a  lack  of  safety  and  in  difficul- 
ties of  communication,  have  disappeared. 

Now  that  we  have  fourteen  thousand  kilometers  of  rail- 
roads and  many  others  in  course  of  construction  or  pro- 
jected, the  companies  do  not  own  sufficient  rolling  stock  to 
cover  the  exigencies  of  the  national  commerce. 

Life  has  sprung  up  as  if  by  magic,  wherever  the  locomo- 
tive arrived.  The  sower  of  cereals  who  produced  hundreds, 
produces  now  thousands,  and  still  finds  a  buyer,  and  with 
the  great  increase  of  his  fortune,  betters  his  home  and  lives 
better,  invests  his  surplus  in  other  more  modern  plantings, 
begins  to  use  machinery  and  modern  methods  and  becomes 
a  shareholder  in  local  banks  and  in  factories  which  are  estab- 
lished. 

The  merchant  begins  to  leave  the  humble  state  of  a  re- 
tailer to  engage  in  larger  transactions.  He  improves  his 
condition  by  means  of  new  and  distant  connections,  and  his 
calculations  are  no  more  limited  to  the  local  production  and 
consiunption,  and  instead,  he  sees  far  ahead,  and  tries  to  keep 
in  contact  with  all  points  which  can  become  his  tributaries 
or  competitors.  You  have  there  ample  opportunities  to  place 
your  capital  with  perfect  safety,  ample  opportunities  to  apply 
your  characteristic  and  enterprising  spirit,  and  la.stly,  ample 
opportunity  to  place  a  part  of  your  marvelous  industrial 
production.  You  will  find  desirable  helpers  in  the  sons  of 
the  country.  This  will  aid  you  to  accelerate  your  progress 
and  increase  your  profit,  we  deriving  the  advantage,  that 
our  people  will  educate  themselves  to  work  after  your  good 
example. 

I  find  this  opportunity  most  favorable  to  indicate  to  you 
the  convenience  of  joining  hands  with  the  Mexican  capital- 
ists in  all  your  enterprises.  In  that  way  you  will  not  hurt 
the  patriotic  susceptibilities,  and  you  will  have  loyal  vigilance 
against  the  abuses  which  always  take  place  when  the  ad- 
ministration is  far  distant,  and  is  not  sufficiently  posted  about 
the  details  of  the  business. 

My  state,  Jalisco,  has  always  been  the  principal  grain-grow- 
ing state  in  the  country,  for  its  production  is  the  largest. 
It  increases  annually  and  it  has  happened  lately  that  it  could 
not  supply  the  orders  received.  It  produces  also  all  kinds 
of  articles  for  exportation  and  in  great  variety,  as  it  lies 
in  the  zones  of  all  climates.  By  the  railroad  communica- 
tions with  the  Pacific  coast,  it  will  be  exploited  in  all  its 
extensions,  and  its  development  will  be  more  perceptible. 
(.)ne  of  its  greatest  advantages  is  the  abundance  of  water,  and 
the  regularity  of  the  crops.  The  water  which  serves  for 
irrigation,  and  which  forms  waterfalls  through  all  our  un- 
even ground,  is  a  rich  source  of  motive  power  for  large  fac- 
tories which  will  be  erected,  and  around  which  important 
centres  of  the  working  population  will  form.  We  can  count 
on  several  thousand  horse  power  to  be  obtained  at  a  low  cost, 
and  I  am  in  possession  of  data  for  the  purpose  of  making 
a  formal  invitation  to  business  men  who  might  be  especially 
interested. 

The  happy  idea  of  this  Congress,  which  has  brought  us 
into  nearer  contact  with  one  anotlier  from  the  dilTerent  na- 
tionalities, is  a  new  proof  that  superiorities  can  be  produced 
everywhere,  and  that  it  is  not  the  isolated  individual,  as 
eminent  as  he  might  be,  who  represents  a  country,  but  the 
united  population;  and  that  the  manifestations  of  the  na- 
tional life,  and  of  its  ascending  rapidity,  are  shown  in  statis- 
tics, comparing  year  with  year,  and  with  those  of  other  coun- 
tries. This  has  already  been  shown  to  you  by  the  ollicial 
representative  of  ]\Iexieo. 

As  to  myself,  I  shall  not  close  these  remarks  without  prom- 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


263 


ising  you  that  the  generation  which  will  succeed  that  which 
actually  rules,  will  know  how  to  fulfill  its  mission,  and  in 
the  end  will  merit  your  sincere  eulogies. 

Many  of  our  youths  are  educated  in  this  country  and  in  Eu- 
rope, and  when  they  return  to  their  country  they  will  have 
brought  with  them  the"  improvements  which  they  have 
learned,  and  which  we  do  not  yet  possess.  They  will  know 
the  best  way  in  which  our  relations  can  be  made  more  cordial; 
then,  through  the  exchange  of  our  products,  new  bands  of 
reciprocal  interests  are  formed  which  grow  closer  every  day, 
and  a  friendship  that  has  sprung  up  from  interest  will  pro- 
duce a  sense  of  justice,  a  preser\-pr  of  peace,  of  progress,  and 
of  human  fraternity,  a  noble  and  instinctive  tendency  of  all 
times. 


Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

We  have  asked  a  gentleman  from  "Washington  to  preside 
over  the  sessions  of  this  Congress  to-day,  who,  as  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  the  American  Republics,  in  his  work  and  his  efforts 
with  the  Latin  American  countries,  is  directly  in  line  with  all 
that  which  we  are  here  trying  to  promote. 

I  have  great  pleasure  in  introducing  to  you  the  Hon.  W.  W. 
Roekhill,  Director  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics. 

Hon.  W.  W.  Roekhill: 

Mr.  President,  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  regret 
that  an  accident,  for  which  no  one  is  responsible,  deprived 
me  from  being  here  when  the  meeting  commenced.  I  want 
to  thank  you  for  the  honor  you  have  done  me,  and  through 
me  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics,  of  which  I  have  the 
honor  of  being  a  director,  in  asking  me  to  preside  to-day  at 
your  meeting,  when  subjects  concerning  the  relations  of  the 
various  republics  of  this  continent  are  being  discussed.  There 
are  no  more  important  questions,  I  think,  that  have  been 
presented  to  the  Congress,  or  will  be  presented  to  the  Con- 
gress, than  those  that  were  considered  yesterday,  and  will  be 
considered  to-day  by  you.  If  any  additional  evidence  of  the 
friendly  spirit  which  animates  all  of  the  republics  was  evi- 
denced, I  think  that  I  from  my  position,  holding  as  I  do  my 
place,  not  only  for  the  United  States,  but  for  all  the  repub- 
lics of  South  and  Central  America,  would  be  able  to  give  it 
to  you. 

For  the  first  time  since  the  International  Union  of  Ameri- 
can Republics  was  created  in  1890,  all  the  republics  of  South 
and  Central  America  have  become  members  of  it,  thus  in- 
dicating clearly  the  interest  they  take  in  it,  and  their  hope 
in  the  permanency  of  the  work.  We  hope  that  this  will 
make  the  relations  between  the  various  republics  more  uni- 
versal, create  confidence,  strengthen  the  commercial  relations, 
and  make  them  what  they  should  be  between  the  various  re- 
publics, according  to  w^hat  other  speakers  have  said,  but  what 
they  have  unfortunately  not  done.  The  various  governments 
have  indicated,  through  the  bureau  and  other  means  at  their 
disposal,  the  methods  by  which  trade  could  be  increased. 
They  have  difl'used,  to  the  extent  of  their  power,  useful  infor- 
mation of  the  resources  of  the  different  states.  It  is  for  you, 
in  your  deliberations,  to  difl[use  such  means  as  may  give 
practical  form  to  the  desires  of  the  various  governments 
to  bring  together  personal  relations  which  you  establish,  the 
one  with  the  other,  to  create  confidence.  Confidence  must 
necessarily  precede  an  increase  in  trade.  I  sincerely  hope  that 
the  result  of  your  deliberations  will  tend  to  what  we  all  sin- 
cerely hope,  closer  and  more  friendly  commercial  relations  be- 
tween the  various  states  of  America. 

I  call  on  Dr.  Abraham  Diaz,  delegate  from  Tamaulipas, 
Mexico,  to  the  present  Congress.    (Applause.) 


Short  Notes  on  the  Riches  of  the  State  of  Tamaulipas, 

Mexico. 

Dr.  Abraham  Diaz: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates  to  the  International  Commercial 
Congress:  "La  Zona  del  Cobre,"  or  "The  Copper  Zone,"  is 
the  name  that  can  be  given  to  that  section  of  the  San  Carlos 
mountains,  district  of  San  Carlos,  where  metal  can  be  found 
in  more  or  less  abundance,  all  over  the  territory.  At  San 
Jose,  three  kilometres  from  San  Carlos,  a  company  is  work- 
ing with  all  the  desired  success,  mines  of  copper,  whose  prod- 
ucts contain  such  riches  that  the  business  improves  daily,  so 
that  at  present  it  ranges  among  the  most  important  mining 
enterprises  in  Mexico. 

"La  Zona  del  Plomo,"  or  "Lead  Zone,"  is  situated  on  the 
same  mountains  at  Real  de  San  Nicolas,  the  same  district  of 
San  Carlos.  Its  fabulous  riches  in  this  mineral  are  tradi- 
tional. It  is  stated  that,  in  colonial  times,  at  a  christening, 
the  whole  party  walked  from  the  residence  of  the  parents  to 
the  church  over  a  path  of  silver  bars.  The  motives  which 
encouraged  me  to  undertake,  in  difficult  times,  the  working 
of  this  mine  were  the  following:  In  one  mark  (eight  ounces) 
of  silver  from  a  Buscon  Real,  which  was  converted  in  nitrate, 
one  ounce  of  gold  was  found.  The  vein  from  which  this 
metal  was  taken  is  one  of  many  which  traverse  the  mine  of 
San  Nicolas,  property  of  the  mining  company  of  Tamaulipas. 
To-day,  the  government  of  that  federal  entity  is  a  deserv- 
ing iniitator  and  co-operator  of  that  of  General  Porfirio  Diaz, 
to-day,  under  the  most  liberal  and  capable  administration, 
the  doors  are  wide  open  to  all  enterprises,  and  men  of  capi- 
tal, of  business,  and  of  labor,  obtain  great  advantages  from 
the  exploration  of  this  mining  branch.  It  is  convenient  to 
consider  the  ore,  which  usually  produces  from  sixty  to  seventy 
per  cent,  and  even  eig*hty  per  cent,  of  lead,  and  from  sixty  to 
eighty  ounces  of  silver  per  ton.  The  ores  contain  also  sutfi- 
cient  iron  to  make  them  desirable  for  smelting  purposes,  and 
ores  are  also  found  which  render  up  to  1,200  ounces  of  silver 
per  ton. 

If  what  has  been  said  of  the  mining  interests  of  the  State 
deserves  the  attention  of  enterprisers,  no  less  Important  is 
what  could  be  said  of  the  greatest  riches  in  the  world,  agri- 
culture. On  this  subject,  be  it  suiticient  to  state  that  there 
is  a  most  fertile  valley,  of  more  than  4,500  square  miles, 
which  extends  towards  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  emptying  into  the 
Rio  Grande,  which  forms  the  boundary  line  with  this  country, 
and  where  the  harbor  of  Tampico  stands.  It  is  adaptable 
in  the  north  for  the  cultivation  of  cotton,  corn,  sugar  cane, 
orange,  grape,  potatoes,  etc.,  and  in  the  central  and  southern 
sections  for  rice,  coffee,  vanilla,  pineapple,  bananas,  rubber 
trees,  cocoanut,  and  all  the  agriculturist  wishes  to  cultivate 
grows  there  to  a  profit. 

A  very  important  and  profitable  undertaking  would  be  the 
installation  of  water  works  at  the  San  Juan  River,  an  affluent 
of  the  Rio  Grande,  which  is  navigable  for  a  long  distance, 
for  the  purpose  of  irrigating  the  rich  and  virgin  territories 
which  can  be  obtained  in  extensive  tracts  and  under  advan- 
tageous conditions.  The  centre  of  this  operation  would  be, 
naturallv.  the  port  of  Matamoros,  where  millions  of  dollars 
have  accumulated  through  its  mercantile  business. 

Another  great  and  productive  business  would  be  the  con- 
struction of  a  pier  at  the  point  called  "Medanos  de  Wash- 
ington," about  thirty-two  miles  distant  from  Matamoros,  and 
a  short  connecting  railroad,  which  enterprise  would  soon  pay 
back  the  capital  invested  and  produce  perpetual  dividends. 
Other  paying  business  would  be  lumber  for  cabinet  work 
and  construction,  mineral  coal,  asphalt,  mineral  oil  and 
granite.  Also  the  raising  of  cattle,  horses,  sheep,  goats  and 
swine.  Assurance  can  be  given  that  not  only  the  national 
government,  but  that  also  the  State  grants  the  most  liberal 


264 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


r-i.nccssiniis  to  all  iindcrlakings  wliieli  arc  inclined  to  co-oper- 
atf  in  flevt'loping  the  growing  riches  of  Mexico,  which  is  nni- 
\ersally  proverbial. 

The  present  Governor  of  the  State,  Lieenciado  Don  (iuada- 
lupe  Mainero,  the  well-selected  personnel  of  the  whole  ad- 
ministration and  the  sincere,  frank  and  loyal  character  of  the 
citizens  of  Tamaulipas,  are  as  many  other  factors  which  would 
simply  justify  any  undertaking  which  would  lie  established 
and  dev('lo]n'd  in  the  State. 

It  can  also  be  stated  to  its  great  satisfaction,  that  the  State 
of  Tamaulijias,  owing  to  the  indefatigable  efforts  of  its  present 
chief,  I'anks  second  in  public  instruction,  through  its  large 
nundier  of  schools  and  attendants  of  both  sexes. 

Men  of  capital!  men  of  business!  Tamaulipas,  with  all  its 
facilities  for  the  most  brilliant  success  in  business  of  all  kinds, 
is  connected  by  land  and  sea  with  this  country,  and  opens 
its  doors  wide  to  all  who  wish  to  avail  themselves  of  its  most 
valuable  and  varied  jiroducts.     (Ap])lanse.) 

IIiw.  ir.  ir.  l!od-lilll: 

I  now  call  on  Dr.  J.  J.  I'lloa  G.,  ex-President  and  Consul- 
General  of  Costa  Rica,  to  address  the  Congress. 

TnK  People  of  Costa  Riga. 

lion.  J.  J.  mioa  G.: 

Mr.  Chainnan,  Ladies  and  (ieiitlemen:  I  request  the  honor 
of  your  kind  attention  a  few  moments,  to  tell  you  something 
about  the  people  of  Costa  Rica,  a  people  of  whom  you,  un- 
fortunately, know  very  little. 

The  very  first  question  that  everybody  naturally  asks  on 
meeting  a  strange  person  for  the  first  time  is,  "Where  do 
you  come  from?"  The  answer  would  seem  a  very  simple  one 
to  give,  but,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  allow  me  to  tell  you  that 
this  is  not  always  so.  When,  thanks  to  your  often  tried  for- 
bearance, you  have  heard  of  my  experience,  you  v\'ill  agree 
with  me,  that  it  requires  a  certain  amount  of  knowledge  al)out 
geography,  history  and  statistics  to  be  able  to  give  any  satis- 
faction, and  in  the  case  of  this,  your  humble  servant,  this  re- 
quirement has  been  the  cause  on  many  occasions  of  an  ex- 
cessive amount  of  investigation  directed  to  badly  fed  cerebral 
cells,  with  the  effect  of  an  undue  production  of  cold  and  damp 
perspiration,  accompanied  by  different  nervous  manifesta- 
tions, which  do  not  constitute  a  good  way  to  get  out  of  the 
scrape.    (Applause.) 

The  majority  of  times,  after  telling  my  new  friends  that  1 
am  from  Costa  Rica,  they  ask  me,  "Where  is  Costa  Rica 
situated?"  presenting,  of  course,  all  sorts  of  apologies  for 
having  forgotten  part  of  the  geography  acquired  by  them  at 
school.  S(une  say,  "Oh,  yes,  Porto  Rico;  fine  i.sland,"  etc., 
etc.  And  in  several  ca.ses  I  read  in  the  hesitancy  and  per- 
plexity of  my  new  acquaintances,  that  they  are  trying  to 
place  my  country  in  some  remote  point  of  the  unexplored 
regions  of  (.'entral  Africa,  or  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  un- 
known poles. 

As  soon  as  they  realize  that  we  have  an  undisputed  posi- 
tion on  the  map,  and  that  we  form  the  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  Northern  and  Southern  Ilennspheres  of  the  New 
World,  new  doubts  spring  up  in  their  minds,  and  all  sorts  of 
questions  are  fired  at  me,  ex])ecting,  of  course,  a  favoral)le 
answer,  which  at  times,  J  tell  you  frankly,  puts  me  in  a  very 
critical  position.  Many  persons  in  this  wide  land  believe 
yet  that  we  do  not  belong  to  the  civilized  world,  and  Inboi- 
under  the  false  impression  that  we  are  nothing  Init  a  lot  of 
wild  Indians,  scantily  covered  with  the  feathers  and  furs  ol' 
wild  animals,  living  in  caves  or  in  huts,  and  fed  only  with  the 
fruits,  roots  and  the  fauna  of  the  forests  in  the  midst  of 
which  we  live.     I  should  not  be  at  all  surprised  if  some  of 


oui'  least  charitable  ignorers  considered  us  as  cannibals,  and 
would  give  this  as  the  principal  reason  for  not  coming  in 
closer  contact  with  us,  not  being,  of  course,  disposed  to  sub- 
mit American  enterprise  to  a  more  or  less  rapid  Indian  diges- 
tion. 

One  of  the  arguments  that  I  ha-»e  used  to  demonstrate  that 
we  are  not  Indians,  and  that  we  do  not  dress  in  the  abbre- 
viated fashion  they  suppose,  is  the  fact  that  we  visit  you 
very  often,  which  we  should  not  do  if  the  above  were  the  case, 
because  your  winter  weather  would  not  agree  very  well  with 
our  sujiposed  scanty  covering  as' a  guard  against  your  below 
zero  temperature.    (Applause.) 

Well,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  allow  me  to  state  frankly,  and 
l)elieve  that  this  is  perfectly  true,  that  we  are  not  Indians, 
but  people  of  pure  white  race,  principally  descendants  from 
the  hard-working  and  peace-loving  Spaniards  from  Galicia, 
and  that  the  very  few  Indians  left  in  the  country  are  confined 
to  the  uncultivated  portions  of  land,  near  our  northern  and 
southern  b(nindaries. 

As  far  as  negroes  are  concerned,  I  beg  to  state  most  re- 
spectfully, that  all  those  who  live  in  the  country  are  subjects 
of  Her  Gracious  Majesty,  who  have  been  brought  to  Costa 
Rica  to  work  on  the  lowlands  near  the  ocean,  where  the  cli- 
nuite  is  too  severe  for  the  natives  accustomed  to  the  delicious 
temperature  and  healthy  conditions  of  the  high  lands  where 
they  live. 

The  Costa  Ricans  are  well-formed  people  and  of  fine  feat- 
ures. Our  women  have  beautiful  eyes  of  dark  shades,  very 
abundant  black  hair,  full  of  grace  and  affability,  they  make 
excellent  wives  and  loving  mothers.  To  explain  what  they 
are,  in  very  few  words,  I  tell  you  openly  that  they  can  stand 
a  most  favorable  comparison  with  the  fair  daughters  of  this 
wonderful  country  of  whom  you  are  so  justly  proud,  and 
whom  I  consider  the  finest  of  the  fine.  (Applause.)  The 
men  are  intelligent,  industrious,  truthful  and  of  generous 
disposition,  and  always  ready  to  welcome  foreigners  and  profit 
mutually  from  their  experience  and  resources  applied  to  the 
numy  advantages  offered  by  the  country.  The  gentlemen  and 
ladies  dress  in  strict  accordance  with  the  European  fashion, 
and  should  you  atteiul  a  performance  of  an  opera  in  the 
National  Theatre  of  San  Jose,  which,  by  the  way,  is  one  of 
the  finest  in  the  world,  you  would  be  very  agTeeably  surprised 
with  the  array  of  well-dressed  beauty  there  present. 

One  of  the  first  things  a  Costa  Rican  does  when  he  has  a 
little  money  to  spare,  and  in  many  instances  he  goes  so  far 
as  to  borrow  it  to  satisfy  his  desire,  is  to  travel  abroad,  where, 
although  always  ready  for  a  good  time,  he  knows  also  how 
to  derive  ample  profit  from  his  vacation  in  his  own  behalf, 
and  also  in  that  of  the  small  portion  of  hnid  of  which  he  is 
so  proud.  All  foreign  observers  express  their  admiration 
when  they  find  in  Costa  Rica  many  of  the  achievements  of 
civilization  which  are  wanted  in  several  larger  and  much  older 
countries. 

The  best  class  of  our  peoj^le  are  very  highly  educated;  they 
speak  one  or  two  languages  besides  our  mother  tongue,  and 
among  them  you  will  find  a  vast  number  of  privileged  sons  of 
the  different  arts. 

Resides  the  fact  of  the  Costa  Rican  race  being  of  an  un- 
mixed and  purely  white  origin,  the  people  are,  in  a  greater 
or  smaller  scale,  property  owners,  the  union  of  which  two 
Tacts  constitutes  tlie  principal  reason  for  their  hard-working 
and  extraordinary  peaceful  disposition,  which  may  seem  of 
very  difficult  comprehension  to  you,  because,  unfortunately, 
V  111  believe  that  we  from  the  American  countries  of  Spanish 
descent.  s|ii'ii(l  li.il  f  of  oui'  I  iiiic  lighting  in  ri'volutioiis  and  the 
other  half  ]ire|iaring  new  movements. 

Our  houses  luive  all  the  modern  conveniences,  and  we  live 
with  all  tile  rei|uii'enients  of  civilization  and  coiufiui  in  rela- 
tion to  our  mild  climate  and  social  exigencies. 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  88,  1899 


'265 


Our  public  lniildiiio;.s  are  numerous,  spacious  and  orna- 
mental. We  have  theatres,  churches,  libraries,  hospitals  and 
asylums,  railroads,  tramways  and  fine  cart  roads,  water  works, 
electric  light,  good  public  and  sanitary  service,  and  in  fact 
on  a  small  scale  all  the  conveniences  you  enjoy  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

Our  population  is  a  little  more  than  3U0,U00,  that  is  to  say, 
about  the  sixth  part  of  this  great  city  which,  more  than  a 
hundred  years  ago,  was  the  birthplace  of  the  most  wonderful 
and  far-reaching  experiment  that  liberty  ever  undertook.  But 
we  are  a  sovereign  country  with  everything  included,  even 
party  politicians  and  ringleaders,  and  you  are  nothing  but  a 
big  and  prosperous  city.    (Applause.) 

I  will  not  detain  you  much  longer  and  put  your  endurance 
on  a  more  protracted  strain,  but  allow  me  to  say  before  finish- 
ing, that  in  Costa  Rica  you  will  find  all  you  might  need,  from 
the  best  to  the  lowest  products  of  the  industries,  locomotives 
and  fine  iron  bridges,  as  well  as  whiskey  and  chewing  gum. 
(Applause.) 

Other  facts  which  I  wish  to  state  are,  that  in  Costa  Rica 
there  is  the  most  decided  respect  for  life  and  property,  our 
laws  are  good  and  the  same  for  all,  we  have  perfect  liberty 
of  thought  and  press,  and  though  the  Catholic  is  the  religion 
of  the  majority  of  our  people,  all  creeds  are  free  and  never 
interfered  with. 

All  foreigners  may  ac([uire  property  and  may  become 
easily  naturalized,  if  they  so  desire,  but  at  all  events, 
they  will  always  be  respected  and  loved  if  they  go  there 
with  good  intentions.  The  Costa  Ricans  know  how  to  ap- 
preciate in  due  form  all  kinds  of  talent  and  work.  All  for- 
eigners who  live  with  us  for  some  time  soon  learn  how  to 
get  along  in  our  country,  and,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  end 
by  assimilating  our  customs  and  ways,  and  by  making  their 
homes  next  to  ours,  only  to  visit  the  countries  they  origi- 
nally came  from  once  in  a  while.  They  feel  homesick  in 
their  old  homes,  and  desire  to  return  to  the  republic  which, 
though  small,  is  nevertheless  as  big  as  the  United  States  in 
its  love  for  peace,  and  in  its  efforts  to  go  ahead  in  the  road 
which  leads  to  its  betterment,  in  the  multiple  manifestations 
of  modern  progress. 

.1  hope  that  I  have  .succeeded  in  convincing  you  that  my 
people  are  worthy  of  your  acquaintance  and  intimacy,  that 
they  will  receive  you  with  open  arms,  help  you  to  the  best 
of  their  abilities,  and  not  throw  stones  nor  arrows  to  the  new 
arrivals,  nor  use  you  to  provide  jiersonally  the  roast  meats 
of  our  "Indian  dinners."     (Continued  applause.) 

II oil.  W.  W.  Rorkhill: 

1  will  now  call  on  Mr.  Benjamin  K.  Piza,  delegate  from 
Costa  Rica.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Benjamin  E.  Piza: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  must  start  by 
begging  your  pardon  for  any  incorrectness  of  speech  which 
you  may  find  in  my  address.  It  is  true  that  I  can  manage 
to  make  myself  imderstood  in  the  English  language,  but 
nevertheless  it  is  an  acquired  language  with  me,  and  conse- 
quently I  Ijeg  pardon  for  any  inaccuracies  wliich  you  may 
notice. 

The  ta.sk  of  expressing  my  feelings  of  admiration  and  re- 
spect for  this  grand  country,  and  my  gratefulness  for  the 
kind  and  hearty  welcome  extended  to  all  of  us,  would  indeed 
be  a  very  agreeable  one,  but  much  beyond  my  oratorical  capa- 
bilities. I  must  therefore  content  myself  with  cheerfully 
subscribing  to  all  that  has  been  expressed  on  this  subject 
l)y  others  who  have  preceded  me. 

It  would  seem  idle  to  dwell  upon  the  warm  congratulations 
which  we  all  owe  and  readily  present  to  the  people  of  the 


United  States,  and  more  particularly  to  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, for  this  new  proof  of  their  noble  desire  to  unite  the 
ditt'erent  elements  of  commerce.  To  unite  them  just  through 
what  would  appear  to  I)e  the  main  cause  of  their  antagonism, 
to  change  the  unfriendly  struggle  of  competition  into  a  source 
of  frank  and  mutual  enterprise.  Even  if  this  attempt  should 
not  give  immediate  satisfaction  it  is  bound  to  end  in  a 
splendid  result,and  the  generosity  of  the  idea  alone  certainly 
commands  the  warmest  applause.  That  applause  I  consider 
it  my  duty  to  present  publicly  to  the  initiators  of  this  meet- 
ing, and  to  their  right  hand"  in  this  instance.  Dr.  William 
P.  Wilson. 

That  meetings  of  this  kind  will  materially  help  to  increase 
the  export,  and  even  the  import,  trade  of  this  country  cannot 
be  doubted.  One  plain  proof  of  their  efficiency  may  be  fur- 
nished by  the  commercial  movement  of  Co.sta  Rica,  where, 
since  the  United  States  started  their  commercial  propaganda, 
our  trade  with  this  republic,  which  was  formerly  10  per  cent., 
has  jumped  up  to  GO  per  cent,  of  its  total  amount. 

However,  with  regard  to  its  complete  development,  tliere 
are  some  points  which,  in  my  opinion,  are  an  obstacle  to  the 
prompt  attainment  of  the  object  aimed  at,  and  it  is  to  these 
points  that  I  beg  to  draw  the  attention  of  this  Congress.  A 
great  deal  of  mutual  advantage  is  certainly  derived  by  our 
visits  to  this  country,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that,  while 
these  visits  will  merely  increase  our  knowledge  of  this  trade, 
which  is  to  us  an  ol:>ject  of  constant  study,  they  cannot  give 
you  a  thorough  knowledge  of  our  countries,  of  the  nature 
of  their  business,  of  their  resources  and  abilities. 

If  I  say  that  you  do  not  know  our  countries  sutficiently, 
I  do  not  mean  to  convey  that  they  are  better  than  they  seem 
to  be,  biit  simply  that  they  may  he  different  to  the  general 
ideas  you  have  perhaps  formed  of  them.  I  consequently  be- 
lieve that  a  more  profound  study  on  the  part  of  this  con- 
ference of  our  capacity  and  requirements  would  certainly  go 
a  long  way  towards  the  obtainment  of  a  successful  increase 
of  business,  and  of  the  fraternal  link  which  sooner  or  later 
must  strongly  unite  this  great  republic  to  its  junior  sisters 
of  the  American  continent. 

It  must  be  taken  into  consideration  that  much  of  the  in- 
crease .of  Costa  Rican  trade  with  the  United  States  is  due 
to  the  smaller  distance  that  separates  us  from  your  market. 
This  great  advantage,  which  means  time  and  consequently 
money,  makes  us  in  some  instances  overlook  greater  advan- 
tages ofl'ered  by  the  European  countries,  which,  owing  to 
constant  study  of  our  markets,  well  know  and  fully  meet  all 
their  requirements.  Not  one  summer  goes  by  without  crowds 
of  European  traveling  agents  visiting  Costa  Rica  (the  greater 
part  of  them  Germans,  of  course),  and  I  can  assure  you  that 
every  information  they  can  gather  with  regard  to  the  im- 
provement of  any  of  their  particular  lines,  is  carefully  noted, 
and  invariably  put  into  practice.  Placing  aside  the  tech- 
nical way  of  doing  business,  in  which  they  fully  meet  our 
wants,  there  are  innumerable  small  details  which  constitute 
together  an  important  item,  and  in  which  the  Europeans, 
and  most  particularly  the  Germans,  excel.  They  have,  for 
instance,  constituted  their  office  work  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  are  able  to  state  on  their  invoices  not  only  the  first 
cost,  but  also  the  gross  and  net  weight,  measurement  and 
invoice  expenses  of  every  package;  sometimes  even  of  everv 
article.  And  in  countries  like  ours,  where  the  goods  reach 
us  often  after  the  invoice,  such  detailed  statements  enable 
the  receiver  to  calculate  in  advance  the  local  expenses,  and 
final  cost  of  the  goods,  and  to  sell  these  on  sample. 

With  regard  to  the  packing  of  goods  in  boxes,  Americans, 
to  use  one  of  their  favorite  expressions,  "are  not  in  it."  The 
same  thick,  heavy  boards  used  for  boxes  sent  to  countries 
where  custom  house  duties  are  paid  ad  valorem,  are  employed 
for  goods  sent  to  Costa  Rica,  where  the  duties  are  charged 


266 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


per  gross  weight;  ami  many  have  been  the  instances  in  which 
American  lioxes,  heavier  and  larger  than  their  contents,  have 
paid,  naturally,  more  duty  than  the  goods  which  they  con- 
tained. 

Besides  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  delicate  articles  packed 
in  the  United  States  reach  our  countries  with  immense  break- 
age and  damage,  and  that,  as  a  rule,  whatever  may  be  the 
conditions  of  the  insurance  effected  against  breakage,  it  is 
little  less  tlian  impossible  to  obtain  redress.  The  minute 
and  dillicult  formalities  which  such  claims  have  to  undergo 
are  so  numerous  that  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  claim  is 
abandoned. 

'J'hese  and  many  other  small  obstacles  which  sum  up  to 
important  drawbacks,  would  in  my  opinion,  be  easily  oblit- 
erated, or  at  least,  very  materially  corrected,  if  American 
commercial  agents  were  to  visit  our  markets  oftener,  and  be- 
come acquainted  with  their  various  peculiarities. 

Now,  regarding  this  point,  I  must  hasten  to  explain  that 
though  I  approve  the  system  of  sending  out  traveling  agents 
as  a  means  of  obtaining  reliable  information,  I  decidedly 
condemn  it  when  it  is  imprudently  employed  with  the  view 
of  forcing  trade.  Such  system  cannot  fail  to  produce  most 
disastrous  results.  In  their  eagerness  to  sell,  to  beat  the 
record,  to  show  off,  the  generality  of  traveling  salesmen  in 
our  countries  granted  credits  indiscriminately  to  people  who 
did  not  deserve  it,  and  who  did  not  imderstand  the  import 
business.  The  consequence  of  this  was  that  the  sound  part 
of  our  commerce  was  greatly  prejudiced  by  an  unreasonable 
cut-throat  competition,  which  naturally  ended  in  the  wreck 
of  the  small  buyers  and  heavy  losses  to  the  sellers.  This  is, 
to  a  great  extent,  the  cause  of  the  kind  of  fear  with  which 
the  greater  part  of  the  Spanish-American  countries  are  re- 
garded just  now. 

If  trade  is  soberly  conducted,  if  credit  is  judiciously 
granted,  there  are  nine  probabilities  against  one  that  both 
of  these  will  honestly  combine  in  order  to  avert  a  crisis 
or  at  least  very  materially  reduce  the  effects  of  it.  There- 
fore, when  I  suggest  that  our  countries  be  more  freqrtontly 
visited  by  American  agents,  I  mean  by  tliis,  competent 
business  men  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  nature  and 
details  of  American  trade,  capable  if  appreciating  the  im- 
portance of  the  several  little  obstacles  which  we  find  in  the 
American  system,  and  of  justly  analyzing  our  commercial 
and  financial  condition,  as  well  as  our  immense  agricultural 
resources.  Let  this  be  done,  and  I  repeat  that  I  feel  certain 
the  first  great  step  is  taken  towards  the  peaceful,  voluntary 
and  muttially  profitable  union  of  all  the  American  countries 
in  this  commercial  intercourse. 

And  believe  me,  gentlemen,  in  C'osta  Rica  a  conscientious 
study  of  such  nature  will  offer  you  tlie  opportunity  not  only 
of  enhancing  the  American  part  of  our  commerce,  hut  to 
effect  most  advantageous  investments.  Costa  Rica  is  really 
a  wonderful  little  country,  where  nature  seems  to  have  artis- 
tically and  Iil)enilly  acctimulated  its  most  attractive  1)eauties, 
and  its  most  delicious  climate.  As  to  its  soil,  there  is  de- 
cidedly none  nuire  fertile  nor  cuiiable  <if  bringing  forth  a 
greater  variety  of  production.  In  tliis  trupical  little  Swit- 
zerland, where  every  mile's  distance  offers  to  the  eye  a  new 
and  enchanting  panorama,  we  grtiw  easily  almost  any  fruit, 
from  the  stinburnt  cocoannt  to  the  rosy  cheeked  apple:  and 
it  is  this  wonderful  fertility,  couyjled  with  the  sober,  hard- 
working habits  of  the  Costa  Ricans,  that  has  made  Costa  Rica 
one  of  the  greatest  producin":  countries  of  the  world  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  inhahitants. 

[low  could  the  study  of  such  a  count  ly  fail  lo  in(hice  vou. 
Novtii  .'Vmericans,  to  employ  to  our  mutual  Ijeiu'lil  m  part 
of  your  restles's  activity  and  your  imnionse  capital  tbi-ro.  |i;n-- 
ticularly  now,  when  your  booming  prosperity  is  rapiilly  grow- 
ing out  of  the  botindaries  of  your  own  territory? 


The  very  frequent  opportunities  of  visiting  Costa  Rica, 
the  easy  access  to  that  country  from  all  parts  of  the  United 
States,  the  well  known  sympathy  of  all  people  towards 
Americans,  are  constantly  inviting  you.  Already  the  first 
step  is  taken.  Already  the  first  important  business,  The 
Cnited  Fruit  Company,  has  been  launched  in  Costa  Rica 
\\  ith  capital  of  Americans  who  w^ent  there,  saw  and  invested, 
and  who,  I  dare  say,  have  no  reason  to  regret  their  invest- 
ment. This  venture,  I  frequently  hope,  will  soon  be  followed 
liy  others,  which  will  bring  us  closer  and  closer  to  our 
Northern  brothers,  and  achieve  in  that  manner  the  most 
desirable  union,  the  union  which  was  brought  about  by  com- 
mon interest  in  noble,  honest  work. 

Hon.  IV.  IV.  h'nd-hill: 

Mr.  John  },[.  Keith,  delegate  from  Costa  Rica.     (Applause.) 

Opi'ortunitiks  for  Investment  in  Costa  Rica. 

Mr.  John  M.  Keith: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  has  been  re- 
marked already  in  this  Congress  that  the  true  field  for  de- 
velopment of  American  commerce  lies  in  the  supply  of  the 
new  wants  of  foreign  countries  that  are  created  in  their 
advancing  civilization.  On  these  lines  there  is  no  more 
promising  field  for  American  activity  than  that  of  Spanish 
America. 

Mr.  Atkinson  has  shown  in  the  very  valuable  statistics 
contained  in  his  address  that  the  average  consumption  of 
American  goods  in  this  immense  territory  is  only  $1.40  per 
capita;  SI, 000, 000  of  people  whose  geographical  position  im- 
poses on  the  LTnited  States  the  duty  of  the  preservation  of 
their  political  autonomy  are  also  at  its  doors  welcoming  Amer- 
ican merchandise,  machinery  and  enterprise  for  their  eco- 
nomic and  material  development. 

It  does  not  require  the  gift  of  prophecy  to  see  the  con- 
struction of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  in  which  both  North  and 
South  America  take  such  vital  interest,  promoting  not  only 
the  conversion  of  the  Far  East  into  a  New  West  for  the 
Fnited  States, but  the  commercial  extension  of  the  New  South 
to  the  rugged  cliff's  of  Cape  Horn. 

It  has  iieen  customary  to  regard  all  Latin  America  as  hav- 
ing similar  products  and  like  interests,  but  this,  in  the  main, 
i-i  an  error.  Countries  exporting  coffee,  cacao,  nitrate,  wheat 
or  timber  have  each  their  peculiar  necessities,  and  their  con- 
ditions must  be  studied  separately. 

It  is  the  great  work  of  the  Philadelphia  Museum  to  have 
collected  the  data  for  this  study,  and  to-day  it  generously  pre- 
sents the  results  of  its  labor  to  the  commerce  of  the  world. 

It  shall  be  my  honor  to  speak  on  the  opportunities  for 
.A.merican  investment  in  Costa  Rica,  where  for  fourteen  years 
I  have  been  associated  with  the  principal  foreign  enterprises 
in  the  country. 

Costa  Rica  does  not  ditVer  from  ilie  otlu-r  Central  Ameri- 
can countries  in  the  topogra]iliica]  ilivi-;ion  of  its  territory 
into  elevated  valleys  and  law  plains,  that  have  each  their 
distinctive  leading  products  and  social  conditions. 

Costa  Rica  was  settled  in  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  in  common  with  most  Spanish  settlements,  the 
town  became  the  nucleus  of  its  development. 

A  hardy  race  of  Spaniards  from  northern  Spain,  wisely 
selected  the  town  sites  of  Cartago,  Snn  Jose,  Heredia  and 
Alajuela  on  account  of  the  cool  and  salubrious  climate  and 
tlie  fertility  of  the  soil  of  the  surrounding  country,  ('osta 
Uica  to-day  contains  a  population  of  lictwoen  390,000  to  300,- 
(Mio  souls,  of  wbi<-h  '^>40,000  reside  in  ibr  elevated  valleys  of 
tlie  interior;  worthy  descendants  of  the  early  adventurers 
frcjm  Galicia,  and  are  to-day  an  almost  pure  Spanish   race. 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


267 


with  very  little  mixture  of  Indian  blood. 

The  area  of  this  district  is  very  small  in  comparison  with 
the  rest  of  the  country,  and  is  one  of  the  most  densely  popu- 
lated agricultural  districts  of  the  world.  Coffee  is  the  sole 
ai'ticle  of  export  from  this  region  and  is  raised  mostly  by 
small  growers.  It  is  purchased  in  the  berry  and  prepared 
for  foreign  markets  by  the  shipper,  requiring  the  exercise_  of 
great  skill  and  the  employment  of  machinery,  most  of  which 
is  American. 

The  land  is  sub-divided  into  small  farms,  and  in  some  dis- 
tricts 95  per  cent,  of  the  heads  of  families  are  landed  proprie- 
tors. This  district,  however,  does  not  offer  many  attractions 
to  foreign  investors,  and  is  more  the  province  of  the  mer- 
chant, as  the  interior  of  Costa  Rica  is  already  supplied  with 
railways,  tramways,  electric  lights,  both  incandescent  and  arc, 
and  other  accompaniments  of  modern  civilization.  Besides, 
the  surplus  earnings  of  the  natives  are  principally  invested  in 
land  and  as  a  consequence,  farms  are  held  at  prices  which 
are  not  as  remunerative  as  virgin  lands  that  can  be  secured 
in  the  new  districts  to  which  the  natural  development  of  the 
country  has  not  yet  extended;  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
natives  are  averse  to  migrating  from  districts  where  they  have 
been  raised  and  have  their  family  ties. 

Notwithstanding  that  over  80  per  cent,  of  the  cofEee  ex- 
port.ed  from  this  region  is  shipped  to  Europe,  nearly  50  per 
cent,  of  its  importation  comes  from  the  United  States,  and 
the  population  consumes  American  goods  to  the  amount  of 
$7.50  per  capita,  against  an  average  consumption  of  $1.40  for 
all  Latin  America. 

An  investor  will  naturally  inquire  what  protection  the 
country  affords  to  life  and  property.  In  regard  to  the  first 
inquiry,  I  have  only  to  say  that  no  foreign  power  has  as  yet 
had  occasion  to  present  a  claim  for  any  outrage  against  the 
person  or  property  of  its  citizens.  The  towns  and  rural  dis- 
tricts are  efficiently  policed,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  amount 
of  crime  committed  in  the  republic  is  not  in  excess  of  any 
other  civilized  country.  The  sub-division  of  the  ownership 
of  land  amongst  people  of  all  classes  creates  an  element  of 
responsibility,  and  is  the  surest  foundation  for  rhe  mainte- 
nance of  law  and  order  respectively.  We  are  little  troubled 
by  political  disorders,  and  in  fact  we  have  had  but  one  se- 
rious revolution  for  a  period  of  nearly  thirty  years.  These 
political  movements  arise  piincipally  in  the  struggles  between 
small  political  factions,  and  do  not  affect  the  course  of  in- 
dustry throughout  the  country  at  large. 

The  titles  to  landed  property  and  mortgages  are  protected 
by  a  system  of  registration  similar  in  its  organization  to  the 
Torren's  system  of  the  State  of  Illinois.  During  its  thirty- 
four  years  of  operation,  no  legal  complications  have  ever 
arisen  in  which  the  corrections  or  security  offered  by  the 
work  of  the  registry  have  been  questioned.  Foreigners  are 
entitled  to  hold^real  estate  as  well  as  natives;  and  their  prop- 
erty enjoys  the  protection  of  this  admirable  institution.  For 
a  nominal  fee  a  certificate  can  he  obtained  from  the  registry, 
of  the  amount  and  value  of  real  estate  inscribed  in  the  name 
of  any  man  in  the  republic,  and  the  amount  and  nature  of  any 
lien  that  there  may  be  thereon. 

We  have  also  in  Co_sta  Eica  one  of  the  most  complete  and 
best  organized  statistical  departments  in  all  Spanish  Amer- 
ica. This  department  contains  a  bureau  of  information, 
which,  on  application,  will  supply  the  amount  and  value  of 
any  class  of  merchandise  imported,  the  names  of  importers 
introducing  these  goods,  as  well  as  the  names  of  the  export- 
ers, and  the  amoimt  of  coffee  that  they  may  ship,  also  the 
markets  to  which  their  shipments  are  destined. 

The  climate  of  the  virgin  lands,  to  which  I  particularly  call 
your  attention  to-day,  is  malarial;  but  we  consider  it  less  un- 
healthy than  many  other  districts  on  the  same  coast.  A 
foreigner,  taking  proper  hygienic  precautions,  and  leading  a 


temperate  life,  can  stand  the  climate  without  much  difficulty. 
The  heat  is  too  intense  for  a  white  man  to  labor  without 
shelter;  and  we,  consequently,  are  dependent  for  our  supply 
of  labor  on  the  negroes  of  the  West  Indies,  especially  those 
of  Jamaica,  who  are  admirable  laborers,  and  work  for  a  wage 
of  about  sixty  cents  gold  per  diem. 

Coffee. 

There  are  a  number  of  new  districts  recently  opened  up 
to  agricultural  enterprise  where  coffee  can  be  profitably  cul- 
tivated, notwithstanding  the  fall  in  the  price  of  inferior 
grades.  A  Philadelphia  syndicate  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
pioneers  in  planting  coffee  in  the  Turrialba  district,  which, 
in  common  with  other  new  regions,  produces  a  quality  of 
coffee  which  recent  sales  have  demonstrated  to  be  equal  to  the 
best  produced  by  the  country,  and  guarantee  a  good  profit. 

Bananas. 

Tliis  enterprise,  which  has  become  an  important  item  in 
Costa  Rica's  economic  welfare,  was  initiated  by  an  Ameri- 
can, and  is  at  present  in  the  control  of  an  American  com- 
pany. 

From  an  experimental  shipment  of  a  few  hundred  bimehes 
in  1880,  the  exportation  has  increased  to  over  three  million 
bunches  per  annum. 

In  connection  ^vith  this  trade,  it  may  be  well  to  mention 
incidentally,  that  the  fundamental  obstacle  to  the  establish- 
ment of  transportation  facilities  with  Spanish  America,  has 
been  the  absence  of  bulk  in  its  products  compared  with  their 
value.  As  an  instance,  the  total  tonnage  to  and  from  the 
Atlantic  seaboard  of  Costa  Eica,  exclusive  of  bananas, 
amounts  to  only  30,000  tons  per  annum;  whereas,  its  total 
value  is  nearly  ten  million  dollars,  American  gold.  Thanks, 
however,  to  the  banana  traffic,  we  have  at  present  four  steam- 
ers weekly  to  and  from  the  United  States.  With  these  ex- 
ceptional shipping  facilities,  you  will  readily  appreciate  one  of 
the  main  factors  of  our  increasing  commerce  with  the  United 
States.  The  banana  bn.siness  has  not  only  been  advantageous 
to  American  commerce  with  Costa  Eica,  but  also  to  the  entire 
coast  washed  by  the  Caribbean  Sea  to  which  eighty  odd  steam- 
ers, mostly  owned  or  controlled  by  Americans,  ply  in  a  trade 
in  which  the  exchange  of  American  produce  for  bananas  and 
other  fruits,  is  the  characteristic  feature. 

Rubber. 

Rubber  planting  offers  a  profitable  field  of  investment,  and 
several  young  men  (mostly  Americans)  have  invested  their 
money  in  this  enterprise,  with  every  prospect  of  success. 

Cattle. 

The  cattle  business  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  enterprises 
in  the  country.  Those  familiar  with  the  industry,  state  that 
no  country  in  Central  America  can  compete  with  its  natural 
advantages  of  climate,  soil  and  abundance  of  pure  water, 
which  makes  the  Atlantic  slope  an  ideal  place  for  planting  of 
cultivated  grasses  for  the  purpose  of  raising  and  fattening 
stock.  Not  only  does  the  domestic  market  demand  more 
cattle  than  the  country  supplies,  but  we  have  open  to  us  the 
demand  of  Cuba  for  fattened  cattle  at  a  price  yielding  a  large 
profit. 

Cacao. 

We  do  not  as  yet  produce  sufficient  of  this  article  to  supply 
our  home  consumption;  but  quotations  received  on  samples 
sent  to  foreign  markets,  place  our  product  on  a  par  with  the 
very  best  grades. 


2'J8 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Mines. 

It  may  be  premature  to  claim  that  we  posses;?  an  El  Dorado, 
l)ut  all  indicatioDS  point  to  our  future  attainment  of  a  high 
position  of  importance  amongst  the  gold  producing  countries 
of  the  world.  In  view  of  the  possibilities  of  the  country  as 
a  gold  producer,  the  government  is  undertaking  the  conver- 
sion of  its  currency  from  a  silver  to  a  gold  basis,  and  ha~ 
already  a  reserve  of  gold  coin  in  hand  almost  sufficient  for  the 
realization  of  that  project. 

Until  two  or  three  years  ago,  the  extraction  of  gold  from 
our  inunense  bodies  of  gold  bearing  rock,  has  been  disas- 
trous when  conducted  on  a  large  scale;  although  since  the 
lime  of  the  Conquest,  mines  have  been  worked  in  a  small  way, 
with  more  or  less  profit.  We  have,  however,  changed  our 
methods,  and  with  the  introduction  of  the  cyanide  process,  we 
have  overcome  the  cause  of  our  failures  in  the  past. 

We  have  at  present  four  imi>ortant  American  companies, 
with  an  aggregate  capital  of  four  million  dollars;  the  oldest 
of  which  is  already  in  successful  operation;  and  the  others 
have  now  passed  the  experimental  stages  in  the  treatment  of 
their  ores,  and  our  output  is  increasing  monthly.  The  gov- 
ernment, both  on  account  of  its  currency  projects,  and  its 
liberal  attitude  towards  foreign  investment,  gives  a  special  pro- 
tection to  this  industry.  It  is  unhampered  by  excessive  tax- 
ation; and  machinery,  dynamite  and  tools  arc  subject  to  no 
duties  in  the  custom  house.  I  might  go  on  indefinitely  enum- 
erating minor  opportunities  of  investment  in  Costa  Rica.  Be- 
fore closing,  I  desire  to  call  attention  to  that  immense  tract 
of  territory  known  as  the  San  Carlos  plain,  which  is  to-day 
praotically  uninhabited,  notwithstanding  travelers  declare  it 
to  be  one  of  the  most  fertile  districts  in  the  world.  This 
region  is  shut  off  from  the  interior  of  Costa  Rica  Ijy  a  nu)un- 
tain  range,  but  is  tributaiy  to  I^ake  Nicaragua  and  the  San 
Juan  river  into  which  its  navigable  rivers  drain.  This  was 
the  seat  of  the  empire  conceived  by  the  filibuster,  Wm. 
Walker,  a  project  which  eventually  cost  him  his  life,  when  he 
rashly  attacked  the  autonomy  of  the  Central  American  re- 
publics. The  possibilities  of  this  region  in  the  production  of 
tonnage  for  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  to  assist  in  placing  this 
enterprise  on  a  paying  basis,  commends  itself  to  the  serious 
attention  of  the  jjronioters  of  the  most  important  engineer- 
ing, commercial  and  political  undertaking  of  the  present  age. 

In  conclusion,  I  will  say  that  the  government  and  people 
of  Costa  Rica  warmly  welcome  foreigners,  especially  those 
who  come  for  the  purpose  of  developing  the  latent  resources 
of  the  country.  Foreigners  will  find  an  intelligent  people, 
ever  ready  to  give  valuable  and  disinterested  assistance  re- 
garding their  projects;  and  the  fruits  of  judicious  enterprise 
■(vill  verify  to  them  that  the  name  of  Costa  Rica  (meaning 
"rich  coast")  given  by  Columbus,  is  not  a  misnomer.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

//-/(.  W.  W.  Hud-hill: 

To  close  the  consideration  of  the  cjuestion  of  Costa  Rica. 
I  now  have  the  honor  to  recognize  His  Excellency,  Dr.  J.  B. 
Calvo,  Minister  of  Costa  Rica,  who  will  address  the  Congress. 
(Ajiplause.) 

His  Exrelleiirj/,  Dr.  ,J .  B.  Calvn  (Minister  of  Costa  Rica): 

The  honorable  delegates  to  the  International  (,'ommercial 
Congress  have  heard  the  remarks  of  the  distinguished  gen- 
tlemen fnmi  Costa  Rica,  on  the  people,  resources,  climate  aTid 
opportunities  offered  i)y  that  country  to  the  capital  and  in- 
dustry from  abroad,  and  therefore  to  the  prospects  for  large 
developiiuMit  of  trade  relations  with  all  nations  to  which  we 
oM'er  our  products  in  exchange  for  theirs,  and  to  whose  chil- 
dren Costa  Rica  offers  with  the  treasuries  of  its  unexploited 


soil,  and  the  welcome  of  an  industrious,  orderly  and  law- 
abiding  population,  the  benefits  of  a  stable  government. 

Indeed  nothing  could  be  more  satisfactory  than  to  refer  in 
this  connection  to  the  remarkable  fact,  well  sustained  in 
every  way,  that  Costa  Rica  has  not  to-day,  nor  ever  had  at 
any  time,  claims  presented  to  her  for  damages  or  injuries 
caused  by  arbitrary  acts  on  the  part  of  her  civil  or  military 
authorities  against  the  citizens  of  other  nations. 

As  for  the  character  of  that  comitry  allow  me  to  quote, 
among  other  authorities,  what  the  Central  and  South  Ameri- 
can Commissioners,  sent  in  fS81:  from  the  United  States, 
said  in  their  rei)orts:  "The  name  of  Costa  Rica  stands  high 
as  a  republic,  alive  to  the  demands  of  a  progressive,  freedom- 
loving  people,  her  institutions  and  her  wealth,  her  industries 
and  improvements,  bespeak  a  natiim  whose  face  is  to  the 
future,  and  whose  enterprise  will  carry  her  to  the  high  posi- 
tion her  natural  endowments  and  resources  and  advajiced  ideas 
demand."  It  seems  to  me  unuece.ssary  to  say  anything  more 
about  the  guaranties  that  persons  and  property  enjoy  in  that 
rich  country,  and  therefore,  about  the  opportunities  to  invest 
capital,  or  to  enlarge  by  other  means  the  sphere  of  our 
activities. 

In  regard  to  the  United  States,  the  report  of  the  above- 
mentioned  commissioners  said:  "It  is  a  source  of  congratu- 
lation to  know  that  not  only  are  American  wares  and  mer- 
chandise increasingly  consumed  in  Costa  Rica,  but  there  is  a 
growing  desire  on  the  part  of  its  people  to  establish  more 
cordial  relations,  commercial  and  international,  with  the 
United  States."  Beyond  a  doubt,  the  increasing  attention  of 
this  country  to  the  economy,  industry  and  commerce  of  Latin 
America  has  already  met  a  cordial  response  in  Costa  Rica. 

This  was  in  1884,  and  about  the  exactness  of  this  asser- 
tion the  volume  of  commerce  of  to-day  answers  with  grati- 
fying evidence. 

In  1889  the  only  country  which  led  the  United  States  in 
commerce  with  Costa  Rica,  was  Great  Britain,  and  since  the 
following  year,  1890,  the  United  States  took  the  lead  even 
over  Great  Britain. 

To  our  gratification  the  attention  of  a  considerable  number 
of  wealthy  business  men  of  this  country,  who  have  realized 
that  there  is  a  large  field  in  Costa  Rica,  has  been  directed  to 
that  country.  In  the  last  years  especially,  several  millions  of 
dollars  have  been  invested  there  in  mining  and  agricultural 
enterprises,  electric  light  and  electric  traction  plant,s,  and 
several  other  improvements,  with  bright  prospects  for  an  en- 
largement of  the  business  of  the  same. 

These  conditions  at  present,  and  the  hopes  we  entertain  in 
tlu'  success  of  the  w.irk  of  this  Congress,  insure  for  the  future 
a  greater  extension  of  our  commerce,  and.  therefore,  of  the 
commercial  relations  of  Costa  Rica  with  other  nations.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Hon.  ir.  ir.  Rod-hill: 

The  Congress  now  stands  ailjonrncd  until  ?->  o'clock  this 
afternoon. 

(AdjouriK'd  nt  \2.\\  a.  m.) 


PHii.ADHi.riiiA,  Saturday.  October  '-iS,  1.899. 

.\ i'ti:hnoo\   Si'ssiov. 

The  meeting  wa«  imIIimI  to  oidcr  at  •').18  p.  ni.  bv  Director 
W.  I'.  Wilson. 

//.-„.  ir.  If.  HorL-hill: 

The  first   s])eaker  this  afternoon  is  Mr.    Kliodoro   Infante 
v.,  Chai'ge  d'Affaires  and  delegate  from  Chile.     (Applause.) 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION.  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


269 


Mr.  Eliodoro  Infante  V. : 

It  would  have  been  my  desire  to  give  to  the  International 
Commerciali  Congress  a  clear  and  exact  idea  of  what  the  long 
and  narrow  band  of  territory  which  extends  between  the 
mountain  range  of  the  Andes  and  the  Pacific  Ocean  is,  and 
of  the  role  it  can  play  in  the  trade  between  nations.  Sorry 
to  say,  the  inclusion  of  my  name  among  the  speakers  was  so 
surprising  to  me  that  it  will  be  possible  for  me  only  to  give 
you  an  approximate  idea  of  our  present  situation,  and  of  the 
prospects  which  Chile  offers  for  trade. 

Chile,  narrow  and  small,  as  it  appears  in  the  geographical 
charts,  has  an  area  of  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
.square  kilometers,  or  an  extension  much  larger  than  any  of 
the  European  countries  vnih  the  exception  of  Russia.  The 
length  of  this  territory,  which  can  be  considered  a  disadvan- 
tage under  a  strategic  point  of  view,  is  in  all  respects  an  ad- 
vantage with  which  nature  bestowed  Chile,  not  only  because 
the  extension  of  its  coast  imposes  a  development  of  its  mer- 
cantile marine  and  its  foreign  commerce,  but  also  because  by 
such  a  long  extension  from  north  to  south  the  country  con- 
tains distinct  regions  gifted  with  a  great  diversity  of  its 
natural  riches.    The  country  comprises  four  zones. 

First,  the  mineral  zone,  which  extends  from  the  extreme 
north  as  far  as  the  twenty-seventh  parallel.  There  vegeta- 
tion is  lacking  or  extremely  poor,  running  waters  are  scarce 
and  rain  still  more  so;  but  instead  it  contains  rich  mines  of 
silver,  gold  and  copper,  and,  most  important  of  all,  under  the 
soil  is  found  saltpetre,  which  alone  constitutes  great  riches, 
borax  and  iodine. 

Second,  the  mineral  and  agricultural  zone,  which  reaches 
as  far  as  the  southern  boundary  of  the  Province  of  Aconca- 
gua, uniting  agricultural  and  mineralogical  conditions.  It 
has  sufficient  water  and  adaptable  valleys  for  cultivation,  and 
the  whole  region  is  filled  with  mines  of  copper,  silver,  iron, 
manganese,  lead,  etc. 

Third,  the  agricultural  zone,  which  extends  as  far  as  the 
forty-third  parallel,  where  the  i.«land  of  Chile  is  situated. 

This  region  is  covered  by  the  great  central  valley,  with  a 
well  irrigated  soil  and  benign  climate,  receiving  more  rain- 
fall the  more  it  advances  soutliward;  a  rich  and  productive 
soil,  abundant  forests,  energetic  vegetation.  Abundant  and 
excellent  cereals  are  produced  there,  also  leguminous  plants, 
garden  produce,  fruits  and  wines  of  first  quality  which  offer 
a  wide  field  for  foreign  trade.  There  are  also  found  large 
deposits  of  mineral  coal. 

Fourth,  the  lumber  and  fisheries  zone.  The  central  valley 
disappears  and  the  mountain  chain  of  the  coast  transforms 
itself  in  an  archipelago,  which  begins  with  the  island  of 
Chile  and  terminates  in  the  Tierra  del  Fuego.  In  this  region 
valleys  are  found  which  are  adaptable  for  cultivation  and 
cattle  raising;  rain  is  frequent;  the  sylvan  vegetation  is  ex- 
uberant; fish,  shell  fish,  seal,  etc.,  are  abundant. 

The  climate  of  the  whole  territory  of  the  repulilie  is  ex- 
ceedins-ly  benign  and  healthy;  there  is  no  excess  of  heat  nor 
of  cold,  nor  malignant  endemic  diseases,  with  the  exception 
of  the  small-pox,  which  is  rapidly  disappearing  through  the 
use  of  vaccine. 

The  bulk  of  the  juipulation  is  of  Spanish  descent.  The 
African  race  is  not  known  in  Chile,  and  the  Asiatic  is  only 
very  faintly  represented.  The  number  of  foreign  residents 
in  Chile  does  not  reach  100,000,  of  which  only  "about  1,000 
belong  to  this  great  republic  of  the  North,  and  to  whose  hos- 
pitality and  initiation  we  owe  the  happy  gathering  of  this 
Congress. 

The  political  organization  of  the  country  is  based  on  the 
constitution  adopted  in  1833,  to  its  maintenance  and  to  the 
holy  respect  with  which  it  inspires  every  Chilean  citizen,  we 
owe  that  stability  of  our  institutions  which  has  given  us  the 


strength  for  progress  and  the  energy  for  the  development  of 
our  elements  of  moral  and  material  vitality. 

Under  the  protection  of  this  fundamental  charter,  the  ad- 
ministration has  developed  and  maintained  itself  in  full  order 
and  correctness,  the  political  and  social  institutions  have  gone 
tlirough  their  progressive  evolutions  in  conditions  of  perfect 
tranquility  and  with  the  aid  of  all,  the  education  of  the  people 
and  instruction  in  general  have  reached  a  degree  of  progress 
which  is  a  high  honor  for  us;  public  hygiene,  neglected  at 
the  beginning,  makes  rapid  progress. 

In  one  word,  all  and  every  one  of  the  political,  social,  ad- 
ministrative or  material  combinations,  whose  systematic  and 
regular  concourse  is  indispensable  for  the  development  of 
nations,  have  worked  and  T\-ill  in  future  work  with  perfect 
regularity,  on  the  solid  foundation  erected  by  the  fathers  of 
our  country,  who  gave  us  independence  and  guided  us  in  the 
first  steps  of  our  life  as  a  nation. 

I  should  like  to  give  to  this  assembly  some  data  on  the 
organization  of  public  instruction,  on  hygiene,  on  public  char- 
ity, and  on  all  and  each  of  our  services,  but  to  my  greatest 
sorrow  I  do  not  have  them  at  hand.  I  may  only  say  regard- 
ing public  instruction  that  it  is  in  the  reach  of  all,  that  it  is 
based  on  the  most  modern  and  scientific  systems,  and  that 
numerous  foreign  students  recur  to  our  universities,  to  our 
pedagogic  institutions  and  to  our  military  schools. 

(ientlemen,  the  riches  of  the  soil  do  not  constitute  the 
only  foundation  for  the  prosperity  of  a  people.  Institutions 
of  solidity  and  stability,  and  internal  and  external  peace,  are 
needed  Ijesides.  WithoTit  solid  institutions  all  piroblems 
which  might  affect  the  interests  of  the  country,  do  not  find  an 
effective  solution.  Without  peace  all  is  destroyed  and  anni- 
hilated. 

Without  the  solidity  of  our  institutions,  Chile  could  never 
have  solved  the  grave  economic  and  financial  problem  wliich 
threatened  the  nation,  occasioned  by  the  circulation  of  the 
fiduciary  money.  Tne  public  power,  aided  by  the  entire 
country,  undertook  the  metallic  conversion,  an  operation 
which,  although  it  brought  with  it  the  perturbations  which 
are  natural  to  occur  when  such  transcendental  measures  are 
taken,  brought  back  to  us  the  metallic  regime,  made  the  crisis 
disappear  and  gave  us  a  basis  for  tranquility  which  will  re- 
dound to  the  great  lienefit  of  the  country. 

War  was  threatened  by  our  dispute  about  the  boundaries 
with  the  Argentine  Republic.  Both  countries  invested  large 
sums  for  the  organization  of  an  army  and  a  powerful  navy, 
and  thus  consumed  many  of  their  resources.  Luckily  the 
wisdom  of  both  countries  prevailed,  as  always  was  the  case, 
and  all  difficulties  have  disappeared  from  the  horizon,  owing 
to  the  arliitration  of  Her  Majesty,  the  Queen  of  England,  and 
of  the  distinguished  Minister  of  the  United  States  in  Buenos 
Aires,  Mr,  Buchanan.  Argentina  and  Chile  enjoy  to-day 
the  most  sincere  friendship,  and  their  cordial  relations  are 
assured  forever. 

Our  international  problems  have  been  solved  as  well  as 
iiur  princijial  economic  questions.  Chile  has  begun  to 
think  more  deeply  than  before  of  the  development  of  its 
natural  resources  and  of  its  industries,  and  has  extended  its 
action  to  foreign  countries. 

Chile,  tjontlemen,  protects  to-day,  on  a  local  basis,  all  in- 
dustries that  might  be  established  in  the  country,  and  will 
undoubtedly  do  all  that  is  in  its  power  to  facilitate  close 
commercial  relations  with  other  countries.  Its  ships  will 
very  soon  reach  Rio  de  Janeiro  by  the  Atlantic,  even  as  a  few 
months  ago  they  reached  the  doors  of  Mexico,  placing  us 
in  closer  contact  with  our  sister  republics  on  the  Pacific, 
and  with  the  farthest  ones,  the  Central  American  Republics 
and  Mexico,  for  which  Chile  always  has  felt  the  most  pro- 
found sympathy.  Before  a  month  has  passed  these  ships  will 
reach   San  Francisco,  and  in  this  way  Chile,  with  its  own 


270 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMEECIAL  CONGRESS 


steamships,  will  have  offered  a  new  link  to  tlie  friendship 
which  happily  unites  it  with  this  great  republic  of  the  North. 
A  commercial  link  it  is,  gentlemen,  which  to-day  is  the  most 
powerful  of  the  bonds  which  may  exist  between  peoples  who 
wish  to  increase  their  interest  and  their  friendship. 

Gentlemen,  all  that  might  contribute  to  solidify  the  com- 
mercial relations  of  the  nations  deserves  to  be  applauded,  and 
for  this  reason  I  congratulate  sincerely  the  organizers  of  this 
Congress,  hoping  that  it  may  bear  the  fruits  of  its  enterprise. 
(Applause.) 

no7i.  W.  W.  Eockhill: 

May  I  ask  His  Excellency,  Louis  F.  Corea,  Minister  of 
Nicaragua,  to  address  the  Congress?    (Applause.) 

His  Excellency,  Louis  F.  Curea  (Minister  of  Nicaragua): 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  affords  me  the 
greatest  pleasure  to  have  such  a  distinguished  and  cultured 
audience  before  me,  and  to  be  favored  with  such  an  agreeable 
subject  as  "Nicaragua."  It  is  an  honor  which  I  truly  appre- 
ciate. 

Central  America,  as  all  of  you  well  know,  includes  the 
five  Isthmian  Republics,  beginning  with  Guatemala  in  the 
north,  Honduras,  .Salvador  and  Nicaragua  in  the  centre,  and 
Costa  Rica  in  the  south.  They  form  a  link,  which  unites 
two  great  continents;  the  slender  barrier  upon  which  two 
mighty  oceans  plunge  and  roar  in  fruitless  effort  to  enter  each 
othei''s  domain.  Here  nature  planned  the  mtercourse  of 
waters,  then  withdrew  in  part  her  support,  when  the  task  was 
almost  completed.  But  let  us  hope  that  where  nature  proved 
remiss  the  hand  of  man  may  show  a  truer  purpose.  When 
the  trans-Isthmian  waterway  is  an  established  fact  you  shall 
see  Nicaragua,  Central  America,  not  only  the  geographical 
centre  of  the  new  hemisphere,  but  a  comniereial  centre  of  the 
world. 

Guatemala  is  the  site  of  what  was  once  the  seat  of  the  old 
Spanish  Government  on  this  Isthmus;  and  where  are  some 
remote  descendants  of  the  grandees  of  Castile.  A  country 
it  is,  rich  and  beautiful,  inhabited  by  a  cultured  people. 

Honduras  has  more  natural  wealth,  and  her  hills  and  her 
plains  bring  forth  after  their  kind  in  abundance. 

Salvador  is  a  countiy  limited  in  area,  but  one  of  the  most 
populous,  to  the  square  mile,  of  the  countries  of  the  world. 
Her  ingenious  people  are  facing  the  future  with  courage  and 
great  hopes. 

Costa  Rica  combines  the  rich  resources  of  her  nature  with 
the  thriftiness  and  enterprise  of  her  inhabitants. 

I  take  pardonable  pride  in  saying  that  Nicaragua,  l)esides 
tlie  beauty  of  her  panoramic  scenery,  her  handsome  lakes  and 
imposing  volcanoes,  the  wealth  of  the  country,  salubrity  of 
climate,  and  the  hospitality  of  the  people,  has  the  site  for 
the  Nicaragua  Canal,  which,  when  completed,  will  make  her 
commercially  mistress  of  the  West.  To  effect  that  end  she  has 
to-day  elements  and  advantages,  of  which  I  shall  speak  brieily 
in  order  not  to  weary  my  audience. 

Though  lier  geograpliical  position  is  tripical,  Nicaragua 
enjoys  a  temperate  climate.  The  maximum  temperature  is 
about  89.5  degrees,  in  September;  the  minimum  arrives  in 
January,  and  in  November,  70  or  71;  the  average  for  the 
year  being  from  75  to  79  degrees.  These  figures  are  from 
meteorological  reports  of  observation  at  San  Juan  di'l  Sur, 
In  more  elevated  regions  on  the  Pacific  the  thernuniieter  may 
fall  as  low  as  65  degrees,  and  it  never  goes  higher  than  90 
degrees.  Even  on  the  hottest  days  in  all  of  the  elevated 
regions  no  sense  of  o|>pression  or  exhaustion  is  felt.  Hail, 
snow  and  frost  are  unknown,  while  hurricanes  and  tornadoes 
are  perfect  strangers. 

The  salubrity  of  the  climate  is  unrivaled.    By  simply  giving 


ordinary  attention  to  hygienic  laws,  a  person  may  enjoy  as 
perfect  health  in  Nicaragua  as  in  any  other  part  of  the  world. 
A  naval  officer  in  command  of  a  ship  of  war,  stationed  for  five 
months  on  the  coast  of  Nicaragua,  reported  that  among  his 
large  crew  he  lost  not  a  single  man,  and  had  no  more  than  four 
men  sick  at  any  one  time. 

Admiral  Walker,  the  president  of  the  Isthmian  Canal  Com- 
mission, reports  that  of  a  force  of  some  five  hundred  men  en- 
gaged for  many  months  in  surveying  the  swamps  to  select  a 
site  for  the  canal,  not  one  died;  and  there  was  not  as  much 
sickness  from  malaria  or  other  fevers  as  might  have  been  ex- 
perienced in  the  lowlands  of  Virginia.  Nicaragiia  never  is 
troubled  with  yellow  fever.  Other  fevers  of  a  low  order, 
peculiar  to  the  country,  yield  readily  to  treatment. 

Politically  speaking,  Nicaragua  is  enjoying  the  prosperity 
that  comes  from  peace  and  a  .stable  government.  The  liberals 
have  demonstrated  their  ability  to  govern  with  wisdom,  jus- 
tice and  economy. 

The  credit  of  the  government,  in  the  financial  market  of 
London,  is  quoted  higher  than  any  of  the  neighbors  of  Cen- 
tral America,  and  exceeded  by  only  one  in  South  America, 
that  of  Chile. 

Another  important  fact  that  speaks  well  for  the  country 
and  its  government,  is  the  degree  of  prosperity  enjoyed  also 
by  the  foreign  population  engaged  there  in  business,  and  the 
hitter's  appreciation  of  the  official  guarantees  and  protection. 

The  church  and  state  have  been  divorced,  and  religion  is 
as  free  as  the  air  we  breathe. 

The  system  of  public  instruction  is  excellent.  For  more 
than  twenty  yeai's  it  has  been  under  the  control  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  nearly  ten  per  cent,  of  the  income  is  devoted 
annually  to  its  maintenance  and  improvement.  In  addition 
to  the  schools  and  colleges  supported  by  the  government, 
there  are  many  which  the  municipalities  maintain  and  others 
conducted  by  private  enterprise.  The  instruction  is  so  tlior- 
I  ugh,  that  when  a  young  man  or  young  lady  has  passed 
through  the  high  school,  he  or  she  is  prepared  to  enter  the 
>[)ecial  departments  of  law,  medicine,  etc. 

Nicaragua,  likewise,  is  showing  gi-eat  progress  in  her  sys- 
tem of  transportation,  and  in  the  telegraphic  and  telephonic 
communications.  The  interior  has  a  good  outlet  to  either 
sealioard,  and  the  coffee  planter  or  stock  raiser  has  little 
dilFiculty  in  sending  his  products  to  all  of  the  ports  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific.  Rates  of  transportation  and  freights 
are  very  cheap.  One  can  travel  from  Greytown  to  Corinto, 
that  is  from  ocean  to  ocean,  quickly  by  steam,  for  less  than 
$15  gold,  and  through  the  principal  cities  of  the  interior  for 
a  sniall  amount.  Electric  wires  form  a  network  over  the 
entire  State,  and  telegraph  rates  are  about  one-half,  gold,  of 
what  they  are  in  the  United  States,  while  the  operation  of  the 
long  distance  telephone  is  general,  and  entirely  satisfactory. 
The  rivers  and  lakes  are  all  navigable,  and  the  steamboat  ser- 
vice is  efficient.  Nicaragua  belongs  to  the  great  International 
Postal  Union.  Our  facilities  for  transmitting  mail  are  ex- 
ci'edingly  good,  and  free  delivery  is  reaching  out  to  tlie  rural 
ilistricts. 

Nicaragua  is  rich  in  mineral  as  well  as  agricultural  re- 
sources. Her  gold  mines  are  numerous,  and  the  precious 
metal  is  mined  with  large  profits.  Copper  and  opal  are  also 
plentiful,  though  Honduras,  the  neighbor  on  the  north,  is 
especially  noted  for  her  fine  opals. 

The  agricultural  products  include  collV-e,  corn,  beans,  wheat, 
rice,  sugar,  cotton,  tobacco  and  garden  vegetables,  while  trop- 
ical fruits  are  everywhere  abundant.  The  quality  of  our 
t(]bacco  is  fine,  and  in  some  zones  rivals  that  of  Havana. 

The  forests  are  dense  with  fine  hard  wood,  which  is  quite 
an  item  of  export,  and  they  supply  the  United  States  with 
a  very  great  per  cent,  of  her  mahogany. 

Tlie  fertile  plains  are  also  suitable  for  stock  raising,  and 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


271 


cattle  are  marketed  extensively  all  over  Central  America.  At 
this  time  shipments  by  the  thousand  go  forward  to  Cuba. 

Agricultural  development  calls  for  modern  machinery  and 
the  newest  inventions.  The  people  are  appreciative  of  their 
necessities,  and  ready  purchasers  of  that  which  they  have  not 
the  facilities  to  produce.  Our  manufactories  are  not  so  nu- 
merous as  is  desired,  hut  there  is  a  standing  invitation  to 
foreign  capital  to  come  and  supply  the  lack.  There  is  in  the 
country,  notwithstanding,  a  sugar  manufactory  which  has 
not  a  superior  on  the  Isthmus. 

According  to  statistical  reports,  Nicaragua  takes  imports 
from  England  to  the  amount  of  a  million  and  a  half,  from 
Germany  a  million,  while  from  the  United  States  but  a  half 
million  dollars  annually.  At  the  same  time  her  exports  to 
the  United  States  ai'e  valued  at  one  million  dollars,  to  Eng- 
land perhaps  three-quarters  of  a  million,  and  to  Germany 
nearly  two  and  a  quarter  millions. 

The  building  of  the  maritime  canal  through  Nicaragua  will 
create  a  commercial  revolution,  and  she,  and  all  Central  Amer- 
ica will  become  a  great,  prosperous  centre  of  trade.  Through 
that  channel  will  come  the  ships  of  Europe  and  of  the  United 
States,  en  route  to  the  western  coast  of  North  and  South 
America  and  to  the  Orient;  and  the  ships  of  Western  North 
and  South  America  laden  with  freight  for  the  United  States 
and  Europe.  Immigration  will  be  encouraged;  fertile  fields 
and  rich  mines  will  be  developed;  manufactories  will  spring 
up  and  flourish;  public  improvements  will  find  inspiration 
with  the  growth  of  trade,  and  like  magic, Central  America  will 
assume  a  commercial  importance,  rivaling  that  of  the  other 
countries  of  the  Old  and  New  World. 

Permit  me,  Mr.  President,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  before 
leaving  this  platform,  to  present  the  hearty  congratulations 
that  the  Government  and  people  of  Nicaragua  extend  to  the 
International  Commercial  Congress.  You  have  their  best 
wishes  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  noble  aspirations  which 
resulted  in  gathering  all  the  countries  in  a  respectable  corps 
like  this,  in  order  to  make  closer  their  commercial  relations, 
and  to  facilitate  universal  trade. 

Hon.  W.  W.  Rod-hill: 

I  will  ask  Mr.  Nicanor  Bolet  Peraza,  official  delegate  from 
Honduras,  to  address  the  Congress.     (Applause.) 

Natueal  Wealth  and  Commercial  Facilities  of  Hon- 
duras— Revolutions  in  Spanish  America — 
Commerce  in  Munitions  of  War. 

Hon.  Nicanor  Boht  Peraza: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  will  not  occupy  the  short  time 
at  my  disposal  by  enumerating  to  you  the  elements  of  nat- 
ural wealth,  geographical  advantages,  the  excellencies  of 
climate,  the  industrial  possibilities,  the  hospitality  of  the 
natives,  nor  any  other  advantages  possessed  by  the  Repub- 
lic of  Honduras.  All  thi.s  has  been  pointed  out  before  and 
in  the  most  flattering  terms,  by  the  explorers  and  scientific 
men,  who  have  visited  that  part  of  Central  America;  they 
consider  the  countiy,  geographically,  most  advantageously 
situated  for  establishing  trade  relations  with  the  other  nations 
of  the  world. 

PJarly  in  the  beginning,  when  American  capitalists  began 
to  turn  away  from  domestic  investments  and  fixed  upon 
long  neglected  South  and  Central  America  for  new  fields 
of  investment  and  enterprise,  Honduras  was  one  of  those 
chosen,  as  offering  the  greatest  attractions,  and  they  began 
with  the  rich  gold  and  silver  mines.  In  this  industry,  sev- 
eral great  companies  are  already  engaged,  and  they  are  all 
doing  well. 


At  a  later  period  travelers  became  acquainted  with  another 
source  of  wealth,  perhaps  greater  than  that  of  the  gold,  sil- 
ver, copper,  coal  and  other  minerals  underground,  and  that 
was  the  wealth  of  the  soil  itself,  whose  fertility  is  sur- 
passed by  none,  and  only  equaled  by  few  localities  in  other 
countries.  This  fertility  of  the  soil,  with  the  mildness  and 
salubrity  of  the  climate,  w-ith  various  ports  easy  of  access, 
with  navigable  rivers  and  other  advantages,  have,  together, 
attracted  a  certain  amount  of  immigration  and  originated 
a  number  of  agricultural  and  colonization  enterprises  that 
are  full  of  promise.  In  addition  to  the  natural  advantages 
of  soil  and  climate,  the  government  pursues  a  liberal  policy 
toward  foreign  enterprise,  and  the  natives  are  full  of  sym- 
pathy and  hospitality  to  strangers;  and,  finally,  to  complete 
the  number  of  attractions  offered  by  Honduras  to  foreigners, 
I  will  mention  the  fact  that  the  country  is  enjoying  a  period 
of  peace  ever  since  we  have  had  honest,  progressive  and  lawful 
administrations;  this  being  the  only  secret  of  making  revolu- 
tions impossible. 

Now,  again  referring  to  the  advantages  offered  by  Hon- 
duras for  commercial  and  industrial  enterprises,  I  wish  to 
add  a  few  remarks. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  there  is  no  country  in  the  world 
where  fortunes  are  made  so  rapidly  as  here  in  the  United 
States;  but  it  is  no  less  evident  that  since  the  great  corpora- 
tions are  here  combining,  the  chances  for  the  smaller  ones 
are  becoming  fewer  every  day.  The  new  generations  realize 
that  there  are  not  the  same  opportunities  for  them,  as  their 
forefathers  had  in  their  own  good  times.  They  look  for  new- 
fields  in  which  to  exercise  their  productive  energies,  and 
those  fields  are  in  our  countries.  There  is  Honduras,  for 
example,  inviting  the  foreign  transforming  elements  and  pro- 
ducing forces.  Honduras  is  a  close  neighbor  of  the  United 
States,  being  only  about  thirty  hours  from  New  Orleans  or 
Mobile.  That  is  the  proper  field  for  young  blood  and  honest 
ambition.  Nature  there  keeps  on  its  florid  smile  to  welcome 
labor,  and  the  generous  soil,  blessed  by  the  most  extraordinary 
fertility,  is  always  ready  to  reward  with  its  three  annual  crops, 
those  who  pay  to  it  the  tribute  of  some  drops  from  their 
brows. 

AVere  I  not  addressing  myself  to  a  Commercial  Congress, 
but  to  a  meeting  of  American  young  men,  I  should  say  to 
them,  go  to  that  land  of  the  future;  go  to  Honduras,  and 
settle  there;  build  our  railways,  work  our  mines,  saw  our 
precious  woods,  fill  our  plains,  and  help  the  soil  to  do  its 
usual  wonders. 

I  do  not  wish  to  leave  this  honorable  audience  under  the 
impression  of  words,  that  might  be  taken  as  mere  rhetorical 
efi'ort;  so,  in  order  to  give  to  the  above  expressions  the 
strength  of  facts,  I  have  the  pleasure  to  state  that  a  num- 
ber of  American  young  men  have  already  established  them- 
selves in  Honduras.  I  encouraged  them  to  go  there,  and 
it  is  very  satisfactory  to  me,  as  Consul-General  of  Honduras, 
to  say,  that  I  have  received  from  all  those  young  American 
pioneers  the  most  enthiisiastic  letters,  giving  me  thanks  for 
having  put  them  on  the  track  of  a  certain  and  easy  prosperity. 

Revolutions  are  the  great  misfortune,  the  greatest  evils  of 
the  countries  of  Spanish  America,  but  though  it  is  true  that 
we,  the  natives  of  these  countries,  may  never  execrate  them 
as  they  deserve  to  be,  it  is  also  true  that  the  foreigners  have 
no  cause  to  fear  them  as  much  as  they  do.  On  the  contrary, 
it  could  easily  be  proven  by  numerous  examples,  that  the 
honest,  hard  working  foreigner,  who  does  not  interfere  in 
our  domestic  quarrels,  is  evidently  benefited  during  these 
same  revolutions.  As  soon  as  war  breaks  out,  the  native 
mercliant,  manufacturer,  planter  or  tradesman  of  every  kind 
is  compelled  to  take  sides  with  the  one  or  the  other  belliger- 
ents, and,  naturally,  all  his  business  with  the  rest  of    the 


272 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONOR KSS 


country  is  interrupted,  if  not  completely  broken  up,  thereby 
leaving  the  foreigner  in  full  possession  of  the  industrial  field. 
The  government"  respects  and  protects  him,  and  the  revolu- 
tionists do  not  dare  to  molest  him;  thus,  protected  by  treaties 
and  by  the  general  good  will,  he  trades,  buys,  sells,  goes  in 
and  out,  taking  advantage  of  this  singular  but  legitimate 
monopoly,  inasmuch  as  it  has  been  given  to  him  by  us,  the 
natives  who,  during  that  time,  are  pleasantly  engaged  in 
cutting  each  other's  throats  in  a  purely  fraternal  spirit. 
Many  a  time  I  have  heard  a  Spanish  American  complain 
that  only  foreigners  accumulate  wealth  in  our  countries, 
while  the  natives  get  poorer  every  day.  The_  cause  of  this 
may  be  summed  up  in  one  word,  '-revolutions,"  but,  I  repeat 
it,  foreigners  have  not  as  much  reason  to  deplore  them  as  the 
natives  themselves. 

Some  foreigners,  unfortunately,  seek  other  kinds  of  advan- 
tages from  our  revolutions,  as  they  encourage  them  with  their 
money,  and  even  in  person,  but  these  do  not  belong  to  the 
class  to  which  I  have  referred:  they  are  merely  adventurers, 
who  do  a  double  injury  to  our  countries,  raising  discord  in 
them,  and  to  their  own  respective  countries— giving  rise  to 
race  hatred  among  the  masses,  who  are  incapable  of  making 
distinctions  in  their  judgments  of  others. 

It  has  been  my  purpose  with  the  above  statement  to  dem- 
onstrate the  error  which  foreigners  make,  when  they  think 
they  could  neither  live  nor  prosper  in  our  countries  on  ac- 
count of  the  revolutions.  Finally,  to  conclude,  I  will  point 
out  an  urgent  necessity  that  alfects  the  whole  continent,  as 
I  believe  It  comes  within  the  province  of  this  Commercial 
Congress  to  adopt  or  suggest  such  measures  as  it  may  deem 
best°in  obtaining  practical  results  to  ameliorate  this  condi- 
tion. I  refer  to  trade  in  munitions  of  war.  I  would  otTer 
as  a  suggestion  that  governments  might  be  appealed  to,  in 
order  to  have  them  insert  in  their  treaties  of  friendship  and 
commerce,  clauses  so  regulating  the  traffic  in  munitions  of 
war  as  to'make  it  more  difficult,  if  not  actually  impossible, 
for  a  party  that  is  disturbing  the  peace  in  a  friendly  counti'y 
to  obtain  such  material  in  another. 

Let  it  not  be  said  that  we  have  come  here  to  expand  and 
not  to  limit  commerce.     This  branch  of  commerce  ceases  to 
be  a  legitimate  one  since  it  becomes  hostile  to  others,  and  if 
we  now  look  at  the  matter  from  the  point  of  view  of  general 
convenience,  we  would  sitate  that  it  is  in  the  interest  of  all 
other  branches  of  trade  to  restrict  that  of  munitions  of  war 
which    are    destined    to    disturb    the    markets,    wherein    all 
do  business,  counting  on  a  more  or  less  durable  peace.     A 
consignment  of  agricultural  implements  or  railway  or  tele- 
graphic material,  when  it  leaves  a  foreign  port  for  one  of  our 
shores,  signifies    to    the    other    foreign    business  house  new- 
crops,  new  ways  of  communication,  more  sources  of  wealth 
in  that  country;  consequently,  new  and  increased  trade  for 
nil.     On  the  other  hand,  a  consignment  of  guns,  powder  and 
shot  for  the  revolutionists  means  the  ruin  of  the  crops,  the 
death  of   many  workmen,  the  complete    loss    of    the    money 
and  harvests   "that    covered    their    transactions,  and,  in  fact, 
that   one   branch  of  trade,  when  it   shows  its  double  charac- 
ter, becomes  an  agent  for  the  ruin  of  all  the  others,  wliich 
arc  well  known  to  be  always  legitimate,  moral  and  progres- 
sive. 

I  submit  to  the  serious  consideration  of  my  colleagues  the 
matter  of  traffic  in  munitions  of  war,  believing  it  of  vitiil 
importance  to  the  proper  development  of  the  trade  of  Span- 
ish America  -with  the  rest  of  the  world.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  W.  W.  RockUll: 

]  will  now  request  Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da  GniQa,  delegate 
from  Brazil,  to  address  the  Congress.     (Applause.) 


Bhazti.  and  Its  Resources. 

Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da  GraQa: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Through  some  mis- 
understanding the  subject  of  my  speech  has  not  been  cor- 
rectly announced  in  the  program;  it  is  "Brazil  and  Its  Re- 
sources." 

I  shall  try  to  give  you  in  the  short  space  of  time  allowed 
me  as  adequate  a  d'escription  as  possible  of  the  twenty 
states  of  the  Brazilian  Republic,  and  of  the  capital  of  the 
Union,  Rio  de  Janeiro.  In  order  to  do  full  justice  to  the 
subject,  however,  I  should  have  to  write  a  book. 

Since  November  15,  1889,  Brazil  has  been  a  republic  known 
as  the  United  States  of  Brazil,  divided  into  twenty  States, 
and  the  capital  of  the  Union.  The  constitution  is  modeled 
after  that  of  the  United  States  of  North  America,  with  the 
exception  that  the  President— elected  for  four  years— cannot 
be  re-elected. 

The  orographic  and  hydrographic  systems  of  Brazil,  as 
well  as  the'climate,  are  varied  in  the  different  regions  of  the 
country.  Very  hot  at  the  equator,  the  temperature  becomes 
more  pleasant  near  the  tropics.  In  these  regions  the  heat  is 
tempered  by  rains  and  by  the  trade  winds  which  are  con- 
stantly blowing.  From  Pernamliuco,  a  branch  of  mountain 
ranges  known^as  Serra  do  Mar,  extends  southward.  The 
climate  on  the  top  of  these  mountains  is  very  mild,  as  for 
instance  at  Garanhuns  and  Pernambuco,  which  are  600 
metres  above  sea-level.  The  chains  of  mountains  reach  as 
far  as  the  centre  of  Rio  Grande  do  Sul.  I  do  not  profess  to 
give  a  full  description,  but  simply  wish  to  give  you  an  idea 
of  the  mild  climate  which  prevails  on  these  heights  in  the 
torrid  zone.  No  fever  is  known  there;  fever,  by  the  way, 
was  unknown  in  Brazil  before  1850.     I  mean  yellow  fever. 

I  shall  not  speak  of  our  hydrographic  system;  but  I  will 
add  that  the  investigations  of  our  late  countryman,  Mr. 
Moraes.  have  shown  the  possibilities  of  interior  navigation  on 
the  Brazilian  rivers. 

I  will  begin  with  the  State  of  Pani.  which  extends  from 
the  British,  French  and  Dutch  Guianas  and  Venezuela  to  the 
borders  of  Maranho  and  Matto-Grosso,  more  than  thirteen 
degrees  latitude  from  north  to  south,  and  twelve  degrees 
longitude  from  east  to  west.  This  state  is  traversed  by  the 
great  Amazon  River,  which  in  one  hour  carries  more  than 
'250  million  cubic  metres  of  water  into  the  ocean.  The 
threat  American  professor,  Agassiz,  said:  "The  Amazon 
River  is  not  a  valley  in  the  ordinary  sense:  it  does  not  flow 
between  two  ■walls  of  mountains,  but  on  the  contrary  it  is  a 
large  plain  twelve  hundred  kilometers  wide  and  four  thou- 
sand kilometers  long,  with  a  slope  not  exceeding  nineteen 
centimeters  per  myriameter." 

The  other  great  rivers  of  this  state  are  nearly  all  tribu- 
tary to  the  Amazon. 

How^ever,  the  orographic  system  of  the  state  is  not  so 
gi-and  as  the  hydrographic  system.  The  mountains  are 
most  remarkable  in  some  places. 

It  is  magnificent  .scenery  for  the  traveler  who  penetrates 
here  for  the  first  time.  The  lower  Amazon  River  is  dotted 
with  innumeralde  little  islands.  It  will  be  impossible  to 
conjecture  the  full  possibilities  of  this  rich  territory  if  it  were 
properly  devehqu-d:  it  would  ho  beyond  the  most  fanciful 
imagination. 

Resources. — In  order  to  give  an  idea  of  the  natural  wealth 
which  this  country  oilers  to  the  activity  of  its  residents,  it  is 
sulficient  to  mention  the  principal  products  that  can  be  ex- 
ported without  necessitating  first  a  tedious  and  long  cultiva- 
tion of  the  soil.  The  Kepublic  of  Guatemala  has  a  popula- 
tion of  l,3-2:i,()0O:  the  State  of  Para  has  only  700,0tl0.  Never- 
theless, in  1885  Guatemala  exported  ten  millions  less,  or  half 


DR.  S.  ZERTUCHE, 

GUILLERMO    LOZANO, 

A.   DIAZ, 

CoAHuiLA,  Mexico. 

Mexico  City. 

Matamoros,  Mexico. 

CARLOS  BASAVE  Y  del  CASTILLO  NEGRETE, 

A.  J.   DREXEL   BIDDLE, 

DR.  THOMAS  S.  BUTCHER, 

Guadalajara,  Mexico. 

FuNCHAL,  Madeira. 

Coahuila,  Mexico. 

JOSE  ALGARA, 

KAHE  OTANI, 

S.  T.   NISHIMURA, 

Mexico  City. 

Tokyo,  Japan. 

Tokyo,  Japan. 

UNIVi 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


273 


of  the  exports  of  Para.  The  same  year,  the  Republic  of  Bo- 
livia with  2,300,000  inhabitants  exported  $12,000,000  worth 
less  than  Pani,  and  Colombia  with  a  population  of  three 
millions,  did  not  export  any  more  than  Para;  viz.,  $17,000,- 

000  worth.  The  exports  of  Ecuador  are  only  half:  those  of 
Peru  (with  its  three  million  population),  only  two-thirds  of 
those  of  Para.  Jlexico,  the  great  and  powerful  Mexico, 
with  a  population  of  between  ten  and  twelve  millions,  has 
exported  $2,000,000  worth  less  than  Pani  alone.  Including 
the  exports  of  last  December  the  total  of  this  state  will  reach 
$20,000,000.  The  principal  products  are  rubber,  cocoanuts, 
hides  of  different  kinds,  sarsaparilla,  oil  of  copaiba,  guarana, 
neuhula,  kuniaru;  then  vanilla,  vegetable  ivoiy,  precious 
woods,  essences,  raisins  and  fruits.  The  gold  yield  in  the 
northern  part  of  the  country  is  very  great.  In  this  brief  de- 
scription it  is  impossible  for  me  to  give  a  full  account  of  the 
rubber  industry;  suitice  it  to  say  that  in  1897  the  production 
of  Parii  alone,  not  including  the  Aniazonas  district,  amounted 
to  9,000  tons.  The  cocoa  crop  amounted  to  from  three  to 
five  thousand  tons;  the  export  of  tobacco  was  over  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  tons.  The  vanilla  of  Para  is  known  in 
France  under  the  name  of  vanillin,  and  brings  from  two  to 
four  dollars  per  kilogram.  The  Tonka  beaus  are  exported  in 
large  quantities  to  this  country  and  to  Europe.  If  I  should 
wish  to  speak  at  length  of  the  woods,  I  should  have  to  quote 
some  five  hundred  varieties. 

The  public  instruction  is  divided  into  primary,  secondary 
and  technical  education.  There  are  forty-nine  primary 
schools  in  the  capital  and  five  hundred  and  eighty-five  in 
the  interior.  Besides,  there  are  training  schools,  and  the 
"Lyceum"  (high  school)  which  prepares  the  students  for  the 
University.  I  must  also  mention  the  Academy  of  Music, 
the  Society  for  the  Advancement  of  Fine  Arts,  the  Lyceum 
of  Art  and  Industry  and  the  Normal  School. 

The  government  of  the  State  is  modeled  after  your  state 
governments.  I  must  mention  here  that  some  of  the  states. 
Para,  for  instance,  have  two  houses,  corresponding  to  your 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  while  other  states  of 
our  Union  have  only  one  house.  The  municipal  govern- 
ment is  independent  of  state  government,  and  is  administered 
as  in  the  most  advanced  countries. 

The  budget  for  the  year  1898-1899  amounted  to  about 
$10,000,000.  The  receipts  of  the  federal  customs  were 
$11,000,000. 

The  highest  temperature  in  December  was  32.2  degrees 
Centigrade  in  the  sun.  corresponding  to  about  90  degrees 
Fahrenheit. 

Commerce  and  Navigation. — The  export  trade  of  Para  is 
well  developed  and  is  in  constant  touch  with  the  United 
States  by  means  of  two  lines  of  steamers,  the  Red  Cross  and 
the  Booth  Lines.  It  is  connected  with  Europe, — 'that  is  to 
say  with  Liverpool,  Antwerp,  Hamburg,  Havre,  Lisbon  and 
Genoa, — l)y  means  of  French,  English,  Italian,  Portuguese 
and  German  steamers.  There  is  not  one  American  boat 
engaged  in  this  traffic,  though  there  were  a  few  some  time 
ago. 

Banks. — Para  has  three  English  banks,  the  British,  the 
London  and  River  Plate,  and  the  London  and  Brazilian 
Bank.  It  has  also  five  Brazilian  banks,  the  Bank  of  Pani,  the 
Commercial  Bank  of  Para  and  the  Bank  of  Northern  Brazil. 

1  have  only  spoken  a  few  words  about  this  single  State  of 
Brazil.  A  full  description  of  this  State  alone  would  take 
up  a  whole  volume. 

The  State  of  Amazonas. — The  State  is  the  largest  in  the 
Union.  It  has  not  as  yet  been  cultivated  to  any  extent,  but 
its  natural  wealth  is  so  great  that  in  five  years  its  capital. 
Mamios,  has  been  transformed  from  a  small  village  into  one 
of  the  most  comfortable  and  beautiful  cities  of  America; 
its  development  having  been  largely  furthered    by  the  pa- 


triotic spirit  of  the  governors  of  the  state.  It  has  fine 
avenues  and  streets,  all  lighted  by  electricity,  trolley  cars, 
fine  buildings,  fine  schools,  and  in  spite  of  the  large  expen- 
ditures the  treasury  has  always  about  three  million  dollars 
on  hand.  The  budget  for  this  year  has  been  estimated  at 
seven  million  and  a  half  dollars,  which  amount  has  been 
reached  by  the  receipts  during  the  first  four  months. 

This  is  the  true  Eldorado  of  the  world.  The  population 
of  this  State,  which  is  in  a  period  of  formation  and  which 
is  about  three  times  as  large  as  Texas  and  Arizona,  is  only 
two  hundred  thousand.  The  State  of  Amazonas,  under  the 
government  of  Col.  Ramalho,  in  conjunction  with  the  chamber 
of  deputies,  presided  over  by  the  former  governor,  Ribeiro,  has 
made  enormous  strides  forward.  In  order  to  give  you  an 
idea  of  the  vastness  of  this  State,  I  might  say  that  in  order 
to  go  from  Manaos  to  Venezuela  on  the  Rio  Negro  in  a 
steamer  or  sail-boat,  it  takes  about  twenty  or  thirty  days.  It 
takes  the  same  time  for  a  trip  to  Iquitos  in  Peru,  going  up 
the  river  Solimoes. 

ilaranhao. — This  is  a  very  rich  State  and  as  yet  undevel- 
oped. It  produces  a  large  amount  of  cereals,  exports  natural 
products  in  con.siderable  quantity  to  Europe,  and  has  an  ex- 
tensive trade  with  Para  and  the  Amazonas.  This  State  could 
furnish  rubber  in  abundance,  but  the  industry  has  not  yet 
been  developed.  Always  in  a  peaceful  state  and  undisturbed 
by  political  agitations,  the  State  has  brought  its  educational 
system  to  a  very  high  standard.  Arts  and  sciences  are  more 
developed  here  than  in  any  other  state  of  Brazil.  This  State 
has  neither  interior  nor  foreign  debts. 

Parahyba  do  Norte  and  Rio  Grande  do  Norte  produce 
largely  sugar,  cotton  and  hides. 

Ceara  is  one  of  the  richest  States,  although  the  terrible 
droughts  make  agriculture  difficult.  It  exports  hides  and 
natural  products  in  large  quantities. 

Pernambuco. — This  is  one  of  the  largest  producers  of  rais- 
ins, sugar,  cotton  and  hides.  It  has  a  splendid  net  of  railways 
extenfling  far  into  the  interior  and  penetrating  the  primeval 
forests,  where  the  climate  is  superb.  Business  is  quite  active 
in  this  state. 

Alagoas  produces  the  same  articles  as  Pernambuco. 

Bahia. — This  is  one  of  the  finest  States  of  the  Union.  It 
possesses  rich  gold  mines.  Other  products  are  sugax-cane, 
coffee,  precious  woods,  cotton,  and  above  all  tobacco,  which 
in  quantity  stands  second  only  to  that  of  Havana,  and  finds  a 
considerable  outlet  in  Europe,  Belgium,  France,  Italy,  Hol- 
land and  Gennany. 

Espirito  Santo  and  Rio  de  Janeiro  are  the  largest  pro- 
ducers of  coffee  and  other  natural  products.  Espirito  Santo 
is  not  yet  developed  and  everything  has  still  to  be  created; 
Rio  de  Janeiro,  however,  is  already  traversed  by  a  good  net 
of  railroads.  The  capital  of  the  Union,  Rio  de  Janeiro,  is 
situated  on  one  of  the  most  beautiful  bays  of  the  world.  Its 
commerce  is  enormous  and  the  largest  in  all  South  America. 
It  is  provisionally  the  capital  of  the  federation  of  Brazil. 

Although  yellow  fever  exists  there  dtiring  the  four  hottest 
months,  the  mortality,  compared  with  that  of  the  healthiest 
cities  of  the  world,  is  very  small.  With  a  population  of 
:  00.000  or  800,000  the  death-rate  during  the  winter  months 
— or  spring,  I  should  rather  say,  for  there  is  no  winter  in 
the  iiDrtliern  sense  in  that  climate — is  twenty-five  to  thirtv- 
five  a  day.  The  United  States  Consul-General  can  corrobo- 
rate my  statement.  The  suburbs  of  Rio  are  superb  and 
counted  among  the  finest  of  the  globe.  Tijuca  and  Coreo- 
vado,  both  of  which  are  reached  by  railroad,  have  a  height 
of  700  metres  and  8.200  feet  respectively.  There  is  an  elec- 
tric road  of  500  metres,  on  Tijuca.  penetrating  into  the  prim- 
eval forest. 

Petropolis,  one  and  three-quarter  hours'  ride  from  the 
capital,  is  3,000  feet  above  sea-level.     There  is    no    fever   in 


274 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


these  regions,  where  the  foreigners  have  their  residences.  If  I 
wislied  to  speak  of  Rio  alone,  \vith  its  university,  its  schools, 
its  commercial  interests  and  its  traffic,  I  should  have  more  to 
say  than  time  permits  at  present. 

I  must  also  mention  a  master-work  of  engineering,  the 
Central  Railroad  of  Brazil,  which  was  constructed  under  the 
direction  of  a  Brazilian,  with  the  assistance  of  several  Amer- 
ican engineers  brought  to  our  country  by  our  lamented  en- 
gineer, Mr.  ]\Iorsing,  who  served  his  apprenticeship  at  the 
time  when  the  Cincinnati  (Ohio)  Railroad  was  built.  These 
were  the  good  old  times  when  the  United  States  still  sent 
her  girders,  iron  beams,  bridge  material,  etc.,  to  Brazil.  This 
trade,  however,  has  succumbed  to  the  competition  of  Creuzot 
(France),  Fives  Lille  (Belgium),  and  Krupp  (Germany). 

When  the  sanitary  works  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  will  have  been 
completed,  for  which  purpose  the  municipality  will  be  au- 
thorized to  spend  as  much  as  thirty  millions  of  dollars,  it  will 
certainly,  owing  to  its  geographical  position,  be  the  metropolis 
of  South  America. 

Minas. — I  will  now  mention  the  State  of  Minas.  If  I  have 
spoken  so  enthusiastically  about  Para,  what  shall  I  say  of 
Minas?  A  superb  climate  produces,  besides  coffee,  bananas 
and  oranges,  all  the  fruits  of  Europe.  I  can  say  without  fear 
of  contradiction  that  Minas  is  the  California  of  Brazil.  The 
soil  is  fertile  and  beneath  it  are  hidden  incalculable  treasures 
of  gold,  diamonds  and  large  quantities  of  other  minerals. 
Iron  and  manganese  are  found  in  very  pure  condition,  and 
exported  in  large  quantities  to  England,  France,  Belgium  and 
the  United  States.  Railroads  and  navigable  rivers  will  soon 
facilitate  the  development  of  this  gi-cat  State. 

Sao  Paulo,  with  its  enormous  net  of  railways,  produces 
almost  as  much  coffee  as  all  the  other  states  together.  Un- 
fortunately, it  has  developed  its  coffee  industry  too  much,  to 
the  detriment  of  other  branches  of  agriculture.  The  resi- 
dents, as  a  rule,  send  their  children  to  the  United  States  to 
be  educated,  so  that  the  English  language  is  not  a  foreign 
one  in  that  State.  About  this  part  of  lirazil  you  can  get  better 
information  than  I  am  able  to  give  you  from  Mr.  Rutis,  the 
delegate  of  Sao  Paulo  to  this  Congress,  and  Rev.  G.  W. 
Chamberlain,  an  American  missionary  in  Brazil,  both  of 
whom  arc  very  popular.  The  great  outlet  of  this  State  is  the 
port  of  Santos.  It  has  been  much  improved  lately  by  splendid 
wharves  which  can  be  approached  directly  by  the  great  trans- 
Atlantic  steamers. 

Parana  is  the  State  reserved  for  pasturage.  The  cli- 
mate is  very  mild,  the  country  being  situated  in  the  temper- 
ate zone.  Here  grain,  as  well  as  coffee,  can  be  raised;  pines 
grow  in  large  numbers  in  this  State  as  well  as  in  the  States 
of  Santa  Catharina  and  Rio  Grande  do  Sul.  Other  kinds 
of  wood  also  grow  in  abundance. 

The  principal  product  of  Parana  is  mate  tea — a  beverage 
with  all  the  good  qualities  of  coffee  and  tea  without  having  any 
of  their  defects.  This  article  is  exported  in  large  quantities  to 
Chile  and  Ihc  Eiver  Plate  republics.  It  is  a  very  strong  aid 
to  digestion,  and  has  no  bad  effect  upon  the  nervous  system, 
upon  which  it  acts  very  soothingly.  The  mate  alone  will  tend 
to  lengthen  the  life  of  all  those  who  use  it.  I  recommend  this 
good  article  to  Americans,  especially  to  those  who  wish  to 
have  a  cheap  and  wholesome  beverage. 

The  State  of  Santa  Catharina  is  in  about  the  same  condition 
as  the  State  of  Parana,  but  with  the  advantages  derived  from 
German  eoloTiization,  which  has  brought  great  prosperity  to 
this  state. 

Rio  Grande  do  Sul. — Let  iis  now  pass  to  this  important 
cattle  State,  with  its  immense  pasturage,  traversed  l)y  large 
navigable  rivers,  where  the  wealth  of  the  soil  and  the  sub- 
soil is  enormous.  The  German  and  Italian  colonies  praise  it 
more  justly  than  T,  for  they  are  happy    there.      Our    friend. 


Mr.  Seeger,  the  United  States  Consul  to  Brazil,  can  also  speak 
of  this. 

Matto  Grosse. — In  this  State,  with  its  great  future,  hardly 
anything  has  been  developed  yet.  Gold,  diamonds,  fibres, 
ipecac,  and  above  all,  rubber  similar  to  that  of  the  Ama- 
zonas,  are  found  here  in  great  quantity.  Large  herds  of 
cattle  run  wild.  Here  a  strong  and  healthy  man  can  get 
rich,  without  having  any  money  to  start  on,  in  about  five 
years.  The  ipecac,  which  sells  at  eighteen  shillings  per 
poiuid  in  England,  and  which  has  just  made  its  appearance  in 
American  markets,  and  the  rubber  of  tliis  state,  have  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  whole  world. 

There  still  remain  the  States  of  Sergipe,  Piauhy  and  Goyaz. 
These  States  are  as  yet  entirely  undeveloped;  their  immense 
natural  wealth  has  never  been  touched. 

Intellectual  Education. — Not  only  the  Union  but  all  of  the 
States  appropriate  good  sums  for  this  purpose. 

Exports. 

Brazil  exports  principally  coffee.  The  figures  given  below, 
referring  only  to  the  shipments  to  the  LTnited  States,  will 
give  you  an  idea  of  the  colossal  proportions  of  this  trade. 
They  have  been  furnished  to  me  by  our  consul-general  in  New 
York. 

Some  one  has  said  that  our  coffee,  shipped  to  this  country, 
consists  half  of  coffee  and  half  of  stones  with  which  streets 
have  been  paved.  Permit  me  to  state  that  this  is  not  true. 
The  cotfee  shipped  here  is  bought  by  American  firms,  among 
which  may  be  mentioned  Arbuckle  Bros.,  Hard,  Rand  &  Co., 
etc.  The  agents  who  buy  it,  send  the  samples  in  accordance 
with  the  various  qualities  required.  Thus  they  sell  Mocha, 
Java,  Liberia,  and  other  brands  which  are  known  here  as 
Brazilian  coft'ee  under  other  denominations.  I  do  not  doubt 
that  one  could  sell  the  refuse,  that  is,  the  coft'ee  which  falls 
to  the  ground  from  the  tree,  and  of  this,  not  everything  is 
refuse.  I  call  upon  the  representatives  of  the  New  York  firms 
to  testify  to  this  point;  and  as  a  representative  of  a  country 
which  receives  them  in  the  most  cordial  manner,  I  will  ask 
that  they  only  loyally  speak  the  truth,  and  I  also  hope  that 
the  press  of  this  country  will  do  us  justice  in  this  respect. 

Rubber. — The  following  figures  may  be  quoted:  1897,  25,- 
.')00,000  pounds;  1898,  23,600,000  pounds;  1899,  till  Septem- 
ber 30,  18, .500,000  pounds. 

No  other  country  in  the  world  can  offer  the  United  States 
of  North  America  such  a  good  outlet  for  her  manufactured 
products,  railroad,  navigation  and  banking  enterprises,  as  can 
the  sister  nation  of  Brazil.  In  order  to  give  you  a  slight  idea 
of  its  commerce  I  might  state  that  Brazil  ranks  fourth  among 
the  nations  which  export  to  tliis  country,  being  outranked 
only  by  Great  Britain,  Germany  and  France. 

Exports  from  Brazil  to  the  United  States  for  about  ten 
years  showed  the  following  increase:  From  forty-five  million 
dollars  it  increased  in  1893  (during  Blaine's  reciprocity  treaty) 
to  one  hundred  and  eighteen  and  a  half  million.  After  the 
abrogation  of  this  treaty,  and  in  consequence  of  the  low  price 
for  coffee,  our  exports  to  this  country  decreased  to  seventy 
million  dollars,  at  which  figure  they  retain  fourth  place,  as 
stated  above.  If  coffee  prices  had  remained  the  same  as  in 
lSil3  to  1893,  the  exports,  eonsideralily  increased  in  quantity, 
would  have  reached  the  enormous  amount  of  two  hundred 
millions  of  dollars.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  our  exports  of 
coft'ee  amounted  in  1897  to  509,626,828  pounds,  or  almost 
300,000  tons,  and  in  1898  to  604,029,0-10  pounds,  more  than 
300,000  tons;  that  our  exports  of  rubber  in  1897  amounted 
to  25.036,628  pounds:  in  1898,  22,200,332  pounds,  and  have 
reacluHl  up  to  September,  1898,  the  total  of  18,227,500 
pounds.  To  all  this  must  be  added  hides,  fur,  skins,  sugar, 
woods,   manganese,  cacao,  crude  leaves,    shells,    raisins,    oils 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


275 


and  other  articles.  If  we  consider  that  these  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  tons  or  millions  of  pounds  are  shipped  in  ves- 
sels, not  one  of  which  hoists  the  glorious  Star-Spangled  Ban- 
ner; if  we  consider  that  these  enormous  transactions  are  set- 
tled in  London,  where  the  people  of  the  United  States  must 
pay  heavy  commissions,  in  addition  to  the  large  amounts  paid 
for  freight,  insurance,  etc.,  to  foreign  shipping  companies, 
it  is  evident  tlTat  there  is  a  vast  opportunity  for  American 
enterprise,  and  that  American  ships,  either  sail-boats  or 
steamers,  bringing  goods  to  Brazil,  are  certain  to  find  a  cargo 
for  the  return  trip  to  the  United  States,  where  they  can  find 
a  cargo  to  Europe  upon  their  arrival.  How  long,  my  friends, 
will  you  be  blind  to  these  facts?  Is  it  possible  to  compete 
with  European  nations  in  the  Brazilian  trade  if  you  have  no 
transportation  facilities?  No,  you  can  never  do  it.  We  oft'er 
you  all  the  advantages,  subsidies  on  the  part  of  our  govern- 
ments, easy  acquisition  of  lines  already  in  operation.  Can  you 
ask  more?  All  you  need  is  the  earnest  will;  for  you  neither 
lack  the  money  nor  the  energy.  Very  well,  then,  go  ahead, 
full  speed  ahead! 

Impoetation  from  the  United  States. 

Let  us  now  glance  far  a  moment  at  your  exports  into  our 
country.  In  ten  years  they  increased  from  six  millions  and 
a  half  to  thirteen  millions.  The  principal  articles  are  wheat, 
wheat-flour,  other  bread-stuffs,  mineral  oils,  and,  to  a  smaller 
extent,  iron  and  steel,  wool  and  cotton  cloth.  As  to  dry-goods, 
you  will  have  to  fight  the  formidable  competition  of  Manches- 
ter. Make  the  necessary  preparations,  and  the  territory  will 
soon  be  yours.  Owing  to  lack  of  time  I  will  not  quote  any 
statistics  of  our  exports  to  France,  England  and  Germany; 
the  total,  including  the  shipments  to  all  these  countries, 
reaches  the  sum  of  sixty  millions  of  dollars,  so  you  can  see 
that  ours  is  a  country  which  does  not  deserve  to  be  neglected 
in  your  trade.  To  further  illustrate  tliis  point,  I  might  state 
that  in  1893  we  imported  from  England  alone  cotton  goods 
to  the  amount  of  seventeen  million  dollar's;  and  that  the 
smallest  amount  we  ever  imported  (189-5)  was  ten  million 
.  dollars,  being  about  as  much  as  the  total  we  import  from  the 
United  States.  But  is  this  our  fault?  No,  I  ha^'e  already 
shown  you  that  it  is  not.  I  am  almost  done  now  with  this 
short  sketch  of  the  enoi-nious  wealth  of  the  United  States  of 
Brazil,  which,  on  several  occasions,  has  shown  its  friend- 
ship for  your  great  republic.  I  have  not  spoken  of  the  im- 
mense treasures  of  our  flora,  which  is  still  almost  unknown, 
and  which  has  been  described  for  more  than  fifty  years  in 
the  great  work,  "The  Brazilian  Flora,"  by  Martins,  a  work 
which  is  not  yet  completed,  and  which  will  not  be  for  some- 
time to  come.  I  will  not  speak  of  our  fauna,  nor  of  our 
minerals,  diamonds,  etc.  It  is  impossible  to  do  so  now,  the 
more  so  as  these  topics  are  somewhat  out  of  my  line  of  obser- 
vation. At  any  rate,  I  have  given  you  a  brief  insight  into  the 
resources  of  our  great  country. 

It  now  remains  for  me  to  thank  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States,  who  have  received  us  so  cordially;  to  thank  the  peo- 
ple and  the  authorities  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia  with  its 
glorious  traditions  connected  with  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence of  the  greatest  republic  of  the  world;  to  thank  the 
American  press  and  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
which,  I  hope,  will  soon  be  known  as  the  United  States  Com- 
mercial Museum.  I  pray  the  Almighty  to  bless  all  of  your 
people,  and  all  of  your  institutions.  And  now,  in  conclusion, 
a  cordial  handshake,  and  three  cheers  for  our  friend,  the 
patriotic  American  citizen,  Dr.  Wilson,  and  his  associates  of 
the  Commercial  Museum. 

Some  day  in  the  near  future  I  shall  invite  your  manufac- 
turers, to  show  them  in  detail  the  trade  conditions  in  Brazil, 
and  how  they  should  be  conducted,  and  as  I  therefore  expect 
to  see  them  soon  again,  I  will  now  say,  au  revoir.    (Applause.) 


Hun.  George  H.  Anderson  (Pittsburg  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Pittsburg) : 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  desire  to  offer,  with  the  unanimous  con- 
sent of  the  Congress  and  for  their  information,  a  brief  resolu- 
tion which  is  prepared  and  shall  be  left  to  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  without  further  debate.  It  seems  to  me  that  this 
is  an  opportune  time,  for  I  may  not  have  another. opportunity 
to  present  it. 


Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill: 

The  next  speaker  on  the  program  is  Mr.  Juan  Antonio 
Loredo,  delegate  from  Peini.  Will  Mr.  Loredo  allow  Mr. 
Anderson  to  occupy  the  floor  for  a  few  minutes? 

(Mr.  Loredo  gives  his  consent.) 

Mr.  George  H.  Anderson: 

From  the  language  of  my  communication,  the  CongTess 
will  only  be  too  glad  to  know  what  I  have  to  offer.  Mr. 
Chairman,  the  time  is  rapidly  coming  to  a  close  when  the 
sessions  of  this  Congress  will  be  no  more.  The  intelligent 
faces  of  these  gentlemen,  who  came  here  to  talk  to  us  on  com- 
mercial matters  throughout  all  the  world — the  presence  of 
these  merchants  and  ladies,  who  have  added  so  much  to  the 
interest  of  the  Congress — perhaps  we  may  never  meet  again 
in  association,  and,  feeling  profoundly  impressed  with  the 
views  which  have  been  promulgated  here  on  the  commercial 
and  political  relations  of  these  countries,  I  am  sure  that  we 
should  not  stir  without  placing  on  record  the  sense  of  these 
resolutions  that  have  been  arrived  at,  and  that  a  positive 
record  should  be  made  of  all  things.  Feeling  thus,  and  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  the  hours  of  this  convention  are  very 
rapidly  coming  to  a  close,  we  should,  if  possible,  crj'stallize 
and  put  in  shape  for  record  the  views  of  these  wise  commercial 
men,  who  have  come  here  from  all  parts  of  the  world  to  ex- 
change ideas  with  us,  and,  if  possible,  draw  from  us  ideas  on 
commercial  and  political  relations  and  social  movements, 
cementing  and  drawing  us  closer  together  than  ever  before. 
With  tills  view  of  the  matter  I  now  offer  these  resolutions, 
which  I  heartily  favor.  I  thank  you  very  heartily  for  allowing 
me  the  floor  and  the  time  to  read  the  resolutions. 

Whereas,  At  this  time,  when  the  nations  of  the  earth  are 
finding  their  relations,  political  and  commercial,  growing 
closer,  that  the  great  principles  of  reciprocity  and  arbitra- 
tion applied  in  the  solution  of  international  questions  have 
been  productive  of  the  happiest  results;  and 

Whereas,  It  being  understood  that  commercial  prosperity 
can  only  be  made  permanent  in  the  event  of  peaceful  relations 
among  nations,  it  is,  therefore 

Resolved,  By  the  International  Commercial  Congress,  now 
assembled,  that  it  is  the  consensus  of  judgment  of  its  repre- 
sentatives that  there  should  be  placed  upon  record  an  earnest 
desire  to  secure  lasting  peace  among  nations. 

Resolved  further.  That  wars  should  never  be  declared  until 
diplomacy  has  exhausted  its  powers,  and  arbitration  failed 
in  adjusting  dift'erences  that  may  arise.  They  also  recommend 
that,  as  far  as  possible,  international  courts  of  arbitration 
should  be  created  to  which  all  differences  among  nations  shall 
be  submitted,  so  that  peace  and  prosperity  shall  go  hand  in 
hand,  that  wars  shall  cease,  or  only  be  declared  as  a  last  resort, 
and  when  all  other  means  have  failed  to  secure  peaceful  settle- 
ments. 

(Seconded  by  ]\Ir.  iliguel  J.  Romero,  delegate  from  Vene- 
zuela; Mr.  N.  Bolet  Peraza,  delegate  from  Honduras,  and  Mr. 
Chow  Tsz-Chi,  Secretary  of  the  Chinese  Legation  at  Washing 
ton  and  government  delegate  to  the  International  Commercia_, 
Congress.) 


276 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill: 

The  resolution  is  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 
Mr.  Juan  Antonio  Loredo,  delegate  from  Lima,  Peru,  will 
now  address  you. 

Mr.  Juan  Antonio  Loredo: 

The  industrial  associations  of  Peru  were  invited  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  Commercial  Congress  and  Exposition  of  Man- 
ufactures, whicli  at  present  take  place  in  this  active  center, 
and  I  am  honored  with  the  appointment  as  delegate  of  the 
Mining  Society  and  of  the  Industrial  Technical  Institute. 
Expressing  faithfully  the  feelings  of  all  the  members  of  those 
bodies,  I  beg  leave  to  formulate  in  their  name  and  mine, 
our  gratefulness  towards  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum, and  the  commercial  associations  of  Philadelphia,  for 
the  friendly  invitation,  and  for  the  kind  reception  accorded 
to  me. 

Great  would  be  my  satisfaction  if  I  were  able  to  make 
evident  the  ardent  de.sire  existing  in  Peru  for  the  develop- 
ment of  commercial  relations  with  the  United  States,  which, 
although  increasing  every  year,  are  yet  carried  on  on  a  small 
scale;  as,  according  to  statistical  data,  only  seven  per  cent,  of 
our  total  exportation  comes  to  this  country,  and  only  fourteen 
per  cent,  of  our  purchases  are  made  here. 

The  United  States  is  looking  for  new  markets  for  the 
surplus  of  its  manufactures,  which  are  able  in  many  cases 
to  advantageously  compete  with  similar  products  of  other 
European  countries.  To  acquire  those  markets  it  is  necessary 
to  make  concessions  to  the  industries  of  the  countries  with 
which  they  want  to  trade. 

The  mining  industry  is  one  of  those  which  most  easily 
lend  themselves  to  increase  our  commercial  relations.  Indeed, 
one  of  our  main  exportable  products  is  the  ore  of  silver,  cop- 
per, lead,  and  other  mineral  and  metallurgical  yields,  whose 
value  is  about  ten  million  soles,  of  which  only  a  very  small 
portion  comes  to  this  country,  and  almost  the  whole  goes  to 
European  countries. 

As  metallurgy  here  is  very  well  advanced,  and  as  there  are 
in  this  country  great  houses  which  deal  in  minerals,  it  would 
he  an  easy  thing  and  possible,  at  very  little  ex])ense,  to  estali- 
lish  agencies  at  the  principal  centres  of  trade  in  Peru,  for 
the  purchase  of  exportable  ores.  These  purchases  being  made 
according  to  a.ssays,  tinder  well-regulated  taritl's  and  on  cash 
payment,  it  is  certain  that  the  agencies  could  acquire  at  very 
convenient  prices  almost  the  total  amount  of  exportable  min- 
erals; as  the  miners  would  prefer  to  sell  at  once  instead  of  re- 
ceiving some  advance,  as  it  is  done  at  present.  Those  agen- 
cies for  buying  ores  and  other  products  could,  at  the  same 
time,  introduce  to  the  knowledge  of  the  miners  and  sell  to 
them,  many  American  goods. 

What  I  have  said  about  ores  can  also  be  applied  to  many 
other  products  wliich  we  export,  such  as  sugar,  cotton,  wool, 
coffee,  liides,  etc.,  and  which  also  constitute  one  of  the 
simplest  means  to  foster  trade  between  both  countries;  but  I 
also  believe  tliat  that  is  not  enough;  something  else  is  neces- 
sary, and  that  is,  in  the  first  ])lacp.  rapidity  and  economy  in 
transportation,  which  can  bo  obtained  by  establishing  regular 
steamship  lines,  for  wliich  end  it  is  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  the  inter-oceanic  canal  lie  proinptlv  constructed.  Tlic  in- 
Irodiiction  of  capital  would  give  iiii|)ulse  to  our  industries. 

All  those  elements  would  bring  about  the  sending  of  our 
products  to  these  markets,  receiving,  in  exchange,  American 
manufactures.  This  has  been  the  system  followed  by  English 
and  German  merchants,  with  whom  we  trade  at  present. 

Returning  to  the  mining  industry,  we  would  say,  that  Peru 
is  undoubteflly  a  country  gifted  with  large  and  varied  mineral 
wealth,  and  therefore  it  offers  a  vast  field  for  the  establish- 
ment and   development  of  great  mining  enterprises,   which 


would  give  lucrative  employment  to  large  capitalists.  Besides 
the  exploitation  on  a  large  scale  of  gold,  silver  and  copper 
mines,  borates  and  petroleum  deposits,  etc.,  works  can  be  es- 
tablished with  assured  good  success,  for  the  extraction  of 
metals  from  the  ore. 

The  exportation  of  the  ores  causes  increased  expenses,  prin- 
cipally for  land  and  sea  freight,  so  that,  takiag  the  amount 
annually  exported  at  50,000  tons,  at  an  average  cost  of  ex- 
portation amounting  to  $40  per  ton,  the  result  is  that  there 
is  expended  annually  $"3,000,000,  a  sum  which  would  be  a 
great  increase  over  the  profits  which  those  smelters  (which 
might  be  established  to  handle  the  ore,  instead  of  exporting  it) 
would  pay, — the  products  being  always  shipped  to  these 
markets. 

In  addition  to  the  ores  which  could  be  exported,  there  are 
on  hand  at  all  the  mines,  large  quantities  of  ore,  whose  per- 
centage of  metal  would  not  pay  the  heavy  charges  of  ex- 
portation, and  consequently  they  remain  abandoned,  and  can 
be  acquired  for  the  cost  of  registration  merely,  or  at  very 
low  figures. 

From  the  above  statements  one  sees  the  suitability  of  es- 
tablishing concentrating  plants,  either  mechanical  or  on  the 
fusion  system,  to  recover  the  metals.  This  could  be  done 
in  many  mineral  districts  of  Peru,  for  instance,  Yauli,  Cerro 
de  Pasco,  etc.  This  last  place,  famous  for  the  quantity  of 
silver  which  it  has  produced  and  will  produce  in  the  future, 
likewise  contains  rich  copper  mines,  which  have  only  begun 
to  be  exploited  within  the  past  year.  There  was  exported, 
between  July  1st,  1876,  and  June  30th,  1899,  from  Cerro  de 
Pasco,  Yauli  y  Casacalpa,  17,000  tons  of  copper  ore  and 
mattes,  whose  percentage  in  copper  alone  (at  a  minimum  of 
thirty  per  cent.,  because  no  ores  running  lower  than  thirty  per 
cent,  are,  according  to  law,  exported)  gives  a  total  of  5,100 
tons.  Taking  this  at  an  average  of  sixty  pounds  gives  30(1,000 
pounds  (or  3,060,000  soles),  not  taking  into  account  the 
value  of  gold  and  silver  contained  in  tlie  mattes  and  ore.  It 
is  estimated  that  the  vein  of  Cerro  de  Pasco  will  yield  15,- 
000,000  tons  of  ore,  which,  taken  at  an  average  of  twenty  per 
cent.,  represents  3,000,000  tons  of  metallic  copper,  so  it  can 
be  seen  that  a  great  many  enterprises  could  be  initiated  for 
exploiting  and  smelting  copper. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  only  rich  ores  are  now  exported  (thirty 
per  cent,  copper,  or  more),  those  called  poor,  i.  e.,  contain- 
ing less  than  thirty  per  cent.,  remaining  to  be  treated  on  the 
spot. 

In  respect  to  gold  mines,  I  can  assure  you  that  there  is  no 
locality  in  Peru  which  does  not  offer  some  deposits  of  gold, 
both  on  the  coasts  and  in  the  Andes  and  coast  ranges,  espec- 
ially the  latter.  Quantities  of  both  gold  and  silver  have  been 
taken  out  in  former  times. 

We  are  struck  by  the  fact  that  a  country  so  rich  in  mines 
of  gold,  silver  antl  co])per,  does  not  figure  to-day  among 
those  producing  these  metals.  This  is,  however,  easily 
explained  by  the  lack  of  capital  to  pusli  tlie  mineral  indus- 
tries, the  absence  of  a  cooperative  spirit  ami  |inictit-al 
capacity  to  overcome  the  natural  obstacles,  whicii  are  every- 
where to  be  encountered.  As  a  result,  these  grand  sources  of 
wealth  remain  yet  to  be  exploited,  but  when  the  day  comes 
that  capital  is  invested  with  determined  cft'orts,  and  on  a 
great  scale,  to  mine  and  treat  the  ores,  as  has  been  done  in 
this  country,  then  enormous  returns  will  be  obtained. 

If,  to  the  above  conditions,  is  added  the  facility  with  which 
mines  can  now  he  oljtained  in  Peru,  tlie  liberty  which  one 
enjoys  in  working  them,  the  healthy  climate,  the  vast  re- 
sources which  all  the  mineral  re?ions  afford,  the  presence  of 
natural  motive  power  in  numerous  waterfalls  and  mineral 
riiel.  etc.,  the  obliging  disposition  of  the  Peruvians,  and  the 
cimsideration  shown  to  foreigners,  surely  none  should  fear 
to  establish  themselves  in  our  mining  districts,  for  tliey  can 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


277 


rest  assured  that  with  capital  and  practical  experience,  they 
will  obtain  magnificent  profits,  and,  moreover,  enjoy  the  se- 
curity afforded  by  all  civilized  countries. 

Similar  remarks  apply  to  very  many  industries,  either  al- 
ready in  operation,  or  which  will  be  established  in  Peru, — in- 
dustries capable  of  vast  development,  and  which  will  greatly 
improve  our  commercial  relations  with  the  I'nifed  States. 

As  it  is  impossible  to  enter  into  details  upon  each  of  these 
subjects,  owing  to  lack  of  time,  and  to  the  fact  that  it  would 
not  interest  many  persons  assembled  here,  I  propose  to  re- 
main in  the  city  some  days  more,  and  would  ask  such  parties 
as  may  desire  any  information  regarding  business  in  Peru,  to 
call  upon  me,  with  the  assurance  that  I  am,  at  all  times, 
ready  to  help  them  to  the  best  of  my  ability  and  with  perfect 
good  will.     (Applause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  thought  that  possibly  some  one  might  slip  out  of  this 
meeting  before  we  closed,  and  1  want  to  state  that  on  account 
of  notices  having  previously  gone  out,  which  I  cannot  control, 
from  Washington,  New  York  and  elsewhere,  with  reference  to 
the  trade-mark  meeting,  this  meeting  ^^dll  he  held  in  Con- 
vention Hall,  on  the  Exposition  grounds,  on  Monday.  It  is 
unavoidable  on  account  of  these  notices  having  gone  out. 
(Applause.) 

I 
Hon.  W.  ]Y.  nod-hill: 

The  next  speaker  on  the  programme  is  Mr.  Jorge  Kasadre, 
delegate  from  Lima,  Peru. 

Mr.  Jorge  Ba.'tadre: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Centlenien:  It  was  my  intention  to 
read  on  this  occasion  a  paper  written  in  my  native  language; 
but,  on  consideration,  I  have  decided  to  confine  myself  to  a 
few  remarks  in  English,  and  I  ask  your  indulgence  in  behalf 
of  my  good  desires. 

It  is  a  great  honor  for  me  to  participate  in  this  great  Con- 
gress as  a  delegate  from  two  Peruvian  industrial  institutions, 
which  are  taking  a  leading  part  in  the  progress  of  my  country. 

Peru,  as  you  all  know,  is  famous  for  its  old  civilization, 
which  has  been  masterly  described  by  an  American  historian, 
Mr.  Prescott;  but  it  is  not  of  our  old  Incas  that  I  am  going 
to  speak.  Y"ou  will  allow  me,  however,  to  enter  into  a  few 
geographical  data,  which  are  required  for  a  better  under- 
standing of  the  nature  of  conditions  prevailing  in  that  far- 
away land. 

According  to  the  most  reliable  information,  the  country  has 
a  surface  of  700,000  square  miles,  and  it  is  very  sparsely  popu- 
lated, the  density  being  five  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile. 
On  the  Pacific  coast  it  is  comprised  between  parallels  one 
degree  thirty-one  minutes  and  twenty-nine  seconds,  and  nine- 
teen degrees  thirteen  minutes  south  of  the  equator.  A  narrow 
strip  of  land  extends  from  north  to  south  along  the  shore, 
and  commencing  at  sea  level,  rises  to  an  altitude  of  5,000 
feet  against  the  Andes  mountains,  the  crest  of  which,  cov- 
ered with  perpetual  snow,  reaches  an  elevation  of  more  than 
14,000  feet. 

This  strip  of  territory,  which  is  about  one  hundred  miles 
in  width,  is  called  the  coast  region,  is  of  nearly  level  surface, 
and  can  be  described  as  a  huge  sandy  desert  intersected  with  a 
few  spurs  of  the  Andes  Mountains,  and  with  about  sixty  val- 
leys, through  which  flow  rapidly  into  the  ocean,  short  rivers, 
submitted  to  periodical  droughts. 

Less  than  one  per  cent,  of  the  useful  surface  of  the  coast 
region  is  to-day  cultivated,  and  although  in  the  old  times, 
before  the  Spaniards'  visit  to  the  country,  great  tracts  of  land 
were  irrigated  by  means  of  skilfully  built  canals,  to-day  we 
have  only  their  magnificent  ruins  to  look  at,  because  it  was  the 


policy  of  our  civilizei-s  to  discourage  agriculture  in  favor  of 
mining  silver  and  gold. 

As  at  the  coast  rains  are  very  scarce,  agriculture  has  to 
depend  exclusively  on  irrigation.  In  fact,  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  coast  it  never  rains,  and  in  the  north  we  have 
only  a  good  rainfall  every  seven  or  ten  years,  which,  falling 
on  a  wonderfully  fertile  soil,  gives  rise,  during  the  first  years, 
to  magnificent  crops,  which  gradually  decline  until  a  new 
rainfall  appears. 

The  coast  produces  sugar,  cotton,  rice  and  some  other 
cereals,  which  constitute  more  than  fifty  per  cent,  of  our  gen- 
eral exportation. 

Our  commerce  with  the  United  States,  which,  although 
very  small  at  present,  is  rapidly  increasing,  it  is  mainly  derived 
from  the  coast,  and  represents  one-tenth  of  the  general  com- 
merce of  the  country. 

In  1898  we  exported  103,718  metric  tons  of  sugar,  6,712 
tons  of  cotton,  and  4,295  tons  of  rice,  but  this  country  re- 
ceived only  fourteen  per  cent,  of  the  sugar,  nine  per  cent,  of 
the  cotton,  nothing  of  our  rice,  and  small  quantities  of  other 
commodities. 

So  great  has  been  the  fame  of  Peruvian  wealth,  that  I  feel 
somewhat  uneasy  when  I  have  to  say  that  the'  volume  of  our 
general  commerce  did  not  reach  twenty-five  millions  of  dol- 
lar's during  last  year,  a  very  small  sum  indeed  if  we  measure 
it  -nith  your  American  standards.  I  must  confess  that  what 
we  have  accomplished  is  yet  very  little,  but  there  are  great 
possibilities  in  the  country,  not  only  as  a  market  for  American 
products,  but  also  as  a  profitable  field  for  the  investment  of 
capital.  As  I  have  to  be  brief,  I  can  only  slightly  touch  this 
subject,  saying  that  in  the  northern  part  of  the  country,  in 
the  Department  of  Puira.  there  are  two  and  one-half  millions 
of  acres  of  land  which  can  be  irrigated  at  a  cost  of  two  dol- 
lars per  acre,  increasing  immediately  one  hundred-fold  their 
value. 

Great  facilities  are  given  to  enterprising  people  connected 
with  irrigation  schemes,  provided  they  mean  business  and 
represent  real  and  effective  capital. 

Cotton  is  a  native  plant  on  our  coast,  and  some  of  our  own 
varieties,  as  for  instance,  "rough  Peruvian,"  obtain  extra 
prices  in  the  market.  Cotton  yields  two  crops  a  year,  and  the 
plant  may  last  for  thirty  years,  each  acre  producing  about 
three  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  of  clean  cotton  and  five 
hundred  and  twenty  pounds  of  seed. 

Besides  white  cotton,  we  have  the  gray,  yellow,  red  and 
violet  varieties,  which  are  highly  appreciated. 

Cane  sugar  growing  is  the  principal  industry  on  the  coast. 
Twenty  millions  of  dollars  are  invested  in  this  industry,  ob- 
taining an  interest  of  eight  jier  cent,  per  year. 

In  all  the  country,  and  especially  on  the  coast,  there  is  a 
gi'eat  lack  of  population,  and  to  it  must  be  attributed  the  very 
slow  progress  of  our  agriculture. 

From  1849  to  1874  something  like  87,000  Chinese  coolies 
were  introduced,  and  one-third  of  them  still  remain  in  the 
country.  Several  attempts  have  been  made  to  introduce  im- 
migrants of  other  nations,  but  as  yet  we  have  not  succeeded 
in  creating  a  constant  and  important  current.  Immigrants 
are  always  welcomed  to  the  country,  and  even  those  belonging 
to  the  pauper  class  may  expect  a  cordial  reception,  provided 
they  devote  themselves  to  energetic  work. 

Our  coast  is  not  only  adaptable  to  agriculture,  but  great  de- 
|iosits  of  petroleum,  covering  an  area  of  16,000  square  miles, 
exist  there,  and  we  have  just  commenced  to  work.  Only 
50,000  acres  of  oil  land  have  been  appropriated,  and  only  a 
few  of  the  claims  are  being  w^orked.  The  oil  is  found  at 
a  depth  of  two  hundred  to  four  hundred  feet,  and  the  wells 
produce  from  thirty  to  four  hundred  barrels  of  petroleum 
per  day. 

In  former  times,  the  country  also  derived  from  the  coast 


278 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


that  greiit  natural  fertilizer  "guano,"  which  gave  fortunes  to 
many  adventurers,  without  great  profit  to  the  nation,  and 
on  the  coast  we  were  also  the  owners  of  the  nitrate  deposits 
which  Chile  now  owns,  and  from  which  you  heard  yesterday. 

We  have  lost  those  great  sources  of  wealth  through  an  un- 
fortunate war,  years  ago,  but  that  admirable  strip  of  land  on 
the  coast  contains  yet  vast  deposits  of  sulphur,  salt,  carbonate 
of  soda,  sulphates  of  aluminum,  magnesia  and  soda,  besides 
several  other  salts. 

Running  parallel  with  the  coast, there  is  another  section, the 
"Sierra,"  where  the  Andes  Mountains  reach  a  magnificent  de- 
velopment. High  table  lands  alternate  with  snowy  peaks  and 
deep  canons,  forming  the  most  corrugated  surface  in  the 
world.  Eastward  of  this  barrier,  in  which  all  the  geological 
horizons  are  represented,  lies  the  region  of  our  forests,  which 
cover  with  their  tropical  gi'owth  more  than  one-half  of  the 
total  surface  of  the  country. 

The  Sierra  is  more  thickly  populated  by  aborigines  than 
the  rest  of  the  country,  and  is  very  rich  in  mineral  deposits, 
which  give  rise  to  one  of  our  most  important  industries,  to 
which  Mr.  Loredo  has  specially  referred  in  his  paper. 

Peru  is  a  very  rich  country  in  ores  and  in  tropical  products, 
which  are  found  in  their  almost  virgin  forests;  but  to  develop 
our  natural  resources  we  need  cheap  means  of  transportation. 

Before  taking  our  leave,  I  desire  to  acknowledge  my  com- 
pliments to  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  to  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  to  the  members  of  the  Bourse,  and  finally,  to 
thank  all  of  you  for  your  patient  attention. 

lion.  W.  W.  EocMill: 

The  next  speaker  is  Mr.  Enrique  Wulff,  Consul-General  and 
Representative  of  Bolivia. 

Mr.  Enrique  Wuljf : 

The  principal  object  of  this  Congress  being  that  all  nations 
here  represented  should  become  acquainted  with  the  resources 
and  wealth  of  each  other,  in  order  to  open  a  new  horizon  to 
commerce  and  better  facilities  for  interchange  of  its  indus- 
tries, I  will  endeavor  to  make  you  acquainted  with  the  re- 
sources of  Bolivia,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent. 

With  a  population  of  more  than  two  millions  and  an  area 
of  171,130  English  square  miles,  Bolivia  is  destined  to  become 
the  most  prosperous  nation  of  the  Hispano-American  conti- 
nent. Its  midland  position  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  power- 
ful obstacle  to  the  development  of  its  innumerable  and  abund- 
ant elements  of  prosperity  and  latent  activities  hidden  in  its 
interior.  Shortly  after  Dr.  Edwin  K.  Health,  now  Consul  of 
Bolivia,  in  Kansas  City,  had  completed  his  exploration  of  the 
Beni  River,  the  government  set  about  to  disseminate  the  news 
of  his  valuable  work  and  discoveries,  particularly  in  regard  to 
the  great  wealth  of  the  rubber  trees,  known  under  the  name 
of  "Hevea  brasiliensis"  or  "Hevea  syphonia." 

Since  then  liberal  laws  have  been  enacted  for  the  acquisi- 
tion of  rubber  and  other  forest  lands,  for  the  purpose  of  stim- 
ulating the  cultivation  of  the  rubber  tree,  and  other  valuable 
products  of  this  immense  forest  region. 

The  law,  as  it  now  stands,  permits  anyone  to  explore  these 
forests  for  wild-growing  rubber,  medicinal  or  dye  trees,  and 
grants  to  every  applicant  after  discovery  one  to  five  hundred 
estradas  for  a  trifling  annual  payment  for  fifteen  consecutive 
years.  Then  the  government  issues  a  patent  for  the  land  in 
perpetuity,  according  to  the  law  promulgated  in  I.SflG,  or  the 
applicant  may  pay  in  advance  the  fifteen  yearly  payments, 
amounting  to  fifteen  Bolivars  for  each  estrada  of  150  trees, 
and  the  patent  will  be  issued  at  once. 

The  rubber  forests  proper  cover  the  vast  territory  lying 
between  the  rivers  Beni.  Madres  de  Dios,  Pivius  and  Aquiri, 
and  between  the  foot  hills  of  the  Andes  Mountains  and  the 
frontier  of  Brazil. 


Noted  explorers  agree  as  to  the  immense  natural  wealth  this 
vast  foreign  region  contains,  and  the  day  has  arrived  for  the 
entire  region  to  be  opened  up  for  the  varied  uses  of  mankind. 
The  influx  of  people,  who  on  the  banks  of  these  great  rivers 
are  gathering  the  rubber  in  the  more  accessible  places,  has 
risen  in  the  past  eight  years  from  isolated  gatherers  to  thou- 
sands of  persons  now  operating  there,  either  independently 
or  in  the  employ  of  powerful  syndicates. 

All  these  people  require  everything  essential  for  their  living 
and  their  work,  and  the  business  of  furnishing  these  supplies 
is  one  of  the  very  profitable  things  men  are  engaged  in. 

Although  it  is  a  matter  of  notoriety  and  regret  that  the 
greed  of  the  rubber  gatherer  has  needlessly  spoiled  thousands 
of  these  valuable  trees,  there  remain  yet  untold  thousands  in 
places  removed  from  river  banks. 

The  difficulty  to  reach  these  sources  of  supplies  is  of  no 
mean  order,  and  consists  chiefly  in  making  pathways  in  these 
impenetrable  forests,  and  in  pacifying  many  of  the  more  hos- 
tile Indians  inhabiting  these  regions. 

There  is,  however,  one  fact  to  call  attention  to,  viz.,  in 
almost  all  valleys  of  the  Andes  Mountains  crossing  the  Depart- 
ment of  La  Paz,  and  in  the  headwaters  of  the  rivers,  is  found 
what  is  known  under  the  name  of  "Castilloa  elastica,"  or  Peru- 
vian rubber. 

With  careful  management  in  gathering  the  last-named 
ruliber,  a  higher  price  can  be  obtained  for  the  same  than  at 
[iresent. 

It  seems  to  me  that  whereas  the  rubber  lands  are  so  sus- 
ceptible of  rapid  vegetation  by  reason  of  the  climatic  condi- 
tion and  the  composition  of  the  soil,  rubber  plantations 
ought  to  be  started,  where  a  rational  cultivation  of  rubber 
trees  could  just  as  well  be  maintained,  as  has  been  the  case 
for  many  years  in  planting  and  cultivating  the  cinchona  or 
"cascarilla"  tree. 

No  surer  and  more  permanent  investment  can  be  made  than 
in  a  rubber  plantation.  There  are  also  other  highly  desirable 
products,  such  as  the  vegetable  silk,  the  yellow  cotton,  the 
coco  brush,  etc.,  which  are  known  to  be  of  the  easiest  culture, 
and  guarantee  permanent  and  satisfactory  results. 

The  dye,  drug  and  cabinet-wood  trees  of  this  region  are 
highly  prized,  and  very  much  sought  after. 

Not  second  in  importance  to  the  ruliber  forests  are  the  me- 
tallic deposits  of  the  republic,  according  to  documents  sup- 
plied by  IVIr.  Manuel  V.  Ballivian,  of  the  National  Bureau  of 
Statistics. 

Conservative  estimates  corroborate  the  Ixdief  that  in  the 
Department  of  Oruro  alone  are  enough  visible  copper  deposits 
to  parallel  the  silver  deposits  of  the  Department  of  Potosi, 
from  which,  as  it  is  generally  knowai,  Bolivia  has  become,  with 
very  limited  exploitation,  the  third  silver-producing  country 
of  the  world:  no  less  than  three  thousand  million  pounds  ster- 
lint^  of  silver  have  been  extracted  from  these  mines  since  the 
Spanish  conquest  of  the  Inca  nation. 

The  great  tin  ore  deposits — vein  and  stream  tins — in  the 
Departments  of  Oruro,  Potosi  and  I^a  Paz  have  assumed  in 
the  past  eight  years  a  commanding  position  in  the  tin  supply 
sources  of  the  world.  The  richness  and  purity  of  Bolivian 
tin  ores  have  won  serious  attention  from  the  commercial  na- 
tions of  Europe,  so  much  that  smelting  works  have  been 
prected  in  To-dstedt,  near  Hamburg,  Germany,  which  mostly 
import  Bolivian  tin  ores;  also  in  Schlagenwald,  Bohemia;  in 
Freiberg,  Saxony:  in  France,  and  in  St.  Helens,  England, 
where  the  bulk  of  the  Bolivian  tin  ores  are  hanrlled. 

Bismuth  and  antimony  ores  are  likewise  largely  exported  to 
Cermany  and  France,  and  one  firm  in  LondoTi.  England,  is 
known  to  be  the  largest  and  most  successful  smelters  of  Bo- 
livian bismuth  ores. 

The  large  copper  vein  deposits  of  manganese  and  hematite 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  28,  1899 


279 


iron  in  the  Department  of  Tarija  have  not  failed  to  attract 
the  attention  of  the  mining  exjaert. 

The  gold  veins  and  placer  deposits  are  assuming  the  front 
rank  of  activity  in  Bolivia  at  present.  It  is  not  assuming  too 
much  to  say  that  nearly  all  the  river  beds  of  Bolivia  contain 
placer  gold.  The  extent  of  these  placers  is  simply  marvelous; 
their  richness  per  cubic  yard  compares  decidedly  m  their  favor 
with  any  of  the  more  recent  finds  in  the  Klondike. 

The  conditions  of  working  these  placers  are  far  superior  to 
any  of  the  best  situated  placer  claims  in  the  aforesaid  regions. 

Water  and  fuel  in  abundance,  the  living  supplies  and  sani- 
tary condition  are  in  most  cases  superb.  You  may  very  natur- 
ally ask  why  is  it  that,  when  there  are  such  rich  placer  deposits 
and  inviting  conditions  to  work  these  deposits,  they  are  not 
being  worked. 

Permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  one  fact,  namely,  lack 
of  roads;  diificult  access  in  transporting  any  kind  of  modern 
machinery  or  contrivance  to  these  places  is  the  main  draw- 
back, on  account  of  which  little  work  was  done,  except  during 
the  time  of  the  Incas  and  under  the  Spanisli  conquest. 

In  the  eai-y  part  of  1898,  however,  the  first  mining  ma- 
chinery went  in  from  the  United  States,  and  since  then  three 
companies  are  working  there  with  great  sxiccess.  Several 
Belgian,  English  and  German  companies  are  exploiting  the 
placers  with  equally  successful  returns,  and  but  lately  a  power- 
ful United  States  smelting  concern  has  taken  hold  to  exploit 
the  eop]>er  resources  of  Bolivia. 

Gold  quartz  veins  are  encountered  in  all  parts  of  the  Andes 
crossing  Bolivia,  and  as  far  south  as  the  frontier,  where  very 
rich  quartz  veins  and  placer  fields  are  known  to  exist,  but  not 
worked  by  reason  of  the  impossibility  of  bringing  in  ma- 
chinery. 

The  industrial  condition  of  Bolivia  invites  the  most  care- 
ful attention  of  every  thoughtful  man,  for,  with  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  mining  industry  in  its  manifold  ramifications, 
changes  occur  from  day  to  day  which  demand  the  introduc- 
tion of  every  article  pre-requisite  for  the  successful  exploita- 
tion of  the  mineral  deposits.  It  may  even  compel  the  estab- 
lishment of  industries  in  Bolivia  in  the  near  future  essential 
to  the  permanent  progress  and  maintenance  of  this  all-im- 
portant subject. 

I  also  desire  to  make  it  known  that  the  immigrant  in  Bo- 
livia is  not  considered,  as  in  many  other  countries,  an  unwel- 
come guest.  Bolivians  are  very  hospitalile,  and  a  foreigner 
is,  for  the  lower  classes,  an  object  of  curiosity,  and  his  friend- 
ship and  relationship  is  highly  desired  by  all  classes.  As  said, 
he  is  a  very  desirable  guest,  for  he  does  not  come  to  be- 
come a  rival.  He  comes  to  establish  industries  iinknown  to 
the  native,  and  which  will  be  of  benefit  to  the  country  and  its 
inhabitants.  No  matter  how  uninstructed,  he  always  will 
be  able  to  teach  something,  if  only  his  own  language,  and 
those  people  far  away  from  the  centre  of  the  world  welcome 
him,  seat  him  at  their  table,  and  are  highly  honored  with  his 
friendship. 

The  proof  of  the  aforesaid  is  that  there  is  not  a  foreigner 
in  Bolivia  whom  you  could  call  pauper.  In  Bolivia  the  for- 
eigner who  desires  to  work  can  do  so;  the  government,  as  I 
have  said,  gives  him  the  land  and  the  people  their  friendship. 

The  money  standard  of  Bolivia  is  the  Boliviana,  which 
weighs  25  grains,  nine  hundred  thousandth  fine,  equivalent 
to  about  forty-one  cents.  United  States  money.  Subject  as  this 
money  is  to  the  continuous  fluctuations  to  which  it  is  exposed 
by  exchange,  owing  to  the  rise  and  fall  of  silver,  we  are  com- 
pletely without  a  basis  on  which  to  rely  for  our  own  foreign 
trade.  This  has  been  a  cause  of  depression  in  the  commerce, 
and  to  a  certain  extent  causes  the  imports  to  decline,  which,  of 
course,  is  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  manufacturing  countries 
which  persist  in  maintaining  the  gold  standard. 

No  doubt,  you  will  say,  what  perhaps  is  ruinous  to  one  na- 


tion is  to  the  advantage  of  the  other.  It  is  true,  but  if  we 
will  endeavor  to  harmonize  the  .universal  interests  in  a  man- 
ner, that  justice  will  be  obtained  by  all,  we  will  find  a  modus 
Vivendi  less  tyrannical  than  the  present  in  monetary  affairs. 
In  finishing,  I  beg  to  make  you  acquainted  with  the  fact 
that  Mr.  Luis  A.  Richter,  who  is  acting  as  Commissioner  of 
Colonization  and  Commerce  for  Bolivia,  is  trying  to  conclude 
negotiations  with  a  powerful  syndicate  to  take  over  and  carry 
out  certain  internal  improvements  contemplated  by  the  gov- 
ernment to  foster  trade  and  give  impulse,  in  every  way  pos- 
sible, to  the  mineral  and  other  industries  of  the  country,  such 
as  building  railroads,  connecting  the  more  important  mining 
and  trade  centres,  improving  the  navigation  of  the  waterways 
in  the  south  and  west  of  the  republic,  opening  wagon  roads  in 
the  more  difficult  passes  of  the  Andes  Mountains,  creating  a 
strong  bank  of  issue  and  redemption,  remodeling  and  im- 
])roving  the  mint  facilities,  and,  last,  but  not  least,  adding 
and  improving  higher  school  facilities  for  the  white  and  red 
men  alike.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  W.  W.  RocTchill: 

I  will  now  call  on  Mr.  George  L.  Duval,  delegate  from  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Valparaiso,  who  will  speak  on 
Chilean  trade. 

Mr.  George  L.  Duval: 

Chile  represents  a  long  coast  line  in  the  South  Pacific, 
covering  a  greater  variety  of  climate  and  conditions  than 
possibly  any  other  country  in  the  world.  The  northern 
section  is  for  the  most  part  a  desert,  made  valuable,  however, 
by  its  mineral  wealth,  including  important  silver  mines  and 
particularly  deposits  of  nitrate  of  soda,  which  is  now  the 
principal  item  of  export  upon  which  the  Government  depends 
for  a  portion  of  its  revenue. 

The  central  section  has  much  in  common  in  topography, 
climate  and  products  with  the  State  of  California,  and  was 
in  its  early  commercial  history  an  important  source  of  sup- 
ply of  agricultural  products  and  copper.  Indeed,  at  the  time 
of  the  settlement  of  California,  Chile  found  there  a  large 
market  for  the  products  of  her  farms. 

The  proportion  of  population  to  area  is  considerably  larger 
tlian  in  California;  it  is  nearly  11  per  square  mile — say,  over 
.3,000,000  inhabitants  in  less  than  300,000  square  miles,  as 
aaainst  somewhat  less  than  8  per  square  mile  in  California, 
or  1,200,000  in  136,000  square  miles. 

The  people  are  hardy  and  intelligent.  Education  among 
the  masses  is  in  a  backward  state,  but  they  are  quick  to  learn 
and  adopt  modern  appliances.  Their  principal  cities  are  well 
built  and  progressive,  while  Santiago,  the  capital,  with  about 
3.J0,000  inhabitants,  is  a  very  agreeable  place  of  residence, 
from  its  condition,  surroundings  and  social  life.  It  preserves 
the  characteristics  of  its  Spanish  origin  while  conforming  to 
the  current  advantages  of  municipal  life.  The  governing 
class  are,  as  a  rule,  a  superior  body  of  men,  animated  with 
a  high  sense  of  patriotism,  and  official  life  is  unusually  free 
from  corruption.  In  the  field  of  diplomacy  Chile  holds  her 
own  with  all  other  countries. 

Chile  was  driven  from  her  agricultural  importance  by  the 
development  of  the  vast  plains  of  this  coxintry,  Argentina 
and  Australia,  but  after  supplying  her  own  needs  to-day  she 
is  the  main  source  of  supply  for  the  neighboring  South  Amer- 
ican Republics  of  Peru  and  Ecuador,  and  from  an  average  crop 
has  still  a  surplus  to  ship  to  Europe. 

In  like  manner,  the  discovery  and  opening  of  the  large 
copper  mines  in  this  country  was  prejudicial  to  the  copper 
industry  in  Chile.  The  great  demand  for  copper,  of  late, 
in  connection  with  electrical  development,  has  rehabilitated 
the  Chilean  mines,  and  at  the  current  market  value  of  the 


280 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


product  it  is  an  important  source  of  wealth  to  the  country. 
In  tlic  meantime,  through  the  acquisition  of  the  Province 
of  Tarapaca,  Chile  came  into  possession  of  the  only  available 
deposit  of  nitrate  of  soda  in  the  world,,  and  since  this  terri- 
tory has  become  Chilean,  the  use  of  the  product  has  increased 
manifold.  Its  principal  employment  is  as  a  fertilizer,  but 
a  higher  grade  is  used  in  the  manufacture  of  gunpowder  and 
high  explosives  and  in  acid  making.  It  is  valuable  as  a  fer- 
tilizer through  the  large  percentage  of  ammonia  which  it 
carries  and  is  u.sed  in  Germany  more  than  elsewhere  on  ac- 
count of  its  peculiar  adaptability  to  the  beet  root  crop. 

The  vine  has  been  cultivated  to  a  large  extent  in  Chile 
and  now  yields  a  product  quite  equal,  and  in  some  resiiects 
superior,  to  California  wine. 

There  are  extensive  deposits  of  a  fair  grade  of  steam  coal 
in  and  about  Coronel,  which  is  largely  depended  on  through- 
out the  country. 

There  are  heavy  forests  of  a  superior  grade  of  lumber  in 
the  South.  The  Rauli  wood  is  noAv  largely  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  furniture  and  fittings  and  is  an  excellent  substi- 
tute for  our  walnut.  These  forests,  however,  do  not  include 
any  substitute  for  our  pine  wood,  and  for  building  purposes 
dependence  is  still  placed  upon  the  product  of  our  States 
of  Oregon  and  Washington,  which  is  shipped  there  in  large 
quantities. 

Walnuts,  goat  and  chinchilla  skins  of  very  superior  quality 
are  other  items  of  export  in  varying  quantity. 

Local  manufacture  has  been  encouraged  for  many  years  past 
by  the  (iovernment.  but  has  not  yet  attained  important  pro- 
portions save  in  two  or  three  directions,  and  the  country  is  still 
practically  dependent  oji  the  imjiorts  of  manufactured  wares. 
The  foreign  trade  of  Chile  in  16  years  increased  from  $43,- 
000,000  in  1881  to  $73,000,000  in  1897.  Out  f)f  the  total 
of  $73,000,000  in  18i)7  the  American  share  was  $6,400,000  as 
against  $3,000,000  in  1S81,  but  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June 
30,  1899,  the  portion  of  this  trade  done  by  the  ITnited  States 
was  barely  $5,000,000.  The  proportion  of  importations,  more- 
over, has  increased  to  GO  per  cent,  now  as  against  50  per  cent, 
in  1881.  In  other  words,  there  is  a  market  in  Chile  for 
$3,000,000  of  American  products  as  against  $1,500,000  two 
decades  ago — an  insignificant  increase  considering  the  enor- 
mous political  and  industrial  development  of  the  United 
States  in  the  interim. 

While  this  does  not  compare  unfavorably  with  the  progress 
of  Chilean  trade  with  Great  Britain  and  France,  it  gives 
cause  and  food  for  reflection  when  compared  with  the  Chil- 
ean-German trade.  From  a  total  of  $2,000,000  in  1881  it 
reached  $26,000,000  in  1897,  of  which  25  per  cent,  was  in 
exports.  In  other  words,  Germany  in  16  years  developed  a 
market  in  Chile  for  her  products  to  the  extent  of  nearly 
$7,000,000  as  against  $1,000,000  in  1881. 

It  must  be  observed  on  the  other  hand,  however,  that  Ger- 
many furnished  to  Chile  a  market  in  1897  for  her  products 
to  the  extent  of  over  $19,000,000,  chiefly  nitrate  of  soda. 

The  conditions  For  ibc  d('vrlii|iiiicnf  of  foreign  Irado  mav 
l)e  classified  as  follows: 

Fir.st,  a  customs  tariff  encouraging  reciprocal  business.  The 
buyer  will  naturally  favor  his  own  customer,  besides  which 
a  considerable  saving  is  effected  in  the  aggregate  through 
the  medium  of  direct  exchange.  Inasmuch  as  the  principal 
product  of  Chile,  as  we  have  seen,  is  nitrate  of  soda,  which 
is  free  from  duty  under  our  tariff,  the  latter  is  no  restraint 
on  trade.  The  market  for  this  product  is  a  limited  one  in  the 
I'nitod  States,  however,  representing  about  10  per  cent,  of 
the  entire  export.  As  we  have  seen,  its  principal  use  in 
Europe  is  for  fertilizing  purposes,  whereas  there  arc  many 
substitutes  in  this  country,  where  the  nitrate  is  employed 
almost  exclusively  for  the  manufacture  of  acids  and  gnn- 
jwwdcr.  not  river  Id  per  wnt.  to  18  per  cent,  of  the  entire 


import  being  devoted  to  fertilizing  purposes. 

The  second  condition  is  the  willingness  of  capital  to  find 
investment  in  commercial  enterprise.  All  countries  that  de- 
pend largely  for  their  supplies  on  the  stranger  are  debtors 
and  expect  financial  facilities. 

Owing  to  the  great  accumulation  of  wealth  in  Great  Bri- 
tain that  country  has  been  from  the  beginning  in  the  fore- 
front of  this  class  of  enterprise.  The  large  English  houses 
have  established  branches  with  ample  capital  in  all  the  im- 
portant commercial  centres  of  South  America.  These 
branches  are  the  schools  from  which  their  youths  graduate. 
They  study  and  respond  with  the  greatest  care  to  the  par- 
ticxilar  needs  of  each  section  in  which  they  are  located,  and 
are  very  liberal  in  their  terms  of  credit. 

In  the  past  decade,  Germany,  as  elsewhere  seen,  has  made 
compefition  very  keen  for  all  other  trading  countries,  par- 
ticularly Great  Britain.  They  have  pursued  the  English 
method  of  broadcast  establishments  and  have  gone  much 
further,  and  in  even  a  more  pain.sfaking  way,  to  cater  to  the 
requirements  of  their  buyers.  The  German  manufacturer 
has  long  ago  realized  the  necessity  of  an  exjiort  outlet  for 
industrial  development  and  has,  either  by  furnishing  capital 
to  German  houses  in  foreign  countries  or  through  giving 
them  exceptionally  long  credit  on  his  sales  of  wares,  facili- 
tated the  means  to  this  end.  No  requirement  escapes  the 
vigilance  of  the  local  German  merchant,  who  no  sooner  finds 
an  article  meeting  with  favor  than  he  sends  a  sample  to 
Hamburg  to  get  a  report  and  the  lowest  prices  on  an  imita- 
tion. So  it  is  that  we  find  the  cheaper  German  cotton  goods, 
hardware  and  machinery  confronting  us  in  every  market. 

I  am  not.  however,  an  advocate  of  pursuing  the  policy  of 
cheapening  the  American  product,  even  in  the  keenness  of 
(ierman  competition,  for  I  am  persuaded  that  in  the  course 
of  time  the  superior  output  will  be  appreciated  and  replace  the 
cheaper  product  that  meets  with  temporary  favor. 

Among  the  German  merchants  abroad,  moreover,  there  is 
an  esprit  du  corps  unknown  to  any  other  class,  and  informa- 
tion is  freely  interchanged  between  them.  This  is  largely 
due  to  a  community  of  interest  through  an  association  or  sort 
of  Lloyds  established  in  Hamburg  for  insuring  German  mer- 
chants abroad  against  a  proportion  of  the  bad  debts  they 
may  contract.  The  plan  is  to  carry  a  certain  amount  of  the 
risk  for  a  premium,  leaving  the  insured  to  carry  enough  to 
induce  care  on  his  part,  and  through  his  participation  in  the 
insurance  giving  him  an  incentive  to  protect  other  German 
interests.  This  plan  in  some  of  its  details  may  be  worthy 
of  emulation,  but  it  has  its  unfavorable  side  in  arraying  class 
against  class  and  promoting  unfair  discrimination. 

The  third  condition  is  the  tendency  of  young  men  to  mi- 
grate for  their  benefit  and  to  act  as  tlie  mcilium  for  developing 
business.  This  condition,  however,  will  naturally  follow  the 
movement  of  ca|iital,  and  may  be  considered  as  a  jiart  of  it. 

The  fourth  condition  is  an  efficient  and  ])ermancnt  con- 
sular service,  in  the  lack  of  which  the  United  States  is  singular 
among  great  trading  countries.  An  efficient  consul  can  do 
much  in  seeking  and  imparting  information  and  in  protecting 
the  local  interests  of  his  countrymen.  Both  England  and 
(Tcrmany  depend  greatly  on  this  arm  of  their  service  as  an 
adjunct  of  commerce. 

The  fifth  condition  is  the  facilities  of  transportation  and 
communication.  This,  however,  follows  the  others  and  is 
rather  an  effect  than  a  cause. 

I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  depreciating  the  value 
of  a  merchant  marine,  but  only  to  point  out  that  to  the 
foreign  buyers  of  .'\merican  wares  it  is  a  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence whether  tlu'  same  reach  him  under  one  flag  or  under 
nmther.  The  maxim  that  "Trade  follows  the  flag"  is  less 
]iractica]  I  bun  euphonious.  It  does  follow  the  flag,  but  the 
conditions  already  stated  serve  as  the  tow  line. 


FOUETEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


281 


The  advantages  from  the  upbuilding  of  a  merchant  marine 
are  numerous  enough,  liowever,  without  assigning  it  pre- 
eminence in  the  cause  of  commerce.  It  serves  to  train  a 
class  for  the  necessity  of  which  we  have  had  recent  evidence, 
and  it  keeps  in  American  coffers  an  element  that  has  hitherto 
been  an  important  factor  in  neutralizing  the  balance  of  trade. 

Many  manufacturers  interested  in  the  development  of 
Chilean  trade  have  been  prone  to  attribute  its  backwardness 
to  prejudice  against  the  United  States.  This  is  completely 
refuted  by  statistics.  The  Chileans  are  an  intensely  practical, 
shrewd  and  businesslike  people,  and  as  a  rule  are  successful 
merchants.  They  look  to  their  own  advantage  in  trade  as 
do  all  other  peoples,  and  are  entirely  willing  that  Americans 
should  get  a  larger  share  if  they  show  the  reason  why. 

Here.  then,  we  have  Imyers  to  the  extent  of  $35,000,000 
to  $30,000,000  per  annum,  a  large  proportion  of  which  Amer- 
icans should  sell,  and  the  problem  is,  how  to  sell  it. 

In  the  present  inflated  condition  of  home  trade  and  the 
consequent  high  prices  prevailing,  there  is  little  chance  in 
competition.  These  periods,  however,  come  and  go.  American 
productive  capacity  has  increased  to  such  proportions  that 
history  will  repeat  itself  and  there  will  presently  be  an  ac- 
cumulated surplus  which  cannot  be  placed  out  of  hand.  It 
is,  therefore,  of  the  first  importance  to  start  at  once  to  estab- 
lish an  outlet.  Small  concessions  now  will  save  large  con- 
cessions, and  possibly  sacrifice,  later  on. 

Manufacturers  have  hitherto  tried  the  experiment  of  send- 
ing special  representatives  to  distant  countries  to  sell  their 
wares,  but  the  experience  has  been  unsatisfactory  and  costly 
to  them,  and  has  given  serious  cause  of  complaint  to  their 
buyers.  These  representatives,  as  a  rule,  have  gone  into  a 
country  entirely  new  to  them,  having  everything  to  learn 
of  the  needs  of  the  people  they  were  treating  with,  and  have 
in  a  majority  of  instances  executed  their  orders  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  cause  unfavorable  impressions  and  prejudice. 

Some  good,  however,  has  undoubtedly  come  from  this 
spasmodic  show  of  enterprise  on  the  part  of  manufacturers. 
Many  of  them  have  brought  for  the  first  time  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  foreign  buyers  the  merits  and  particular  advan- 
tages of  the  goods  they  offer,  but  this  has  been  done  by 
them  in  times  of  depression  in  the  home  trade,  and  as  soon 
as  the  latter  has  revived,  carelessness  and  indifference  has 
been  shown  to  the  needs  and  requirements  of  the  foreign 
market  and  the  trade  allowed  to  lapse. 

If  the  manufacturer  would  consistently  and  persistently 
encourage  by  every  means  the  foreign  demand  for  his  wares, 
and  give  assurance  of  continued  care  in  the  treatment  and 
execution  of  orders,  he  would  do  far  more  towards  preserv- 
ing a  market  for  his  surplus  than  by  the  occasional  trips  of 
his  special  .salesmen. 

All  countries  have  their  established  channels  of  trade,  a 
knowledge  of  which  has  been  acquired  after  years  of  patient 
study  and  endeavor,  and  if  the  manufacturer  will  co-operate 
with  these  and  use  any  surplus  funds  he  has  in  judicious  ad- 
vertising in  the  papers  of  the  country  whose  business  he 
seeks,  his  results  will  be  far  more  satisfactory  than  through 
any  other  process. 

By  "encouraging  the  established  channels  of  trade"  I  mean 
to  imply  that  the  manufacturer  mu.st  enable  the  meirhant 
to  cater  to  the  particular  wants  of  his  clients.  If  they  re- 
quire variations  from  our  own  style  and  method,  meet  them 
until  such  time  as  they  can  be  convinced  that  our  views  are 
the  best;  instead  of  holding  them  to  such  form  of  package 
and  assortment  as  we  deem  best,  meet  their  particular  views 
as  far  as  may  be,  and  in  a  special  manner  give  greater  at- 
tention tn  packing.  The  losses  chargeable  against  Americans, 
as  compared  with  Euro]ie.  through  carelessly  packed  fragile 
wares,  is  often  a  controlling  item.  Accommodate  the  foreign 
merchant,  and  consequently  his  client  abroad,  to  the  great- 


est extent  of  credit,  becau.ee,  as  we  have  seen,  the  buyer  in 
the  South  American  countries  is  largely  influenced  in  his 
preference  by  the  facilities  or  time  afforded  him  for  making 
his  payments. 

Hitherto,  the  very  large  and  constantly  growing  home 
market  for  American  products  has  kept  the  manufacturers 
from  giving  the  full  measure  of  consideration  to  the  needs  of 
the  export  trade,  and,  as  has  already  been  stated,  it  is  only 
spasmodically  that  the  manufacturers  of  the  country  have 
realized  the  necessity  for  cultivating  such  an  outlet.  In  the 
past  two  years,  however,  the  enormous  development  of  Ameri- 
can productive  capacity  has  had  no  parallel  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  For  the  present,  as  we  have  seen,  domestic  needs 
are  keeping  American  mills,  factories  and  manufacturing 
plants  fully  employed,  but  it  requires  no  prophet  to  forsee  the 
early  accumulation  which  this  present  pace  will  bring  about. 
Just  prior  to  the  present  period  of  activity  the  United  States 
had  passed  through  a  series  of  years  of  depression,  during 
which  buying  and  trading  was  done  on  the  most  limited  scale, 
resulting  in  accumulated  necessities  in  all  directions  and  the 
present  eagerness  for  supplies.  This  must  be  of  necessity  a 
period  of  short  duration,  and  the  eagerness  of  the  buyer  to-day 
will  be  the  eagerness  of  the  seller  to-morrow. 

In  the  present  rapid  accumulation  of  wealth  in  the  United 
States  the  time  is  measurably  near  when  America  can  compete 
with  Europe  in  the  most  important  condition  of  developing 
foreign  trade.  In  other  words,  capital  seeking  profitable  in- 
vestment will  find  a  field,  as  it  has  done  in  Europe,  for  for- 
eign commerce,  and  when  this  time  arrives  conditions  will  be 
complete  for  contesting  on  even  terms  with  the  countries  of 
Europe  for  the  trade  of  all  buying  countries.  There  will  then 
be  offered  an  incentive  to  the  youth  of  this  countr}'  to  acquire 
a  mercantile  training  abroad,  and  the  ships  to  carry  American 
pro-ducts  will  be  forthcoming.  There  will  also  be  found  the 
necessary  facilities  of  exchange,  once  the  interchange  of  pro- 
ducts is  established  on  a  sufiRcient  scale,  and  then  it  will  not  be 
necessary  to  depend,  as  now,  on  London  as  a  clearing  house 
for  all  transactions,  paying  tribute  therefor. 

The  formidable  and  increasing  navy  of  the  United  States 
will  carry  comfort  to  her  citizens  abroad  and  give  them  assur- 
ance that  their  country  is  regarding  with  interest  their  efforts 
and  career.  The  products  of  American  mills  and  factories  are 
now  generally  regarded  as  superior  to  the  output  of  any  other 
country,  and  the  foreign  consumer  it  being  gradually  educated 
to  an  appreciation  of  their  merits. 

As  to  the  countries  of  the  West  Coast  of  South  Africa, 
the  United  States  will,  in  the  near  future, — through  the  con- 
struction of  an  inter-oceanic  canal  (whether  through  the 
Istbnuis  of  Panama  or  Nicaragua) — be  able  to  reach  them  in 
from  one-third  to  one-half  of  the  time  it  costs  now.  thus  ef- 
fecting a  large  saving  in  the  aggregate,  through  interest  and 
insurance  charges. 

These  are  the  conditions  by  which  the  manufacturers  and 
factors  in  this  country  can  build  a  high-road  to  the  foreign 
markets.  They  should  take  lessons  from  those  who  have  gone 
before  and  do  just  what  has  been  successfully  done  by  their 
competitors  in  securing  the  trade. 

Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill: 

The  nest  speaker  is  Mr.  C.  J.  Whellams,  delegate  from 
Minnesota  and  secretary  of  the  Northwestern  Manufacturers' 
Association. 

Mr.  C.  J.  Whellams: 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  hardly  know,  after 
hearing  so  much  of  South  America,  if  my  paper  quite  fits  in, 
excepting  so  far  as  I  am  going  to  deal  with  the  mercantile 
marine  from  a  farmer's  standpoint,  and  perhaps  if  the  United  ■ 
States  has  a  marine,  it  will  enable  all  of  these  various  repub- 
lics in  South  America  to  ship  their  goods  to  this  country. 


282 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Our  Mebcantile  Marine  from  a  Farmer's  Standpoint. 

The  other  clay  a  visitor,  after  listening  to  the  addresses  in 
this  hall,  remarked  to  me  that  a  good  deal  was  being  said 
in  the  interest  of  the  manufacturer,  and  not  very  much  in 
the  interest  of  the  farmer. 

It  is  true  much  has  been  said  that  may  only  interest  the 
manufacturer,  but  it  is  also  true  a  very  great  deal  has  been 
said  at  this  Congress  bearing  on  the  direct  and  enlarged  bene- 
fit to  accrue  to  the  farmers  of  this  country  through  the 
extension  of  our  export  trade  to  the  Orient  and  otiier  parts 
of  the  world.  Agriculture  and  manufacture  cannot  progress 
or  live  witliout  each  other:  bad  harvests  cause  depression  in 
manufacturing,  and  closed  factories  hard  times  for  the  far- 
mer. Manufacturing  has  enlightened  the  labor  of  the  far- 
mer. Is  there  a  farmer  who  could  or  would  go  back  to  the 
flail,  the  scythe  or  sickle?  Manufactures  are  as  much  a  ne- 
eessitv  with  the  farmer  as  the  farmer's  products  are  to  the 
manufacturer. 

The  increasing  area  of  land  annually  ])ut  under  cultiva- 
tion throughout  the  United  States,  and  the  increased  output 
of  our  mills  and  factories,  show  us  the  necessity  for  the  sur- 
plus products  of  the  farm,  and  the  factory  finding  new 
markets  in  those  countries  where  there  is  a  demand  for  such 
surplus.  With  a  view  to  securing  those  markets,  and  bring- 
ing them  to  the  attention  of  the  agriculturist  and  manufac- 
turer of  this  country,  this  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress has  been  held. 

One  great  subject  that  is  attracting  not  only  the  attention 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  but  all  other  nations,  is 
that  of  Asiatic  commerce.  This  subject  has  a  direct  bearing 
on  the  future  of  the  Northwestern  states,  as  it  is  necessary 
to  their  future  development  a  new  market  be  found  for  their 
surplus  products,  situated  as  these  states  are  to  the  Pacific 
coast.     That  market  must  be  largely  in  the  Orient. 

I  wish  I  could  take  my  brother  delegates  into  the  factories 
of  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis.  Duluth  and  Superior,  and  then  on  a 
journey  to  the  Pacific  coast  in  one  of  the  observation  cars  of 
the  Great  Northern  or  Northern  Pacific  Railroads,  through 
the  great  agricultural  section  of  the  Northwest.  They  would 
see  a  rich  country,  dotted  with  growing  towns  and  villages, 
where  in  the  factories  and  workshops  and  on  the  farms  the 
hum  of  prosperity  would  be  heard  all  through  the  journey; 
and  yet  the  settlers  in  the  Northwest,  with  all  their  untiring 
industry,  have  barely  touched  the  fringe  of  this  great  section 
of  the  country.  It  is  as  a  jewel  uncut:  millions  of  acres  open 
for  settlement,  and  untold  opportunities  for  the  establishment 
of  manufactures. 

Where  would  these  gems  of  the  United  States  have  been 
to-day  had  there  been  no  expansion  from  the  original  thir- 
teen states?  Would  we  have  been  here  interesting  ourselves 
in  the  trade  of  the  Orient  had  not  ex]iansion  in  the  past  been 
deemed  sound  and  wise?  Minnesota  this  year  will  ship 
ninety  million  bushels  of  wheat.  South  Dakota  forty  five 
million  bushels,  North  Dakota  sixty-five  million  bushels,  and 
Montana  four  million  bushels.  I  do  not  wish  to  trouble  you 
with  a  volume  of  statistics.  Of  all  these  states  it  will  suffice 
for  my  purpose  if  I  give  only  a  few  from  Minnesota.  We 
have  in  the  State  upwards  of  eight  hundred  factories  for  the 
products  of  the  dairy,  all  furnished  with  the  most  improved 
methods  for  making  the  premium  butter  of  America.  Meat 
packing  is  a  great  industry.  Swift  &  Co.,  at  their  Soutli 
St.  Paul  factories,  have  a  capacity  for  handling  five  hundred 
and  fifty  head  of  cattle,  thirty-five  hundred  hogs  and  twelve 
hundred  sheep  per  day,  employing  six  hundred  men.  This 
number  will  be  increased  as  the  company  obtains  its  full  com- 
plement of  Northern  raised  stock.  There  are  two  other  stock- 
yards doing  a  large  business.  The  Chicago  girl  said,  "We 
eat  what  wo  can,  and  can  what  we  can't.''     There  is  a  simi- 


larity between  Chicago  and  St.  Paul.     In  St.  Paul  we  can 
what  we  can,  and  ship  what  we  can't. 

The  milling  industry  is  very  large. 

In  Minneapolis  alone,  for  the  week  ending  October  14  last, 
the  output  of  riour  was  314,955  barrels,  making  31,455  tons, 
requiring  seven  hundred  and  eighty-six  cars  of  a  capacity  of 
forty  tons  to  the  car  to  haul  it.  Had  I  the  output  of  the 
mills  of  Duluth  and  Superior  and  throughtout  the  state,  it 
would  double  if  not  treble  the  weekly  output  of  the  flour  in 
Minnesota.  While  on  this  subject,  I  wish  to  draw  your  atten- 
tion to  a  matter  of  considerable  importance  to  us,  and  I  think 
of  value  to  the  Eastern  manufacturers  looking  for  new  spheres 
of  operation.  The  large  packing  establishments  ship  annu- 
ally hundreds  of  thousands  of  hides  and  pelts.  In  addition 
to  their  shipment  there  are  butchers'  hides  and  farmers'  hides. 
In  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  there  are  large  shoe  and  saddlery 
factories,  using  enormous  quantities  of  leather.  We  ship  our 
hides  and  pelts  and  they  come  back  to  us  in  the  form  of 
leather,  freight  having  been  paid  both  ways.  There  is  no 
better  opportunity  for  a  practical  tanner  with  suflieient  capital 
than  for  him  to  come  to  St.  Paul  and  start  a  tannery;  we 
also  want  cotton,  flax  and  woolen  mills  and  clothing  factories. 
In  our  own  feeding  barns  last  year  nearly  500,000  sheep  were 
handled.  The  city  of  St.  Paul  is  prepared  to  give  suitable 
ground  in  the  city,  with  ample  railway  accommodation,  at 
a  nominal  figure  and  on  a  long  lease.  Two-thirds  of  the  flax 
raised  in  the  United  States  grows  in  Minnesota  and  the 
Dakotas.  The  timber  interests  are  considered,  the  forest  ex- 
ceeds 10,000,000  acres,  the  white  pine  of  the  northern  part 
of  the  state  is  estimated  at  four  billion  feet,  while  the  hard- 
wood forests  of  the  central  portion  are  considered  the  finest 
and  most  compact  in  the  Union.  There  are  upwards  of  three 
hundred  sawmills  in  the  state,  and  the  number  of  men  em- 
ployed in  the  mills  and  logging  camps  exceed  ten  thousand. 
In  mining,  the  iron  ore  makes  the  best  showing  compared 
with  the  other  states  in  the  Union.  The  shipments  in  1898 
exceeded  3,000,000  tons;  it  is  estimated  that  the  iron-bearing 
area  is  2,000,000  acres.  Large  rolling  mills  and  foundries 
are  being  built,  and  pig  iron  is  manufactured  near  the  mines. 
The  mining  companies  now  incorporated  in  the  state  are 
capitalized  at  about  $400,000,000.  It  is  safe  to  say  the  State 
of  Minnesota  is  destined  to  become  a  great  iron  manufactur- 
ing centre.  There  are,  in  the  city  of  St.  Paul,  over  six  hun- 
dred manufacturing  concerns  employing  20,000  people,  pro- 
ducing annually  $75,000,000  worth,  and  all  the  factories 
crowded  to  their  limit.  A  new  industry,  of  great  benefit  to 
the  farmer,  is  that  of  the  manufacture  of  mats  and  matting, 
from  the  wild  marsh  grass  of  the  state,  which  hitherto  has 
gone  to  waste. 

There  is  in  this  Exposition  an  exhibit  by  the  Northwestern 
Grass  Twine  Company,  worthy  of  your  close  inspection. 
While  only  showing  mats  and  matting,  the  grass  is  capable 
of  being  made  into  many  useful  articles  of  daily  use. 

When  our  farmer  friends  consider  the  army  of  men  em- 
ployed in  the  various  manufacturing  indu.stries  of  the  United 
States,  and  consider  what  they  consume,  what  they  produce, 
they  will  realize  that  the  increase  of  trade  necessitates  the  em- 
ployment of  more  people  and  the  greater  consumption  of  the 
products  of  the  farm.  No  matter  how  much  we  may  use, 
either  in  manufactures  or  in  food,  it  is  impossible  for  the 
people  of  this  country  to  use  or  consume  all  that  can  be  and 
all  that  is  produced.  A  large  surplus  remains  for  export. 
Where  shall  it  go?  That  is  the  problem  this  Congress  is  try- 
ing to  solve. 

Jlr.  Daniels,  the  general  passenger  agent  of  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad,  in  a  very  able  address,  showed  us  how  the 
railways  had  opened  up  the  country,  and  we  must  realize  tliat 
without  them  this  country  would  amount  to  very  little. 
While  the  railways  are  necessary  to  the  bringing  of  freight 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  28,  1899 


283 


to  the  seaboard  of  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific,  it  is  left  there 
for  us  to  secure  ocean  transportation  the  best  way  that  we  can. 

The  Hon.  J.  J.  Hill,  president  of  the  Great  Northern  Rail- 
road, recently  explained  some  of  these  difficulties.     He  said: 

"You  may  be  a  little  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that 'last  year 
there  were  carried  through  St.  Paul  60,000,000  pounds  of 
cotton  going  to  Asia.  Two  years  ago  the  Japanese  were  in 
the  maxket  for  10,000  tons  of  steel  rails.  I  asked  some  of 
our  American  railmakers  to  bid.  I  said,  I  will  get  them  there 
for  you.  They  did.  They  made  a  low  bid  and  we  made  a 
low  rate,  and  we  got  the  rails.  From  that  day  to  this  there 
has  been  no  difficulty  in  finding  a  market,  but  the  present 
year  we  have  refused  over  60,000,000  tons  of  steel  in  one 
form  or  another,  because  we  could  not  get  ships  to  carry  it  to 
Asia.  Early  in  March  every  available  foot  of  room  was  en- 
gaged until  after  the  first  of  July  for  cotton.  At  Seattle, 
where  I  was  a  few  days  ago,  they  have  a  flour  mill  with  a 
capacity  of  fifteen  hundred  barrels  per  day,  and  they  cannot 
get  shipping  for  three  hundred.  I  saw  a  cable  from  a  Chinese 
house  at  Hong  Kong  asking  figures  on  500,000  barrels  of 
flour.  These  Chinamen  are  made  on  a  big  pattern.  It  would 
take  two  and  a  quarter  million  bushels  of  wheat  to  fill  that 
order.     They  wanted  it  delivered  in  Hong  Kong. 

'■'The  cost  of  production  in  the  United  States  is  rapidly 
approaching  a  point,  and  I -may  say  has  approached  a  point, 
when  we  can  supply  the  nations  of  the  world  with  the  articles 
which  constitute  the  main  articles  of  commerce.  Our  nation 
to-day  is  sending  pig  iron  to  twenty-seven  European  cities. 
We  have  on  land  the  cheapest  transportation  in  the  world. 
Transportation  on  land  in  the  United  States  is  a  little  less 
than  forty  per  cent,  of  the  average  cost  of  transportation  in 
Europe;  but  just  as  soon  as  we  take  our  commodities  to  the 
salt  water,  the  other  nations  make  us  drop  our  bundles,  and 
they  carry  them  at  our  expense,  and  make  us  pay  them  for 
doing  our  work. 

"The  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  is  carried,  you  may  say, 
by  steam  ferries,  leaving  almost  every  hour  of  the  day  from 
one  side  or  the  other  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  people  of 
the  United  States  cannot  under  existing  circumstances  extend 
their  commerce  in  that  direction  without  the  greatest  effort 
and  long-continued  effort  and  patience.  On  the  other  hand, 
lying  to  the  west  of  us,  is  one-third  of  the  population  of  the 
globe.  That  one-third  is  not  an  ignorant,  barbarous  people, 
but  a  learned  people,  a  people  who  have  had  national  vitality 
to  keep  them  as  an  organized  nation  since  long  before  the 
Christian  era,  even  prior  to  the  time  when  Abraham  was  a 
shepherd,  and  it  will  not  do  for  us  to  say  that  they  are  not 
an  able  or  a  wise  people. 

"We  ought  to.  extend  our  commerce.  We  can  produce  the 
various  articles  that  go  to  make  up  the  commerce  of  the 
world  in  greater  quantities  and  for  little  money,  and  if  we 
have  a  good  market  we  will  produce  for  less  money  than  any 
other  competing  nation.  As  far  as  the  man  who  cultivates 
the  land,  or  the  man  who  transports  it,  we  do  not  fear  any 
competition,  but  we  have  no  market  except  to  carry  our  sur- 
plus to  Europe.  That  market  alone  fixes  our  prices,  we  don't. 
The  small  surplus  of  one-fifth  of  all  the  grain  we  raise  makes 
the  value  for  the  whole. 

"Now  we  must  as  a  nation  find  new  people  to  trade  with; 
we  must  as  a  nation  find  people  who  will  buy  our  products, 
people  who  have  not  heretofore  bought  our  products,  we  must 
have  more  than  one  customer,  and  we  can.  I  will  briefly  sug- 
gest how  we  may:  If  this  country  would  encourage  the  up- 
building of  a  merchant  marine  to  carry  our  products  to  the 
markets  where  they  will  bring  the  most  money.  I  might  say 
that  a  ship  of  5,000  tons  capacity,  leaving  the  Pacific  Coast 
every  day  in  the  year,  would  carry  1,000,000  tons  annually 
across  the  Pacific  Ocean  to  Asia.  Wliat  would  it  cost?  A 
bonus  of  $2  per  ton  would  insure  the  building  of  ships  as  fast 


as  the  shipyards  could  turn  them  out.  Two  dollars  per  ton 
would  amount  to  $3,000,000  per  year. 

"You  say  why  don't  you  build  ships,  why  don't  you  build 
ships?  Because  you  can't  run  a  ship  to-day  under  the  Amer- 
ican flag  in  competition  with  the  ship  of  any  other  nation  in 
salt  water.  On  fresh  water  we  beat  them  all.  We  can  build 
ships  and  operate  them  for  less  than  they  can,  for  less  than 
they  do.  Coal  is  taken  coming  from  New  Castle  to  any  port 
in  the  south  of  England  at  from  two  and  sixpence  to  three  and 
sixpence  and  even  four  shillings  a  ton.  Coal  is  carried  one 
thousand  miles  on  our  lakes  for  twenty  cents.  We  are  in  the 
habit  of  mourning  because  we  haven't  cheap  transportation. 
We  have  the  cheapest  transportation  in  the  world,  but  when 
we  undertake  to  sail  ships  on  the  seas  under  the  American 
flag,  as  our  laws  stand  at  this  time,  it  cannot  be  done.  I 
looked  the  matter  up  with  the  greatest  care,  and  we  were 
forced  to  make  an  arrangement  with  a  line  of  Japanese  boats, 
the  Japanese  Steamship  Company,  manned  by  Japanese 
sailors,  to  carry  our  products  to  Asiatic  waters."  " 

I  have  quoted  from  the  remarks  of  the  Hon.  J.  J.  Hill  at 
some  length,  because  they  are  words  of  experience,  and  come 
from  a  gentleman  whose  opinion  will  be  considered  not  only 
by  the  farmers  of  the  Northwest,  but  by  thinking  men  of  the 
whole  country,  and  receive  their  attention.  In  the  past  the 
great  railway  system  of  this  country  was  built  by  govern- 
ment aid.  How  much  more  is  that  aid  needed  towards  the 
establishment  of  a  merchant  marine?  In  constructing  our 
railways  the  greatest  competition  was  between  ourselves, 
whereas  to  build  up  our  merchant  marine  we  have  to  compete 
with  the  most  powerful  nations  of  the  world.  A  mercliant 
marine  is  all  important  to  the  farmer  and  the  manufacturer, 
and  in  helping  to  secure  it  they  will  help  themselves. 

I  have  tried  to  show  the  farmer  that  this  Congress  is  work- 
ing in  liis  interest  as  well  as  that  of  the  manufacturer.  Much 
more  could  be  said  had  I  the  time.  The  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum  deserves  their  appreciation  and  thanks.  My 
brother  delegate  and  myself  will  ever  remember  the  generous 
treatment  we  have  received  from  the  people  of  Philadelphia 
and  the  Commercial  Museum. 

To  my  brother  delegates  and  visitors  I  extend  a  cordial  in- 
vitation to  visit  St.  Paul  and  the  Northwest.  Say  to  your 
friends  a  long  good-bye,  because  you  will  like  the  people  of 
Minnesota  and  its  climate  so  much  you  will  not  want  to  come 
liack.     I  thank  the  press  and  you  all  very  much. 

Hon.  W.  W.  FockJiill: 

The  next  speaker  is  Mr.  Miguel  J.  Romero,  delegate  from 
the  Government  of  Venezuela. 

Mr.  Miguel  J.  Romero: 

The  development  of  an  active  and  important  intellectual 
commerce  in  the  world  is  due  to  the  high  degree  of  culture 
which  civilization  has  attained.  Without  the  exchange  of 
ideas  the  marvelous  material  progress  of  the  century  could 
not  be  realized.  It  is  our  duty  to  encourage  this  exchange 
and  to  employ  it  as  a  means  of  strengthening  more  and  more 
the  sacred  link  of  the  union,  and  to  bequeathit  to  future  gen- 
erations inviolate. 

In  order  to  accomplish  the  grand  work  of  material  develop- 
ment, and  to  establish  the  permanent  union  of  the  American 
Continent,  it  is  necessary  to  establish  first  a  fundamental 
basis.  We  should  study  each  other's  customs,  history  and  lit- 
erature; we  should  interest  the  children  of  this  hemisphere  in 
the  countries  which  constitute  it;  we  should  visit  and  meet 
frequently.  So  shall  we  become  better  acquainted,  and  learn 
to  better  appreciate  each  otlier.  Much  has  already  been  ac- 
complished in  this  direction  during  recent  years.  The  dif- 
ferent commercial,  scientific  and  literary  congresses  already 
held  in  America  clearly  demonstrated  the  necessity  of  our 
intellectual  relations,  and  lay  urgent  claim  to  the  effort  and 


284 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


support  of  the  American  people,  because  from  such  relations 
is  derived  the  material  development  of  the  continent. 

Intellectual  sympathy  is  conducive  to  material  commerce. 
As  the  desire  for  learning  and  the  taste  for  literaiy  pursuits 
become  more  popular,  so  the  demand  for  or  the  trade  in  books, 
pens,  ink  and  paper,  together  with  the  writing  machine — that 
admirable  vehicle  of  thought — increases  and  gradually  ex- 
tends itself  over  the  whole  continent,  and  thus  our  progress 
and  miion  come  to  be  a  fact. 

In  the  Unitel  States  of  America  I  have  observed  that  the 
felicity  and  prosperity  of  the  people  depend  much  upon  indi- 
vidual education  and  culture.  In  any  country  tlie  slow  pro- 
gress of  the  individual  education  is  certain  to  result  in  a  slow 
material  progress.  Without  this  education  a  prosperous  com- 
merce and  harmonious  union  will  be  impossible. 

Let  me  assure  you  that  I  am  not  so  pessimistic  as  to  refuse 
to  acknowledge  the  civilization  of  America.  On  the  contrary, 
I  accord  to  it  a  worshipful  respect.  I  well  know  that  this  con- 
tinent occupies  a  distinguished  position  in  the  civilized  world, 
and  that  to  it  is  due,  in  large  part,  the  universal  progress. 
Btit  you  must  agree  with  me  that  the  system  of  instruction 
and  education  which  predominates  in  America  still  requires 
improvement.  It  demands  the  development,  on  a  larger  scale, 
of  the  individual,  in  order  to  advance  the  material  and  intel- 
lectual progress  of  the  continent,  and  so  secure  the  union  and 
prosperity  of  its  inhabitants.  America  is  not  only  the  United 
States,  Canada,  Brazil  and  the  Argentine  Republic.  These 
are  but  the  extremes  over  which  civilization  has  spread  most 
of  its  web.  If  we  consider  the  millions  of  inhabitants  which 
people  the  continent,  it  will  not  be  a  paradox  to  say,  "America 
is  yet  to  be  civilized."'  Even  here  in  the  United  States  exist 
some  problems  of  civilization  yet  to  be  solved. 

If  we  wish  to  make  a  steady  material  progress,  let  tis  devote 
pur  forces  to  the  individual  education  and  to  the  "commerce 
of  ideas."  Philadelphia  has  taken  a  great  step  in  this  direc- 
tion by  founding  the  Commercial  Museum.  I  recognized  this 
fact  from  the  time  the  Museum  was  inaugurated,  and  wrote 
to  a  Latin  American  newspaper,  stating  that  an  instittition 
most  adequate  for  the  extension  of  civilization  over  the  con- 
tinent has  been  founded.  The  mission  of  the  Commercial 
iMuseum,  considered  intellectually  and  materially,  is  made, 
grand,  sublime.  At  the  same  time  that  it  exhibits  the  re- 
sources and  wealth  of  the  continent  it  educates  and  instructs. 
It  is  a  school  for  the  industries,  and  will  be  a  channel  of  in- 
tellectual communication  among  the  different  countries,  for 
through  it  we  come  to  know  both  the  material  and  intellectual 
productions  of  the  American  hemisphere.  Accordingly,  the 
Museum  belongs  to  that  branch  of  education  which  we  may 
call  intellectual  trade  or  commerce.  Although  it  has  been 
fruitful  in  its  infancy,  much  can  yet  be  done  to  make  it  a 
tliorouglily  practical  institution,  fruitful  in  good  to  the  whole 
hemisphere.  It  has  seemed  to  me  that  this  object  might  be 
accomplished  by  the  organization  of  an  educational  associ- 
ation composed  of  active  meml)ers  from  all  the  American 
countries;  men  possessed  with  the  idea  of  intellectual  advance- 
ment, the  material  ])rogress  and  the  Union  of  the  American 
continent.  An  organization  wliich  would  devote  its  energies 
lo  the  founding  of  schools,  museums,  libraries,  newspapers, 
etc.,  purely  American.  An  institution  which  would  dissemi- 
nate among  Americans  material  and  intellectual  productions 
purely  American.  We  must  not  trust  lo  (lie  public  school  to 
familiarize  our  children  with  the  liistory,  the  geography  ami 
the  resources  of  our  continent.  Tliey  are  more  likelv  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  remote  countries  with  whicli  we  linve 
no  commercial  or  intellectual  relations  than  with  their  iimi- 
neighbors.  This  association  should  be  established  with  a  firni 
and  autliorized  character,  and  its  own  special  constitution 
should  concern  itself  with  affairs  wliich  are  of  vital  interest  to 
the  future  and  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  continent:  should 


study  each  individual  locality,  searching  for  the  best  means 
of  its  improvement  and  development;  should  meet  annually 
in  a  different  republic.  I  hope  I  may  not  be  considered  bold 
in  recommending  the  idea  for  this  organization  to  my  col- 
leagues of  the  Commercial  Congress,  and  I  cherish  the  hope 
that  on  leaving  the  United  States  of  America,  we  shall  leave 
established  such  an  association.  Now  is  a  time  most  oppor- 
tune, since  we  are  a  considerable  number  of  Americans  to- 
gether, an  occasion  which  may  not  occur  soon  again. 

In  making  this  suggestion  it  has  occurred  to  me  that  the 
Cuban  Educational  Association  of  the  United  States,  whose 
noble  object  it  is  to  secure  the  education  of  the  Cuban  and 
Porto  Rican  youth  in  the  institutions  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  might  be  a  voluntary  coalition  of  stich  an  organiza- 
tion. The  young  men  who  receive  these  benefits  are  under 
obligation, after  finishing  their  studies, to  return  to  their  native 
land  to  take  active  part  in  its  development  and  progress.  This 
association  has  already  placed  many  young  men  in  the  various 
agricultural  and  mechanical  colleges  of  tliis  country. 

The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  and  the  Cuban 
Educational  Association  are  institutions  wliich  might  well 
serve  as  the  cornerstone  for  the  great  structure  of  the  Ameri- 
can Union  based  on  the  individual  education. 

If  we  turn  our  attention  to  the  intellectual  movement 
which  has  developed  on  the  continent  during  the  last  decades 
of  this  century,  we  will  see  that  in  a  large  measure  it  is  the 
result  of  the  establishment  of  colleges,  libraries  and  museums. 
Our  future  friendly  relations,  as  well  as  our  political  and  com- 
mercial relations,  will  be  augmented  by  the  sympathy  born  of 
scholastic  fellowship. 

If  the  young  men  of  South  and  Central  America  continue 
to  study  in  the  North  American  colleges,  the  union  will  grad- 
ually come  to  be  more  solid  and  commercial  relations  firmer. 
I  am  encouraged  in  this  belief  by  the  fact  that  Latin  Ameri- 
can clubs  have  been  established  among  the  professors  and 
students  of  the  North  American  colleges,  Cornell  and  Lehigh 
having  taken  the  initiative. 

To  strengthen  our  commercial  relations,  the  use  of  illus- 
trated lectures  upon  history,  literature,  agriculture,  etc.,  of 
the  Latin  American  countries,  as  well  as  the  teaching  of  the 
Spanish  language  in  the  public  schools,  colleges  and  universi- 
ties of  the  United  States,  should  be  continued.  The  magnificent 
University  of  Pennsylvania  has  set  a  worthy  example  in  this 
direction,  as  stated  in  a  recent  editorial  in  the  Public  Ledger. 

Truly,  America  needs  to  study  more  thoroughly  and  to 
know  better  America,  and  I  hope  the  Commercial  Museum 
will  be  able  to  fully  realize  this  fact.  It  gives  me  much  pleas- 
ure to  make  public  testimony  of  my  enthusiasm  in  this  work, 
and  to  say  that  I  will  gladly  continue  to  lend  my  services  and 
best  efforts  to  it.    (A]iplause.) 

Ho?,.  W.  W.  nnd-hill: 

We  will  now  have  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  Mr.  D.  N. 
Harper,  representative  of  the  Government  of  Ecuador. 

Mr.  D.  N.  Harper: 

Jlr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  Ec'uador,  in  ])roportion  to 
its  ]iopiilation,  is  the  largest  purchaser  in  South  America 
of  the  goods  of  the  United  States  of  North  .Xmeriea.  Never- 
theless, it  remains  to  the  ])eople  of  the  ['nited  States  a 
"terra  incognito."  Even  to  Ecuatorians,  a  large  part  of  its 
area  is  unknown.  The  eastern  ranges  of  mountains,  with 
their  slopes  and  forests,  called  th(>  "Oriente,"  is  known  only 
to  the  iihorigiiies.  The  western  portion  of  mountains,  high 
liilile  land,  and  the  Pacific,  all  sjiarsely  ])n|Uilated,  has  in 
|i;irts  developed  a  high  civilization,  and  produces,  according 
to  the  vnryinij  elevations,  the  natural  products  of  all  the  znies. 

Tlic  fruits,  grains  and  grasses  of  the  central  fable  lands 
and   valleys  do  not  eiitt'r  into  the  exports  of  the  country  nor 


FOURTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  38,  1899 


285 


even  into  the  trade  of  the  coast  as  yet,  because  of  the  poor 
means  of  transportation,  with  attendant  high  cost  for  the 
same;  l)nt  just  now,  among  other  internal  improvements, 
there  is  the  construction,  by  an  American-English  syndicate, 
of  a  railroad  from  Guayaquil  to  Quito,  a  distance  of  about 
300  miles  by  the  surveyed  line.  The  only  present  line  runs 
from  Guayaquil  to  Ghiiubo,  at  the  base  of  the  first  range  of 
mountains,  distance  some  GO  miles.  In  a  year  or  more  it 
is  expected  that  the  balance  of  the  line  will  be  completed, 
when  the  wheat,  flour,  barley,  hay,  cattle,  etc.,  of  the  interior 
will  reach  the  coast. 

At  present,  the  exports  of  Ecuador,  so  far  as  North  Amer- 
ica and  Europe  are  concerned,  are  practically  confined  to 
cacao,  coffee,  rubber,  ivory  nuts,  hides,  and  during  the  last 
year  and  this  year,  sugar.  Sugar  has  only  been  exported  to 
the  United  States  during  this  and  the  last  year,  although  it 
has  be«n  shipped  to  England  and  the  Continent  for  many 
years.  Panama  hats,  so  called  jn-oliably  because  they  cross 
the  Isthmus,  are  nuide  on  a  large  scale  in  Ecuador  and  the 
fine  grades  are  solely  Ecuatorian  production. 

Guayaquil  is  the  most  important  pout  and  practically  the 
only  one.  The  chief  export  is  cacao,  which  is  produced  in 
many  localities,  these  more  or  less  accurately  describing  by 
their  names  the  kinds,  namely,  Arriba,  Balao,  Machala,  Ten- 
guel,  Naranjal,  etc.  Only  the  first  three  of  these  are  gener- 
ally known  in  the  United  States.  Ecuador  supplies  about 
one-third  of  the  total  world's  production  of  cacao,  and  about 
,  three-fourths  of  her  total  is  xVrriba.  This  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  manufacture  of  powdered  cocoa  and  the  fine  grades 
of  chocolate.  The  production  of  cacao  has  increased  with  sur- 
prising rapidity.  During  the  first  nine  months  of  this  year, 
there  entered  Guayaquil  42,537,000  pounds,  against  31,938,400 
pounds  in  the  corresponding  period  of  1898,  and  29,466,600 
pounds  in  1897.  In  twenty  years,  the  total  yearly  receipts 
in  Guayaquil  have  increased  from  10,500,000  pounds  in  1878 
to  42,235,900  pounds  in  1898.  This  has  not  been  a  steady 
increase,  as  it  has  been  contingent  to  a  large  degree  upon 
the  seasonal  conditions.  In  1880,  the  production  had  risen 
to  34,000,000  pounds,  to  drop  year  by  year  to  15,000,000 
in  1883,  and  again  gradually  rise  to  38,500,000  pounds  in 
1886,  and  so  on  to  the  present.  The  acreage,  however,  has 
continued  to  increase,  and  vast  areas  capable  of  production 
are  yet  undeveloped. 

The  production  of  cacao  offers  tine  opportunities  for  for- 
eign capital,  and  the  cacao  producers  live  in  the  lap  of  luxury, 
and,  contrary  to  the  general  belief,  amidst  the  most  perfect 
conditions  for  health  and  comfort. 

The  production  of  coffee,  owing  to  the  low  price  in  recent 
years,  has  not  increased  as  anticipated,  although  Ecuador 
coffee  is  of  fine  appearance  and  aroma,  and  is  produced  more 
cheaply  than  in  any  other  country  exclusive  of  Brazil. 

In  1897,  ^here  were  received  in  Guayaquil  16,196  bags,  in 
1898,  18,176  bags,  and  in  the  first  nine  months  of  1899, 
9,341  bags. 

The  statistics  of  the  receipt  of  rubber  at  Guayaquil  do  not 
show  the  production  of  the  same  in  Ecuador,  as  the  major 
part  finds  its  way  to  market  through  the  ports  of  the  neigh- 
boring states  of  Brazil,  Colombia  and  Peru,  making  its  way 
to  the  seaboard  by  the  waterways  of  the  interior.  The  dis- 
trict of  Esmeraldas  is  rapidly  increasing  its  production  and 
of  a  quality  equal  to  the  best  Pani. 

In  1897,  there  entered  in  the  markets  in  Guayaquil  350 
tons;  in  1898,  428  tons,  and  in  the  first  nine  months  of  1898, 
253  tons,  indicating  a  total  of  more  than  500  tons  for  the 
full  year. 

Ivory  nuts  will  probably  fall  below  the  quantity  of  the 
last  two  years.  In  1897  there  were  exported  4,433  tons;  in 
1898,  5,417  tons,  while  the  shipments  for  the  first  nine 
months  of  this  year  are  only  2,362  tons. 


In  the  matter  of  hides,  the  producers  and  shippers  of 
Ecuador  have  a  serious  and  just  cause  of  complaint  as  to 
the  attitude  and  actions  of  the  United  States  customs  ap^ 
praisers.  Whether  the  duty  on  hides  shall  be  five  cents  or 
five  dollars  a  pound,  the  people  of  Ecuador  do  not  attempt 
to  decide,  nor  do  they  care  to.  But  when  the  markets  in  the 
United  States  offer  them  a  place  to  ship  and  sell  their  hides 
to  advantage,  and  they  honestly  declare  their  value,  they 
rest  their  case  upon  the  simple  basis  of  justice  between  man 
and  man  that  they  should  not  be  mulcted  by  fines  for  so 
doing,  because  the  opinion  of  an  appraiser  in  New  York  as 
to  the  cost  of  hides  in  Guayaquil  is  at  variance  with  the  facts 
in  the  actual  condition. 

The  market  rates  for  hides,  as  all  other  products,  are  as 
intelligently  posted  day  by  day  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
in  Guayaquil  as  in  any  city  in  the  world.  These  quotations 
daily  appear  in  the  morning  and  afternoon  papers,  as  do 
also  the  rates  of  exchange  on  London  and  New  York. 

The  United  States  has  a  very  capable  and  intelligent  con- 
sul-general in  (iuayaquil,  a  gentleman  accustomed  through 
a  long  commercial  career,  to  study  and  interpret  the  markets; 
a  man  of  siterling  integrity.  The  seal  of  his  office  is  waived 
aside  by  appraisers  not  cognizant  of  conditions,  and  who  im- 
pose a  fine  on  trade.  This  I  state  as  an  American,  and  one 
interested  in  the  extension  of  reciprocal  trade. 

The  exports  of  hides  are  not  very  large,  but  with  a  fair 
opportunity  to  enter  the  market,  they  are  growing  rapidly. 
In  1897,  50,162  hides  were  shipped  from  Guayaquil;  in  1898, 
64,937,  and  for  the  first  nine  months  of  1899,"  40,117. 

As  a  result  of  the  fore-mentioned  injustice,  scarcely  any 
of  these  hides  now  enter  the  United  States,  which  is  their 
natural  market. 

Sugar  is  produced  cheaply;  the  cane  matures  rapidly  and 
to  fine  size  and  high  content  of  sugar.  The  mills  are  of 
nuidern  construction  and  operated  with  great  economy.  The 
production  of  sugar  offers  large  inducements,  and  local  capital 
is  liirgely  engaging  in  this  field  of  production.  Exports  have 
been  confined  chiefly  to  England,  Germany  and  the  countries 
of  the  Pacific  Coast,  but  exportation  has  begun  with  the 
United  States,  and  with  as,surance  of  large  increase. 

In  early  Spanish  times,  Ecuador  produced  largely  of  the 
precious  metals,  but  the  dishonesty  and  rapacity  of  the 
Spaniards  called  down  upon  them  the  fury  of  the  natives, 
and  flourishing  mining  cities  were  swept  away  in  mas.sacre 
and  fire.  The  people  of  Ecuador  are  not  generally  inclined 
to  mining,  as  nature  gives  surer  and  extremely  profitable  re- 
turns for  toil  in  other  directions,  but  American  and  English 
capital  has  found  out  some  of  the  waste  places  and  is  open- 
ing up  Ecuatorian  "Klondikes."  Notable  amongst  these 
mining  properties,  is  the  Playa  de  Ora,  a  vast  placer  prop- 
erty in  the  State  of  Esmeraldas,  which  has  been  thoroughly 
sampled  and  shown  to  be  of  almost  fabulous  richness.  This 
is  being  operated  by  an  English  syndicate  of  which  Sir  Red- 
vers  Buller,  now  arrived  at  Cape  Colony,  is  a  member.  An 
American  syndicate  said  to  represent  wliat  is  called  the 
Vanderbilt  interests  is  engaged  in  the  Southern  part  of  Ecua- 
dor in  lode  mining  in  the  Zaruma  districts. 

Under  the  presidency  of  General  Alfaro,  many  notable 
improvements  have  been  inaugurated  in  both  the  public  in- 
ternal and  external  policy,  and  material  improvements  made  in 
the  way  of  steam  and  electrical  transportation,  etc.  By  decree 
of  Congress,  Ecuador  has  established  the  gold  monetary  basis 
and  has  minted  a  coin  equivalent  in  value  to  the  pound  (£) 
sterling.  The  financial  condition  of  the  country  is  unim- 
peachable; there  is  no  present  foreig-n  indebtedness,  and  no 
internal  political  trouble.  Investments  are  secure  and  highly 
profitable.  As  an  index  of  this,  I  will  cite  the  following 
regarding  Guayaquil,  namely: 

The  Bank  of  Ecuador,  with  a  capital  of  2,000,000  sucres 


286 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


(more  or  le<s  equivalent  to  $1,000,000  United  States  gold), 
paid  last  year  15  per  cent,  dividend,  and  its  stock  is  at  75  per 
cent,  premium. 

The  Bank  of  Commerce  and  Agriculture,  5,000,000  sucres 
capital,  paid  14  per  cent,  dividend,  and  its  slock  is  at  45  per 
cent,  premium. 

The  Mortgage  Bank,  of  1,000,000  sucres  capital,  paid  ]-l 
per  cent.,  and  its  stock  is  30  per  cent,  above  par. 

The  Territorial  Bank   paid  10   per  cent.,  and    its  stock  of 

500,000  sucres  is  5  per  cent,  above  par.     This  is  a  newer  bank. 

The  Commercial  Corporation,  not  yet  a  year  old,  has  paid 

no  dividend,  but  its  profits,  so  far,  have  proven  so  large  that 

its  stock  of  600,000  sucres  is  at  15  per  cent,  premium. 

The  Street  Railroad  Company,  of  300,000  sucres  capital, 
paid  28  per  cent,  dividend. 

The  Gas  Corporation,  the  construction  of  which,  origin- 
ally estimated  to  cost  100,000  sucres,  required  140,000  sucres 
additional  capital  and  00,000  of  bonds  at  10  per  cent.,  paid 
last  year  10  per  cent,  dividend  and  has  retired  all  its  bonds. 

An  opportunity  is  now  offered  to  capital  in  many  line  of 
public  improvements,  including  an  electric  light  plant. 

In  189C,  two  destructive  fires  occurred  in  Ouayaquil,  the 
last  of  which  burnt  sixty-six  blocks.  This  is  largely  rebuilt, 
but  insurance  rates  have  taken  advantage  of  the  opportunity 
to  enormously  increase.  A  two-story  building  costs  5  per 
cent,  per  year,  and  each  additional  sitory  above  the  second, 
2  per  cent,  more,  so  that  a  four-story  building  pays  9  per 
cent,  per  year  on  its  insurance.  American  insurance  com- 
panies could  well  enter  this  field,  particularly  as  the  water 
supply  has  been  improved,  many  new  chemical  engines  im- 
ported, the  fire  brigade  largely  increased  and  improved  in 
efficiency,  and  an  electric  fire  alarm  telegraph  system  estab- 
lished. This  last  was  paid  for  by  subscriptions  from  the  mer- 
chants of  the  city. 

Contrary  to  general  opinion,  Guayaquil  is  a  naturally 
healthful  city.  Several  devastating  visitations  of  yellow 
fever  have  taught  the  people  to  look  well  to  their  donrs  of 
ingress,  and  by  a  system  of  rigid  quarantim',  Udtwitlistaml- 
ing  the  prevalence  and  virulence  of  this  dread  scourge  on  the 
Isthmus  this  year,  there  has  not  tieen  a  case  of  yellow  fevei' 
in  Guayaquil;  nor  during  the  two  preceding  years. 

Nature  has  been  very  bountiful  to  Ecuador  in  all  ways. 
The  tourist  finds  no  scenery  surpassing  that  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Chimborazo,  Cotopaxi,  and  a  score  or  more  of 
other  volcanoes.  Ambato,-  a  city  built  of  the  varied  colore.  1 
pumice  rock,  surpasses  our  own  Denver  or  Albuquerque,  a~ 
a  resort  for  persons  having  pulmonary  weakness.  C'offee, 
cacao  and  rubber  plantations  offer  large  returns  to  their 
cultivators,  and  the  various  cities  of  the  country  offer  in- 
ducements to  the  promotors  of  modern  necessities. 

Ecuador  awaits  the  action  of  the  United  States  in  cutting 
a  highway  from  sea  to  sea,  whether  at  Nicaragua  or  Panama. 
Her  commercial  men  know  there  is  no  question  as  to  the 
feasibility  of  this  latter  line,  and,  as  it  will  bring  them  nearei- 
to  the  United  States  than  the  Nicaragua  route,  they  hope 
for  its  final  adoption. 

Ecuador  stretches  forth  the  hand  of  brotlirrho.id  lo  tlic 
representatives  of  all  luitions  and  every  clime. 
^  To  the  I'resideni  and  Hoard  of  Trustees,  the  Direclor  and 
Stair  of  the  Philadelphia  (Commercial  .Museum,  the  Presideni 
and  Congress  of  Ecuador  extend  a  licai-ty  felicitation  on  th(! 
unlimited  success  of  your  institulioii,  anil  give  a  benediction 
upon  all  your  future  aims  and  endeavors.  Mindful  of  your 
ho.spitality  attendant  upon  the  public  iiuiuguration  of  yom- 
institution,  two  years  since,  with  a  livelv  interest  in  your 
present  expanded  work,  and  with  hearty  ^-egrets  at  his  in- 
ability to  be  present  now,  the  President  of  the  Ecuatorian 
Congress,  the  Hon.  Luis  Adriano  Dillon,  wishes  jne  to  ad<l 
his  "God  bless  you"  to  my  own. 


Hull.  W.  W.  L'ockhill: 

Mr.  Salvador  Echagaray,  delegate  from  the  Mexican  Gov- 
ernment, desires  to  present  a  resolution.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  8abg,dor  Echagaray: 

I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  you  the  following  resolution 
that  has  been  agreed  upon  unanimously  by  the  delegates  from 
the  Latin  American  Republics: 

"The  delegates  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress 
from  Mexico,  Central  America  and  South  America  desire  to 
express  unanimously  their  deepest  feelings  of  appreciation 
and  thankfulness  to  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
its  efficient  and  energetic  Director,  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson,  and  the 
people  and  municipality  of  this  beautiful  and  progressive  city 
of  Philadelphia. 

"The  extremely  cordial  and  courteous  welcome  accorded 
them  and  the  numerous  happy  attentions  bestowed  during 
their  sojourn  here  will  only  awaken  the  most  pleasant  and 
delightful  recollections  when  at  home  again." 

Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill: 

Referred  to  the  Resolution  Committee. 
Direclor  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  would  kindly  ask  the  delegates  to  bear  in  mind  again  the 
place  of  meeting  on  Jlonday.  It  is  in  the  Convention  Hall, 
iixposition  Building. 

I  also  wish  to  state  that  one  of  the  gentlemen  who  has  been 
in  constant  attendance  at  this  Congress,  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  John  Lucas  &  Co.,  one  of  the  largest  paint  manufacturers 
in  this  vicinity,  has  sent  out  notices  that  you  are  all  cordially 
invited  to  inspect  their  color,  paint  and  varnish  works  at 
Gibbsboro,  N.  J.,  on  November  2;  that  is,  after  the  Congress 
eloses.  Those  who  are  especially  interested  in  paint  and  var- 
nish would  do  well  to  go. 

I  have  another  notice  from  one  of  the  largest  brewing  con- 
cerns in  Newark,  which  is  going  to  send  you  invitations  and 
give  you  a  train  probably  to  inspect  that  manufacturing  in- 
terest. There  will  be  other  excursions  to  which  you  will  be 
cordially  invited  at  the  close  of  this  Congress,  and'l  want  you 
to  hold  yourselves  in  readiness  to  go  wherever  your  interest 
di-aws  you.  You  know  the  General  Electric  Company  at 
Schenectady  is  offering  a  special  train  at  the  close  of  thisExpo- 
sition  to  take  all  the  delegates  who  care  to  go  up  through  the 
Lehigh  Valley,  one  of  the  prettiest  regions  in  this  section,  to 
Schenectady  and  return.  It  could  be  further  arranged  that 
you  go  to  Niagara  Palls  or  some  other  place  beyond  there 
where  you  will  not  be  far  away. 

I  call  your  attention  also  to  a  notice  for  the  delegates  to- 
morrow for  the  tally-ho  ride,  and  I  want  especially  to  call  your 
attention  to  an  invitation  from  the  two  photographers;  to  all 
delegates  who  have  not  had  their  photograj)hs  taken  I  wish  to 
siy  tliat  I  consider  this  a  personal  matter,asIwantto  have  your 
photographs  put  up  in  what  I  am  going  to  call  the  CJongress 
Koom  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  ]\[useum, — and  I  want 
t"  have  the  photographs  of  every  delegate  who  has  been  here. 

The  tally-ho  ride  that  has  been  arranged  for  the  delegates 
to-morrow  will  take  you  through  one  of  the  prettiest  ]>arks  in 
America.  That  has  been  arranged  for  2.15,  the  tally-ho  to 
leave,  I  believe,  the  Hotel  Walton  at  2.15— for  all  delegates. 

One  further  remark  I  want  to  make  here.  I  see'' in  the 
evening  ]mpers  that  Gen.  Emilio  Nunez,  government  delegate 
fi'nui  Cuba,  who  honored  us  by  reading  a  paper,  has  been^ap- 
pniiil(iil  civil  governor  of  the  Province  of  Havana.    (Applause.) 

//"/'.  ir.  ir.  liork-hill: 

The  Congress  will  stand  adjourned  until  Mcuidav  at  111.3(1 
a.  m. 

Adjourned  at  5.25  p.  m. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


FIFTEENTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadelphia,  Monday,  October  30,  1899. 

Morning  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  11.10  a.  m.  in  Con- 
vention Hall,  Exposition  Building,  by  Director  W.  P.  Wilson. 


Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 


forenoon,  is  a  continuation  of 


This  day,  especially  this 
Eiiropean  Day. 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  for  our  Chairman  to- 
day, the  Hon.  Irving  P.  Wanger,  the  gentleman  from  the 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  who  has  taken,  during  the 
development  of  the  Commercial  Museum,  an  especial  inter- 
est in  this  work,  and  has,  in  every  way  possible  for  the  gov- 
ernment, furthered  this  national  and  international  undertak- 
ing. I  have  the  honor  of  introducing  Mr.  Wanger.  (Ap- 
plause.) 

Hon.  Irving  P.  Wanger: 

Members  of  the  International  Congress:  It  gives  me 
considerable  pleasure  to  acknowledge  my  sense  of  obligation 
to  you  who  have  come  so  far  to  attend  the  sessions  of  this 
body.  It  seems  to  me  that  you  have  done  a  very  great  ser- 
vice towards  this  country,  and  I  trust,  towards  the  countries 
from  whence  you  came.  In  a  certain  sense  the  underlying 
spirit  behind  commercial  enterprise  is  selfish,  and  naturally, 
we,  as  citizens  of  this  country,  hope  to  see  very  great  advan- 
tages resulting  from  it  to  ourselves,  from  the  development 
of  our  trade,  but  we  are  not  selfis"h  in  the  sense  of  desiring 
that  those  advantages  shall  be  purely  ours.  We  trust  that 
they  may  be  mutual  and  reciprocal.  We  believe  that  they 
may  be  so,  and  that,  in  conferring  this  great  benefit  upon  us 
by  your  presence,  by  the  rich  sources  of  information  which 
your  papers  and  addresses  have  given  us,  you  have  laid  the 
foundation  for  us,  of  rendering  the  service  to  you  which 
will  be  of  gi-eat  value  on  each  side,  as  your  service  has  been 
and  will  be  to  us. 

I  shall  not  delay  the  proceedings  further,  but  take  pleasure 
in  presenting  Sehor  Carlos  Yensen,  delegate  from  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  Bilbao.  Spain. 

Mr.  Carlos  Yenseii: 

Mr.  Chaii-man,  Gentlemen,  Manufacturers,  and  Delegates 
of  the  United  States:  I  have  the  honor  to  represent  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Bilbao,  and  have  come  here  to 
study  your  products,  of  which  I  know  something,  and  hope, 
with  your  good  will  and  assistance  during  my  stay  here,  to 
see  a  good  deal  more,  of  goods  that  will  find  a  market  in  the 
country  where  I  live. 

Bilbao,  gentlemen,  is  a  place  of  relative  importance,  situ- 
ated, as  you  know,  on  the  north  coast  of  Spain,  and  famous 


for  its  iron-ore  mines,  which  are  said  to  be  among  the  rich- 
est in  the  world,  both  in  quality  and  quantity.  Mostly  these 
ores  go  to  difEereut  places  in  England  and  Scotland,  but  also 
other  coimtries  are  supplied,  and  a  good  number  of  large 
steamers  have  brought  cargoes  to  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
and  Boston. 

The  superiority  of  these  ores  once  known,  they  should  be- 
come a  necessary  component  in  the  manufacture  of  steel  in 
this  country,  as  well  as  in  Europe,  and,  if  reasonable  return 
freights  to  the  other  side  could  be  obtained  for  the  vessels, 
I  am  sure  a  lively  trade  would  result  between  Philadelphia 
and  Bilbao. 

Bilbao,  though  a  small  place  compared  with  your  indus- 
trial, large,  and  elegant  city  of  Philadelphia,  olfers  now  a 
splendid  and  extensive  harbor,  and  affords  very  good  com- 
munications to  all  parts  of  the  country,  as  well  as  inside  its 
own  limits.  I  should  think  the  development  of  industries 
and  business  will  continue  as  it  has  done  for  the  pa.st  twenty 
years,  but  I  am  surely  not  wrong  in  saying  that  as  time  goes 
on  it  will  become  a  place  for  export  and  import  worthy  of 
your  attention. 

Now,  gentlemen,  it  only  rests  with  me,  to  express,  in  the 
name  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Bilbao  and  in  my 
own,  the  most  sincere  gratitude  to  the  Committee  of  the 
Philadelphia  Museum,  and  especially  to  its  highly  distin- 
guished director.  Dr.  Wilson,  for  the  invitation  to  send  a 
delegate  to  this  Congress,  which  I  am  sure  will  result  in  a 
complete  and  happy  success,  and  a  medium  to  spread  your 
manufactures  all  over  the  world. 

Last,  but  not  least,  I  take  the  greatest  pleasure  in  giving 
my  most  expressive  thanks  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia  for 
the  splendid  hospitality  and  treatment  I  have  met  with  dur- 
ing my  stay  here,  which  I  shall  never  forget,  but  always 
keep  in  my  memory  as  a  bright  souvenir  of  the  Commercial 
Congress  at  Philadelphia.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Irving  P.  Wanger: 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  Mr.  Pietro  Tap- 
pari,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Art,  of 
Florence,  Italy. 

]\[r.  Pietro  Tap  pari: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  This  is  the  third  time  within  the 
space  of  a  few  years  that  I  have  returned  to  the  United 
States,  attracted  by  the  fascination  of  the  wonderful  activity 
of  this  young  nation  and  by  the  pleasant  remembrance  of 
the  kindness  received.  I  am  here  to-day,  as  a  delegate  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Florence,  to  the  International 
Congress  held  in  this  hospitable  city,  and  my  mission  is  so 
much  more  agreeable,  inasmuch,  as  while  I  bear  the  greet- 
ings of  one  of  the  most  deserving  institutions  of  my  coun- 
try, I  feel  sure  to  evoke  in  the  mind  of  Americans  the  dear 
name  of  a  city  for  which  they  have  a  strong  predilection  and 


287 


288 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


wliicli  highly  reflects  the  traditional  feelings  of  affection  and 
friendship  existing  between  Italy  and  the  United  States. 

ft  is  in  the  name  of  these  feelings  that  1  now  take 
the  liberty  of  speaking  my  humble  words,  and  1  shall  be 
glad  and  proud  at  the  same  time,  if,  in  the  high  considera- 
tion of  this  elected  assembly,  I  shall  be  able  to  find  the  sup- 
port necessary  to  iniiuence  the  removal  of  some  obstacles 
which  to-day  encumber  and  injure  the  commercial  intercourse 
of  two  great  and  friendly  nations. 

In  former  times,  and  especially  in  the  United  States,  a 
belief  prevailed  that  the  great  economical  development  of 
one  country  should  always,  as  a  natural  consequence,  bring 
forth  the  impoverishment  of  another.  Happily  this  erroneous 
notion  has  almost  entirely  disappeared  and  late  events  have 
clearly  proven  that  the  interests  of  the  various  countries  can 
be  promoted  by  the  free  exchange  of  their  products,  not  only 
without  any  mutual  injury,  but  to  the  great  bencKt  of  all 
concerned. 

Without  wisliing  to  enter  into  the  discussion  of  the  merits 
of  protective  tariffs  in  general,  I  will  only  say  that  it  has,  Ijy 
this  time,  been  well  proven  by  experience,  that  prohibitive 
duties  are  sometimes  as  injurious  to  the  country  which  im- 
poses them,  as  to  the  country  against  which  they  are  im- 
posed, and  this  is  exactly  the  case  with  your  Dingley  tariff, 
which  having  very  high  duty  on  some  Italian  products,  has 
caused  as  much  damage  to  American  interests  as  to  Italian 
interests. 

Before  the  Dingley  taritt'  was  enacted,  more  than  600  ves- 
sels were  coming  every  year  from  Italy  to  the  ports  of  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Boston  and  New  Orleans, 
carrying  cargoes  of  Italian  products.  To-day,  the  number  of 
these  vessels  has  been  reduced  to  less  than  200. 

When  it  is  considered  that  these  ships  used  to  return  to 
our  country  loaded  with  wheat,  cotton  and  other  American 
products,  it  is  very  clearly  jwoven  that  the  United  States 
has  lost,  through  the  tariif,  the  opjjortunity  of  sending  to 
our  markets  the  cargoes  of  -loo  more  vessels  every  year. 

Coming,  then,  to  examine  the  products  which  were  more 
heavily  taxed  by  the  new  law,  I  must,  in  the  first  place,  call 
your  attention  to  oranges  and  lemons,  which  are  principally 
exported  from  Sicily. 

During  the  years"  1894,  1895  and  1896,  the  total  value  of 
oranges  and  lemons  exported  from  Italy  to  the  United  States 
amounted  to  over  three  million  dollars  per  annum  and  the 
duty  then  imposed  was  8  cents  per  cubic  foot  and  30  per  cent. 
ad  valorem  on  the  boxes,  one-half  of  which  30  per  cent,  was 
returned  whenever  the  wood  entering  in  the  construction 
of  the  boxes  originated  from  the  United  States.  Such  du- 
ties were  not  light  by  any  means,  nevertheless  a  large  im- 
portation was  yet  possible,  out  of  which  the  United  States 
Government  derived  a  con.siderable  amount  of  revenue. 

The  Dingley  tariif  has  raised  the  duty  to  1  cent  per  pound, 
still  maintaining  the  30  jjcr  cent,  ml  nilnrein  duty  on  the 
boxes,  and  the  coiise(iuences  of  this  change  have  been  very 
disastrous,  as  in  (be  year  1897  the  exportation  of  oranges 
and  lemons  from  Ilaly  to  the  United  States  decreased  rapidly 
to  less  than  two  Diillinii  dulhii-s,  and  in  ISKS,  to  one  and  one- 
half  million. 

This  decrease  has  taken  place  princi|)ally  in  the  exporta- 
tion of  oranges,  as  our  lemons  are  so  supcn'ior  in  (|uality  and 
durability  to  any  other  kiiul,  that  in  s])ite  of  their  higher 
cost,  they  are  always  preferred  in  this  market;  Imt  nf  these 
also,  a  small  (|uantity  was  imi)orted,  as  their  |)rice  jnits  them 
out  of  the  reach  of  the  poor  ])eople. 

Through  the  Dingley  tariff,  the  working  classes  in  the 
United  States  have  been  de))riveil  (<(  the  ])rivilege  of  buying 
the  most  wholesome  of  fruit  supplied  by  nature,  while  no 
benefit  has  accrued  to  those  parts  of  the  TTnited  States  for 
the    [irotection  of   which  the  duty  has  been  imposed,  as  Cali- 


fornia and  Florida  together  do  not  produce  in  one  year, 
enough  lemons  to  supply  the  needs  of  the  American  market 
for  one  week. 

Referring  to  the  oranges,  as  1  have  already  said,  the  effects 
of  the  tariff  have  been  so  much  more  disastrous,  and  the 
once  large  importation  of  this  fruit,  so  dear  to  the  American 
children,  has  almost  entirely  ceased,  while  the  American 
orange  growers  have  not  gained  any  advantage. 

It  is  a  fact  well  known,  that  the  Florida  orange  groves, 
on  which  the  best  hopes  had  been  reared,  and  which  indeed 
were  commencing  to  produce  excellent  oranges,  have  been 
almost  completely  destroyed  by  the  northerly  cold  w-aves,  and 
that  in  the  face  of  the  constant  danger  of  these  frozen  winds, 
no  inducement  is  offered  to  the  Florida  farmers  to  try  the 
experiment  once  more. 

The  California  oranges  are  the  only  ones  gro\\n  in  the 
United  States  and  they  may  lie  divided  into  two  classes:  the 
beautiful  large  navel  seedless  oranges  and  the  small  ordinary 
oranges.  The  navel  oranges  can  successfully  compete  with 
our  own  on  account  of  their  superior  quality,  but  are  not 
within  reach  of  the  working  classes,  as  they  are  sold  for  5 
cents  apiece,  while  the  Italian  oranges  generally  known  under 
the  name  of  "Mcssimi"  are  sold  for  1  cent  apiece.  The  cost 
of  transportation  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  this  large  differ- 
ence in  price,  as  the  freight  charges  on  a  case' of  fruit  shipped 
from  Sicily  are  about  35  cents,  while  the  charge  on  a  similar 
case  from  California  is  90  cents. 

The  California  small  oranges  cannot  be  sent  here  in  the 
East  for  the  reason  that,  besides  being  of  a  very  perishable 
nature,  the  price  which  they  would  bring  in  the  market 
would  not  cover  the  expense  of  transportation.  It  is,  then, 
readily  apparent  that  C'alifornia  oranges  have  not  been  able 
to  take  the  place  of  onr  own,  wdiich  had  a  large  consumption 
on  account  of  their  low  price,  and  that  the  stoppage  of  their 
transportation  has  not  enabled  the  ('alifornia  orange  growers 
to  obtain  better  prices,  as  the  demand  has  not  been  equal 
to  expectations,  inasmuch  as  oranges  at  the  present  prices 
are  too  dear  to  be  within  the  reach  of  the  masses. 

Many  are  the  articles  which  have  been  unfavorably  affected 
by  the  new  tariff;  but  in  order  to  avoid  being  too  long,  I 
shall  only  call  your  attention  to  two  sta|>le  articles,  which 
are  also  of  great  interest  to  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
viz.,  olive  oil  and  wine. 

These  are  two  .staple  ])roducts,  which  our  fertile  soil  yields 
in  abunilance  and  of  first  quality,  and  which  some  regions  of 
Italy,  principally  Tuscany,  export  to  all  parts  of  the  world. 

The  duty  on  oil  was  formerly,  under  the  Wilson  bill,  35 
cents  per  gallon,  and  the  duty  on  still  wine  in  casks,  30  cents 
per  gallon.  The  Dingley  tariff  raised  the  first  one  to  50 
cents,  and  the  latter  to  45  cents  per  gallon.  Nevertheless, 
our  ex])ortation  of  these  two  articles  to  the  United  States  has 
not  greatly  diminished,  the  average  amount  for  the  last  five 
years  being  about  the  .same. 

Italy  exports  every  year  to  the  I'niled  Start's  about 
$1,000,000  worth  of  olive  oil,  and  $-100,000  of  wine. 

These  figures  are  altogether  insignificant  for  articles  of 
such  general  consumption,  and  if  their  importation  into  the 
United  States  has  not  been  dimini.^hed  by  the  Hingley  tariff, 
it  has  lieen  kept  in  a  stationary  condition,  w  licreas,  consider- 
ing the  enormous  developnu'iit  of  the  country,  it  should  have 
assumed  much  larger  propcntions. 

The  high  duties  on  wine  are  imixised  for  the  purpose  of 
|)riitccting  the  California  wine  industry,  but  in  this  case,  the 
tariff  seems  to  have  produced  an  effect  altogether  contrary  to 
ex])octations.  The  high  price  at  which  good  .\nierican  wines 
are  sold  in  tlir  liiilrd  States,  absohrtely  pri'venls  the  major- 
ity  of  the  Anu'rican  ])eople  from  making  use  of  them,  and 
consequently  they  have  no  chance  of  acquiring  a  taste  f(H- 
w'ine  in  general,  whether  domestic  or  foreign,      ft  is  only  the 


E.  JENSEN, 
Bergen,  No;iWAY, 


CHR.   B.  LORENTZEN, 
Drammen,  Norway. 


JUAN   ANTONIO    LOREDO, 
Lima,  Peru. 


Cr.  JACINTHO   De  MAGALHAES, 
Oporto.  Portugal. 


HENRI  ALZAMORA, 

Majorca,   Spain. 


ANTONIO  CUYAS, 

Madrid.  Spain. 


CARLOS  YENSEN, 
Bilbao,  Spain. 


HARALD  GREBST, 

Gothenburg,  Sweden. 


WILLIAM    ANGUS, 
London,  England. 


OF   THK 

((  UNIVERSITT 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


289 


Italian,  French  and  Spanish  residents  of  the  United  St^ites 
who  make  use  of  California  wine,  and,  even  if  the  present 
duty  should  he  doubled  on  foreign  wines,  its  con^iumption 
would  not  in  the  least  he  increased. 

The  only  means  therefore,  by  which  California  wines  could 
be  made  an  article  of  general  consumption  in  the  United 
States,  would  be  the  admittance,  free  of  duty,  of  forei^ 
wines,  which  then  by  educating  the  public  taste,  as  it  has 
already  been  done  in  the  case  of  the  Italian  maccaroni, 
would  open  the  way  to  the  consumption  of  the  domestic 
article. 

Such  an  event  would  also  have  the  effect  of  removing  the 
intemperance,  caused  by  the  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquore. 

As  to  olive  oil,  the  protective  duty  is  even  less  justified, 
because  at  the  present  time  the  production  of  the  same  in  the 
United  States  is  altogether  insignificant.  If.  however,  the 
tariff  is  made  with  the  object  of  protecting  the  future  pro- 
duction, viz.,  the  production  which  California  expects  to  de- 
rive from  her  newly-planted  olive  groves,  it  seems  to  me  that 
also  in  this  ease  the  opposite  course  should  have  been  adopted. 
The  observations  which  I  made  in  relation  to  wine  I  have  to 
repeat  in  regard  to  olive  oil,  as  this  article  must  also  be  in- 
troduced to  the  general  public,  who  at  present  consume  very 
little  of  it,  because  the  people  have  been  disgusted  by  the 
use  of  cotton  seed  oil,  which,  with  the  greatest  effrontery,  is 
sold  in  American  groceries  under  the  name  of  Lucca  olive 
oil.  Let  the  genuine  Italian  olive  nil  come  in  free  of  duty, 
and  the  American  people  wall  appreciate  it  and  make  use  of 
it,  and  will  then,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  be  able  to  ap- 
preciate the  California  product,  which  will  find  an  easy 
market. 

f  think  the  facts  which  I  have  exposed  are  eloquent 
enough  to  fully  convince  you  that  your  present  tariff  has  not 
been  in  regard  to  the  mentioned  products  of  any  benefit  to 
anybody,  but  that  it  has  been  an  injury  to  everybody:  and  in 
concluding,  I  will  say  briefly  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment has  lost  a  large  amount  of  revenue,  the  United  States 
export  merchants,  a  large  number  of  ships  available  for  the 
export  trade,  the  fruit  merchants,  one  of  the  principal  re- 
sources of  their  business,  the  working-classes,  the  privilege  of 
buying  at  moderate  prices  some  of  the  mo.st  wholesome  and 
agreeable  food  products,  California,  the  advantage  nf  finding 
the  market  already  prepared  for  the  .sale  of  her  products. 

Italy,  struck  in  some  of  the  most  vital  branches  of  her 
export  trade,  has  seen,  with  great  injury  and  deep  sorrow. 
her  commercial  relations  with  this  country  broken  and  re- 
tarded, whereas  she  expected  to  find  in  the  United  States 
one  of  her  best  customers  and  the  greatest  promoter  of  that 
freedom  of  trade  which  is  the  basis  of  peace  and  friendship 
among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world. 

These  facts,  gentlemen,  are  the  consequences  of  the  Ding- 
ley  tariff,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  deliberations  of  this 
Congress  will  induce  the  government  to  modify  the  tariff 
more  in  the  interest  of  international  trade,    f  AppLmse.) 

Hon.  Irving  P.  W anger : 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  presenting  the  Hon.  J.  C.  Mona- 
ghan.  United  States  Consul  at  Chemnitz,  Germany. 

Hon.  J.  C.  Monaghan: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Dr.  Wilson,  Fellow  Delegates,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen:  Upon  the  workings  of  a  Congress  of  this  kind 
depend  the  hopes  nf  humanity.  When  the  time  comes  to 
write  the  history  of  just  such  meeting's,  the  muse  will  have 
to  use  a  gold  pen  when  she  comes  to  picture  the  work  ac- 
complished by  Dr.  Wilson  and  his  faithful  adjutants.  (Ap- 
plause.) We  have  before  us  and  we  have  had  disussod  a  great 
many  very  vital  problems.    Before  I  enter  into  a  discussion  of 


the  problem  presented  to  me  for  discussion,  I  want  to  say  that 
I  coidd  have  wished  that  not  so  much  stress  had  been  laid 
upon  the  tariff  problem  as  presented  by  the  United  States. 
The  fact  that  almost  if  not  quite  every  foreign  countrj'  or 
foreign  delegate  has  entered  a  protest  against  the  tariff  con- 
ditions existing  in  this  country,  will  be  to  the  larger  part  of 
this  people  a  splendid  argument  in  favor  of  the  continuation 
of  the  tariff.  That  question,  however,  is  one  of  tremendous 
significance,  not  only  for  the  American  people,  but  for  all 
people.  The  student  of  history  remembers  well  that  a  century 
has  not  elapsed  since  England,  almost  to-day  in  the  front  of 
nations  for  free  trade,  was  one  of  the  strongest,  if  not  the 
strongest,  protective  countries  on  this  earth;  so  protective  that 
she  had  duties  not  only  on  imports,  but  very  heavy  duties  on 
exports.  Nations  and  conditions  have  changed.  Every  new 
country,  whether  that  new  country  be  the  United  States  of 
America,  Canada.  South  America,  South  Africa  or  Australia, 
will  have  to  go  through  more  or  less  a  condition  similar  to 
that  which  we  have  gone  through. 

I  remember  very  distinctly  as  a  boy  that  the  dyers  and 
bleachers  and  spinners  and  designers,  all  the  expert  labor  of 
this  country,  or  a  Yery  large  portion  of  it,  came  from  Eng- 
land, north  of  Ireland,  Scotland,  Switzerland  and  other  coun- 
tries, and,  in  order  to  induce  these  people  to  come,  in  oi-der 
to  induce  capital  to  build  mills  in  this  country  and  develop 
its  industrial  resources,  it  was  necessary  that  we  have  pro- 
tective laws.  The  time  has  hardly  arrived  for  us  to  change 
from  that  condition,  although  I  am  ready  to  confess,  and  I 
suppose  every  American,  that  many  of  our  tariff  laws  might 
be  so  amended  that  they  would  not  fall  so  heavily  upon 
foreign  countries.  In  the  city  of  Chemnitz,  in  which  I  have 
the  honor  to  represent  the  commercial  interests  of  this 
country,  the  chief  industry  is  the  manufacture  of  hosiery, 
underwear  and  gloves.  In  the  year  1892,  that  city  sent  to 
the  United  States,  exports  amounting  to  eleven  millions  of 
dollars.  This  year  (1899)  after  the  Dingley  bill,  that  city 
will  send  to  tlris  country  less  than  five  millions  of  dollars 
worth  of  goods.  Now  what  is  the  fact?  The  fact  is  that  this 
city  nf  Philadelphia,  where  ynu  sit  to-day,  is  the  great  textile 
centre  of  this  republic,  and  in  this  city  of  Philadelphia,  they 
are  making  a  low  grade  of  goods  in  textile  underwear,  hosiery 
and  gloves  cheaper  than  they  can  make  them  over  there  in 
many  grades,  but  they  are  paying  the  laborer  four  times  the 
wages  that  they  are  paying  in  my  city,  and,  with  such  an  agu- 
ment  confronting  you,  I  do  not  think,  gentlemen,  it  is  a 
good  plan  to  discuss  this  question  too  far  in  this  Congress. 
I  said  the  conditions  have  changed  and  are  changing.  The 
time  was  when  Portugal  and  vSpain  and  Italy  ruled  the  com- 
mercial wnrld.  A  monk  in  the  mountains  of  Belgium 
scratched  up  the  dirt  on  the  hillside  and  discovered  coal. 
A  short  time  after  it  was  discovered  in  England.  It  is  a  note- 
worthy fact  that  the  prosperity  of  England,  her  power  on  the 
sea,  begins  at  a  time  (the  reign  of  Elizabeth)  contempora- 
neous with  the  discovery  of  coal  in  that  country  and  its  apli- 
catinn  to  the  production  of  iron  and  steel.  Luckilv  for  Eng- 
land, she  possessed  then,  and  possesses  now,  vast  veins  of  coal, 
iron  and  lime — the  three  essential  elements  in  the  industrial 
greatness  of  any  country. 

The  application  of  coal  to  the  manufacture  of  steel  and  iron 
has  revolutionized  the  world.  To-day  Portugal  and  Spain 
and  Italy  are  back  numbers  in  the  sense  of  great,  powerful, 
industrial  and  commercial  nations.  I  do  not  care  to  enter 
into  any  long  and  detailed  discussion  of  all  the  facts  that  enter 
into  the  problem,  but  if  you  will  examine,  you  will  find  that 
little  Belgium  with  between  six  and  seven  million  inhabi- 
tants, and  with  her  vast  resources  in  coal  and  iron,  does  a 
business  of  some  five  thousand  million  francs  annually, 
greater  than  some  nations  with  from  thirty  to  forty  millions 
of  population,  and  that  is  due  to  the  fact  that  Belgium  is  rich 


290 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMEECIAL  CONGRESS 


in  these  resources  of  coal  and  iron.  Tlae  same  fact  is  true  of 
iuigland  and  largely  true  of  Germany,  France  not  so  largely, 
because  France  had  to  resort  to  inventive  genius  to  get  the 
turbine  to  give  her  power  on  her  water-ways  and  offset  the 
advantages  tliat  coal  and  iron  gave  to  England  and  other 
countries.  Even  liere  we  have  seen  a  very  strange  transition. 
New  England,  once  the  great  manufacturing  centre  of  this 
country,  is  rapidly  losing  the  manufacture  of  its  cotton,  be- 
cause the  men  of  the  south  are  planting  the  cotton  mills  to- 
day side  by  side  with  the  plantations  where  they  raise  cotton. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  manufacturer  of  steel  and  iron. 
^^^^en  I  was  a  boy,  the  rolling  mills  in  tlie  city  of  Bo.<ton  were 
famous.  Many  of  these  plants  have  been  transported  to  the 
south,  and  the  State  of  Alabama  is  coming  into  prominence 
and  is  making  rapid  progress  and  is  most  rapidly  coming  into 
an  important  position,  mainly  from  flie  fact  that  she  has  her 
coal  and  iron  side  by  side. 

We  must  recognize  these  conditions.  Russia,  China,  Great 
Britain — if  she  keeps  her  colonies  together — and  tlie  United 
States  of  America  are  to  be  the  great  rivals  of  the  future, 
because  these  countries  have  va.st  resources  in  coal  and  in  iron, 
and,  as  long  as  the  mines  hold  out,  and  the  coal  is  applied  to 
iron  in  the  production  of  that  metal,  and  Ihe  uses  of  machi- 
nery— the  competition  will  be  great. 

The  question  before  us  to-day  is,  "Northern  Europe  as  a 
place  for  exports,"  but  before  entering  upon  that  topic,  I  want 
to  pay  a  tribute  to  Dr.  Wilson  and  the  efficient  corps  who 
assist  him.  (Applause.)  I  have  here  in  this  book  (referring 
to  a  red  book  lying  upon  the  table),  which,  pardon  me,  I 
have  no  intention  of  reading,  much  tliat  is  good  in  regard  to 
the  methods  to  be  employed  for  the  expansion  of  trade.  The 
Germans  have  laid  down  the  doctrine  that  the  best  methods 
are  the  establishment  of  museums  and  the  sending  out  of 
agents  to  represent  the  manufacturing  interests  of  the  coun- 
try. Dr.  Wilson's  Museum,  in  my  opinion — and  I  have  seen 
many  in  Europe — is  the  best,  most  efficient,  and,  above  all, 
the  most  liberal  one  in  the  world.  (Applause.)  Here,  in  this 
book,  is  a  statement  that  the  Germans  sent  out  a  commission 
for  the  purpose  of  gathering  samples.  Now,  I  need  not  say 
to  any  manufacturer  what  the  marvelous  importanse  of 
.samples  is.  The  desire  of  evei7  manufacturer  is  to  obtain  the 
samples  of  other  countries,  in  order  to  see  what  thev  are 
manufacturing  and  selling.  I  need  not  say  that  hundreds  of 
designers  go  and  are  sent  annually  to  Paris  to  pick  \\\i  the 
designs  of  that  wonderfully  fantastic,  fanciful  and  imagina- 
tive people,  the  French,  to  bring  them  back  to  the  textile 
centres,  in  order  to  manufacture  them.  B\it  when  the  com- 
mission returned  to  Berlin,  when  they  came  to  Chemnitz  with 
that  collection  of  samples  brought  from  the  East,  no  man  was 
allowed  to  see  a  single  sample,  unless  he  was  a  native  born 
German  manufacturer.  I,  as  a  United  States  Consul,  when 
I  made  application  to  see  the  samples,  was  refused.  Now,  I 
am  not  finding  fault  with  the  Germans  for  refusing  admis.sion 
to  see  their  samples,  nor  the  French  in  Lyons,  Etienne  and  La 
Chapelle,  who  refused  also  to  admit  anybody  to  see  their 
samples,'  except  native  born  French  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants. 

But  Dr.  Wilson  sends  out  Mr.  Har])or,  Mr.  Green  and  Dr. 
Niederlein  and  other  efficient  aids,  who  have  gathered  samples 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  they  arc  dis()hiyed  here  for 
all  to  see  them.  (Applause.)  You,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  are 
invited  to  inspect  these  samples.  Thai  spirit  of  large  liber- 
ality that  marks  Dr.  Wilson,  I  hope,  is  the  spirit  that  will 
dominate  all  the  statesmen  in  this  country  in  the  future,  and 
those  things  which  you  wish  for,  whicli  you  have  given  ex- 
pres.sion  to,  I  hope  will  come  to  pass  througli  just  such  men 
as  Dr.  Wilson  and  his  aids. 

Another  interesting  factor  of  the  Gciinmi  methods  is  Ihe 
sending  out  of  agents  rejiresenting  five,  six.  seven  or  eight 


firms.  I  want  to  say  that  that  idea  was  originated  nearly  ten 
years  ago,  certainly  seven  or  eight  years  ago,  in  the  city  of 
Brunswick,  by  one  of  the  most  efficient  aids  of  Dr.  Wilson, 
in  connection  with  the  Museum  of  this  city,  who  was  acting 
then  as  United  States  Consul,  ]\Ir.  E.  W.  S.  Tingle.  He  sug- 
gested that  manufacturei-s  appoint  an  agent  who  could  act 
for  seven  or  eight  manufacturers.  Another  sample  of  the  fair- 
ness and  liberality  of  Dr.  \\'ilson  was  his  invitations  to  the 
consuls  to  come  here  and  speak  at  this  Congress  and  to  tell 
you,  instead  of  telling  the  American  manufacturers  as  we 
hope  to  do  after  this  Congress  adjourns,  how  best  to  get  trade, 
not  only  in  northern  Europe,  but  in  all  parts  of  the  world; 
and  that,  gentlemen,  brings  me  to  the  topic  that  I  wish  to 
discuss  at  this  Congi-ess  to-day. 

The  first  question  that  presents  itself  to  our  minds  is,  are 
we  ready  to  export?  In  this  State,  within  the  last  ten  years, 
they  have  reduced  the  price  of  a  ton  of  steel  from  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  dollars  to  twelve  dollars  and  fifty  cents.  We 
manufacture,  of  many  of  our  manufactured  products,  more 
in  six,  seven  or  eight  months  than  it  is  possible  for  the  home 
market  to  consume  in  a  year.  The  manufactured  exports  of 
our  country  already  average  tlie  important  figures  of  nearly 
four  hundred  nullion  dollars  in  a  year.-  The  total  exports  for 
the  last  year  are  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  odd  millions 
of  dollars.  So  the  fact  is  settled  tliat  we  are  ready  to  export;. 
The  next  problem,  and  that,  of  course,  is  as  interesting  to 
any  foreign  delegate  as  it  is  to  an  American  manufacturer 
and  merchant,  is  wliere  or  whither  are  we  to  export?  Europe 
has  a  population  of  less  than  four  hundred  millions  of  people. 
Asia  has  a  population  of  eiglit  hundred  millions.  The  total 
amount  of  business  done  in  the  world  last  year  was  eighteen 
thousand  millions  of  dollars,  but,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  the 
small  four  hundred  millions  of  Europe  did  over  thirteen 
thousand  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars  of  that  amount,  or, 
in  other  words,  the  imports  into  Europe  were  over  six  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars;  the  exports 
something  over  five  thousand  millions  of  dollars.  An  old 
motto  among  the  merchants  and  manufacturers  of  this 
country  is,  "Do  business  where  the  money  is."'  They  often 
advise  young  men  to  practice  law,  medicine  or  anything  else  in 
New  York,  because  there  is  the  money,  or  in  Philadelphia, 
because  there  is  money,  or  in  Chicago,  or  in  some  large  city. 
Quite  a  number  of  men  in  this  country,  known  as  anti-expans- 
ionists, have  been  advocating  the  doing  of  business  entirely 
with  Europe,  because  of  the  vast  business  done  in  the  coun- 
tries of  Europe. 

Another  fact,  however,  presents  itself  to  our  minds  in  the 
consideration  of  this  problem,  and  that  is  this:  While  China 
and  India  and  the  Eastern  countries  may  not  do  the  same 
amount  of  business,  and  may  not  have  the  same  amount  of 
money  that  passes  to  and  fro  in  the  trade  centres  of  Europe, 
we  Americans  have  to  consider  this  very  important  fact:  Rus- 
sia, China,  Au.'itralia  and  South  America  are  going  through 
a  course  of  development  similar  to  that  pnssed  through  bv  our 
pcojile  during  the  last  fifty  or  seventy  years.  The  things  ihat 
have  helped  us  to  succeed  will  help  them.  As  I  stated  in  the 
lieginning,  conditions  are  changing.  Russia,  too,  with  its  pipu- 
lation  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  millions,  many  of  tlicm 
in  the  East,  is  rapidly  undergoing  the  same  conditions  of 
change.  So  notwithslnnding  the  fact  tliat  Russia  is  noi. 
strictly  speaking,  as  rich  as  I'^raiU'c,  or  (iermany,  or  Belgium, 
or  Holland,  or  Scandinavia,  thei'c  is  no  C(}iintry  in  the  world 
whicli  offers  the  oppoitunities  1o  our  peo])le  that  Kussia  does, 
and  that  statement  is  based  on  tlic  fact  that  they  have  just 
liuill  a  railroad  from  Moscow  to  \'ladivostok,  a  distance  of 
six  thousand  miles.  Many  of  the  rails  and  engines  of  this 
road,  and  even  \ho  slcepei-s,  have  gone  out  of  this  country. 
Oregon  pine  lias  furnished  the  sleepers  and  the  Baldwin  Loco- 
motive Works  imd  the  Bethlehem  Iron  and  Steel  Works  have 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


291 


furnished  tlie  locomotives  and  rails.  So  that  if  there  is  one 
point  more  than  any  other  that  I  would  urge  on  American 
merchants  and  manufacturers,  it  is  to  cultivate  trade  with 
Europe,  particularly  Eussia,  not  only  in  railroading,  but  in 
her  vast  resources  and  her  mines. 

Coal,  iron,  copper,  silver,  the  vast  resources  of  Russia's 
forests,  her  fisheries  and  her  farming,  are  almost  similar  to 
those  of  the  United  States. 

The  steppes,  which  were  often  regai-ded  as  vast  wastes, 
are  now  cultivated  for  corn  and  grain  of  all  kinds,  so  much 
so  that  famine  is  practically  impossible  in  the  Russian  Em- 
pire, although,  at  one  time,  it  was  almost  periodical.  China 
is  coining  rapidly  into  the  brotherhood  of  nations.  China 
is  said  to  have  vast  resources  of  almost  unknown  or  rather 
incalculable  value  in  coal  and  iron.  Consequently  the  argu- 
ment on  the  whole  question  is  this:  While  we  try  to  do  busi- 
ness with  Pi'ance  and  Germany  and  all  Europe,  let  us  not 
neglect  for  one  moment  the  countries  of  the  East  and  especi- 
ally Rusvsia.  The  American  merchants  and  the  American 
manufacturers  will  find  it  to  their  interest  to  cultivate  as 
earnestly  and  as  eagerly  the  markets  of  the  East  as  the  mar- 
kets of  Europe,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  possibilities  are  not 
larger  for  their  interests  in  Europe.  The  rivalry  and  com- 
petition will  certainly  be  closer  and  closer,  and  despite,  gentle- 
men, what  you  may  tliink  on  the  subject,  experience  has 
taught  me  and  has  taught  all  Americans  that  just  as  long 
as  any  manufactured  article  or  product  of  the  machines  of 
this  country  begins  to  be  imported  in  any  large  quantities 
into  the  countries  of  Europe,  the  statesmen  of  those  countries 
will  enact  and  enforce  protective  and  sometimes  prohibitory 
duties  on  those  articles.  The  East,  China,  India,  Australia, 
Russia,  South  Australia  are  passing  through  the  very  same 
kind  of  development  that  has  marked  our  country  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years.  It  will  be  a  very  serious  mistake,  seek- 
ing trade  in  Phirope  with  its  teeming  millions  of  population 
and  its  vast  accumulations  of  capital,  to  neglect  othere  where 
the  products  of  our  mills,  machine  shops  and  factories  of  all 
kinds  would  find,  and  may  easily  find,  the  very  best  markets. 
Russia  and  the  countries  named  have  mines  to  open,  forests 
to  clear,  canals  to  dig,  cotton  fields  to  plant,  petroleum  wells 
to  drain,  railroads  and  turnpikes  to  build.  No  covmtry  has 
developed  the  implements,  means  and  materials  for  this  kind 
of  work  so  successfully  as  the  I'nited  States.  While  it  is  true 
that  the  civilization  of  these  people  is  not  anything  like  that 
of  Europe;  while  it  is  true  that  we  may  not  be  able  to  sell 
them  boots,  shoes,  hats,  clothes  and  various  articles  of  wear- 
ing apparel  and  family  use,  such  as  are  used  in  this  countiT 
and  Europe,  we  can  sell  to  them  railroad  iron,  engines,  mining 
and  agricultural  implements,  and  all  kinds  of  tools  necessary 
in  the  development  of  those  countries.  So  I  repeat,  it  may  be 
wiser  and  better  to  pay  even  more  attention  to  the  East  and  to 
Russia  than  to  Europe,  but  I  certainly  say  this,  let  us  neglect 
neither. 

That  brings  us  to  the  cjuestion  of  how  to  best  cidtivate 
these  trade  relations.  What  methods  shall  we  employ?  Im- 
itation is  said  to  be  the  best  form  of  flattery.  One  of  the 
wise.st,  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  enterprising  nations  on 
this  earth  to-day  is  the  German  EmjMre.  I  say,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  to  you,  whether  you  come  from  the  East  or  from 
South  America,  or  from  Canada,  or  Australia,  you  can  do  no 
better  than  to  emulate  and  imitate  the  efforts  and  energies 
and  enter])rise  of  the  German  Empire. 

The  greatest  statesman  that  Germany  has  produced  in  her 
history,  Bismarck,  said  on  one  occasion,  "Wer  die  Schule  hat, 
der  hat  die  Ziikunft."  That  is,  the  nation  that  has  the  schools 
has  the  future  (applause).  The  ba.sis  of  it  all,  in  the  great 
rivalries  that  are  to  come,  the  test,  will  be  upon  the  technical 
school  and  the  aljility  of  the  people.  Bismarck  was  ^vise  when 
he  said  to  the  Germans,  "Your  resources  are  not  like  those 


of  other  nations,  but  if  you  keep  your  schools  up  to  the  stand- 
ard, if  you  always  keep  ahead,  there  is  no  danger."  The  basis 
of  Germany's  success — and  that  success,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
when  one  considers  the  conditions  of  the  Empire,  is  phenom- 
enal— is  her  school  system  and  marvellous  methods  of  seek- 
ing and  securing  trade.  One  must  not  forget  that  Germany 
has  to  go  out  for  many,  very  many  of  her  raw  materials.  The 
little  Kingdom  of  Saxony,  with  less  than  4,000,000  souls, 
imports  annually  more  than  600,000  bales  of  American  cot- 
ton. Nor  is  it  cotton  alone  that  she  imports,  but  corn,  cop- 
per, iron,  coal,  wool  from  Au.stralia  and  La  Plata.  The  Em- 
pire's success.  Saxony's  success,  in  recent  years  reads  like 
romance.  No  man  on  earth  has  a  higher  admiration  for  Ger- 
man capacity  and  progress  and  ability  than  I  have.  So  I 
say  here  with  pride  that  they  have  adopted  a  system  and  a 
method  that  is  sure  to  succeed  in  every  country.  They  have 
to-day  the  best  system  of  industrial  art  and  technical  schools 
in  the  world.  The  hope  that  we  have  here  in  this  country, 
and,  in  fact,  one  of  the  things  that  has  brought  me  home,  is 
to  try  and  influence  the  boards  of  trade  and  chambers  of 
commerce  of  this  country  to  incorporate  into  our  system  edu- 
cational schools  like  those  of  the  German  Empire,  namely, 
her  industrial  and  industrial  art  schools. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  progress  of  the  boys  and  the  girls  in 
these  schools,  she  has  recently  adopted  a  system  of  commer- 
cial education  by  which  every  branch  connected  with  com- 
merce is  studied  from  beginning  to  end.  The  enterprise  of 
these  schools  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the 
German  Empire  to-day.  Further  than  that,  her  boys  are 
encouraged  for  the  purpose  of  studying  languages  to  go  to 
this  country  and  to  France  and  to  England  and  serve  as  vol- 
unteers. 

A  very  large  percentage  of  the  clerks  in  London  to-day, 
and  the  various  cities  of  the  British  Empire,  are  Germans, 
and  many  have  served  in  that  country  without  pay  simply 
for  the  purpose  of  learning  the  language,  and  you  can  readily 
understand,  gentlemen,  that  while  learning  the  language 
they  are  learning  the  methods  of  manufacturing  and  mer- 
chandising among  those  people  with  whom  they  pass  their 
best  time.  The  result  to-day  is  that  the  Gennans  are  among 
the  linguists  in  the  world.  In  my  city  I  know  of  no  manu- 
facturer or  merchant  of  any  standing  whatever,  who  is  not 
only  able  to  speak  his  own  language  well,  but  to  speak  French 
and  English  also. 

I  beg  again  to  impress  upon  you,  because  I  believe  that 
when  all  the  nations  are  educated,  when  the  highest  capacity 
of  the  human  race  is  being  exerted,  when  in  South  America 
and  in  Au.stralia  and  in  India  and  in  China,  you  have  the 
best  means  to  educate  your  children  up  to  the  same  standard 
of  the  German  people,  and  we  here  in  the  United  States  have 
the  same,  that  humanity  must  ever  advance  along  lines  based 
upon  education. 

A  further  method  of  gaining  trade  on  the  part  of  the  Ger- 
nums  is  the  sending  out  of  commissions  for  the  purpose  of 
studying  the  wants  and  the  needs  of  foreign  parts.  They  will 
send  a  man  or  a  commission  for  the  purpose  not  only  of  get- 
ting samples,  but  to  study  absolutely  the  needs  and  conditions 
of  the  country,  the  rates  of  credit,  etc.,  etc.,  everything  that 
belongs  to  commerce  and  trade.  The  fact  is  that  they  have 
made  these  discoveries:  that  there  is  a  scientific  side  not  only 
to  agriculture  but  to  commerce  and  manufactures.  The 
scientific  side  is  being  developed  in  the  highest  possible  de- 
gree. An  unfortunate  feature  about  American  and  English 
manufacturers  is  that  they  think  that  which  is  good  enough 
for  America  or  England  should  be  good  enough  for  China, 
South  America  or  any  other  people.  The  German  makes  no 
such  mistake. 

I  recall  a  case  where  a  buyer  came  to  my  city,  after  a  visit 
to  Nottingham,  where  he  tried  to  get  English  manufacturers 


29:: 


PROCEEDINGS  OP  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


to  furnish  him  with  a  certain  shade  between  two,  neither 
of  which  was  wanted.  The  English  manufacturers  had  re- 
fused to  consider  the  matter,  dismissing  it  as  of  too  little 
importance.  The  Chemnitz  makers  not  only  turned  out  one 
shade  between  the  two,  but  three,  furnishing  the  one  wanted. 
Wiiat  was  the  result?  The  New  York  house  had  a  large  run, 
sold  thousands  of  dozens  and  made  money.  Formerly  buyers 
that  went  to  Nottingham,  Loughboro  and  Troyes  (in  France), 
staying  weeks,  going  to  Chemnitz  only  for  a  few  days,  go  now 
to  Chemnitz  for  weeks  and  run  up  to  the  other  places  to  see 
and  shake  hands  with  old  friends,  but  not  to  buy. 

To  show  you  again  by  an  illustration  how  the  German  has 
succeeded:  A  great  many  people  have  the  idea  that  the  Ger- 
man is  slow.  I  remember  in  the  class  room  the  teacher  told 
the  boys  the  .story  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Egyptians,  and  a 
little  fellow  said  that  he  could  not  see  that  there  was  any 
miracle  in  that  statement,  and  the  teacher  said  that  the 
miracle  was  that  while  the  flies  came  and  ate  up  all  the  crops, 
there  were  no  flies  on  the  Israelites,  and  the  little  fellow  said, 
"There  ain't  no  flies  on  the  Israelites  now,  teacher." 

The  case  I  have  in  point  is  where  the  manufacturers  were 
at  a  loss  to  get  a  fast  black.  Now,  theoretically,  chemists 
knew  and  they  had  demonstrated  that  by  oxidation  fast  black 
was  possible,  but  it  was  the  application  of  that  by  the  manu- 
facturer that  made  it  possible  to  supply  and  satisfy  the  Ameri- 
can trade.  One  Louis  Hermsdorf  had  the  gumption,  as  we 
say  down  New  England  way,  to  bring  a  chemist  and  place 
him  side  by  side  with  his  dyer.  Wliat  was  the  result?  The 
result  was,  that  what  the  dyer  did  not  understand — the  chem- 
ist did,  and  by  this  happy  combination  of  the  dyer  with  the 
chemist  they  brought  out  the  result  which  is  known  to  the 
world  to-day.  The  fast  black  of  the  Germans  is  famous  not 
only  through  this  country  but  in  England  and  Australia. 
The  Badische  Anilin-Fabrik  Company  took  up  the  manu- 
facture of  the  aniline  dyes  from  coal  tar  invented  by  the 
French  and  Englisli,  but  perfected  by  the  Germans.  It  has 
sent  millions  of  dollars'  worth  to  this  country  and  to  all  parts 
of  the  world,  and  has  two  hundred  chemists  employed  all  the 
time  making  experiments.  Now,  if  you  can  say  that  a  people 
of  that  kind  are  merely  theoretical,  the  facts  demonstrate  to 
me  the  opposite. 

Another  factor  that  the  Germans  are  trying  to  impress  upon 
their  own  people  and  the  world,  is  the  building  of  canals 
and  ships.  The  German  Kaiser,  who,  someone  said  the  other 
day,  was  the  greatest  living  "Yankee"  (laughter),  and  who. 
by  the  way,  is  the  hardest  worked  man  in  liis  Empire,  with 
a  breadth  of  view  that  does  credit  to  his  judgment,  has  recog- 
nized the  fact  that  Germany  mu.st  go  out  if  she  is  to  main- 
tain her  splendid  position  among  the  nations  of  the  earth; 
she  must  ultimately  get  colonies  for  that  purpose.  The  Em- 
pire has  been  revolutionized.  In  1878,  her  population  was 
f!7  ])er  cent,  agricultural  and  the  rest  commercial  and  manu- 
facturing. To-day  07  jier  cent,  to  70  per  cent,  are  com- 
mercial and  industrial,  and  the  remainder  are  agricultural. 
The  Empire  has  changed  to  a  great  industrial  and  commer- 
cial state,  hence  the  demand  on  tlie  part  of  the  Emperor  for 
ships  of  commerce  and  for  a  strong  marine  to  support  it. 

Had  I  the  time  to  go  into  the  details  and  ])oint  out  to  you 
the  marvelous  growth  of  the  Hamburg-American  Packet  Com- 
pany and  the  North  German  Lloyd,  which  are  the  greatest 
lines  in  the  world,  you  would  find  (he  statement  that  I  have 
made  backed  up  by  the  facts.  We,  in  this  country,  should 
build  not  only  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  Init,  we  should  open  up  a 
line  of  steamers  between  this  country  and  Russia,  NTonvay, 
Sweden  and  Denmark. 

Sweden,  at  the  present  moment,  offers  lo  us  one  of  the 
most  interestins  fields  for  enterprise  from  the  fact  that  in 
Lapland  vast  deposits  of  coal  have  heen  discovered,  and  the 
Swedes  are  about  to  build  a  railroad  through  the  forests  to 


develop  these  mines.  So  I  would  like  to  say  to  the  manufac- 
turers and  merchants  engaged  in  that  northern  trade,  that 
the  enterprise  of  building  ships  and  sending  them  to  Libau, 
Riga  and  to  Petersburg  and  to  parts  of  Sweden,  would,  in  my 
opinion,  and  in  the  opinion  of  the  best  thinkers  I  have  met 
in  Germany,  result  in  great  progress  and  profit,  not  only  to 
the  Swedes  but  to  ourselves.  The  building  of  the  canals  all 
over  the  Empire  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  phases  of  the 
development  of  the  German  people.  The  result  is  that  they 
have  obtained  cheap  transportation  rates. 

Another  very  important  point  that  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants in  this  city  should  consider,  where  the  Germans  are 
models,  is  the  packing  of  goods.  The  German  packs  every- 
thing he  sends  out  so  perfectly  that  when  it  arrives  it  is  in 
absolutely  the  same  condition  it  was  before  it  left  the  ware- 
house. I  have  not  the  time  to  enter  into  the  sins  on  the  part 
of  the  American  merchant  and  manufacturer  in  regard  to 
their  system  of  packing.  It  seems  almost  incredible  that  peo- 
ple as  intelligent  as  the  American  merchant  and  manufac- 
turer are  supposed  to  be  would  pack  as  they  do.  Packing  is 
one  of  the  most  important  features  of  trade.  People  not 
only  want  their  wares  at  the  time  they  order  them,  but  very 
often  a  particular  line  of  goods  may  lie  ordered  for  a  very 
particular  f)urpose,  and  you  can  imagine,  of  course,  the  dis- 
appointment when  the  goods  arrive  in  a  condition  unfit  for 
sale  or  unfit  for  delivery  to  the  jjerson  who  has  ordered  them. 
(Applause.) 

I  am  taking  up  a  great  deal  of  your  time  by  entering  into 
long  details  of  what  the  Gennaus  have  done  and  are  doing, 
but  I  think  that  1  have  said  enough  along  these  lines  to  give 
you  an  idea  and  to  impress  upon  you  the  importance  of  study- 
ing the  methods  that  prevail  among  that  people.  If  success 
achieved  and  being  achieved  at  the  present  moment  is  a 
guaranty,  then  no  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  not  even 
our  own,  offers  the  same  opportunities  of  study  as  does  the 
Gennan  Emjiire.  They  have  increased  their  exports  twenty- 
seven  millions  of  dollars  in  the  last  year,  while  England,  in 
numufactured  products,  shows  a  falling  off  of  over  one  hun- 
dred million,  and  this  results  from  stupidity  on  the  part 
of  the  English  people  in  neglecting  these  factors,  which  are 
among  the  most  important  and  the  most  often  impressed  on 
the  people  in  Germany  by  the  people  in  power.  The  gov- 
ernment is  doing  all  in  its  power  to  educate  the  public  mind 
up  to  the  generous  support  of  the  Empire,  and  so  is  parliament 
in  the  efforts  it  is  making  to  extend  the  export  trade. 

One  of  the  important  factors  which  I  nearly  neglected  is 
tbe  establishing  of  unions.  They  ha^e  in  Hamburg,  in  fact 
all  over  the  Empire — even  far  inland,  as  far  away  as  Chem- 
nitz. Dresden  and  Leipsic — unions  and  associations  where 
men  have  lectures  during  the  winter,  and  the  funds  realized 
in  this  way  are  contributed  for  the  purpose  of  building  ships. 
They  have  also  unions  where  money  is  collected  for  colonial 
purposes.  People  from  South  America  will  know  that  for 
instance;  if  anybody  is  here  from  Brazil  he  will  know  that 
one  of  the  strongest  and  rapidly  growing  parties  and  dcmii- 
nant  influences  in  Brazil  is  the  German  influence.  They  ap- 
])ropriated  money  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  colonists  in 
Brazil  and  in  various  parts  of  South  America,  in  fact,  in  ail 
parts  of  fbe  world,  to  establish  churches,  schools  and  libra- 
ries. The  d'ciiiiiiii  emigrant,  often  tliought  to  be  lost  to  the 
Fatherland,  becomes  the  apostle  of  trade  to  the  C(nintry  to 
which  lie  goes.  His  energy,  his  thrift  and  his  industry  make 
him  a  good  citiz(m. 

We  have  something  like  ten  or  eleven  millions  in  this 
country,  descendants  from  Germans,  and  among  our  popula- 
tion we  have  no  better  citizens  than  tho.se  who  have  come 
to  us  (uit  of  the  Fatherland,  thrifty,  honest  and  intelligent; 
and  so  in  Russia  to-day  this  same  force  and  influence  has 
driven  France  and  England,  or  is  driving  England  and  I'rance 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


293 


out  of  Bussia,  and  tlie  dominant  iniluence  of  that  Empire  to- 
day is  the  German  Empire.  The  banks,  cotton  mills,  the 
iron  mills  and  factories  of  all  kinds  in  Russia  to-day  are  con- 
trolled largely  by  the  Germans.  At  the  time  I  made  an 
investigation  of  the  Russian  Empire,  fully  90  per  cent,  of  its 
banking  interests  and  institutions  were  largely  dominated  by 
Germans. 

The  point  I  want  to  make  is  that  this  restless  activity, 
this  intelligent  effort  made  by  the  German  Empire  with  edu- 
cation as  its  basis,  has  resulted  in  this  achievement.  But  I 
want  to  say  a  certain  word  of  warning  to  the  Germans.  When 
we  in  this"  coirntry  and  in  England  and  other  countries  have 
their  system  of  education,  it  will  not  be  as  easy  for  her  to 
maintain  the  position  she  ocupies  to-day,  as  it  has  been  in  the 
past,  for  we  have  been  negligent  of  this  tremendous  and  im- 
portant factor. 

If  I  have  spoken  particularly  of  the  German  people,  the 
powere  exercised  by  them  in  seeking  foreign  trade,  the  ener- 
gies expended,  the  efforts  made,  it  is  because  the  successes 
offered  are  more  than  a  guaranty  that  the  means  applied  have 
been  the  very  best  possible  at  the  present  time.  In  emulat- 
ing the  German,  whether  in  seeking  trade  in  Scandinavia, 
Holland,  Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Australia  or  Russia,  you 
will  be  employing  means  known  to  have  been  eminently  suc- 
cessful. I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  merchants  and  man- 
ufacturers of  this  country,  by  following  the  same  intelligent 
efforts,  by  employing  the  same  kind  of  energies,  by  sending 
out  agents  competent  to  exhibit  the  goo'ds,  speaking  the  lan- 
guages spoken  by  the  agents  of  the  German  Empire,  can 
achieve  the  same  success  that  has  marked  the  last  thirty  years 
of  German  exports.  Vast  quantities  of  our  implements  for 
mining  and  forest  work,  canal  digging,  etc.,  etc.,  can  be  sold 
in  Russia  and  Scandinavia;  enormous  quantities  of  boots  and 
shoes  and  even  rubbers  may  be  sold  in  the  same  sections,  and 
not  only  in  those  parts,  but  in  Holland,  Belgium,  France  and 
Germany.  I  am  perfectly  satisfied,  from  a  long  experience 
reaching  over  many  years  of  careful  investigation  of  the  mar- 
kets of  the  Empire  and  of  Europe,  that  large  quantities  of 
our  boots  and  shoes  in  the  middle  and  higher  grades  can  be 
sold.  Prices  prevailing  in  the  German  Empire,  in  Australia, 
France,  England  and  on  the  Continent,  for  boots  and  shoes 
(viz.,  from  $2.50  to  $10  a  pair)  warrant  me  in  believing  that 
our  goods,  ranging  in  price  from  $2  to  $5,  would  sell  easily. 
The  argument  that  it  is  useless  for  us  to  make  any  effort  to 
sell  to  people  who  wear  nothing  but  a  breech  clout  is  weak. 
It  is  really  an  assertion,  not  an  argument.  The  vast  millions 
of  Asia,  Australia  and  South  America  are  rapidly  reaching 
out  for  the  same  kind  of  development  that  has  marked  the 
progress  of  our  own  people  from  colonial  times  to  the  present 
day.  They  will  want  the  tools  with  which  we  have  worked, 
they  will  want  these  things  that  have  helped  us;  and  any 
neglect  of  those  markets  because  of  the  belief  that  they  are 
poor  or  unable  to  pay  large  sums  of  money  for  our  products 
will  be  a  mistaken  policy,  one  that  is  sure  to  react  against 
us  and  in  favor  of  others.  We  can  neglect  no  part  of  the 
world. 

I  remember  once  reading  somewhere  a  Hindoo's  dream. 
It  seemed  to  him  as  if  the  races  of  mankind,  the  men  and 
the  women,  went  out  in  the  early  hours  of  the  morning  to 
their  daily  toil,  harnessed,  some  of  them,  by  the  side  of  cattle, 
in  the  fields  to  dig  and  to  plough.  And  the  reins  that  went 
from  the  mouths  of  these  people  were  long  steel  ribbons,  and 
they  went  back  to  a  black  iron  hand.  And  then  the  Hindoo's 
dream  changed,  and  he  saw  all  the  people  of  the  world 
going  out  pleasantly  and  happily  and  sprightly  to  their  daily 
toil  in  the  fields.  There  were  no  bits  in  their  mouths,  but 
there  were  long  steamers  of  gold  that  went  back  to  some 
unseen  hand. 

One  part  of  the  Hindoo's  dream  is  the  world  that  we  have 


left  behind  us.  It  is  the  world  of  wretchedness  and  toil  of 
the  past.  Read  the  record  of  Germany  and  England,  of  this 
country,  of  how  the  laborers  suffered  in  the  past,  and  you 
have  the  Hindoo's  dream  of  the  iron  hand.  The  other  is  one 
of  industry  and  industrial  art  education,  with  museums  and 
men  like  Dr.  Wilson,  teaching  and  leading  the  world  (ap- 
plause), it  goes  back  to  their  long  streamers  of  light — the 
golden  dream  of  the  Hindoo.  That  is  my  hope,  and  I  think 
it  is  the  hope  of  every  delegate  here  to-day  or  who  has  sat  in 
these  meetings.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Irving  P.  ^f anger : 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you,  Mr.  Antonio 
Cuyas,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Madrid, 
Spain,  who  will  address  you.    (Applause.) 

Mr.  Antonio  Cuyas: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow-Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
My  appointment  as  delegate  to  represent  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Indu.stry  and  Navigation  of  Madrid,  was  made  on 
the  fith  of  October,  and  I  was  notified  by  cable  of  th€  honor 
conferred  upon  me.  I  came  to  this  country  some  months 
ago,  with  no  idea  of  being  called  upon  to  perform  this  duty. 

I  did  not  hesitate,  however,  to  accept  the  appointment, 
despite  the  state  of  unpreparedness  in  which  it  found  me, 
because  I  believed  then  that  the  most  dignified  course  for 
a  Spanish  delegate  to  take  under  the  stress  of  recent  circum- 
stances was  that  of  silent  observation.  Therefore,  I  came 
to  Philadelphia  with  the  intention  of  taking  a  passive,  not  an 
active  part  in  the  proceedings  of  this  Congress. 

It  so  happens,  that  both  of  my  esteemed  colleagues,  Senor 
Yensen,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Bilbao, 
and  Senor  Alzamora,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Majorca,  came  here  in  exactly  the  same  spirit  as 
myself,  although  we  did  not  know  each  other  before  we  met 
in  Philadelphia.  Yet  Senor  Alzamora  addressed  you  last 
week,  Senor  Yensen  has  done  so  this  morning,  and  here 
I  am  imposing  on  your  time  and  kind  attention. 

I  do  not  know  whether  this  change  of  mind  and  animus 
requires  an  explanation;  but  I  can  assure  you  that  I  am  very 
glad  of  the  opportimity  of  giving  it,  if  I  may  have  your  kind 
indulgence. 

At  the  opening  ceremonies  of  this  Congress,  held  in  the 
vast  Auditorium  of  the  Exposition  building,  filled  with  so 
many  thousands  of  spectators.  His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  this 
hospitable  city,  in  his  eloquent  address  of  welcome,  laid  par- 
ticular stress  on  the  fact  that  the  delegates  to  this  Interna- 
tional Commercial  Congress  had  come  not  only  from  the  sur- 
rounding nations,  not  only  from  the  English-speaking  coun- 
tries, but  from  all  the  world,  even  from  Spain. 

The  mention  of  my  country's  name  was  greeted  with  an 
outburst  of  applause  so  spontaneous,  so  hearty,  so  enthu- 
siastic, and  so  stirring  that  it  deeply  moved  me,  and  I  de- 
voutly wished  that  every  Spanish  ear  could  have  heard  the 
roar  of  that  ovation,  so  that  every  Spanish  heart  could  have 
throbbed  with  the  emotions  that  filled  my  heart. 

That  applause,  coming,  as  it  did,  from  the  hands  (and  I 
felt  as  if  it  came  from  the  hearts)  not  only  of  the  delegates 
of  all  foreign  countries,  but  also  of  a  vast  and  genuinely 
representative  American  audience,  had  such  a  true  ring  to  it, 
that  I  feel  justified  in  taking  it  on  behalf  of  my  country,  as 
an  evidence  of  the  sympathy  and  good-will  of  every  foreign 
nation  represented  in  this  distingrnshed  gathering,  and  as 
a  most  gratifying  testimony  of  renewed  friendship  on  the 
part  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

That  beautiful  and  touching  incident  of  the  inaugural 
ceremonies,  which  has  been  repeated  with  equal  relative  en- 
thusiasm, according  to  the  size  of  the  audience,  every  time 


294 


PROCEEDINGS  OE  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


mv  coiintrv  lias  been  mentioned  in  these  proceedings,  has 
swept,  away  every  doubt  entertained  in  my  mind  as  to  the 
propriety,  the  delicacy  and  the  dignity  of  my  taking  an  ac- 
tive role  in  this  grand  reunion  of  the  world's  peace  messen- 
gers, the  commercial  delegates  from  all  civilized  nations. 

I  am  only  sorry  that,  owing  to  the  meagreness  of  the  data 
hurriedly  culled  in  the  last  few  days,  and  owing  to  the  small 
measure  of  my  abilities,  I  will  be  unable  to  do  full  justice 
either  to  my  country  or  to  this  Congress  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  my  task. 

Gentlemen,  I  do  not  represent,  and  cannot  speak  for  the 
Spanish  Government,  but  I  can  assure  yon,  all  the  same, 
that  Spain  at  this  moment  is  not  looking  backward,  but  for- 
ward. She  is  no't  looking  back  to  her  past  glories,  although 
they  comprise  achievements  that  rendered  possible  the  very 
existence  of  this  to-day  great  nation,  and  that  laid  the  founda- 
tions and  Imilt  the  main  structures  for  nineteen  other  inde- 
pendent nations  actually  and  ably  represented  in  this  Con- 
gress. Neither  is  she  looking  back  to  the  more  recent  and 
sadder  pages  in  her  eventful  histoid,  except  to  benefit  from 
the  ex  periences  they  offer.  No,  Spain  is  looking  forward 
to  her  rehabilitation  as  a  world-power.  She  has  no  desire 
to  reconquer  her  past  grandeur  through  the  savage  and 
appalling  instrumentalities  of  warfare;  but  she  has  the  de- 
termination to  regain  a  prominent  place  in  the  world  by  the 
peaceful  labors  of  agi'iculture,  the  ennobling  pursuits  of  in- 
dustry and  the  enterpi'ising  endeavors  of  commerce. 

As  a  proof  of  this  assertion,  I  may  mention  just  one  of  the 
many  evidences  of  the  changed  conditions  in  Spain. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  recent  crisis  in  our  national 
life,  when  the  Government  and  people  alike  seemed  dazed 
and  at  a  loss  as  to  what  course  to  take,  commerce  came  to 
the  rescue.  At  a  Congress  of  delegates  from  all  the  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce  in  the  kingdom,  held  in  the  historic  city 
of  Saragossa,  the  country's  condition  was  most  seriou.sly  and 
thoroughly  examined  and  analyzed,  and  a  comprehensive  plan 
for  its  improvement  was  formulated  and  recommended  to  the 
Government  and  to  the  Cortes.  So  far  as  it  is  practical,  that 
plan  has  been  and  will  gradually  be  followed. 

Other  evidences  of  the  same  spirit  are: 

First.  The  creation  of  a  National  Board  of  Export  Trade, 
composed  partly  of  ex-officio  members,  and  partly  of  elective 
members  chosen  by  the  C'hambers  of  Commerce,  industrial 
and  agricultural  organizations  throughout  the  country.  This 
Board  will  not  only  co-operate  with  the  business  interests  of 
every  section  of  the  country  in  opening  foreign  markets,  but 
will  advise  the  Executive  and  infiuenee  the  legislative 
branches  of  the  National  Government  in  commercial  matters. 

Second.  The  complete  reorganization  of  our  State  Depart- 
ment, reducing  the  scope  of  the  services  heretofore  devoted 
to  political  matters,  increasing  that  of  the  Bureau  of  Com- 
mercial Information. 

Third.  The  appointment  of  commercial  attaches  at  various 
Spanish  embassies  and  legations,  a  new  departure  with  us, 
as,  until  last  year,  we  had  only  military  and  naval  attaches 
at  our  foreign  missions. 

You  may  readily  uiulerstand,  therefore,  gentlemen,  that  the 
proceedings  of  this  International  Commercial  Congress  will 
be  followed  with  special  interest  by  all  flic  trade  organiza- 
tions of  my  country. 

Before  proceeding  with  the  statement  of  what  we  desire 
for  new  commercial  Spain,  it  may  be  well  to  briefly  show 
what  she  has  done  before  in  the  way  of  foreign  trade,  so  that 
it  may  serve  as  a  basis  for  what  may  be  done  in  the  future. 

In  the  first  place,  although  we  are  reputed  only  as  a  nation 
of  warriors,  I  beg  to  remind  you  that  we  are  not  such  novices 
in  the  arts  and  sciences  of  commerce,  for  we  have  had  quite 
extensive  legislation  cm  navigation,  on  maritime  casualties, 
on  insurance,  or  consular  jurisdiction,  on  maritime  policy  and 


martime  judicial  procedure,  and  on  kindred  subjects,  dating 
only  back  to  from  1271  to  1510. 

We  also  know  something  about  banking.  Tlie  Bank  of 
Barcelona,  which  has  to  this  very  day  been  operating  suc- 
cessfully and  profitably,  has  only  been  in  existence  since  the 
year  of  our  Lord  1401,  it  being,  therefore,  nearly  three  cen- 
turies (or  293  yeai's),  the  senior  in  age  of  the  dear  old  Bank 
of  England. 

In  entering  now  the  field  of  trade  statistics,  I  need  hardly 
make  an  apology  for  so  doing.  In  the  first  place,  because 
we  have  not  come  here  to  read  and  hear  lyrics  (statistics 
are  the  poetry  of  commercial  literature  anyhow),  and  in  the 
second  place,  because  the  example  has  been  set  by  almost  all 
those  who  have  preceded  me  in  addressing  you. 

I  have  been  obliged  to  take  the  year  1897  as  the  latest  upon 
which  to  give  you  figures  relative  to  our  entire  foreign  trade, 
because  the  statistics  of  1S9S  cannot  but  reflect  the  upheaval 
in  commerce  due  to  the  war. 

In  presenting  the  figures  corresponding  to  1897  I  have 
placed  them  opposite  to  those  of  1887.  in  order  to  show  the 
increase  attained  in  ten  yeai's. 

Exports  From  Spain. 

.    •  Principal  Articles. 

(A  peseta  is  equal  to  aliout  one  franc.) 

Pesetas. 
■     "■  1887.  1897. 

Animals 12,407,000       24,0fi5,000 

Boots  and  shoes 12,405,000       23,259,000 

Cork iri.769,000       33,864,000 

Cotton  manufactures  13.511,000       (il,877,000 

Fruits.  1887.  1897. 

Almonds 5,689.000  12,903,000 

(drapes   9,685,000  6,996,000 

Oranges   15,435,000  58,124,000 

Raisins 22,226,000  15,926,000 

Nuts    3,619,000  3,771,000 

Total 56.654,000       97,720,000 

Hides  and  skins 6,159,000       14,155,000 

Metals,          1887,  1897. 

Iron  and   steel 10,438,000  4,871,000 

Copper  regulus   23,912,000  28,844,000 

Lead,  in  plates,  bars,  etc 22.058,000  53,236,000 

Total 56,408,000       86,951,000 

Ores.  1887.  1897. 

Copper    30,672,000  28,525.000 

Iron   46,941,000  75,730,000 

All  others 9,076_,000  20,800,000 

Total 86,689,000  125,055,000 

Olive  oil   9,698,000  12,117,000 

Paper  of  all  kimls 4,748.000  8,520.000 

Quicksilver 8.012,000  9,463.000 

Rice    394,000  9,951,000 

Silk  in  cocoons '   1.73(;,0oo  3,214,000 

Common  soap 3,780,000  3.702,000 

Wheat  Hour   5,178,000  19.856,000 

('(immiin   wine   239,11-1,000  115,501.000 

Shei'rv  and  similar  wines 34,213,000  1  1,158,000 

Wool,'  raw    14,123,000  1  l.-.J05,000 

Wool  manufactures 1,685,00(1  :!. (1(15.000 

'i'otal  exports  principal  nnd  all  ■ — ■ — ■ — 

other  articles  722,182,000  1,074,883,000 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


296 


Imports  Into  Spain. 

Principal  Articles. 

Pesetas. 

1887.  1897. 

Animals    17,138,000  23,105,000 

Brandy  and  other  spirits  (alcohols).  45,029.000  485,000 

Chemical  products  15,813.000  25,881,000 

Coal  and  coke 25,572,000  51,883.000 

Codfish  and  stockfish 29,811,000  24,276,000 

Coffee   5,552.000  15,039,000 

Cotton,  raw 62,473,000  85,075.000 

Pounds  of  cotton 101,809,000  187,165.000 

Cotton  yarn   2,449,000  3,713,000 

Cotton  manufactures   11.331,000  4,327,000 

Wheat 62,818,000  34,015,000 

Hides  and  skins,  raw  and  prepared, 

including  leather 19,390,000  23,197.000 

Iron   and   steel,   wrought  and   un- 

wrought  and  manufactures  of ..  .  16,931.000  20,764,000 

Machinery  and  parts  thereof 20,137,000  30,361.000 

Crude  petroleum  8,467,000  6,276,000 

Ships  and  boats 5,049,000  17.285,000 

Silks,  raw  and  thrown 5,285.000  8,016,000 

Silk  manufactures  9,599,000  10,005.000 

Sugar,  raAv  and  refined 29,743,000  13,216,000 

Timber,  lumber  and  building  mate- 
rials      35,360.000  41,481.000 

Tobacco,  cigars  and  snuff 30.287,000  19,394,000 

Wool,  raw,  combed  and  carded 8,840.000  11,336,000 

Wool  manufactures 24,938,000  8,117,000 

Total    imports,    principal    and 

other  articles   811,212.000     909,539,000 

The  above  tables  show: 

First.  That  while  in  1887  Spain  imported  89,030,000 
pesetas'  worth  of  merchandise  in  excess  of  what  she  exported, 
in  1897  she  exported  165,344,000  pesetas'  worth  more  than 
she  imported. 

Second.  An  increase  in  imports  in  1897  of  98,327,000 
pesetas  as  compared  with  1887,  and  an  increase  in  exports  of 
352,701  pesetas,  in  the  same  period  of  ten  years. 

Third.  That  Spain's  total  foreisrn  commerce  amounted  in 
1887  to  1,583,394,000  pesetas,  and  in  1897  to  1.984,422,000 
pesetas,  an  increase  in  one  decade  of  451.028,000  pesetas. 
The  latter  notwithstanding  the  enormous  falling  off  in  the 
exports  of  red  wines  in  1897,  which  show  a  decrease  of  123,- 
613,000  pesetas,  as  compared  with  1887,  a  decrease,  however, 
which  has  partially  been  offset  in  1898  by  an  increase  of 
22,259,000  pesetas  in  the  exports  of  red  wines,  and  also 
partly  compensated  by  the  important  increase  of  45,202,000 
pesetas  in  the  exports  of  olive  oil. 

In  regard  to  wines,  this  being  one  of  our  chief  articles  of 
export,  I  wish  to  make  some  remarks.  Very  few  Americans 
or  other  residents  of  this  country  have  any  idea  that  Spanish 
wines,  other  than  Sherry,  Malaga  or  the  like,  are  consumed 
in  the  United  States.  You  will  hardly  ever  see  Spanish  red 
wines  on  the  lists  at  hotels,  restaurants  or  retail  merchants. 
Yet,  according  to  the  statistics  of  the  United  States  Treas- 
ury Department,  there  were  imported  into  this  counti"y  from 
Spain,  in  1897,  no  less  than  698,612  gallons  of  still  wines 
in  casks,  valued  at  $514,388,  and  that  was  the  smallest  quan- 
tity imported  in  several  years,  while  from  France,  there  came 
in  1897  only  599,456  gallons  in  casks,  valued  at  $346,050. 

Therefore,  I  dare  say  that  everv  quart  of  red  wine  of  the 
millions  yearly  imported  in  casks  from  my  country,  before 
being  presented  to  the  gullible  consumer  in  a  bottle  with  a  fine 


label  and  fancy  cap,  receives  a  genuine  Catholic  baptism; 
that  is  to  say,  a  good  sprinkling  of  water  (not  necessarily 
holy  water)  and  the  name  of  some  good  old  French  Saint — 
Saint  Julien,  for  example — to  whom  mne  dealers  owe  a  great 
deal  of  gratitude,  for  he  certainly  does  cover  a  multitude  of 
their  sins.     (Laughter.) 

That  is  not  all.  In  the  year  Just  quoted,  despite  the 
enormous  falling  off,  before  referred  to,  in  Spain's  wine  ex- 
ports, France  imported  from  my  country  374,548,000  quarts 
of  still  wine,  valued  at  82,400,000  pesetas,  or  an  average  of 
about  four  cents  per  quart.  Now,  it  is  well  known  that  these 
Spanish  wines  are  used  by  France  in  blending  with  her  own 
wines,  in  order  to  give  them  body,  strength  and  color.  Yet 
American  importers  paid  about  twelve  cents  regardless  of 
duty  for  every  quart  of  so-called  French  wine  entered  in 
casks,  and  an  average  of  about  forty-five  cents  per  quart  for 
French  still  wines  entered  in  bottles. 

In  this  connection,  I  wish  to  call  your  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  natural,  pure  and  rich  still  wines  of  many  of 
our  leading  gi-owers,  such  as  the  Marquis  de  Riscel,  the 
Sociedad  Vincola  del  Norte  de  Espaiia  (Rioja  Clarete)  and 
others,  are  now  prepared  and  bottled  in  such  excellent  manner 
that  they  are  fit  for  the  best  tables  and  the  most  fastidious 
palates.  Lest  you  consider  my  statement  patriotically  par- 
tial, I  will  quote  from  the  commercial  attache  at  the  Em- 
bassy of  Great  Britain  in  Madrid,  who,  in  his  last  report  to 
his  government,  says:  "Many  excellent  red  wines  are  now 
manufactured  in  Spain,  and  Englisli  wine  merchants  would 
do  %vell  to  encourage  the  taste  for  Spanish  wines  among  their 
customers,  as  the  increasing  quantities  manufactured  provide 
an  abundant  supply  of  good  wine  at  loiv  prices." 

Spain's  shipping  statistics  for  1897  show  that  18,984  mer- 
chant vessels  of  14,515,752  gross  tonnage  entered  her  ports 
in  that  year,  as  per  following  detail: 


SAILING  VESSELSj 

STEAM  VESSELS 

TOTALS 

No. 
1,071 

i,:!.5l 

1 
Tons.     , 

No. 

5,.541 

1,72-. 
7,269 

Tons. 

4,833,125 
1,640,775 

No. 

6,615 
3,076 

Tons. 

Natiooal  Flag— L.aden 

93.99.') 
30,701 

4,927,120 
1,671,476 

National  Flag— Total 

2,422 

124,696 

6,473,900 

9,691 

6,'i98,596 

ForeigD — Ladeo 

Foreign— In  Ballast 

796 

16S,6G0 
146,447 

3,321 

4,66.5 

2,780,796 
4,823,253 

4117 
5,176 

2,947,456 
4,969,701) 

Foreign — Total 

1,.307 

313,107 

7,9?6 

7,604,049 

9,293 

7,917,156 

In  regard  to  the  number  and  tonnage  of  ships  flying  the 
Spanish  flag,  at  first  sight  it  would  appear  as  if  Spain  occu- 
pied the  .seventh  place  among  the  countries  of  the  world,  she 
having  1.256  sailing  vessels  of  191,846  gross  tonnage,  and 
543  steam  vessels  of  564,459  gross  tonnage,  making  a  total 
of  1,799  merchantmen  with  756,305  tons  gross  register.  In 
this  last  respect,  therefore,  she  ranks  after  the  United  King- 
dom, the  United  States,  Norway,  Germany,  France  and  Italy, 
according  to  official  statistics  as  mnde  up.  Spain's  statistics, 
however,  comprise  vessels  only  of  fifty  tons  or  over,  while 
France's  statistics  comprise  vessels  of  from  two  tons  and  over, 
and  Italy's,  which  show  only  9,000  gross  tonnage  more  than 
Spain's,  take  in  all  vessels  of  five  tons  and  over. 

I  cannot,  at  this  moment,  go  back  of  the  official  statistics 
and  give  you  precise  data  on  the  subject;  but  with  such  an 
extensive  coast  as  Spain  has,  you  may  imagine  the  large 
number  of  small  craft,  between  two  or  five  tons  burden, 
that  are  engaged  in  her  fisheries  or  phing  in  her  coastwise 
trafftc.     Therefore,  if  all  such  vessels  were  included  in  the 


296 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERaSTATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


iiumbor  and  tonnage  of  Spain's  merchant  marine,  I  have  no 
doubt  it  would  appear  aliead  ot  Italy's,  and  probably  ahead 
of  (hat  of  France  also. 

Furthermore,  though  Spain  is  not  considered  to  be  progres- 
sive, slie  has  not  been  slow  in  the  application  of  steam  to 
navigation,  for  we  see  that  in  the  gross  tonnage  of  steam 
vessels  she  takes  fourth  place  among  nations,  with  564.4:5;) 
tons,  outranking  Norway  (351,000  tons),  France  (503,000 
tons),  and  Italy  (237,000  "tons). 

All  these  figures  refer  to  1896,  the  only  complete  ones  I 
have  found  available. 

While  .speaJcing  of  our  merchant  marine,  special  mention 
should  in  justice  be  made  of  the  Compania  Transatlantica 
Espanola  (Spanish  Transatlantic  Company),  which  occupies 
a  foremost  place  among  the  great  steamship  companies  of 
the  world.  This  company  has  a  fleet  of  about  thirty  passen- 
ger steamers,  many  of  them  first-class  modem  vessels,  which 
run  on  a  number  of  regular  lines  from  Spanish  ports  to 
Cuba,  Mexico,  Central  and  South  America,  the  Philippine 
Islands,  North  and  West  Africa;  from  New  York  to  Cuba 
and  Mexico,  and  others.  According  to  information  kindly 
furnished  by  the  company's  agents  in  New  York,  Messrs. 
J.  M.  Ceballos  &  Co.,  the  company  is  now  making  arrange- 
ments for  the  establishment  of  a  regular  and  direct  line  from 
New  York  to  Spanish  ports.  It  will  also  establish  connec- 
tions from  Havana  to  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia;  from 
New  York  to  Boston  and  Quebec,  and  from  Valparaiso  to 
San  Francisco. 

These  and  many  other  maritime  communications  already 
established,  or  about  to  be  opened,  offer  ample  facilities  for 
handling  Spain's  foreign  commerce,  which,  since  the  war, 
is  showing  signs  of  a  magnificent  revival. 

The  latest  reports  (which  I  have  had  the  opportunity  of 
looking  over  in  the  Philadelphia  Museum)  from  the  British 
commercial  attache  and  consular  officers  in  Spain  (to  whom, 
by  the  way,  I  desire  to  pay  tribute  of  admiration  for  the 
efficiency,  thoroughness  and  impartiality  shown  in  those  re- 
ports) will  support  me  in  the  statement  that  an  era  of  un- 
precedented activity  has  followed  the  first  shock  due  to  the 
loss  of  our  transoceanic  possessions.  Our  people  have  real- 
ized the  absolute  necessity  of  increa.sing  our  national  pro- 
ducts, of  improving  and  multiplying  our  manufacture,  and  of 
seeking  new  markets  in  place  of  those  we  have  lost. 

New  iron  winning  districts  are  being  prospected  or  sought 
with  great  energy.  Large  tracts  of  land  in  many  provinces, 
admirably  suited  for  growing  beet  root,  are  being  devoted 
to  its  cultivation,  and  many  factories  for  the  extraction  of 
beet  sugar  have  sprung  up  in  different  sections  of  the  coun- 
try. Electric  lighting  is  can-ied  into  hundreds  of  small 
towns,  while  electric  tramway  traction,  established  in  Madrid, 
Barcelona,  Bilbao,  Santander  and  other  provincial  capitals, 
is  being  extended  to  smaller  cities.  A  great  deal  of  capital 
is  flowing  into  Spain,  not  only  from  foreign  investors,  but 
from  Sjjaiiiards  returning  from  our  late  colonies.  Mucli 
of  the  money  which  English  capitalists  have  paid  for  good 
properties  in  Cuba  and  much  that  will  still  be  paid  by 
British  investors  and  by  Americans  (if  the  latter  wake  up 
in  time  to  take  advantage  of  the  magnificent  opportunities 
awaiting  capital  in  Cuba)  will  also  flow  into  Spain. 

All  this  means  new  impetus  and  new  life  to  our  agricul- 
ture, our  mining  and  our  industry.  All  this  means  the  ne- 
cessity for  new  and  improved  machinery,  new  implements, 
new  tools,  new  electrical  appliances.  All  this  means  more 
prosperity  at  home  and  a  consequent  increase  in  the  import 
of  new  or  improved  manufactures  and  of  the  luxuries  of  life. 

We  are  very  anxious  to  increase  our  trade  relations  with 
all  Latin  America.  I  believe  the  example  set  by  all  English- 
speaking  ])eople3,  irrespective  of  their  forms  of  government, 
in  seeking   closer   commercial   ties   among   tliem.selves    is   an 


excellent  one  and  worthy  of  being  followed  by  all  Spanish- 
speaking  peoples,  whatever  be  their  respective  form  of  gov- 
ernment. 

The  Spanish-American  Republics  have  no  cause  to  expect 
to-day,  and  certainly  do  not  fear,  any  criminal  aggression 
or  forcible  intervention,  in  their  domestic  troubles,  on  the 
part  of  Spain.  There  is  no  reason,  therefore,  why  Spain 
and  the  independent  nations  that  owe  their  origin  and  their 
language  to  her,  should  not  know  more  of  each  other  hence- 
forth, and  bring  about  by  all  fair  and  reciprocal  means  a 
very  large  increase  in  their  exchange  of  products  and  manu- 
factures. 

We  are  very  desirous  of  augmenting  our  trade  relations 
with  the  United  States.  We  are  among  the  principal  buyers 
of  American  raw  cotton,  which  shows  that  the  Spanish  cotton 
textile  industry  is  an  important  one.  With  the  raw  cotton 
there  may  be  an  opportunity  of  sending  improved  cotton 
spinning  and  weaving  macliinery. 

You,  Americans,  can  buy  a  great  deal  of  the  output  of  our 
mines,  and  there  you  have  an  opportunity  of  selling  us  your 
improved  mining  implements. 

American  manufacturers  and  export  merchants  have  al- 
ready received  inquiries  for  important  supplies  in  machinery, 
tools,  hardware,  electrical  appliances  and  many  other  lines 
of  American  manufacture. 

Therefore,  I  can  assure  you  that  Spain  will  welcome  Amer- 
icans, American  capital,  American  products,  not  conflicting 
with  our  principle  products,  and  many  American  manufac- 
turers; that  is,  almost  anything  American,  with  the  exception 
of  bad  whisky  and  yellow  journalism.     (Laughter.) 

In  order  that  this  increase  in  trade  between  Spain  and 
the  United  States  may  be  speedily  effected,  with  advantage 
to  both  the  buyer  and  seller,  it  is  indispensable  that  a  treaty 
of  commerce  be  negotiated  and  ratified  without  further  delay. 
Some  reciprocity  agreement  is  needed,  at  least,  if  the  new 
conditions,  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  Spain,  are  to 
1)0  taken  advantage  of  and  made  the  basis  of  an  immense 
development  in  the  commerce  between  those  two  countries. 

Spain  is  perfectly  willing  to  negotiate  a  new  treaty  of  com- 
merce, her  government  having  agreed  with  the  United  States 
(Tovernmcnt  to  enter  into  such  negotiations.  I  understand, 
however,  that  before  doing  so,  it  is  necessary  that  all  the  other 
treaties,  that  were  broken  by  the  opening  of  hostilities,  be  re- 
newed. This  has  not  been  done,  and  it  is  a  jfity  that  these 
official  formalities  should  stand  in  the  way  of  closer  com- 
mercial ties  between  two  peoples  who  desire  to  do  business 
and  be  friends  once  more. 

Permit  me,  now,  to  express,  both  as  a  representative  of  the 
Madrid  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  on  my  own  behalf,  my 
sincere  ap]:ircciation  of  the  warm  and  generous  hospitality 
extended  to  me  by  this  great  city  and  by  the  Pliiladclphia 
Commercial  Museum;  and  to  give  utterance  to  my  gratitude 
for  all  the  courtesies  and  kindness  received  during  my  de- 
lightful stay  among  you. 

It  was  befitting  the  name  and  the  history  of  this  City  of 
Brotherly  Love  to  bring  about  this  gathering  of  representa- 
tive men,  who  will  shortly  leave  here,  scattering  througliout 
the  world  the  seeds  of  progress,  of  prosperity  and  of  peace; 
and  it  was  equally  befitting  its  name  and  its  traditions  f<ir 
it  to  offer  us,  upon  our  arrival  1icn\  llic  l)alm  that  will  do 
so  much  towards  healing  the  wouihIs  of  but  recent  strife. 
(Continued  applause.) 

//()/(.   Irriiii/  P.  Wdiigfr: 

1  have  tlie  pleasiu'e  of  introducing  to  you  Mr.  Ibirald 
Grelist,  delegate  from  Gothenburg,  Sweden,  wlm  will  unw 
add  less  you.     (Applause.) 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


297 


Mr.  Harald  Grebst: 

Mr  Chairman,  Fellow  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
I  have  the  honor  to  participate  in  this  Congress  as  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  General  Chambers  of  Commerce,  as  well  as 
the  General  Export  Association  of  Sweden,  and  now  beg  to 
call  your  attention  to  a  few  facts  about  the  import  and  ex- 
port trade  of  my  country.  Unfortunately  i  am  not  quite 
familiar  with  the  English  language,  and  I  therefore  ask  your 
kind  indulgence  to  what  might  seem  ridiculous  m  my  pro- 
nunciation! I  am  not  going  to  give  you  a  thorough  report 
of  the  commerce  of  Sweden;  1  simply  want  to  show  you  by 
a  few  words  what  we  principally  make  and  bring  into  this 

country.  ,^      -r    r,    -^r         ^ 

The  honorable  consul  of  Chemnitz,  Mr.  J.  C.  Monaghan, 
anxious  to  obtain  for  his  own  country  every  opportunity  to 
extend  its  trade,  has  to-day  pointed  out  the  significance  of 
Scandinavia,  but  more  particularly  of  Sweden  and  the  very 
important  province  of  Lapland,  in  which,  quite  recently, 
enormous  deposits  of  coal  and  minerals  have  been  discovered. 
As  you  all  know,  Sweden  is  most  famous  for  its  iron  and 
steel,  which  is  used  all  over  the  world,  and  I  will  therefore 
give 'you  some  information  about  this  important  industry. 
The  total  quantity  of  iron  ore  mined  in  Sweden  in  1898  was 
2,302,506  tons,  yielding  57  per  cent,  of  pure  iron.  About 
9,274  men  are  employed  in  our  iron  mines.  Our  pig  iron 
industry  showed  last  year  a  result  of  523,960  tons  of  pig  iron, 
together  with  7,806  tons  of  foundi7  goods,  cast  direct  from 
the  furnaces,  thus  a  total  sum  of  531,766  tons.  The  above 
mentioned  p'ig  iron  consists  of  259,271  tons  forge  and  pud- 
dle iron,  240,781  tons  Bessemer  and  Martin  iron,  2,246  tons 
Spiegel  iron,  10,653  tons  pig  iron  to  be  converted  into  steel, 
10,309  tons  foundry  pig  iron  for  various  purposes. 

In  1898,  the  following  iron  and  steel  was  produced  in 
Sweden,  viz: 

13,499  tons  billets  and  blooms,  170.374  tons  iron  and  steel 
baxs,  9,533  tons  shape  and  dimension  iron  and  steel,  77,368 
tons  hoop  and  nail-rod  iron,  23,882  tons  rolled  wire  in  coils, 
5,433  tons  hollow  bicycle  steel  tubing,  6,259  tons  solid  bicycle 
steel  tubing,  16,530  tons  plates,  15  tons  rails,  6  tons  fish 
plates,  2,111  tons  tires  for  railroad  use,  3,146  tons  axles, 
2,037  tons  anchors  and  other  heavy  forged  goods.  Total, 
330,193  tons. 

We  also  have  other  mines  in  Sweden,  from  which  we  gain 
gold  ore,  amounting  to  2,136  tons;  silver  and  lead  ore,  6,743 
tons;  copper  ore,  23,335  tons;  zinc  ore,  61,627  tons;  manga- 
nese ore,  2,385  tons;  paritis,  386  tons. 

These  mines  yielded  last  year  an  output  of  126  kilos  of  gold, 
2,032.9  kilos  of  silver,  1,558,826  kilos  of  lead,  234,808  kilos 
of  copper. 

In  addition,  we  produced  50,000  kilos  of  sulphur,  3,001 
kilos  of  oxide  of  cobalt,  1,164,599  kilos  of  sulphate  of  copper, 
124,445  kilos  of  sulphate  of  iron,  153,424  kilos  of  alum, 
50,412  kilos  of  graphite,  363,000  kilos  of  ground  peroxide  of 
manganese. 

Our  product  of  steam  coal  is  236,277  tons,  and  of  fire  clay, 
131,391  tons,  and  feldspar,  20,737  tons. 

The  motors  for  our  mining  industry  are  chiefly  turbine 
wheels. 

Before  speaking  aboiit  our  general  trade,  I  want  to  point 
out  that  the  Swedish  woods,  especially  the  fir  and  pine, 
known  as  white  and  red  woods,  are  great  export  articles,  and 
the  immense  forests  of  the  northern  part  of  our  country  en- 
able us  to  compete  with  any  nation.  Our  chief  export  of  this 
article  from  the  south  of  Sweden,  goes  to  p]ngland,  where  it 
is  used  as  pitprops  or  sleepers  in  the  mines,  or  as  rails  for 
fences,  along  the  railroads,  etc. 

Boards,  battens  and  deals  are  chiefly  exported  from  the 
Baltic  ports  and  sent  all  over  the  world. 


1  now  want  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  articles  which 
form  our  import  trade. 

We  import  wheat,  rye,  oats,  cott'ee,  sugar,  cocoa,  tobacco, 
fruit,  plants,  cotton,  jute,  yarn,  thread,  hair,  feathers,  bone, 
horn  and  other  animal  fertilizers,  tallows,  oils,  gum,  rubber, 
dye  stuffs,  cork,  raw  minerals,  metals,  vessels,  carriages,  in- 
struments, tools,  agricultural  machines  and  coin. 

Our  export  consists  of  butter,  eggs,  live  stock,  meats,  fish, 
chocolate,  pai>er  and  paper  goods,  raw  minerals,  raw  metals, 
as  well  as  much  partly  worked  zinc  and  iron  ore,  wood,  chlorate 
of  potassium,  calcium,  carbide,  the  Erickson  telephone  ap- 
paratus, DeLaval's  milk  separators,  vessels,  and  last  but  not 
least,  iron  and  steel. 

Our  greatest  imports  during  last  year  came  from  Germany 
and  Great  Britain,  and  our  chief  exports  were  to  Great  Britain 
and  Germany.  The  chief  commercial  places  in  Sweden  are: 
Stockholm,  Gothenburg,  Malmo,  Norrkoping,  Gefle,  Karls- 
krona  and  Helsingborg,  all  of  which  have  splendid  harbors, 
frequented  by  ships  of  all  nations. 

As  a  matter  of  special  interest  to  this  Congress,  I  want 
to  state  that  the  chief  articles  of  import  from  the  United 
States  last  year  were  cotton,  fertilizers,  resin,  harpoes,  ma- 
chines, tools,  metals,  oils,  petroleum,  paraffine  wax,  syrup, 
molasses,  grain,  fiour,  tallow,  tobacco  and  a  small  quantity 
of  coal.  Our  exports  to  the  States  were  principally  rags,  iron 
and  steel,  pulp  and  safety  matches. 

This  report  will  show  you,  that  Sweden  is  able  to  do  both 
an  import  and  export  trade  with  the  United  States,  and  I 
join  in  the  wishes  of  the  fellow  delegates,  whp  in  their 
speeches  hefore  me,  have  pointed  out  the  necessity  for  the 
United  States  giving  more  attention  to  steam  navigation,  this 
being  the  only  way  to  enable  the  consumers  of  the  whole 
world  to  come  into  closer  connection  with  the  consumers  and 
manufacturers  on  either  side  of  the  great  ocean. 

Speaking  for  my  own  country,  we  are  very  anxious  to  come 
into  closer  connection  with  this  great  continent;  and  I  feel 
sure  that  such  a  connection  would  prove  profitable  both  for 
you  and  for  us. 

At  present,  however,  when  you  pay  in  freight  from  New 
York  to  Sweden  about  the  same  price  as  you  can  buy,  for  in- 
stance, the  coal  delivered  c.  i.  f.  Sweden,  from  England,  you 
w-ill  easily  understand  that  there  is  very  little  chance  for  an 
extension  of  mutual  business  transactions.  However,  I  trust 
that  you  Americans  will  consider  this  question  of  opening  up  a 
mercantile  marine  as  a  very  important  one,  and  if  your  con- 
siderations lead  to  a  favorable  result,  I  feel  convinced  that 
your  country  and  mine  will  hear  more  of  each  other  than 
they  hitherto  have  been  able  to  hear.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Irving  P.  W anger : 

I  will  now  introduce  to  you  Mr.  L.  Rubelli,  delegate  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  at  Zengg,  Croatia. 


Ceoatia  and  Her  Commerce. 

Mr.  L.  Rubelli: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen:  As  a  delegate  from  the 
Chamber  of  Comerce  and  Industry  of  the  Austrian  sea 
coast  city  of  Zengg,  in  Croatia,  in  fulfillment  of  my  duty, 
I  will  say  a  few  words  at  the  closing  of  this  important  Inter- 
national Commercial  Congress. 

The  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  I  have  the  honor  to 
represent,  cannot  present  any  very  interesting  data  concerning 
commercial  affairs,  tliat  has  not  already  been  presented  very 
fully  by  the  eminent  delegates  and  speakers  who  have  pre- 
ceded me. 

The  commerce  of  the  city  of  Senj,  or  Zengg,  as  the  Ger- 
mans call  it,  was  at  one  time  of  great  importance  in  importa- 


298 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  C0NC4RESS 


tioii  ;nid  exportation,  beiiia;  the  only  port  of  the  old  kingdom 
of  Croatia.  It  was  the  busiest  place  on  the  Adriatic  sea  coast, 
her  poi-t  crowded  with  vessels,  where,  as  a  boy,  I  well  re- 
member several  vessels  flying  the  stars  and  stripes,  loading 
eargoes  of  cereals  and  lumber  for  ports  of  the  United  King- 
dom and  France.  This,  however,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  is  not 
tiie  ease  at  present,  because  the  government  has  built  railroad 
lines  to  other  more  favored  ports  belonging  to  dependencies 
•►f  the  Empire  that  possess  more  political  influence,  thus  di- 
verting the  trade  from  the  port  of  Senj. 

Croatia  is  rich  in  forests  of  oak  and  beech  trees,  and  while 
in  part,  mountainous,  has  also  considerable  table  land  well 
cultivated.  Schools  and  universities  abound.  Her  large  cities 
and  factories  employ  improved  methods  in  business  and  work. 
Her  people  of  the  farming  districts  use  mostly  old  methods, 
their  needs  are  few,  they  en  joy  good  health  and  robu.stness,  and 
are  seemingly  contented.  Of  commerce  in  general,  after 
what  has  been  said  at  this  Congress,  nothing  more  remains  to 
be  added.  Mostly,  the  foreign  delegates  have  condemned  the 
present  United  States  tariff,  which  I  think  will  stay  for  some 
time  to  come,  because  the  great  manufacturing  states  of  this 
country  are  in  favor  of  it.  These  states  are  wealthy  and  have 
the  largest  population,  therefore,  most  votes,  and  thus  will 
elect  that  political  party  whose  strongest  platform  plank  is 
protection.  Political  parties  will  no  doubt  use  the  remarks 
of  the  foreign  delegates  in  their  next  election  speeches,  one 
saying  what  is  good  for  them  must  be  bad  for  us,  therefore 
let  us  stand  by  the  party  that  will  protect  our  manufacturers; 
others  claiming  that  free  trade  is  beneficial,  because  import- 
ing goods  free  of  duty  is  beneficial  to  the  laboring  classes,  but 
in  a  fight  like  this,  between  capitalists  and  laboring  classes, 
the  result  can  be  easily  guessed,  and  I  think,  as  before  stated, 
that  the  tariff  will  stay. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  because  of  the  tariff,  this  Con- 
gress will  not  bring  good  results;  it  has  already  done  so  by 
bringing  together  and  acquainting  with  each  other  many  busi- 
ness men.  that  would  not  otherwise  have  met,  and  when  busi- 
ness men  meet,  the  result  is  always  beneficial  to  one  or  the 
other,  or  to  ]>otli,  but  the  greatest  good  for  commerce  has 
and  will  be  done  by  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
which  under  the  management  of  the  energetic  Dr.  Wilson, 
has  accomplished  wonders.  While  it  remains  itnder  his  guid- 
ance, and  is  kept  as  a  commercial  institution,  it  will  be  a 
great  help  to  the  commerce  of  this  country  and  I  may  say 
of  the  whole  commercial  world.  To  be  a  commercial  insti- 
tution, however,  it  will  have  to  be  supported  by  commercial 
help,  if  municipal,  state  or  government  aid  is  needed,  it  may 
drift  into  a  political  institution  and  thereby  lose  its  com- 
mercial elliciency. 

I  close  by  thanking  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 
and  iithers  fur  the  kindness  .shown  me. 

//(;//.  I  rriiig  I'.  Wanger:  '"■ '"  .... 

Mi-.  .1.  Nicolas,  Consul-General  and  delegate  from  the  Gov- 
einiiiciit  of  llaili.  will  now  address  you. 

Ml-.  ./.  Nicolas: 

Mr.  ('hairman  and  (ientlemen:  It  gives  me  great  pleasure 
to  have  the  opportunity,  in  the  name  of  my  country,  to  thank 
the  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia  and  the  Honorable 
Dr.  Wilson  for  the  kind  invitation  extended  (o  the  Govern- 
ment of  Haiti  to  be  represented  in  this  commercial  gathering, 
and  it  is  also  a  great  pleasure  for  me  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  speaking  not  only  before  the  American  manufacturers,  but 
before  the  delegates  from  every  country  of  the  world  on  the 
commercial  interests  of  Haiti. 

Mr.  President,  gentlemen  and  delegates,  the  memoir  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you,  contains  only  informati(m 
coDcerning  my  country  for  the  consideration  of  those  Amer- 


ican manufacturers  who  desire  either  to  establish  commercial 
relations  with  Haiti  or  to  enlarge  those  already  existing.. 

I  have  not  thought  it  my  duty  to  put  to  the  test  your  in- 
dulgence on  this  occasion  by  introducing  geographical  and 
historical  statements  about  Haiti.  I  have  preferred  to  recom- 
mend to  you  in  this  regard  the  "Handbook  of  Haiti,''  pub- 
lished in  18!.i2  by  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics  at  Wash- 
ington, toward  the  maintenance  of  which  the  Government  of 
Haiti  contributes. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  important  that  I  should,  in  order  to  re- 
spond to  questions  which  some  manufacturers  have  raised  on 
this  subject,  pray  you  to  note  that  the  Island  of  Haiti  is  four 
hundred  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  from  north  to  south,  and  that  it  is  divided  into  two 
republics,  namely  the  Dominican  Republic  and  the  Republic 
of  Haiti.  It  is  especially  of  the  latter,  whicli  I  have  the  honor 
to  represent,  that  I  am  about  to  speak. 

The  public  peace  in  Haiti  has  not  been  disturbed  for  a  long 
period.  That  country  is  working  seriously  for  the  advance- 
ment of  its  agriculture  and  for  the  introduction  of  new  in- 
dustries. 

All  of  its  citizens  are  united  in  one  sole  purpose,  and  that  is 
to  draw  closer  and  closer  friendly  relations  with  the  Republic 
of  the  United  States  and  with  all  other  people,  and  to  implant 
among  us  the  progress  which  has  already  been  realized  in  the 
more  advanced  countries. 

Excuse  me,  gentlemen,  for  diverging  a  little  here  from  the 
main  point  under  consideration.  I  esteem  it  important  before 
everything  else,  and  this  is  also  in  answer  to  questions  which 
have  been  asked  of  me,  to  give  the  assurance  that  there  is  in. 
Haiti  the  most  perfect  guarantee  for  the  pleasant  reception 
and  the  good  treatment  of  all  foreigners  of  whatever  nation- 
ality. In  saying  this,  I  do  not  refer  particularly  to  the  cities, 
where  in  Haiti,  as  everywhere  else,  the  most  advanced  classes 
are  found,  but  I  include  also  the  country  places.  The  for- 
eigner travels  there  even  in  the  most  obscure  comers  of  our 
mountains  with  the  assurance  that,  even  there,  no  murder 
has  ever  been  attempted,  or  any  theft  ever  committed  upon 
the  person,  and  that  tlie  most  open  hospitality  awaits  him 
even  when  night  overtakes  him. 

Haiti  is  about  five  days  from  New  York  by  steamer,  of 
which  there  are  three  lines  plying  regularly  between  the  two 
places:  the  Atlas  line  twice  a  month,  the  Dutch  line  also 
twice  a  month,  and  the  Cameron  (American)  line,  which  has 
recently  established  a  weekly  service,  so  that  at  the  present, 
we  have  nothing  to  desire  in  regard  to  facilities  of  commu- 
nication. 

The  principal  articles  of  export  from  Haiti  are  coffee,  cacao, 
logwood,  mahogany,  yellow  wood,  cotton,  wax,  honey,  skins 
and  hides,  lignum-vitre,  gum  guaiacum,  sea  shells,  turtle 
shells,  orange  peel,  ginger,  rum,  etc. 

The  depreciation  in  the  ruling  price  of  coffee  has  affected 
Haiti  as  it  has  all  other  coffee-producing  countries.  It  is 
for  this  reason,  due  to  over-production,  that  Haiti  has  begun 
to  give  a  new  direction  to  its  agriculture  in  starting  up  the 
sugar  industry,  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  of  the  castor  oil 
plant  and  of  cotton,  all  having  a  large  scale. 

Notwithstanding  a  large  home  consumption,  Haiti  exports 
annually  from  70,000.000  to  86,000,000  pounds  of  coffee,  and 
in  order  to  sustain  advantageously  the  struggle  against  other 
]iroducing  markets,  and  especially  to  maintain  for  its  coffee 
the  place  it  has  always  held  in  European  markets,  where  it 
is  preferred  on  account  of  its  flavor  and  exquisite  taste,  the 
u-overnment  has  encouraged  the  establishment  of  machinery 
fur  cleaning  it  and  properly  preparing  it  for  export.  The 
machinery  has  been  bought,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  United 
States.  There  still  remains  an  open  field  for  new  demands  in 
this  line,  demands  which  will  become  more  and  more  im- 
portant as  competition  becomes  more  and  more  active. 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


299 


In  the  interest  of  commerce  (which  cannot  exist  in  the 
absence  of  the  exchange  of  products  between  two  countries, 
unless,  as  it  is  the  ruling  case  for  Haiti,  in  its  commercial 
relations  with  the  United  States,  one  of  them  addresses  itself 
to  a  third  party  as  an  intermediary)  let  me  here  express  the 
wish  that  the  American  public  will  better  appreciate  the  cofEee 
of  Haiti  and  also  take  some  of  it  for  its  own  consumption. 

If  such  a  result  could  be  obtained,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that 
it  would,  while  assuring  the  direct  liquidation  of  accounts, 
contribute  largely  to  facilitate  the  commercial  relations  of  the 
two  countries  by  giving  to  them  a  larger  development. 

During  the  past  three  years,  the  production  of  cacao  and 
of  cotton  has  been  doubled.  Unfortunately,  the  cofEee,  and 
still  less  the  cotton  of  Haiti  does  not  find  a  market  in  the 
United  States.  Our  cotton  would  be  placed  under  too  dis- 
advantageous conditions  by  reason  of  the  enormous  expense 
which  it  would  have  to  support,  and  of  the  custom  duty  which 
it  would  have  to  pay  to  enter  into  competition  in  your  mar- 
kets with  the  South,  whose  capacity  of  production  is,  if  I  am 
not  deceived,  estimated  at  9,000,000  bales  annually.  Liver- 
pool will,  therefore,  continue  to  be  the  market  to  which  we 
must  address  ourselves. 

Haiti  thus  furnishes  to  the  United  States  all  other  products 
above  enumerated,  except  cotton — coffee  in  very  small  quan- 
tity. 

Taking  the  year  1893  as  an  average,  we  note  that  the  total 
value  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  Haiti  amounted  to  $19,770,- 
867.91,  and  that  the  exportations  figure  here  for  $13,163,059, 
and  the  importations  for  $7,607,817,  not  counting  the  specific 
importation  of  $1,131,235  in  American  gold. 

In  the  interest  of  showing  the  importance  of  the  develop- 
ment which  the  commerce  of  Haiti  with  the  United  States 
has  attained,  I  pray  you  to  note  that  the  importation  of 
American  products  is  larger  than  the  importations  from 
France,  England  and  Germany  together. 

In  1872,  we  imported  from  the  United  States  to  the  value 
of  $2,487,210.  In  1893,  these  importations  amounted  to 
$5,389,169.05.  It  is  thus  seen  that  our  importations  from 
the  United  States  nearly  tripled  in  twenty-one  years.  Here 
then  is  the  proof  that  our  commerce  with  the  United  States 
has  developed  considerably.  This  development  will  grow  in 
proportion  as  Haiti  shall  construct  railways  which  will  permit 
her  to  open  up  to  development  her  most  secluded  localities. 

It  is  in  the  United  States  that  the  rails  and  locomotives 
proportion  as  Haiti  shall  construct  railways,  which  will  permit 
all  the  material  for  the  tramways  of  Port-au-Prince  and  Aux 
Cayes  was  purchased;  it  is  also  here  that  Mr.  B.  Prophete,  the 
concessionaire  of  a  new  railway,  proposes  to  address  himself 
for  his  materials,  and  it  is  here  that  the  Government  of  Haiti 
purchased  its  bridges  and  the  material  for  its  foundries  and 
its  dry  dock  at  Port  au  Prince. 

It  is  important  that  I  should  give  some  figures  in  support 
of  that  which  has  already  been  stated.  I  take  for  this  purpose 
the  year  1893,  and  I  give  the  statistical  statement  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Haiti  of  the  importations  of  that  year: 

The  United  States $5,389,169.05 

To  which  I  add  the  importations  of  specie 1,131,235.00 


$6,520,404,05 

France    1,425,658.82 

Germany    445,165.98 

England 292.016.09 

All  other  countries 55,806.97 


Total    $8,739,051.91 

iVom  the  United  States $6,520,404.05 

From  England,  France,  Germany 
and  all  other  countries 2,218,647.85  

Total $8,739,051.91 


Of  this  total  of  $8,739,051.91,  Haiti  imported  from  the 
United  States  in  merchandise  $5,389,169.05,  and  in  specie 
$1,131,235.    The  export  to  all  countries  was  $12,163,059. 

If  due  note  be  taken  of  the  fact  that  Haiti  has  not  yet  at- 
tained the  highest  degree  in  the  development  of  her  com- 
merce, that  her  forests  of  mahogany  have  scarcely  yet  been 
tut  into,  and  that  her  mineral  wealth  still  lies  untouched, 
the  result  just  outlined  must  be  regarded  as  very  encouraging 
for  a  people  numbering  only  a  million  and  a  quarter,  who  are 
now  displaying  new  activity  in  order  that  they  may  keep 
pace  with  other  people  in  the  way  of  modern  progress  and 
civilization. 

I  will  not  speak  to  you  of  the  intellectual  development  in 
Haiti;  this  is  neither  the  time  nor  the  place  for  that.  In  this 
respect,  however,  immense  progress  has  also  been  achieved. 
The  professional  chairs  in  our  colleges  and  in  our  schools  of 
law  and  of  medicine,  are  competently  filled  by  Haitians  who 
have  pursued  their  studies  either  in  the  country  or  in  Paris. 
We  are  beginning  to  send  our  youth  to  the  United  States,  and 
the  welcome  with  which  they  are  received  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  and  at  Pratt  Institute,  Brooklyn,  where  some 
of  them  study  the  mechanical  arts  and  electricity,  gives  to  us 
the  right  to  hope  that  the  number  sent  here  will  be  multiplied. 

The  question  of  credit  is  an  obstacle  to  the  development  of 
commerce  between  Haiti  and  the  United  States.  It  is  to  be 
desired  that  the  manufacturers  here  should  give  longer  cred- 
its to  purchasing  firms  in  order  that  these  latter  may  extend 
the  same  privileges  to  Haitian  merchants.  He  who  has  trav- 
eled in  South  and  Central  America  and  the  West  Indies  will 
answer  you  that  the  credit  of  three  month.?,  which  is  gen- 
erally accorded  by  American  commission  houses,  is  too  limited 
for  these  countries.  No  one  can  count  on  finding  in  these 
countries  the  hustling  of  business  which  is  so  notable  in  Chi- 
cago and  New  York. 

Therefore,  it  is  to  be  desired,  that,  as  in  Europe,  the  com- 
mission houses  should  accord  at  least  a  credit  of  nine  months 
to  the  merchants  of  these  countries. 

In  consenting  to  present  myself  before  this  Congress,  I  pro- 
pose to  unfold  to  you  the  situation,  to  ask  you  to  study  it  and 
to  consider  if  it  could  not  be  more  advantageous  to  you,  in 
pursuit  for  the  extension  of  your  commerce,  to  place  your- 
selves on  the  same  footing  with  European  manufacturers  in 
regard  to  the  extension  of  credits. 

There  is  still  another  deficiency  which  I  cannot  pass  over 
in  silence,  it  is  the  paucity  or  lack  of  direct  exchange  between 
Haiti  and  the  United  States. 

Listen,  gentlemen,  to  that  which  was  said  in  1890,  at  the 
Pan-American  Congress,  by  its  committee  charged  to  examine 
and  report  upon  the  question  of  the  establishment  of  an  inter- 
national American  bank: 

"Not  only  would  there  thus  be  produced  a  strong  diminu- 
tion of  the  enormous  commissions  now  paid  to  European 
bankers  but  also  those  commissions  being  collected  by  bankers 
and  merchants  of  America,  a  portion  of  the  profits  which  go 
now  exclusively  to  the  European  markets,  might  be  retained 
in  the  financial  centres  of  our  hemisphere." 

There  is  no  need  of  commentary  on  this  passage  of  the  re- 
port. For  this  reason,  I  content  myself  by  recommending 
it  to  the  enterprising  spirit  of  the  people  of  this  hemisphere, 
and  particularly  to  this  spirit  in  North  America,  which  will 
be  called  upon  to  contribute  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the 
capital  necessary  for  the  realization  of  this  gigantic  enterprise, 
when  the  question  shall  have  been  sufficiently  studied  and  dis- 
cussed, for  it  to  be  judged  opportune,  in  the  interest  of  those 
concerned,  to  give  it  a  solution. 

In  the  presence  of  the  movement  now  going  on  and  noted 
among  all  civilized  people,  to  modernize  the  implements  of 
labor,  those  who  rest  indifferent  will  not  only  be  outstripped 
by  others,  but  they  will  also  find  themselves  placed  under  such 


m 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


conditions  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  their  producing  classes 
to  maintaiu  themselves  in  the  face  of  the  competition  of  other 
cuiuitries  which,  by  the  aid  of  machinery  and  of  modem  agri- 
cultural implements,  economize  time,  workmanship  and  cap- 
ital; and  if  man  is  not  completely  dethroned  in  our  day,  it 
is  because  of  his  knowledge  of  maehineiy,  which  has,  and  let 
us  hope  always  will  have,  need  of  a  directing  force. 
■  This  directing  force  comes  to  man  from  education,  which 
makes  him  conscious  of  his  superiority  and  of  liis  mission  thus 
owed  to  humanity,  and  this  education  can  be  acquired  only 
in  special  schools,  where  trades  and  arts  are  taught,  and  where 
he  will  be  early  initiated  in  the  theory  and  practice  of  that 
which  he  will  later  have  to  practice. 

For  this  reason,  the  Government  of  Haiti  maintains  abroad 
a  certain  numlier  of  s^tudents  who  are  thus  being  prepared 
to  take  the  direction  of  the  different  industries  which  are 
lieing  established  in  the  country. 

Besides  the  cultivation  of  tobacco,  and  the  sugar  industry, 
which,  as  has  already  been  mentioned,  have  just  been  resumed 
on  a  large  scale  in  Haiti,  there  are  to-day  in  the  country, 
manufactories  of  soap,  of  candles,  of  matches,  of  ice,  of  beer, 
of  vermicelli,  of  macaroni,  of  crockery,  of  bricks  and  of  cigars. 
The  manufactories  of  alcohol  and  rum  are  more  particularly 
the  specialties  of  the  cities  of  Port-au-Prince  and  Aux  Cayes. 

ilines  of  coal,  of  iron,  of  porphyry,  of  plaster  of  paris,  of 
sulphur  and  of  other  minerals  have  been  discovered  and  are 
known  to  exist  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  The  de- 
velopment of  one  of  the  mines  of  iron  and  plaster  of  paris  is 
about  to  be  entered  upon.  A  company  with  a  capital  of  five 
million  of  dollars  ($.5,000,000)  has  recently  been  formed  in 
New  York  and  its  engineers  are  already  at  work  on  tlie  spot. 
We  are  confident  that  both  of  these  article?  will  iind  a  market 
in  the  United  States,  the  demand  for  iron  becoming  more  and 
more  important.  As  to  plaster  of  paris  we  will  have  this  ad- 
vantage over  Nova  Scotia,  which  furnishes  the  United  States 
with  this  article,  that  we  will  be  able  to  deliver  it  here  at  all 
seasons  of  the  year. 

Haiti  is  connected  by  two  submarine  cables,  namely,  the 
French  transatlantic  cable  service  and  that  of  the  United 
States  and  Haiti  Cable  Company,  with  all  the  civilized  world. 
This  modern  instrument  of  civilization,  which  renders  so 
much  service  to  commerce  and  industry,  and  which  by  its 
immense  power  draws  people  together  and  makes  them  neigh- 
bors, by  the  facility  and  rapidity  of  communication  which  it 
establishes  between  them,  certainly  would  not  be  of  any 
utility  to  commerce  in  general,  if  it  were  not  seconded  by  its 
natural  auxiliary — an  inland  telegraphic  system. 

Therefore,  an  inland  telegraphic  system  connects  all  the 
cities  of  Haiti  with  the  capital,  where  the  cable  landed  at  the 
Mole  St.  Nicholas  ends. 

It  is  to  be  regretted,  that  the  tariff  charges  of  these  two  sub- 
marine cable  companies  are  so  high  as  to  discourage  commerce 
from  using  them  more  frequently.  The  time  will  arrive,  we 
hope,  when  both  companies  will  understand  that  a  diminution 
of  their  tarifl'  will  be  one  of  the  best  inducements  to  commerce 
to  use  their  lines  and  an  assurance  of  a  greater  patronage  of 
them. 

In  order  to  respond  to  the  wish  expressed  by  American  man- 
ufacturers and  of  delegates  from  different  countries,  I  have 
deposited  at  the  Commercial  Museum,  a  list  of  the  addresses 
of  the  merchants  in  Haiti  for  each  of  the  eleven  ports  open  to 
foreigji  commerce.  They  will  find  in  this  list  all  the  details 
relative  to  the  specialty  of  each  of  the  merchants. 

I  should  feel  particularly  happy  if  my  mission  to  the  (^on- 
sress  shiiuld  contribute  to  the  development  of  the  commer- 
cial relations  between  the  two  countries,  and  to  the  establish- 
nieiit  of  their  relations  where  they  do  not  yet  exist. 

I  Uiink,  therefore,  that  T  should  give  you  some  informa- 
tion in  regard  to  the  character  of  the  Haitian  merchant.     I 


can  assure  you  that  he  is  very  honest,  very  upright,  and  makes 
it  his  solemn  duty  to  fulfill  the  obligations  which  he  contracts. 
He  has  one  sole  ambition,  and  that  is  to  leave  to  his  children 
the  commerce  which  he  has  founded. 

Gentlemen,  I  thank  you  for  your  attention.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Irving  P.  Wanger: 

I  take  pleasure  now  in  introducing  to  the  Congress  the  last 
speaker  of  this  morning,  Consul-General  Prudencio  de  Mur- 
guiondo,  delegate  of  the  Oriental  Republic  of  Uruguay. 

Hon.  Prudencio  de  Murguiondo : 

Mr.  Chainnan  and  Delegates  to  this  Commercial  Congress: 
Thanks  to  the  persevering  enterprise  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
Philadelphia  Commercial  I\Iuseum,  we  have  met  again  in  Phil- 
adelphia, on  their  invitation,  to  exchange  views  as  to  the  best 
means  of  increasing  not  only  our  trade  with  the  United  States, 
Init  to  relate  what  our  experiences  have  been,  and  taught  us 
since  1897,  when  a  full  delegation  from  the  South  American 
Republics  met  for  the  first  time  in  convention  to  discuss  the 
interests  of  their  respective  countries  and  to  asertain  what  it 
would  be  best  to  do  in  order  to  increase  trade  with  the  United 
States. 

This  Congress  has  materially  increased  its  membership  by 
the  representation  of  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  world, 
which  adds  greatly  to  its  importance. 

Besides  the  opportunity  given  us  of  meeting  these  strangers, 
we  have  been  treated,  through  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum,  with  an  exhibit  of  importance  and  of  great  value  to 
us,  visiting  strangers,  which  the  manufacturers  of  the  United 
States  have  placed  before  us,  showing  their  progress  in  every 
branch  of  trade,  thus  permitting  us  to  come  in  contact,  not 
only  with  the  manufacturer,  but  with  his  products,  and  I  sin- 
cerely believe  that  this  will  tend  to  materially  increase  trade 
with  all  the  coimtries  represented  at  this  Congress. 

As  the  commercial  representative  for  Uruguay  in  the 
United  States,  I  have  the  honor  to  state  that  nothing  has 
transpired  since  our  last  meeting  in  1897  to  cause  material  in- 
crease in  our  exports  to  the  United  States. 

Our  exports  of  wool  for  the  last  six  months  of  1898  were 
only  nine  bales  with  a  value  of  $1,496.79,  and  during  the  first 
six  months  of  1899  not  one  bale  has  been  exported. 

This  lamentable  state  of  trade  in  our  principal  article  of 
export  has  been  caused  by  a  discriminating  duty  placed 
against  us,  which  our  wools  cannot  stand  in  competition  with 
those  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  which  are  cleaner  than 
Uruguayan  and  Argentina  wool. 

Under  an  ad  vahrem  duty,  we  would  not  care  what  percent- 
age of  duty  was  fixed  upon  all  wools,  for  then  we  would  be 
placed  on  an  equal  footing. 

The  shrinkage  in  scouring  wools  produced  in  Uruguay  is 
59  per  cent,  for  superior  and  61  per  cent,  for  average,  whilst 
that  from  Port  Philip  is  only  52  per  cent,  for  superior  and 
average,  and  New  Zealand,  53  per  cent,  for  superior  and  57 
per  cent,  for  average. 

This  makes  a  difference  against  us  of  about  four  cents  per 
pound  in  favor  of  Port  Philip,  and  three  cents  per  pound  in 
favor  of  New  Zealand. 

The  value  of  imports  for  the  vear  1897.  reached  the  sum 
of  $4,.391,06,3.48:  for  the  year  of  1898,  $l,917,897-.53.  De- 
crease, $2,473,765.95. 

Of  the  imports  in  1897,  (if  1,391.063. 18),  $3,560,115.69  was 
imported  prior  to  July  1,  1897.  free  of  duty,  the  bulk  of  this 
consisting  of  wool  and  hides. 

I  simply  state  facts  and  now  the  most  vital  matter  to  us 
is  to  try  and  remove  these  obstacles  to  an  increasing  trade 
])etween  us. 

Tlie  value  of  imports  to  the  United  States  from  Uruguay 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


30] 


for  the  last  six  months  of  1898  was  $593,641.73;  for  the  first 

six  months  of  1899,  $1,198,585.28.     Increase,  $604,940.55— 

and  not  one  bale  of  wool  imported. 

The  principal  increase  was  made  in    the    importation    of 

hides,  with  a  value  of $714,669.70 

Horsehair 78,674.24 

Of  bones 47,572.00 

Of  glue  stock 30,660.75 

Of  casings  11,514.15 

And  of  tasaju  or  jerked  beef 301,348.71 

Value  m  bond $1,174,379.55 

This  last,  jerked  beef,  as  it  is  called  here,  is  shipped  to  the 
United  States,  to  be  reshi])ped  to  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico,  to 
which  places  it  was  sent  direct  from  Uruguay  for  many  years 
before  the  Spanish  war.  The  consumption  of  this  article  is 
large  in  these  islands  and  is  the  principal  meat  used  by  many 
people. 

In  considering  this  increase  in  our  exports  to  the  United 
States,  all  except  the  beef  has  been  consumed  here,  and  you 
have  had  to  pay  the  heavy  duty  imposed  on  it,  and  these  you 
take  because  you  can't  do  without  them  conveniently.  Now 
under  an  ad  valorem  duty  on  wool,  we  would  have  exceeded 
largely  our  exports  to  the  United  States. 

We  have  to  send  our  wool  to  England  and  Europe,  where 
we  have  free  entry.  A  specific  duty  however  low,  discrimi- 
nates against  us. 

Exports  from  the  United  States  to  Uruguay  have  also  in- 
creased, for  in  1898  they  amounted  to  $1,346,816.15,  and  in 
1897  only  $1,113,565.07';  increase,  $233,251.08. 

The  exports  from  January  1st  to  June  30,  1899,  had  a  value 
of  $628,202.42,  but  the  remaining  six  months  of  1899  will 
show  a  corresponding  increase  over  1898. 

Freights  between  New  York  and  the  River  Plate  have 
ruled  high,  owing  to  the  combination  of  the  several  steam- 
ship lines  in  that  trade.  When  the  Houston  line  entered  in 
competition  with  its  fine  steamer.s,  I  wrote  to  my  government,- 
that  I  feared  it  was  only  to  be  allowed  to  enter  the  combine^ — 
and  it  has  so  turned  out. 

I  will  now  give  you  a  statement  showing  the  imports  from 
other  countries,  into  Uruguay.  For  the  five  years  dating  from 
1894  to  1898,  inclusive,  they  amounted  to 

$119,012,000.00 
Take  from  this  the  exports  from  the 
United  States  for  the  same 
period,  viz. 
For  the  year  1894         $1,374,392.83 
"       "      "     1895  1,485,063.58 

"       "      "     1896  1,452,331.45 

"       "      "     1897  1,135,684.07* 

"       "      "     1898  1,346,816.15 

$6,794,187.08 


Leaves  a  balance  of 


$112,217,812.92 


•  Decrease  caused  bv  the  Civil  War. 


There  is  no  reason  why  the  United  States  should  not  get 
a  larger  share  of  these  exports.  I  may  say  that  it  is  pro- 
portionately the  same  with  all  the  Latin  American  nations. 

Argentina  and  Brazil  imported  in  1897,  $300,000,000  worth 
of  merchandise,  and  the  United  States  only  furnished  ten  per 
cent. 

To  obtain  a  good  portion  of  this  trade,  the  manufacturers 
of  the  United  States  must  make  such  goods  as  the  people  de- 
mand, and  pack  them  as  they  require,  so  that  they  can  be 
transported  into  the  interior  by  pack  horses  or  trains;  that 
the  package  may  be  easily  handled,  the  baling  must  also  be 


strong.  Your  merchants  will  have  to  give  the  same  credits 
that  other  nations  give.  They  must  settle  among  them,  in- 
vest in  their  national  improvements,  such  as  railroads,  water 
works,  bank  stocks,  etc.,  as  citizens  of  all  other  nations  have 
done  and  are  doing.  You  must  have  your  own  banks,  and 
not  be  subject  to  an  exchange  of  one-quarter  to  one  per  cent, 
as  now,  paying  tribute  to  England  for  every  dollar  you  sell. 

Establish  agencies,  study  the  people  and  their  needs,  do 
not  try  to  sell  them  what  they  do  not  want,  it  is  time  lost. 
Seek  those  that  are  worthy  of  credit,  and  sell  them  as  freely 
as  do  others.  Bear  in  mind  that  Uruguay  has  a  gold  basis;  that 
her  money  standard  is  higher  than  any  other  nation;  that  her 
merchants  have  stood  terrific  panics  and  civil  war;  that  she 
pays  the  interest  on  her  debt  promptly,  and  that  her  mer- 
chants are  considered  as  safe  to  sell  to  as  any  on  earth  and 
have  passed  all  these  trials  and  financially  survived  them. 

Sample  houses  will  never  do  what  a  live  agent  can  do, 
attending  solely  to  one  interest  and  devoting  his  energies  and 
time  to  that  only. 

I  do  know  that  nearly  every  American  who  has  gone  to  Uru- 
guay with  a  little  money,  and  gone  in  business,  has  succeeded. 
I  can  name  several  who  have  identified  themselves  with  the 
county,  and  who  have  made  large  fortunes.  The  English,  Ger- 
man, French,  Italian  and  Spanish  hold  the  bulk  of  the  import 
trade,  because  they  have  properly  sought  it  and  they  work 
hard  to  hold  it.  You  will,  I  am  sure,  be  surprised  when  I 
tell  you  that  our  government  has  issued  only  $3,000,000  in 
silver,  debased  coins  of  one  dollar  and  fifty,  twenty  and  ten 
cents,  to  keep  it  in  the  country  for  change.  English,  Italian, 
Chilean,  Brazilian,  Argentine,  Spanish,  German,  French  and 
American  moneys  are  accepted  in  settlement  of  debts  at  an 
official  value,  as  follows: 

Argentine  $5.00  gold  piece  is  taken  at  $4.66;  Austrian  and 
Belgian  8  florins  is  taken  at  $3.73;  Chilean  $5.00  gold  piece 
is  taken  at  $4.41;  Chilean  $10,000  condor  is  taken  at  $8.83; 
Colombian  $20.00  gold  piece  is  taken  at  $18.66;  Eng- 
lish £  sterling  is  taken  at  $4.70;  English  10  shillings  is 
taken  at  2.35;  French  100  francs  is  taken  at  $18.66;  French 
50  francs  is  taken  at  $9.33;  French  20  francs  (Italian,  Belgian 
and  Swiss  equivalent  also)  is  taken  at  $3.73;  German  20  mark 
piece  is  taken  at  $4.60;  feriivian  20  sole  piece  is  taken  at 
$18.66;  Portuguese  1  crown  piece  is  taken  at  $10.45;  Spanish 
doubloon  piece  is  taken  at  $4.82;  Spanish  25  pesetas  is  taken 
at  $4.66;  United  States.  1  double  eagle,  $20.00  piece,  is 
taken  at  $19.33;  United  States,  1  eagle,  $10.00  piece,  is 
taken  at  $9.66;  United  States,  \  eagle,  $5.00  piece,  is  taken 
at  $4,83.  Brazil,  the  fluctuation  in  the  value  of  the  milreis 
can  only  be  based  at  the  price  of  exchange,  which  changes 
from  day  to  day.  When  at  par,  20,000  reis  were  worth 
$10.56. 

There  are  many  banks  at  Montevideo  that  have  a  large 
paid-up  gold  capital. 

The  London  and  River  Plate  Bank  has  a  capital  of  $10,- 
000,000;  the  Italian  Uruguay  Bank,  $8,000,000;  the  Spain 
and  River  Plate  Bank,  $5,000,000;  the  Italo-Oriental  Bank, 
$10,500,000;  the  National  Bank,  15  million,  paid  up.  $10,- 
000,000. 

These  are  banks  of  emission,  and  are  allowed  to  issue  paper 
of  the  denominations  of  $100,  $50,  $20  and  $10,  secured  by 
au  ample  gold  reserve.  None  of  the  banks  issue  as  much 
paper  as  allowed  by  law. 

Besides  these,  there  are  the  French  Bank,  the  Anglo- 
Argentine  Bank,  Commercial  Bank  of  South  America  and 
British  Bank,  all  having  a  large  paid-up  capital  of  millions 
each.  This  is  a  very  fair  hanking  capital  for  a  city  of  250,- 
000  inhabitants,  say  "over  $50,000,000.  It  will  be  seen,  there- 
fore, that  the  banking  capital  is  larger  than  most  American 
cities  of  equal  population,  and  that  the  nations  with  whom 
we  trade  are  well  represented  by  their  money,  and  I  there- 


302 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


fore  say  that  the  United  States  should  also  have  a  bank  there 
and  be  represented  as  other  nations  are,  to  get  their  proper 
share  of  trade. 

I  do  not  enter  into  the  public  works  of  the  Republic.  We 
have  important  railroads,  both  steam  and  electric;  gas  and 
water  works,  and  everything  that  pertains  to  a  metropolitan 

city. 

The  country  is  really  undeveloped  as  to  its  mineral  re- 
sources. Its  hills  teem"  with  untold  wealth  in  gold,  copper, 
precious  stones  and  marbles  of  all  shades.  Those  in- 
terested in  gold  mining  in  Uruguay  now  keep  the  value  of 
the  output  to  themselves.  You  cannot  get  anything  out  of 
them  for  publication.  They  do  not  want  anyone  to  know 
what  they  are  making,  as  it  would  attract  too  many.  The 
stones  are  sent  in  the  rough  to  Germany  and  France,  cut, 
and  then  sent  back  to  Uruguay  and  other  points  for  sale, 
most  of  them,  however,  remain  in  Europe.  It  is  claimed 
by  late  advices,  that  the  Minas  de  Cunapiru  is  yielding  a 
great  amount  of  gold.  A  mine  has  just  been  opened,  owned 
by  French  capitalists,  called  Buenos  Aires,  which  promises 
extraordinary  yields,  and  the  opinion  is  that  it  will  yield  as 
much  as  the  best  mines  of  California  in  the  early  days  of 
gold  discovery. 

Money  and  enterprise  can  accomplish  wonders  in  Uruguay; 
its  agricultural  resources  are  unsurpassed,  and  the  cattle- 
raiser  and  farmer  is  well  paid  for  the  labor  he  gives  to  the 
soil.  Of  many  cereals  and  grasses,  two  crops  can  be  raised 
a  year.  . 

Transportation. 

The  question  of  subsidizing  steamship  lines  is  one  that 
has  been  seriously  considered,  and  experience  teaches  us  that 
it  is  not  necessary. 

What  is  needed  is  first-class  American  ships  of  equal  size 
or  larger  than  those  just  put  on  by  the  Houston  Line,  and  of 
equal  or  greater  speed.  These  are  about  0,000  tons  capacity. 
and  make  the  trip  from  New  York  to  Montevideo  in  twenty- 
ers.  They  take  freight  to  Montevideo,  Buenos  Aires  and 
Rosario.  The  Houston  steamers  have  no  passenger  accom- 
modations, and  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  comply  with 
regulations  for  such  service,  though  better  able  to  do  it 
than  any  ships  in  the  trade.  They  are  considered  entirely 
as  freight  carriers.  The  steamers  of  the  Lamport  and  Holt 
Line,  Prince  and  Norton  Lines,  of  about  2,500  tons  ca- 
pacity each,  carrying  passenErers,  are  slow  boats,  but  meet 
all  tlie  demands  made  by  shippers  for  freight.  The  Houston 
Line  steamers  are  what  are  termed  freight  and  cattle  steam- 
ers. They  take  freight  to  Montevideo,  Buenos  Aires  and 
Rosario;  they  take  all  the  freight  offered  for  England,  and 
then  the  upper  decks  are  filled  with  live  stock,  both  cattle 
and  slieep;  and  if  freight  sufficient  is  not  had  at  these  ports 
they  have  Brazilian  ports  at  which  to  finish  loading.  Un- 
loading, they  return  to  New  York  in  ballast,  and  we  of  Soutli 
Aiiiii-ic:i  ha\c  tn  ])ay  for  this  unprofitable  voyage,  by  the  in- 
ireiiscd  rates  from  New  York  to  the  River  Plate  that  are 
charged  us,  as  I  said  before.  Give  us  American  ships  of  the  best 
class,  making  the  trip  in  eighteen  days,  or  at  most  twenty 
days,  with  first-class  passenger  accommodations  that  will 
secure  passengers.  There  are  many  that  go  to  England  and 
I'Airope  with  their  pockets  full  of  money,  and  they  will  spend 
it  in  the  United  States,  and  then  go  to  Europe,  by  first-class 
steamers  and  get  there  before  they  could  go  direct  to  Europe 
from  Uruguay  and  Argentina. 

It  will  be  an  inducement  for  South  Ajnericans  to  visit  this 
country,  which  they  do  not  have  if  they  go  direct  to  Europe, 
for  after  spending  their  money  there,  they  do  luit  care  to 
turn  this  way,  as  it  is  to  them  an  out-of-the-way  route.  It 
is  hardly  reasonable  to  suppose,  however,  that  vessels  coming 


here  with  ballast  from  Europe  would  give  as  low  a  freight 
rate  as  if  they  had  full  return  cargo.  We  unfortunately, 
cannot  give  them  a  load  back  until  you  remove  the  prohibi- 
tive duties  placed  on  our  principal  products,  and  a  discrim- 
inating duty  on  wool,  which  is  our  principal  export  product. 
Under  this  state  of  things,  I  do  not  see  how  trade  between 
us  can  increase;  you  buy  from  us  solely  what  you  cannot 
do  without,  and  on  this  you  pay  tlie  duty. 

I  not  only  have  at  heart  the  interest  of  my  own  country, 
liut  of  this.  That  friendshijjs  may  grow  stronger,  and  trade 
increase  between  us,  is  my  constant  wish  and  effort.  It  is 
by  the  interchange  of  ideas  and  personal  contact  with  each 
other  and  good  transportation,  that  make  these  friendships 
and  better  the  conditions  and  feelings  of  both  peoples.  While 
I  had  the  honor  to  represent  Uruguay  as  president  of  her 
Commission  to  the  Columbian  Exposition  at  Chicago  in  1893, 
I  was  askf>d  by  many  if  I  was  a  native  of  that  far-off  country. 
I  told  them  that  I  was  born  there,  but  they  did  not  believe 
me,  becs^'se  I  was  too  white  to  come  from  such  a  place, 
thinking  the  entire  population  consisted  of  uneducated  abor- 
iginal Indians.  As  some  may  not  know  us  as  a  people, 
I  will  state  that  Uruguay  is  far  advanced  in  education  and  all 
that  makes  a  nation  great  and  respected. 

Uruguay  is  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  the  La  Plate 
River,  which  is  about  one  hundred  miles  wide  at  its  mouth, 
latitude  30°  5'  to  35-  s(mth,  and  longitude  56°  5'  to  60°  45' 
west,  Paris  meridian.  It  has  a  superficial  surface  of  186,925 
square  kilometres  and  917,968  square  metres,  about  73,000 
square  miles,  with  a  population  of  860,000  inhabitants,  two- 
thirds  of  which  are  native-born,  principally  of  Spanish  and 
European  descent.  Montevideo,  the  principal  city,  has  a 
population  of  250,000  souls.  The  climate  cannot  be  sur- 
passed by  any  in  the  world  for  salubrity.  The  country  is 
high  and  rolling  and  finely  watered  by  never-failing  rivers, 
and  is  especially  adapted  to  the  raising  of  cattle  and  agricul- 
tural products.  The  cattle  raised  on  these  high  lands  are 
equal  in  every  respect  to  tlu^  well-fed  cattle  of  West  Virginia 
and  the  Middle  States,  and  no  packer  in  the  United  States 
would  hesitate  to  put  his  name  on  beef  raised  and  canned  in 
[Truguay.  TTnlike  Argentine  cattle,  which,  through  the  sea- 
son, have  to  feed  on  pastures  that  have  been  overflowed  and 
are  wet,  the  meat  is  more  solid.  It  contains,  therefore,  less 
water,  hence,  pound  for  pound,  has  better  keeping  properties, 
the  fat  is  solid  and  hard,  and  the  meat  just  as  tender  and 
sweet  as  Argentine  beef. 

Tasajo,  as  it  is  called  with  us,  known  in  this  country  as 
jerked  beef,  which  is  cured  in  the  sun,  some  with  an  addition 
of  salt,  much  without  it,  is  highly  praised  in  all  the  West 
India  Islands  and  Brazil,  for  it  has  great  keeping  qualities 
and  is  very  nutritious,  being  equal  to  what  is  called,  in  this 
ccnintry,  chipped  lieef,  having  from  85  to  90  per  cent,  nutri- 
ious  matter. 

Of  this  article,  as  I  stated  before,  imports  have  been  made 
from  Uruguay  into  the  United  States  having  a  value  of 
$301,348.71,  but  reshipped  in  bond  to  Cuba  and  Porto 
Rico.  The  sliipments  have  been  materially  increasing  month 
by  month,  and  if  there  did  not  exist  a  high  duty  on  it  of  25 
per  cent.,  this  wholesome  article  of  food,  and  slaughtered 
cattle,  beef  and  mutton,  could  tie  sliipped  in  refrigerated  coin- 
])artments  or  on  the  hoof  by  fast  steamer  to  the  United  States, 
as  is  done  to-day  in  large  quantities  to  England,  and  place 
within  the  reach  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  good 
beef  and  mutton  at  prices  that  woiUd  be  within  the  reach 
of  every  citizen.  Fresh  meat,  beef  and  mutton,  imported  into 
the  United  States  pay  a  duty  of  2  cents  per  pound.  Live 
stock,  cattle,  27i  per  cent,  ad  valorem.  Sheep  $1.50  per  head. 
In  ibis  connection,!  beg  torefermembersof  this  Congress  to  a 
report  made  by  F.  S.  Jones,  Charge  dWffaires  in  Buenos 
Aires  of  the  United  States,  to  the  Stflte  Department  at  Wash- 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


303 


ington,  -which  appears  in  the  advance  sheets  of  the  United 
States  Consul  reports  of  October  26,  1899,  which  can  be  had 
on  application,  I  am  sure,  at  the  State  Department.  It  is 
a  very  interesting  paper  on  the  preparation  of  tasajo.  I  sug- 
gest to  those  interested  in  these  matters  that  they  apply  for 
copies.  I  do  not  quote  from  it,  a.s  I  have  something  else  to 
say  on  other  subjects,  if  I  have  not  already  tired  you. 

Education  in  Uruguay  is  well  advanced,  and  keeps  pace  with 
that  in  other  nations.  "  The  National  University  of  Monte- 
video is  thoroughly  equipped  for  higher  education  in  law, 
medicine  and  physical  sciences.  It  has  eighty-seven  profes- 
sors, of  whom  si.xty-five  are  native  born  and  twenty-two  for- 
eigners, teaching  laws,  social  science,  medicine,  mathematics, 
etc.,  and  the  number  of  students  reaches  587.  It  has  a  li- 
brary containing  13,635  volumes,  which  is  continually  being 
added  to.  A  military  academy,  school  of  arts  and  trades, 
public  library  with  over  28,000  volumes  and  3,000  pamphlets, 
national  and  pedagogical  museums  with  their  own  special  li- 
braries. 

There  are  533  public  primary  schools,  with  an  attendance 
of  52,000  pupils,  28,000  males  and  24,000  females.  One 
thousand  forty-one  teachers  are  employed  for  these,  of  which 
257  are  male  and  784  female,  giving  ah  average  of  1.95 
teachers  to  each  school.  There  are  also  379  private  schools, 
with  22,689  pupils,  consisting  of  11,585  boys  and  11,104  girls 
and  949  teachers,  making  a  total  of  74,001  children  receiving 
instruction.  Including  both  public  and  private  schools, 
there  is  one  school  for  every  897  inhabitants,  one  teacher  for 
every  411,  and  about  one  scholar  for  every  11  of  the  popula- 
tion. We  have  also  a  normal  school  for  females,  and  one 
kindergarten.  This  summary  shows  that  we  are  trying  to 
keep  abreast  of  the  times.  Besides  there  are  many  boys  that 
are  sent  to  Europe  and  England  to  fit  themselves  as  professors 
of  different  branches,  and  as  merchants.  They  return,  fully 
capable  of  doing  their  part,  and  speaking  fluently  several  lan- 
guages. To  English,  particular  attention  is  now  paid.  Com- 
pare, therefore,  size  of  country  and  population,  and  see  what 
rank  we  should  hold  with  other  nations. 

Montevideo,  to-day,  would  be  a  more  important  city  had  we 
better  loading  and  unloading  facilities  for  cargoes.  Thanks  to 
the  enterprise  of  her  citizens,  we  are  to  have  a  port  that  will  do 
away  with  heavy  shipping  expenses,  a  port  with  whai'ves  and 
warehouses  of  ample  size  to  take  charge  of  an  immense  num- 
ber of  vessels  and  their  cargoes.  This  work  is  a  great  under- 
taking for  us,  and  it  will  cost  about  $15,000,000  gold.  All 
that  is  now  needed  is  the  sanction  of  Congress  to  begin  the 
work,  the  capital  for  which  has  been  offered  on  very  favorable 
terms.  The  plans  have  been  well  studied  by  the  iDcst  engin- 
eers that  could  be  had  in  Europe  and  England  for  years,  and 
finally  approved.  This  will  make  Montevideo  a  great  port  of 
call  for  vessels  seeking  freight  for  all  South  Atlantic  and  near 
Pacific  ports.  Our  floating  population  will  then  be  mater- 
ially increased,  the  import  greater,  and  the  home  consumption 
will  be  increased  to  supply  this  additional  population. 

Parcels  Post. — I  have  earnestly  recommended  to  the  govern- 
ment the  need  of  parcels  post  facilities.  Everything  that 
tends  to  an  easy  means  of  communication,  facilitates  trade 
and  brings  us  closer  together.  Uruguay  offers  a  market  for 
almost  everything  that  is  produced  in  the  United  States — 
coal,  both  hard  and  soft,  hardware,  stoves,  machinery  of  all 
kinds,  cotton  goods,  and  everything  in  fact  that  a  cosmopoli- 
tan city  consumes.  You  must  be  ably  represented  by  refined 
and  competent  agents,  who  go  there  to  stay  and  look  after 
what  is  needed,  and,  my  word  for  it,  it  will  greatly  increase 
our  trade.  I  regret  that  we  have  not  opportunities  of  meet- 
ing more  often,  to  present  the  needs  of  our  respective  coun- 
tries to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  with  whom  we  wish 
to  exchange  products  and  become  personally  acquainted 
which  is  better  than  all  the  correspondence  that  you  can  pack 


up  in  a  year's  work,  and  when  we  have  good  steamers  from 
Philadelphia  that  will  transport  your  products  to  us  by  short 
voyages  and  first-class  passenger  accommodations,  this  will  be 
realized.  An  American  vessel,  you  must  bear  in  mind,  can 
call  for  freight  at  several  home  ports,  and  at  fair  rates  will  ob- 
tain a  full  cargo,  and  if  the  restrictions  on  Uruguay  and  Ar- 
gentine's products  for  import  here  are  removed,  I  am  sure 
that  we  can  give  you  full  return  cargoes.  I  cannot  now  go 
into  other  conditions  of  trade.  I  have  presented  facts  that 
may  be  distasteful  to  some,  but  the}',  I  am  sure,  will,  on  study- 
ing the  matter,  finally  admit  that  I  am  not  wrong.  We  had  a 
large  trade  with  Philadelphia  in  the  days  of  Mr.  Nalbro  Fraz- 
ier,  a  citizen  of  Philadelphia,  which  was  large  and  profitable. 
Of  late  years,  now  and  then  a  cargo  of  lumber  has  been  shipped 
to  Uruguay,  and  the  return  has  been  made  in  bone  or  bone  ash 
for  fertilizing  purposes.  This  amounted  to  $47,502  for  the 
lasit  six  months  of  1898. 

Before  closing  I  beg  to  call  your  attention  to  a  matter  that 
interests  all.  That  is,  the  stamping  out  of  yellow  fever  in 
Central,  South  American  and  West  Indian  ports.  I  called 
the  other  day  on  Surgeon-General  W.  Wyman,  at  Washington, 
to  obtain  the  reports  made  by  the  Commissioner  of  the  United 
States  in  Cuba,  as  to  the  causes  and  means  of  getting  rid  of 
this  dreaded  pest.  I  was  glad  to  obtain  a  paper  from  him 
treating  fully  this  matter.  Cuba,  which  has  been  the  cradle  of 
this  disease  in  the  West  Indies,  has  been  pi'actically  purified, 
and  thousands  of  lives  have  been  saved  by  citizens  of  Cuba 
and  of  the  United  States  now  there.  This  being  the  case, 
there  is  no  reason  why  other  infected  ports  in  South  and  Cen- 
tral America  should  not  receive  the  same  heroic  treatment. 
General  Wyman  proposes  that  a  convention  be  called  of  all 
interested  nations  to  be  composed  of  poiblic  sanitarians,  en- 
gineers and  financiers,  to  prepare  a  treaty  with  penalty,  pro- 
viding for  the  examination  of  the  chief  yellow  fever  ports  by 
a  commission  representing  the  republics  concerned,  each  obli- 
gating itself  to  put  into  efl'ect  the  measures  recommended  by 
said  commission.  The  treaty  should  provide  that  if,  after  a 
sufficient  time,  these  improvements  have  not  been  made,  each 
of  the  other  nations  interested  should  impose  such  discrimin- 
ating tonnage,  or  other  dues,  or  quarantine  restrictions  upon 
the  offending  nation  as  would  cause  it,  in  its  own  interest, 
to  comply  with  the  terms  of  the  treaty.  When  one  thinks 
of  the  great  mortality,  the  destruction  of  commercial  property, 
caused  by  this  pest,  no  efl'orts  to  suppress  it  can  be  considered 
too  great.  A  few  years  ago  I  was  in  a  South  American  port, 
and  saw  vessels  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  some  of  which 
had  been  waiting  to  unload  eight  months,  those  not  coppered 
were  completely  honey-combed  by  worms  and  perishable 
goods  rendered,  by  time  and  the  gi-eat  heat,  perfectly  worth- 
less. I  do  not  deem  it  out  of  place  to  bring  this  important 
matter  to  the  attention  of  this  Congi'ess. 

I  am  indebted  to  the  Directors  of  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum  for  this  opportunity  of  presenting  our 
wants,  and  of  directing  attention  to  matters  that  concern  us 
all,  and  that  will  open  the  door  for  a  larger  trade  between 
our  respective  countries. 

To  the  manufacturers  of  the  United  States  who  have  gone 
to  so  great  an  outlay  to  present  collectively  in  the  magnifi- 
cent new  buildings  of  the  Museum  their  products,  and  who 
have  given  us  an  opportunity  of  meeting  them  personally, 
giving  us  an  insight  of  the  unparalleled  resources  of  this 
great  country,  we  beg  they  accept  our  most  grateful  thanks. 

The  Director-General  and  his  able  aids  deserve  more  than 
praise  for  their  indefatigable  labors  in  making  this  Congress 
so  great  a  success,  and  I  wish,  with  all  my  heart,  that  it  may 
continue  its  good  work. 

We  congratulate  the  Mayor  of  your  City,  and  the  citizens 
of  this  great  Commonwealth,  for  the  part  they  have  taken  in 


304 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


this  •='ood  work,  and  for  the  courtesies  extended  to  the  mem- 
bers of  tills  Congress. 

I  received  tliis  morning,  thirtieth  of  October,  1899,  the 
Nacion,  the  official  paper  of  Monteviedo,  of  the  fifteenth  of 
September,  which  states  that  the  Uruguayan  Senate  has 
passed  the  law  sanctioning  the  construction  of  the  port  works 
at  Montevideo,  which  secures  this  great  advantage  to  Uru- 
guay.   (Applause.) 

Mr.  H.  Rothcrham : 

As  the  time  is  sliort  I  will  offer  the  following  resolution 
without  remarks: 

"Resolve<l,  That  the  resolutions  considered  by  this  Con- 
gress, prior  to  the  a])pointment  of  the  Standing  Committee  on 
Resolutions,  be  referred  to  the  said  Committee  for  delibera- 
tions, and  that  they  form  part  of  tlie  usual  procedure  in  such 
cases." 

I  offer  this  in  order  that  the  former  resolutions  shall  not  be 
lost  sight  of,  and  in  order  that  they  may  come  before  the  meet- 
ing to-night. 

The  question  being  on  the  resolution  it  was  agreed  to  and 
was  adopted. 

IIiw.  Irvinfi  P.  W anger: 

If  there  is  nothing  else  to  be  presented  at  this  time,  I 
declare  the  Congress  adjourned  until  three  o'clock. 

(Adjourned  at  1.48  p.  m.) 


Philadelphia,  Monday,  October  30,  189'.). 

Aftehxoon-  Sessiox. 

The  meetint;:  was  called  to  oi'dcr  at  ;?.3<)  p.  m.,  liy  Director 
W.  P.  Wilson. 

Direrlor  W.  P.  Wilson  : 

I  have  the  pleasure  of  iiilmduciug  to  you  as  our  chairman 
for  this  afternoon's  session  of  the  Congress,  the  Hon.  Charles 
IT.  Duell,  United  States  Examiner  of  Patents. 

Hon.  Charles  II.  Duell: 

Mr.  Director,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  is  a  pleasure  and 
an  honor  which  I  appreciate,  to  be  connected,  even  in  the 
slightest  degree,  with  this  National  Export  Exhibition,  and 
it  a  great  pleasure  to  be  al)le  to  be  present  at  leiist  on  one 
afternoon,  to  listen  to  the  doings  of  the  Congress  and  the 
papers  to  be  read  before  one  of  your  conferences. 

I  regret,  that  the  multijjlicity  of  duty,  has  prevented  mv 
giving  even  to  the  matter  which  has  C(mie  before  us  this  after- 
noon the  attention  which  its  importance  demands.  I  have 
taken  a  little  time  in  which  to  refer  to  one  or  two  things 
connected  with  this  important  subject,  and  I  will  ask  you  to 
bear  with  me,  while  for  a  few  moments  I  occupy  your  time. 

Vaix'k  and  Importance  of  Trade-marks  to 
Commerce. 

Great  care  should  be  used  in  selecting  lawful  trade-marks. 

The  multiplicity  of  official  duties  has  prevented  me  from 
preparing  a  ])aper  worthy  to  be  presented  to  this  Congress. 
I  regret  this,  but  T  feel  well  assured  that  the  little  I  have  to 
say  will  he  fully  .su|)plemented  in  the  o4;hcr  papers  wliicli 
have  been  jircfiared  for  presentation  at  this  time. 

The  subject  under  discussion  to-day  is  an  imjiortant  one, 
not  only  so  far  as  it  relates  to  domestic  trade  and  commerce, 
but  it  is  of  even  more  impoi-tanee  in  its  bearing  u])on  foreign 


commerce,  which  is  the  subject  we  are  all  most  interested  in 
at  the  present  time.  The  manufacturers  and  merchants  of 
this  country  must  find  an  output  for  their  products  in  the 
markets  of  the  world,  and  that  they  are  beginning  to  realize 
this  is  clearly  shown  by  the  statistics  in  reference  to  the 
export  of  manufactures.  Nine  months  of  the  present  cal- 
endar year  show  that  sucii  exports  amounted  to  very  nearly 
$380,000,000,  against  nearly  $830,000,000  in  the  nine  months 
of  1898.  These  exports  form  over  31  per  cent,  of  our  total 
exports,  as  against  less  than  27  per  cent,  for  the  corresponding 
months  of  1898.  Anything,  therefore,  which  adds  to  our 
power  to  hold  and  increase  this  remarkable  showing  is  of  the 
utmost  importance. 

In  the  first  place,  to  secure  a  large  foreign  trade  we  must 
manufacture  the  goods  that  foreign  nations  demand.  They 
must  be  unexcelled  in  the  material  of  which  they  are  made, 
and  in  the  manner  of  making  and  packing  them.  When  the 
trade  is  once  established,  it  can  be  only  retained  by  continu- 
ing to  send  a  grade  of  goods  equally  as  good  as  those  first 
sent.  How  important  is  it  then  that  the  exporter,  in  sending 
forward  his  goods,  should  have  them  so  marked  and  distin- 
guished, that  when  the  mark  becomes  known  no  one  can 
]ialm  off  an  inferior  grade  of  goods  as  the  product  of  the  one 
who  has  established  the  business.  It  becomes  essential, 
tlierefore,  that  exporters  should  adopt  and  use  trade-marks. 

From  the  earliest  days  of  recorded  history,  it  has  been  the 
custom  of  men  to  indicate  their  proprietary  rights  in  all  kinds 
of  movable  property  by  the  use  of  individual  brands,  marks 
and  other  insignia  of  ownership.  As  trade  and  commerce 
extended  and  ceased  to  be  local,  it  became  more  important  for 
the  manufacturer  and  merchant  to di.stinguish their goodsfrom 
those  of  others.  At  first,  signs  and  symbols,  such  as  repre- 
sentations of  animals,  stars,  shields,  crescent  and  the  like  were 
employed.  A  man  ascended  in  the  scale  and  education  be- 
came more  diffused,  coined  words  were  employed,  but,  what- 
ever the  mark  selected,  it  should  be  one  which  is  a  lawful 
trade-mark,  the  right  to  which  can  be  maintained  against 
any  and  everybody. 

The  exclu.sive  right  to  property  in  trade-marks  has  been 
recognized  by  all  civilized  countries  for  very  many  years,  and 
as  the  importance  and  necessity  for  preserving  proof  of  the 
adoption  and  use  of  marks  became  more  important,  statutory 
]U'ovisions  for  the  registry  of  such  marks  have  been  enacted 
liy  most  of  the  countries  of  the  world.  The  first  national 
trade-mark  law  in  the  United  States  was  adopted  in  1870. 
That  act  was  declared  unconstitutional  by  the  Supreme  Court, 
t'p  to  that  time,  some  8,000  trade-marks  had  been  registered 
in  the  United  States  Patent  Office.  In  1881  a  new  trade- 
mark law  was  enacted,  under  which  nearly  2."),000  marks  have 
already  been  registered.  That  the  present  law  needs  amend- 
ment is  universally  admitted,  but  I  will  leave  for  others  the 
discussion  of  the  question  as  to  how  the  law  should  be 
amended. 

Notwithstanding  the  large  number  of  marks  that  have  l>een 
registered  in  the  Patent  Office,  thousands  of  alleged  trade- 
marks presented  for  registration  have  been  refused  because 
they  did  not  disclose  matter  that  was  susceptible  of  exclusive 
approjjriation,  and  this  leads  me  to  the  point  to  which  I  de- 
sire most  earnestly  to  call  your  attention.  The  advice  will 
consist  largely  of  "don'ts,"  although  it  will  not  be  as  sweep- 
ingly  used  as  Punch's  advice  to  the  young  man  about  to 
marry. 

Do  ado])t  and  use  trade-marks,  not  only  for  your  donu'stic 
liut  for  your  foreign  trade.  When  you  select  a  mark  be  very 
careful  that  it  is  a  lawful  Irade-mnrk.  and  (uie  to  wjiich  your 
right  is  undenialde. 

Do  not  adopt  your  own  name  as  a  sole  mark  for  your  manu- 
factures. Every  man  undeniably  has  a  right  to  use  his  own 
name  upon  his  own  goods,  to  indicate  their  origin  and  owner- 


Lt.-Gen.  J.  WIMBURNE   LAURIE,  M.P. 
London,  Eng. 

SIMON    SOUTAR, 

Kingston,  Jamaica. 

A,  VAN   GUlPEN, 
Wesel,  Gehmanv. 


HENRY    SELL, 
London.  England. 

GEORGE    L.  DUVAL, 

Valparaiso,  Chili. 

VIRCHAND    R.  GANDHI. 
Bombay,  India. 


J.  E.   DUERDEN, 

Kingston,  Jamaica. 

H.  M.  BRUUN, 
Aalborg,  Denmark, 

T,   KIMURA, 
Kobe,  Japan. 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


305 


ship  and  as  a  guarantee  of  their  quality  and  character.  This 
rio-ht  is  common  to  all  men,  and,  therefore,  if  there  are 
twenty  men  by  the  name  of  John  Adams,  each  one  of  the 
twenty  has  as  good  a  right  as  any  of  the  others.  True,  he 
cannot  use  his  name  in  an  unlawful  manner,  and  from  such 
use  he  will  be  enjoined,  but  a  mark  which  consists  merely  of 
the  name  of  the  party  using  it  is  a  very  weak  reed  upon  which 
to  relv. 

Do' not  adopt  a  geographical  term.  The  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States  has  repeatedly  held  that  no  one  can 
exclusively  approjiriate  to  his  own  benefit  a  geographical  term, 
so  a.s  to  prevent  others  inhal)iting  the  same  or  similar  territor\- 
from  dealing  in  similar  articles.  It  is  true  that  the  decisions 
of  the  courts  have  not  been  uniform  on  this  suljject,  but  in 
every  ease,  with  possibly  one  or  two  exceptions,  where  the 
exclusive  right  to  use  a  geographical  term  has  been  sustained, 
some  peculiar  facts  have  led  to  the  decision.  If  you  wish  to 
keep  out  of  litigation,  do  not  .select  a  geographical  term  for 
your  trade-mark. 

Do  not  adopt  a  descriptive  word  or  name.  It  has  been  held 
by  the  courts  times  without  number,  that  words  or  names 
simply  indicating  the  quality  of  ingredients  of  the  articles 
cannot  be  appropriated  so  as  to  prevent  others  from  employ- 
ing the  same  words  upon  the  same  articles. 

Do  not  adopt  a  word  expressing  quality,  grade  or  peculiar 
excellence.  No  one  num  has  the  exclusive  right  to  use  any 
word  or  symbol  which  merely  indicates  the  excellence  of  his 
article.  No  more  has  he  the  right  to  exclusively  appro]_iri- 
ate  for  his  products,  marks,  letters,  numbers  or  words  which 
actually  indicate  the  grade  of  the  article.  While  I  cannot 
say  do  not  adopt  a  suggestive  word  (for  such  a  word  will 
generally  be  sustained  by  the  courts)  the  greatest  care  should 
be  used  or  you  will  enrich  some  member  of  my  profession. 

It  is  so  easy  to  select  a  device  or  symbol  or  to  coin  a  word, 
that  there  is  no  reason  why  a  manufacturer  or  a  merchant 
should  select  as  his  mark  anything  which  is  not  a  lawful  trade- 
mark, or  which  is  on  the  border  line  and  will  in  all  proba- 
bility ultimately  land  him  in  the  courts.  So  many  alleged 
trade-marlcs  are  presented  at  the  Patent  Office  for  registry, 
and  those  not  being  lawful  trade-marks  have  to  be  rejected, 
but  I  have  felt  impelled  to  make  use  of  this  opportunity  to 
utter  this  note  of  warning.  Through  our  labor-saving  in- 
ventions, we  are  able'  to  ])roduce  manufactured  articles  as 
cheaply  as  they  are  produced  in  many  other  countries  where 
wages  are  much  lower.  If  then,  our  numufacturers  send  out 
only  such  of  our  manufacttired  jinxlucts  as  suit  the  tastes  and 
requirements  of  the  peo])le  to  whom  they  are  sent,  we  cannot 
fail  to  greatly  extend  our  export  trade  in  manufactured 
articles,  and  when  once  establi-shed,  if  we  have  adopted  and 
used  lawful  trade-marks  to  indicate  our  ownership  and  title, 
there  will  be  no  reason  why  the  trade  once  gained  can  not  be 
kepi  for  an  indefinite  time.     (Applause.) 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  introducing  to  you  Dr.  F.  E. 
Stewart,  of  New  York,  who  will  read  a  paper  entitled  "Some 
Anomalies  in  the  Trade-mark  System  Law  Suggested." 

SoiiE   AxoMAi.iHS  IN  THE   Trade-m.\rk   System:    A  Uxi- 

FORM  IXTERXATIONAL  TraDE-JIARK  LaW  SUGGESTED. 

Dr.  F.  E.  Stewart: 

It  is  supposed  by  some  manufacturers  that  they  can  secure 
patent  protection  for  their  inventions  by  registering  their  cur- 
rently used  names  as  trade-marks.  Some  go  so  far  as  to  assert 
that  by  such  registration  they  acquire  the  right  to  prevent 
others  from  competing  in  the  manufacture  of  the  same  goods. 
Others  believe  that  the  inventing  and  registration  of  words 
gives  them  exclusive  right  to  the  use  of  them  under  any  and 
all  circumstances.     They  admit  that  others  who  learn  their 


trade  secrets  may  compete,  but  deny  competitors  the  privilege 
of  dealing  in  the  goods  under  their  currently  used  names. 
The  notion  is  very  prevalent  that  one  who  invents  anything 
acquires  thereby  a  right  to  its  exclusive  use,  and  that  the  copy- 
right, patent  and  trade-mark  laws  are  designed  to  protect 
inventors  in  their  natural  rights.  They  forget  that  every 
word  in  the  language  was  at  some  time  invented  or  coined, 
and  that  the  same  is  true  of  every  art,  machine,  manufacture 
or  composition  of  matter.  Their  doctrine,  carried  to  its  legi- 
timate conclusion  from  the  beginning,  would  have  made  every 
word  in  the  language  and  every  art  of  civilization  a  perpetual 
monopoly.  The  world  would  have  been  composed  of  two 
classes,  viz.,  inventors  and  their  slaves.  Or  else,  the  masses 
would  have  risen  in  their  might  and  jiut  an  end  to  the  mon- 
opolies and  the  monopolists.  The  very  fact  that  such  a  right 
as  this  doctrine  teaches  could  not  Ije  maintained  shows  its  ab- 
surdity. 

Every  man  has  a  natural  right  to  the  free  use  of  every  in- 
vention and  discovery.  All  invention  is  but  the  evolution 
of  what  has  been,  and  the  inventor  is  under  obligation  tr) 
those  who  worked  on  the  same  problems  before  him.  He 
appropriates  their  knowledge  and  perfects  it  to  a  certdn 
point,  from  which  it  is  further  advanced  from  generation  to 
generation  by  those  who  follow  after.  It  is  this  continual 
evolution  which  constitutes  civilization.  There  are  persons 
however,  who  would  gladly  stop  civilization  itself  if  by  so 
doing  their  selfish  desires  could  be  accomplished. 

For  the  purpose  of  promoting  progress  in  science  and  the 
useful  arts.  Congress  receives  power  from  the  (.Constitution  to 
pass  laws  granting  authors  and  inventors  for  limited  times 
the  right  to  prevent  others  from  copying  their  writings  and 
discoveries.  A  patent  is  a  grant.  It  is  also  a  contract  be- 
tween the  inventor  and  the  government.  The  government 
grants  the  inventor  the  right  to  prevent  others  from  copying 
and  dealing  in  his  invention  for  seventeen  years,  in  exchange 
for  the  publication  of  full  knowledge  of  the  invention,  so  that 
it  may  be  freely  used  by  the  public  when  the  patent  expires. 

The  time  limit  fixed  by  the  government  for  the  expiration 
of  patents  and  the  requirement  of  publication,  do  not  please 
those  who  labor  under  the  delusion  that  they  have  a  natural 
right  to  prevent  others  from  copying  their  inventions,  and 
so  they  are  endeavoring  to  create  a  system  of  secret  and 
perpetual  patent  under  the  trade-mark  law.  They  are  in- 
vading the  domain  of  public  rights  and  asking  the  govern- 
ment to  protect  them  in  appropriating  for  their  exclusive  use 
what  belongs  to  all  alike. 

The  condition  of  affairs  is  anomalous.  A  secret  patent 
system  has  been  insidiously  built  up  around  the  trade-mark 
vvhich  is  diametrically  opposed  to  the  patent  law  and  to  the 
Constitution  itself.  By  the  trade-mark  commonly  understood, 
the  non-inventor  can  acquire  monopoly  privileges  far  more 
restrictive  than  inventors  can  secure  for  their  inventions  by 
patenting  them.  Theoretically,  the  trade-mark  stimulates 
competition  and  protects  the  ]iublic  from  counterfeits.  Prac- 
tically, the  a])plication  of  the  trade-nuirk  as  usually  under- 
stood, ])revents  competition  and  ofttimes  protects  fraud.  In 
fact  it  is  easier  to  perpetuate  fraud  under  the  so-called  trade- 
mark than  without  it. 

I  claim  that  there  is  nothing  in  the  trade-mark  law  justify- 
ing any  such  interpretation  as  is  commonly  given  it.  I 
claim  that  when  a  new  thing  is  born  into  the  world  it  must 
be  christened  with  a  name,  and  that  name  belongs  to  the 
article  itself  as  its  appellative,  and  does  not  belong  to  the 
person  who  names  the  article.  I  claim  that  any  one  who 
knows  how  has  a  perfect  right  to  make  every  new  invention 
and  deal  in  it  under  its  generic  name,  that  is  the  name  by 
which  it  is  generally  known.  I  also  claim  that  one  who 
does  not  know  how  to  make  the  identical  article  has 
no    right  to    palm    off    something    else    on    the     public     as 


306 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  same  article,  for  by  so  doing  he  is  defraud- 
inf  the  public.  The  name  of  an  article  should  always  mean 
that  identical  thing  and  mean  nothing  else.  The  name  of 
every  new  invention  becomes  part  of  the  common  language, 
and  "necessarily  sinks  into  the  public  domain.  These  names 
belong  to  the  nouns  of  the  language,  to  be  taught  in  the  pub- 
lic school,  find  their  way  into  the  text  books  and  dictionaries, 
and  form  an  important  "part  of  the  literature  of  the  world. 

If  these  names  are  to  be  and  remain  the  property  of  the 
manufacturers,  then  our  public  schools,  dictionaries, and  text 
books,  and  the  entire  literature  itself  wherever  the  names  are 
used  must  become  standing  advertisements  of  monopoly  for 
which  the  monopolists  pay  nothing.  The  scheme  is  well  con- 
ceived and  far-reaching,  but  exceedingly  unjust. 

If  the  name  of  a  new  article  can  become  and  remain  the 
property  of  the  one  who  claims  it  as  his  trade-mark,  then, 
when  the  article  itself  becomes  open  to  competition  each 
manufacturer  who  desires  the  same .  protection  must  com  a 
new  name  for  it,  and  as  many  synonyms  would  then  be  cre- 
ated as  there  are  manufacturers.  Think  of  the  final  effect 
upon  the  common  language.  Think  of  the  poor,  overbur- 
dened school  children  who  would  have  to  learn  them.  Think 
of  the  great  libraries  that  would  finally  be  reiiuired  to  accoin- 
modate  the  dictionaries  required  to  define  them.  It  is  said 
that  there  are  already  seventeen  different  names  for  Edison  s 
invention  for  displaying  "living  pictures."  Whereunto  is 
this  thing  to  grow? 

It  is  accepted  in  law  that  the  same  trade-mark  may  be  used 
by  other  manufacturers  for  goods  of  a  dilfereiit  class.  "Lac- 
topei^tin,"  now  claimed  as  a  trade-mark  on  medicine,  may  be 
used  with  equal  propriety  on  guano.  Think  of  the  confusion 
that  might  arise  if  the  druggist  filled  the  prescription  with 
bird-lime  when  lactopeptin  was  specified.  But,  you  say,  no 
such  danger  is  likely  to  arise,  for  everybody  knows  that  lac- 
topeptin means  a  certain  medicinal  comixnmd  used  for  dys- 
pepsia. Admit  it,  then  you  must  also  admit  that  the  word 
lactopeptin  is  a  noun,  the  name  of  a  well-known  thing,  and 
the  only  name  which  the  public  can  properly  use  for  describ- 
ing it.  '  In  that  case  lactopeptin  is  not  a  trade-mark,  for  it  is 
an  axiom  of  law  that  a  descriptive  noun  cannot  be  a  trade- 
mark. And  the  same  logical  •  conclusions  must  be  accepted 
regarding  vaseline,  celluloid  and  other  words  which  are 
claimed  as  trade-marks,  in  spite  of  certain  decisions  of.  the 
courts  to  the  contrary.  Black  cannot  l)e  white  at  the  fiat  of 
any  court. 

Moreover,  one  of  the  functions  of  the  trade-mark  is  to  dis- 
tinguish between  brands  of  well-known  articles  of  commerce, 
so  that  the  puldic  may  be  able  to  distinguish  one  make  from 
another.  The  words  "York  Mills"  on  linen  distinguishes  the 
linen  of  that  brand  from  the  brand  marked  '-Easilc  IMills." 
Now  it  is  apparent  that. if  all  the  linen  of  the  world  were  mon- 
opolized by  one  manufacturer,  this  function  would  be  func- 
tionless  a.rid  therefore  dead.  On  this  point  I  desire  to  lay 
special  stress.  The  trade-mark  law  of  this  countiy  is  merely 
declaratory.  The  government  grants  no  patent  on  the  name 
registered  nor  is  a  trade-mark  created  by  the  registration. 
The  registration  merely  serves  to  give  notice  of  the  fact  tlmt 
the  thing  registered  is  claimed  as  a  trade-mark.  It  is  tlie  way 
the  word  is  used  that  makes  it  a  trade-mark.  If  it  is  used  to 
'distinguish  between  brands  of  well-known  products  known  liv 
names  under  which  all  who  have  the  right  may  manufaelure 
and  deal  in  them,  then  the  word  performs  llie  function  of  a 
trade-mark.  If  it  is  used  as  the  title  of  tlii>  product  itself  and 
forced  by  the  manufacturer  into  tbc  coninion  language  as  the 
name  of  the  thing,  then  it  is  not  a  trade-mark.  \'<>v  it  cannot 
perform  the  fnnelion  of  a  trade-mark.  If  tlie  article  is  mon- 
opolized by  patent,  by  secrecy,  or  by  control  of  Ihc  source  of 
supply,  as  illustrated  by  mineral  waters  for  example,  so  that 


more  than  one  brand  is  impossible,  the  function  of  a  trade- 
mark is  likewise  impossible. 

Now,  as  the  government  grants  no  patent  on  names,  and 
names, of  things  cannot  perform  the  function  of  trade-marks, 
it  follows  that  the  commonly  accepted  idea  of  a  trade-mark 
is  founded  upon  a  legal  fiction.  When  the  commercial  world 
once  awakens  to  the  true  position  of  affairs,  the  so-called 
trade-mark  system,  so  far  as  the  protection  secured  and  the 
monopoly  created  and  maintained  by  the  registration  of  titles 
as  trade-marks  is  concerned,  will  die  a  natural  death.  Com- 
petition will  kill  it.     The  handwriting  is  on  the  wall. 

As  I  said  before,  I  wish  to  place  special  stress  on  the  fact 
that  during  the  life  of  a  monopoly,  however  created,  the 
function  of  a  trade-mark  as  a  brand-mark  cannot  be  exerted, 
because  it  is  important  for  the  trade  to  realize  that  only  when 
there  is  competition  in  the  manufacture  of  an  article  can 
proper  protection  for  word-marks  be  secured.  They  must 
be  brand-marks,  not  titles.  One  of  the  safest  ways  of  using 
word-marks  is  to  employ  them  in  connection  with  a  symbol; 
as  for  example  an  eagle,  and  then  let  the  word-mark  describe 
the  symbol  so  that  there  can  be  no  question  what  is  meant. 
For  example.  Eagle  Brand  Condensed  Milk. 

Again,  the  general  recognition  of  this  doctrine  would  do 
much  to  clear  up  the  fog  which  seems  to  surround  this  trade- 
mark question.  The  doctrine  is  recognized  as  related  to 
monopolies  created  by  patent  in  America,  England,  France, 
and  I  believe  in  Germany  also.  In  the  Singer  Sewing  Machine 
case  decided  by  the  United  States  Supreme  Court  in  189.5. 
the  doctrine  was  clearly  enunciated,  and  it  was  again  affirmed 
by  the  court  of  final  resort  in  the  Castoria  case. 

The  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  reads  as  follows: 
"  The  result,  then,  of  the  American,  the  English  and  the 
French  doctrine  universally  upheld  is  this,  that  where,  during 
the  life  of  a  monopoly  created  by  a  patent,  a  name,  whether  it 
be  arbitraiy  or  be  that  of  the  inventor,  has  become  by  his 
consent,  either  express  or  tacit,  the  identifying  and  generic 
name  of  the  thing  patented,  this  name  passes  to  the  public 
with  the  cessation  of  the  monopoly  which  the  patent  created. 
Where  another  avails  himself  of  this  public  dedication  to 
make  the  machine  and  use  the  generic  designation,  he  can  do 
so  in  all  forms,  with  the  fullest  liberty,  by  affixing  such  name 
to  the  machines,  by  referring  to  it  in  advertisements  and  by 
other  means,  subject,  however,  to  the  condition  that  the  name 
must  be  so  used  as  not  to  deprive  others  of  their  rights  or  to 
deceive  the  public,  and  therefore  that  the  name  must  be  ac- 
companied with  such  indications  that  the  thing  manufactured 
is  the  work  of  the  making  it,  as  will  unmistakably  inform  the 
public  of  that  fact." 

And  the  same  doctrine  has  lieen  recognized  by  the  courts  in 
case  of  monopoly  ci'calcd  by  secrecy.  The  following  decisions 
will  illustrate: 

''The  name  of  a  secret  preparation  may  be  used  by  any  one 
for  goods  actually  prepared  according  to  the  recipe,  for  they 
are  the  goods  indicated  by  the  name,  whether  prepared  by  the 
original  inventors  of  the'recipe,  or  his  successors  in  business, 
or  not.  Until  the  secret  is  discovered  or  betrayed  the  goods 
of  the  oritjinal  inventor  or  his  successors  can  be  the  only  goods 
to  which  "the  name  is  applicable,  or  which  are  denoted  by  it; 
but  when  other  people  can  make  them,  the  difficult  question 
of  fact  arises,  whether  the  name  is  merely  that  of  the  goods 
themselves,  or  that  of  the  goods  of  the  kind  prepared  or  sold 
by  the  original  inventor  or  his  successors  in  Inisiness.  This 
was  well  put  by  Fry,  J.,  in  the  Angostura  P.itters  Case  (Siegert 
vs.  Findlater,  7  C."l>.,  page  813).  'I  cannot  say,'  the  leanied 
judsre  said,  'that  Meinhard  may  not,  if  he  can,  make  a  bitters 
identical  with  the  ]>lainti(Ts',  and  if  he  does  I  cannot  prevent 
liim  from  selling  it  as  Angostura  Bitters."  It  is  to  be  observed 
that  the  person  wlio  produces  a  new  article  and  is  the  sole 
maker  of  it,  has  the  greatest  difficulty  (if  it  is  not  an  irapossi- 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


307 


bility)  in  claiming  the  name  of  that  article  as  his  own,  because 
until  somebody  else  produces  the  same  article,  there  is  noth- 
ing to  distinguish  it  from.  No  distinction  can  arise  from  us- 
ing the  name  of  the  class,  so  long  as  the  class  consists  of  only 
one  species,  for  then  the  name  of  the  species  and  the  name  of 
the  class  will  be  the  same.''  (The  Law  of  Trade-mark,  by 
D.  M.  Kerly,  M.  A.,  LL.  D.,  published  by  Sweet  &  Maxwell, 
1894.) 

"There  must  be  some  word  or  sign  or  device  other  than  a 
generic  name  and  words  of  descriptive  quality."  (Com- 
missioner's decision,  1881,  p.  97.) 

"So  the  words,  '  Night  Blooming  Cereus '  were  hold  to  be 
invalid  as  a  mark,  being  the  proper  descriptive  appellation 
of  the  article."     (Phalon  vs.  Wright,  5  Phila.,  -iCA.) 

"The  same  rule  defeated  the  adoption  of  the  words,  '  Desic- 
cated Codfish.'     (Harris,  Beebe  &  Co.) 

In  the  case  of  the  "Balm  of  a  Thousand  Flowers,"  Judge 
Duer,  of  'New  York,  says: 

."It  is  only  the  seductive  name  that  they  claim  as  their  ex- 
clusive property,  and  doubtless  from  the  experience  in  its 
value  in  the  extension  of  their  sales.  This,  however,  is  a 
species  of  property  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  unknown  to  the 
law,  and  that  can  only  be  given  to  one  by  an  infringement 
of  the  rights  of  all.  ...  It  has  been  repeatedly  held  that 
a  trade-mark  cannot  be  obtained  in  a  name  where  it  is  the 
proper  name  for  the  article,  as  in  the  case  of  Schnapps,  the 
subject  of  the  controversy  in  Wolf  vs.  Goulard,  or  where  it  has 
by  general  use  become  the  proper  name  of  an  article  which 
all  manufacturers  may  use,  as  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Jolmson's 
Yellow  Ointment,  Godfrey's  Cordial,  and  Essence  of  An- 
chovies." 

"The  policy  that  the  mere  use  of  a  name  to  designate  an 
article  would  give  to  those  employing  it  the  exclusive  right 
to  designate  such  article  by  such  name,  would  be  giving  a 
copyright  of  the  most  odious  kind,  without  reference  to  the 
utility  of  the  application  or  the  length  of  the  title,  and  one 
that  would  be  perpetual." 

And  another  writer  says: 

"Neither  the  Trade-mark  Law,  nor  the  Copyright  Law,  nor 
the  Patent  Law  affords  any  such  right,  or,  under  the  pretence 
of  the  same,  allows  any  one  to  throttle  trade  under  the  al- 
leged sanction  of  law." 

"No  one  can  claim  protectiim  for  the  exclusive  use  <if  a 
trade-mark  or  trade-name  which  would  practically  give  liim 
a  monopoly  in  the  sale  of  any  goods  other  than  those  pro- 
duced or  made  by  himself.  If  he  could,  the  public  would 
he  injured  rather  than  protected,  for  competition  would  be 
destroyed.  Nor  can  a  generic  name  or  any  name  merely  de- 
scriptive of  an  article  of  trade,  of  its  qualities,  ingredients, 
or  characteristics,  be  employed  as  a  trade-mark,  and  the  ex- 
elusive  use  of  it  be  entitled  to  protection."  (Canal  Co.  vs. 
Clark,  13  Wall,  323.) 

"We,  of  course,  understand  that  when  a  name  is  coined  by 
one  who  uses  it  as  a  trade-mark  upon  a  particular  article,  if 
that  name  is  originally  a  lawful  trade-mark,  its  sul>sequent 
adoption  by  the  public  as  a  connnon  appellative  cannot  take 
awa.y  the  right  already  acquired."  (Celluloid  Co.  vs.  Cel- 
lointe  Co.,  32  Fed.  Rep.,  98.) 

But  "when  a.n  article  is  made  tliat  was  heretofore  un- 
known, it  must  be  christened  with  a  name  by  which  it  can  be 
recognized  and  dealt  in,  and  the  name  thus  given  it  becomes 
public  property,  and  all  who  deal  in  the  article  have  a  right 
to  designate  it  by  the  name  by  which  alone  it  is  reco.gnizahle." 
(Leclanche  Battery  Co.  vs.  Western  Electric  Co.,  23  Fed.  Rep., 
227.) 

"A  word  which  is  the  name  of  an  article,  or  indicates  its 
quality,  cannot  be  so  appropriated.  Every  one  has  the  right 
to  manufacture  the  same  article,  and  to  call  it  by  its  name  or 
descriptive  character.    (Phalon  vs.  Wright,  Am.  Tr.  Cas.,  308.) 


Taking  these  facts  into  consideration  I  advocate  the  abso- 
lute divorce  of  the  trade-mark  from  the  secret  patent  system 
which  has  been  built  up  around  it,  and  the  limiting  of  the 
word  mark  distinguishing  between  two  or  more  brands  of  ar- 
ticles open  to  competition  and  provided  with  names  common 
to  the  language  and  free  to  the  use  of  all.  Then  I  would  ad- 
vocate an  international  agreement  or  uniform  trade-mark  law 
recognizing  and  clearly  enunciating  this  doctrine. 

Divorced  from  its  association  with  the  trade-mark,  the  secret 
patent  system,  which  has  growai  up  around  it,  could  then 
be  considered  separately. 

The  present  patent  law  is  intended  to  protect  inventors  of 
arts,  mechanics,  manufactures  and  compositions  of  matter. 
The  patent  law  is  inadequate  to  protect  the  latter.  A\nien 
the  formula  for  a  composition  of  matter  is  divulged  by  pat- 
enting it,  that  ends  all  protection  so  far  as  the  patent  is  con- 
cerned. Keeping  the  formula  secret,  giving  it  a  coined  name 
and  registering  the  name  as  a  trade-mark,  affords  better  pro- 
tection. Thus  the  trade-mark  system  becomes  a  secret  patent 
system  of  unlimited  duration. 

The  present  patent  law  would  probably  answer  all  require- 
ments if  the  publication  of  the  formula  for  composition  of 
matter  now  required  could  be  postponed  for  a  certain  num- 
ber of  years.  All  inventions  should  be  free  to  the  public — ■ 
formulas,  processes,  methods  of  manufacture,  names  and  all — 
after  patents  expire. 

Of  course,  some  method  of  proper  censorship  should  be 
adopted  if  a  print  patent  system  is  adopted,  or  it  would  he- 
come  a  system  of  fraud.  One  great  objection  to  the  secret 
patent  system  created  around  the  trade-mark  is  that  there  is 
absolutely  no  censorship.  No  matter  how  great  a  fake  the 
composition  may  be,  or  how  much  misrepresentation  in  ad- 
vertising, the  fakir  receives  the  same  protection  as  the  man 
engaged  in  legitimate  business.  Hence,  the  most  unfair  com- 
petition in  trade  is  engendered  and  public  confidence  is  de- 
stroyed. 

I  am  frequently  asked,  "What  about  compositions  of  matter 
not  inventions  but  falsely  advertised  as  such?  How  shall 
they  be  protected?"  The  question  arises,  "Why  protect  them 
at  all?"  The  man  who  conceals  the  identity  of  some  old  com- 
modity or  mixture,  gives  it  a  fanciful  name  and  falsely,  adver- 
tises it  as  a  new  and  wonderful  discovery,  confers  no  benefit  on 
the  community.  Why  should  he  be  rewarded?  On  the  con- 
trary he  should  be  punished  for  deceiving  the  public,  for  un- 
fair competition  in  trade,  and  for  obtaining  money  undei 
false  pretences. 

As  stated  by  Terrell,  the  theory  upon  which  the  patent  laws 
rest  is  that  it  is  in  the  interest  of  the  community  that  persons 
should  be  induced  to  devote  their  time,  energies  and  resources 
to  original  investigation  for  the  furtherance  of  science,  the 
arts  and  manufactures.  This  was  recognized  from  the  earliest 
periods  which  can  pretend  to  be  described  as  civilized.  It  is 
of  advantage  to  the  whole  community  that  authors  and  in- 
ventors should  be  rewarded,  and  no  measure  of  reward  can  be 
conceived  more  just  or  equitable,  and  bearing  a  closer  relation 
to  the  benefit  conferred  ijy  the  particular  individual,  than  to 
grant  him  the  sole  right  to  his  writing  or  discovery  for  a  lim- 
ited period  of  time. 

The  plan  I  am  advocating  is  intended  to  extend  the  benefit 
of  the  patent  law  to  these  now  deprived  of  its  protection,  but 
who  deserve  it  equally  with  those  who  invent  new  arts  or  ma- 
chinery. The  continuous  effort  of  the  manufacturers  to 
spread  the  mantle  of  the  trade-mark  law  over  their  alleged  in- 
ventions for  the  purpose  of  protection  clearly  shows  that  there 
is  a  demand  for  a  secret  patent  law.  The  t.rad,€xmark  can 
never  satisfactorily  fulfill  a  fimetion  fpr  whicli  it,,w.as  never 
intended.  It  is  entirely  inadequate  for  the.  purpose,  as  its 
frequent  failures  prove.  And  the  trade-mark  is  greatly 
needed  in  its  proper  sphere.     If  we  are  to  have  a  secret  patient 


308 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


law,  let  us  call  it  hy  in  right  name  and  deiine  its  limitations. 
By  so  doing  we  can  confer  a  benefit  on  the  entire  community 
by  further  jiroiiioting  progress  in  the  commercial  world,  ac- 
celerating the  growth  of  knowledge,  and  thus  advancing  civil- 
ization itself.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Charle.<  n .  Diiell: 

Something  over  a  year  ago,  the  President,  by  virtue  of  an 
Act  of  Congress,  appointed  a  committee  consisting  of  three 
members  to  revise  the  trade-mark  laws  so  far  as  they  related 
to  or  had  a  bearing  upon  foreign  commerce.  One  of  tliese 
commissioners  is  present  to-day  and  will  read  a  paper.  I 
now  have  the  lionor  to  introduce  to  you  J\lr.  Francis  I'^orbe^. 

Mr.  Fnincitt  Forbes: 

ilr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  presume  that 
we  will  have  an  opportunity  to  discuss  the  papers  after  they 
are  read,  and  I  desire  to  say  snmething  with  regard  to  Dr. 
Stewart's  paper,  which  is  probably  the  radical  paper  of  the 
day. 

Present  Tkadk-.makk  Needs  in  Ixtern.vtional 
Trade. 

Trade-marks  indicate  the  origin  of  goods,  and,  therefore. 
are  peculiarly  open  to  use  for  fraudulent  purposes.  Their 
protection  by  law  is  necessary  to  prevent  fraud.  All  civilized 
nations  have  recognized  this  by  enacting  trade-mark  laws. 
The  following  is  substantially  a  complete  list,  viz.: 

Argentine  Ke]iublic,  Austria,  Belgium,  Bolivia.  Brazil,  Bul- 
garia, Chile,  Colombia,  Congo  Free  State,  Costa  Rica,  Den- 
mark, Fiji,  Falkland  Islands,  Finland,  France,  Germany,  Great 
Britain,  Barljadoes,  British  Guiana.  British  Honduras.  British 
North  Borneo,  Bermuda,  Canada,  Caj)e  Coldiiy.  Ceylmi. 
Cyprus,  (iibraltar.  Gold  Coa.st  Colony,  Hong  Kong,  Malta, 
^lauritius,  Newfoundland,  New  Guinea,  New  South  Wales, 
New  Zetland,  Queensland,  Rhodesia,  Sierra  Leone,  Sontlt 
Australia,  Straits  Settlements,  St.  Lncia.  St.  Vincent, 
Tasmania,  Trinidad,  Victoria,  West  Australia.  Ziihiland. 
(ireece,  (iiiatemala,  Guernsey,  Hawaiian  Islands,  Holland, 
Hungary,  Italy,  .Japan,  Jersey,  Labitan,  Lagos,  Leeward  Is- 
lands, Lu.\enil)otirg,  Mexico,  Natal.  Norway,  Orange  l''ree 
State,  Paraguay.  Pern,  i'drtiigal  and  ('(ih)nies.  Rdiinmiiia. 
Russia,  Servia,  Singaj)ore,  South  African  Republic,  Spain 
and  Colonies,  Sweden,  Switzerland.  'J'linis,  'furkey,  I'nited 
States,  ITruguay,  \'enezueia,  Jamaica,  Dutch  Hast  Indie-. 
Dutch  West  Indies,  Cura^iao  and  Surinam. 

Of  countries  without  such  laws,  China  only  is  (if  magnitude. 

It  is,  therefore,  the  world's  almost  unaniminis  agreement 
that  trade-marks  slnndd  he  pnitected  by  pnsitivi-  laws.  There 
is  extreme  diversity  in  the  manner  of  such  [irotection,  and 
again,  in  wliat  constitutes  a  trade-mark. 

In  Argentine  Repul)]ic,  .\u-tria,  Belgium,  Brazil,  liulgaria. 
Canada,  Chile.  Costa  Rica.  Denmark,  1'' ranee,  Germany,  Great 
l^ritain,  Greece,  (iuatemahi,  llungai-y,  Italy,  Ja]ian,  Buxem- 
bourg,  Mexico,  Netherlaiiids  Norway,  Peru,  Portugal,  Rou- 
mania,  Russia,  Servia,  S])ain,  Sweden,  Switzerland,  Turkey 
and  Venezuela,  ))rotection  is  accorded  by  penal  statutes. 
In  the  United  States  damages  tudy  are  awarih'd.  e\ce])t  in  its 
several  States  which  in  some  cases  have  ]ii'nal  statutes.  The 
penalties  imposed  include  imprisonment  and  line,  in  some 
cases  one  only  of  these,  and  in  others  both. 

In  Belgium,  Jajian  and  Sweden  confiscation  or  destruction 
of  the  goods  wrongly  marked  is  allowed. 

In  Finlaiul,  (ireece,  Jajian  and  Sweden  the  marks  may  be 
destroyed. 

Protection  in  other  countries  than  the  United  States  is  only 


accorded  to  registered  trade-marks.  The  requirement  of 
registration,  as  a  basis  for  protection,  is  evidently  fair  to  all, 
since  without  such  registration  there  is  no  meat's  of  deter- 
mining accurately  what  is  a  trade-mark  and  what  is  not. 

The  force  of  the  certificate  of  registration  varies  in  the  dif- 
ferent countries.  In  smne,  it  grants  the  right  which  does  not 
otherwise  exist,  and  is  said  to  be  attributive  of  property,  while 
m  others  the  certificate  may  be  attacked  in  the  courts  and  the 
validity  of  the  trade-mark  questioned,  the  registration  being 
said  to  be  merely  declaratory  of  a  right. 

Under  the  attributive  system,  there  must  necessarily  be  a 
preliminary  examination  by  the  registering  liureau,  while  in 
the  other  all  marks  presented,  if  the  application  be  in  due 
form,  may  be  registered. 

Registration  is  allowed  in  some  countries  only  to  citizens 
or  residents  of  the  country,  or  of  those  countries  with  whicli 
reciprocal  treaties  exist. 

As  to  what  may  become  a  trade-mark,  there  is  also  diver- 
sity. It  is  difficult  to  generalize  on  this  suljject  and  place 
the  nations  in  classes. 

Arbitrary  devices,  if  not  government  coats-of-arms  and  rep- 
resentations used  by  the  government  or  branches  of  it,  and 
not  contrary  to  good  morals,  are  universally  registerable. 

Coined  names  used  for  the  first  time  to  designate  the  goods 
of  a  manufacturer  or  merchant  are  good  marks  in  a  majority 
of  countries. 

Letters  and  numerals  are  not  generally  good  marks. 

Geographical  names  are  in  most  countries  not  registerable. 

Prior  use  by  others  is  in  some  countries  no  bar  to  registra- 
tion liy  the  first  applicant,  whereas  in  others,  an  examination 
is  made  as  to  who  was  first  to  use.  and  an  oath  of  such  prior 
use  is  required. 

It  is  a])[iarent  to  this  Congress,  from  the  generalizations 
made,  that  there  exists  a  very  grave  danger  to  every  manu- 
facturer and  merchant  of  the  registration  of  his  mark  liy  a 
stranger,  excejit  only  in  those  countries  where  registration  is 
grantcil  to  the  first  user  and  no  other. 

AA'hat  shall  be  done  with  trade-marks  used  but  not  regis- 
tered? And  what  shall  be  done  with  trade-marks  valid  in 
form  in  the  country  of  origin,  iuit  not  in  the  country  to  which 
tlie  goods  bearing  the  mark  are  shipped? 

The  home  manufacturer  or  merchant  who  desires  to  extend 
his  trade  abroad,  makes  the  object  of  his  first  investigation 
the  methods  of  sale  in  the  new  market.  These  include  the 
packing  and  marking. 

Jn  this  country,  where  the  mark  is  jirotected  without  re- 
gistration, it  is  not  usual  to  register:  indeed,  no  additional 
rights  are  given  by  our  registration  laws.  They  are,  at  most, 
means  of  proof  of  title  to  the  registered  mark,  either  in  pro- 
ceedings in  the  federal  c mrts  or  in  applications  for  registra- 
tion abroad.  The  taking  of  active  .steps,  therefore,  for  the 
protecti(ni  of  their  marks  does  not  occur  to  our  citizens. 

It  i-  not  right,  as  a  matter  cd'  fair  dealiiiLT,  for  a  stranger  to 
ad  ipt  and  register  an  old  mai-k  of  reputation;  but,  as  a  legal 
(|ues1ion,  if  the  law  permits  the  first  applicant  to  present  the 
mark  to  the  registry  ofiice  to  obtain  registration,  there  is  no 
legal  wrong.  These  la\\s.  bowcve?-.  wliicli  permit  the  first 
ap|)licant  at  the  registry  ofhee  to  registei-  tlu'  mark  are  the 
source  of  great  injury  |o  citizens  of  lUher  count I'ies,  who  seek 
trade  in  the  countries  having  sucli  laws. 

II  is  said  that  no  one  should  comjilain  if  legal  means  of  pro- 
ti'ction  are  sup])lie(l  to  liim.  Fair  dealing  requires  that  scnne 
means  should  be  proxideil  whereby  the  user  of  a  reputable 
mark  could  obtain  registration  as  against  a  stranger  who  has 
knowingly  registered  the  mark  with  the  intent  of  obtaining 
till'  advantage  of  its  reputation. 

In  some  of  those  countries  where  registration  is  attributive 
of  |)ro]ierty.  no  provision  is  made  for  cancellation  of  registra- 
tion, with  the  resull,  tlial  any  article  may  be  kept  out  of  the 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


309 


cotititry  when  bearing  its  usual  trade-mark,  if  a  resident  of 
that  country  shall  apply  for  and  obtain  registration  of  the 
trade-mark.  In  this  age  of  rapid  and  extended  intercourse 
and  a  prolific  press,  no  article  largely  advertised  and  used  can 
be  said  to  lie  unknown  in  any  civilized  country,  and,  therefore, 
a  most  eti'ectual  way  to  keep  it  from  competition  with  native 
products  of  the  same  character,  is  to  shut  out  its  sale  by  the 
registration  of  the  trade-mark  !)y  a  native. 

This  is  a  proper  subject  of  treaty  negotiations  with  those 
countries  in  which  the  supposed  advantages  to  their  own  citi- 
zens are  made  to  outweigh  any  moral  obligation  of  fair  com- 
mercial dealing. 

The  answer  to  the  question  would  seem  to  be,  that  the  user 
of  an  unregistered  mark  should  have  a  period,  after  notice 
to  him,  during  which  he  could  apply  to  remove  his  trade-mark 
from  the  register,  if  registered  in  the  name  of  another,  and  the 
privilege  of  making  the  registration  in  his  own  name. 

Another  dithculty  of  the  trade-mark  situation,  as  it  actually 
exists,  arises  from  the  adoption  by  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants of  trade-marks,  good  under  the  home  laws  only.  This 
is  most  natural,  since  very  few  trade-marks  are  adopted  for 
other  than  domestic  trade,  and  in  but  very  few  cases  is  any 
thought  given  to  foreign  trade. 

The  question,  therefore,  arises:  What  dispo.sition  shall  be 
made  of  such  marks  when  they  enter  into  foreign  trade? 
They  cannot  be  protected  in  the  countries  to  which  the  goods 
bearing  them  are  sent,  because  registration  is  not  allowed  by 
their  laws.  This  is  clearly  a  case  for  a  treaty  or  convention. 
Still  the  question  remains  as  to  what  would  be  just  in  such 
a  case.  Take,  for  example,  a  mark  consisting  of  a  geographi- 
cal name  only,  which  may  be  good  in  one  country.  Should  it 
be  admitted  to  registration  everywhere  as  a  good  mark,  be- 
cause it  is  admitted  to  registration  in  the  country  where  such 
marks  are  registerable?  If  so,  should  it  be  admitted  only  on 
such  conditions  as  will  prevent  fraud?  e.  g.,  the  attempt  of  a 
resident  of  a  country  where  registration  is  not  allowed  to  such 
a  mark,  to  register  it  in  another  country,  allowing  such  regis- 
tration, with  the  intent  of  obtaining  a  subsequent  registration 
in  his  own  country,  under  the  general  rule  that  a  trade-mark 
registered  in  one  country  may  be  registered  in  all. 

It  would  seem  that  with  proper  restrictions  against  the  im- 
proper use  of  a  registration  made  in  one  country,  subsequent 
registrations  of  the  same  mark  should  be  allowed  in  all  coun- 
tries; or  that,  in  place  thereof,  certain  marks  should  by  gen- 
eral agreement  be  everywhere  excluded  from  registration. 

The  questions  above  stated  are  now  the  subject  of  discus- 
sion in  connection  with  the  proposed  amendment  to  the  Con- 
vention for  the  Protection  of  Industrial  I'roperty  concluded 
at  Paris,  March  20,  1883,  and  it  is  expected  that  a  solution 
may  be  arrived  at  through  this  Cpnvention;  Imt,  if  not,  separ- 
ate treaties  should  be  entered  into  to  accomplish  the  same  pur- 
pose. 

The  suliject  of  unfair  competition  is  closely  linked  to  that 
of  trade-marks,  and  equally  deserves  to  receive  the  attention 
of  commercial  nations.  Indeed,  without  the  dressing  up  of 
the  package  which  makes  unfair  competition,  the  use  of  the 
trade-mark  alone  might  be  little  harmful.  It  is  proposed  to 
include  unfair  competition,  l)y  amendment,  in  the  Convention 
of  Paris. 

It  is  not  the  governments  which  are  neglecting  to  provide 
for  trade-mark  protection.  The  need  of  trade-marks  lies 
rather  in  the  awakening  of  users  to  their  rights  under  exist- 
ing laws.     (Applause.) 

Captain  J.  Cnrdeiro  da  Graga: 

"Mv.  Chairman:  I  would  remark  that  I  hiive  been  much 
pleased  with  what  the  gentleman  has  said  in  his  paper.  I  lis- 
tened to  it  very  attentively,  and  he  spoke  about  Brazil,  men- 
tioning a  fact  that  I  can  prove.     One  example  is  sufficient: 


We  had  in  Brazil  a  trade-mark  of  a  kind  of  matches  coming 
from  Sweden  as  a  registered  mark,  and  the  man  applied  for 
damages.  I  know  the  name  of  the  firm,  but  I  cannot  re- 
member the  name  now,  that  was  obliged  to  pay  twenty  thous- 
and pounds  sterling  as  damages.  I  state  this  to  let  you  know 
that  we  have  a  register  of  trade-marks  in  Brazil.  We  have 
such  a  law,  and  its  operation  gives  good  results. 

lion.  Charles  II.  DueU: 

I  think  the  gentleman's  statements  are  quite  correct,  but 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  we  have  some  two  or  three  more  papers 
to  read,  I  think  it  will  be  better  to  read  the  papers  first,  and 
then  they  will  b,e  open  for  discussion. 

1  understand  several  gentlemen  whom  we  would  like  to 
have  present  with  us  are  not  here.  The  paper  of  Mr.  Morris 
S.  Wise  will  be  read  by  Jlr.  M.  X.  Kline. 

Some    Useful    SrcciESTioxs    ox    the    Adoptiox    of    a 
Trade-Mark. 

Mr.  Morris  S.  Wise: 

It  is  a  matter  of  supererogation  to  descant  in  this  paper 
upon  the  extreme  importance  and  value  of  that  species  of  in- 
dustrial property  known  as  tlie  "trade-mark." 

The  large  commercial  combinations  which  have  been  ef- 
fected in  this  country  during  recent  years  have  demonstrated 
conclusively  and  finally,  that  the  greatest  value  of  a  manu- 
facturing business  mav  not  be  found  in  its  stock  of  merchan- 
disc,  or  even  in  its  accounts  or  dealings  or  machinery,  but  that 
a  far  greater  value  may  exist  in  that  inchoate  species  of  prop- 
erty called  the  "trade-mark,""  which  is  but  the  exponent  or 
indicia  of  the  good-will  of  the  business,  which  good-will  in 
such  commercial  combinations  has  had  a  tangible  and  real 
market  value,  which  has  brought  great  wealth  to  the  possessor 
thereof. 

I  emphasize  the  great  value  of  the  trade-mark  for  the  pur- 
pose of  accentuating  and  emphasizing  the  importance  of  the 
suggestions  I  have  to  make  in  respect  to  the  devising  of  the 
same. 

There  are  certain  rules  which,  of  course,  are  understood 
by  lawyers  and  judges  which  are  elementary  and  fundamental, 
and  which  should  be  equally  well  understood  by  merchants 
or  manufacturers,  in  order  that  they  may  make  no  primary 
mistake  in  the  adoption  of  their  marks. 

The  trade-mark  must  first  of  all  be  truthful;  it  must  not 
be  a  fraud;  it  must  not  be  conceived  in  fraud,  and  it  must 
not  be  used  as  an  instrument  of  fraud. 

In  the  next  place,  it  must  i)e  original,  that  is  to  say,  it  must 
not  imitate  or  copy  the  mark  of  any  other  prior  user  in  the 
same  line  of  business;  and  in  this  connection  it  may  be  proper 
to  call  attention  to  the  division  of  trade-marks  into  two 
branches. 

The  trade-mark  which  consists  of  a  picture  or  symbol,  I 
will  designate  as  the  "Eye"'  mark,  because  it  can  only  be  de- 
scril)ed  with  difiiculty  and  usually  necessitates  the  use  of  con- 
sideralde  language  to  explain  exactly  what  is  meant,  and  such 
a  mark  can  only  be  infringed  upon  by  something  which  is  so 
nearly  similar  as  to  be  able  to  mi.slead  and  deceive  the  pur- 
chaser using  ordinary  caution  and  having  the  ordinary  memory 
of  man. 

Tlie  other  division  of  trade-mark,  consisting  of  a  word  or 
words,  I  would  designate  as  the  "Ear"'  mark,  because  it  is  rec- 
ognized by  the  expression  of  sound  when  it  is  mentioned  or 
called  for  in  the  shop,  and  the  use  of  such  a  mark  by  any 
other  manufacturer  or  user,  either  alone  or  in  any  other  com- 
bination of  words  or  on  any  style  of  label,  is,  under  the  well- 
settled  decisions  of  the  higher  courts,  forbidden. 

The  next  element  to  be  considered  in  devising  or  adopting 


310 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


a  new  trade-mark  is,  to  Lie  sure  that  it  does  not  indicate  kind, 
quality  or  origin;  that  is  to  say,  everybody  can  use  common 
expressions  which  are  descriptive,  and  so,  in  many  instances, 
geographical  terms  are  incapable  of  exclusive  protection. 

Any  New  York  cigar  manufacturer,  for  instance,  can  make 
"New  York"  cigars,  but  even  this  restriction  has  an  important 
limitation  in  that,  if  a  party  living  in  a  city  has  designated 
his  wares  by  the  name  of  the  city  or  place,  and  such  designa- 
tion has  become  established  and  recognized  in  the  market, 
some  other  manufacturer  who  lives  in  some  other  place, 
cannot  use  such  designation  for  the  purpose  of  stealing  the 
trade  of  the  first  user,  even  though  the  question  of  a  geo- 
graphical title  be  involved. 

I  hardly  need  call  attention  lo  the  practical  and  rather 
more  of  the  business  side  of  the  trade-mark,  in  that  it  should 
be  something  novel,  attractive,  and  easily  retained  in  the 
mind  and  memory,  and  in  this  connection  a  method  of  mod- 
ern American  advertising  is  found  in  the  use  of  catch  phrases, 
which  have  almost  risen  to  the  dignity  of  the  trade-mark 
itself,  as  tliey  certainly  have  operated  to  expand  and  adver- 
tise the  business  in  which  they  are  used. 

As,  for  instance,  the  expression,  "See  that  hump,"  in  con- 
nection with  the  De  Long  Hook  and  Eye;  or  "Generously 
Good,"  used  by  the  manufacturers  of  the  "George  W.  Childs" 
cigar;  or  "You  press  the  button,  we  do  the  rest,"  used  by 
the  Kodak  Company;  or  "Good  Morning,"  so  well  known  in 
connection  with  Pear's  Soap. 

A  trade-mark  may  also  be  very  valuable  as  an  advertising 
medium  in  the  innuendo  or  suggestion  it  conveys.  Take, 
for  instance,  the  trade-mark  of  the  Prudential  Insurance 
Company,  which  uses  the  Rock  of  Gibraltar  as  its  trade- 
mark; or,  take  the  "Uneeda"  Biscuit,  or  the  little  chef  of 
tlie  Franco-American  Soup  Company. 

After  a  person  desiring  to  adopt  the  new  mark  has  laljoreil 
successfully  and  produced  the  result  of  his  conception,  bear- 
ing in  mind  most  carefully  the  rules  to  be  observed  as  here- 
inbefore declared,  the  next  important  question  to  be  deter- 
mined is,  whether  the  proposed  trade-mark  does  not  collide 
with  some  similar  mark  already  on  the  market. 

In  many  lines  of  business  which  are  of  a  limited  charac- 
ter, it  is  usually  a  simple  matter  to  determine  what  marks 
have  been  or  have  not  been  used,  or  what  are  on  the  market; 
but  in  many  lines  of  business,  where  new  marks  are  being 
constantly  adopted,  and  where  the  great  area  of  the  territory 
of  the  counti7  would  enable  the  same  brand  to  be  run  for 
months  or  years  without  either  party  knowing  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  other,  until  an  expansion  of  trade  would  bi'ing 
the  inevitable  collision,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  great  difficulty, 
and  this  is  heightened  by  the  deficient  state  of  the  national 
registration  laws  of  this  country. 

In  my  experience,  I  have  found  a  great  many  cases  of 
what  has  really  been  innocent  infringement,  and  manufac- 
turers in  the  same  line  of  business,  and  doing  business  at 
different  and  distant  points  from  each  other,  have  each  in 
his  way  and  in  his  own  section,  built  up  a  trade  for  the  arti- 
cle, only  to  eventually  find  that  they  are  infringing,  and  that 
fill  tlieir  efl'ort  has  been  in  vain  and  expended  for  naught. 

Many  trades,  recognizing  the  difliculty,  have  resorted  to 
the  establishment  of  private  registration  bureaus,  and  that 
connected  with  the  'J'rade-Marlc  h'ecord,  a  journal  which  T 
have  the  honor  of  editing  and  publishing,  has  been  able  to 
do  extremely  good  work  in  this  direction,  if  in  no  other, 
namely,  in  preventing  many  eases  of  innocent  interference 
and  infringement. 

The  necessity  for  one  central  place  for  the  deposit  of  all 
brands  and  labels  as  fast  as  the  same  arc  originated,  to  pre- 
vent loss,  is  apparent  to  every  practical  trade-mark  owner, 
and  especially  in  those  lines  of  trade  where  there  are  a  mul- 
tiplicity of  brands  used,  instead  of  the  one  factory  mark. 


Of  course  the  "Sapolio"  or  "Royal  Baking  Powder"  peo- 
ple, who  only  use  a  single  mark,  and  who  advertise  to  so 
great  an  extent  all  over  the  country,  are  reasonably  secured 
from  the  efforts  of  an  innocent  infringement,  but  in  other 
lines,  such  as  liquors,  tobaccos,  collars,  cuffs,  corsets,  perfu- 
meries and  a  thousand  and  one  other  articles  which  bear  the 
trade-mark,  the  establishment  of  some  place  where  informa- 
tion can  be  definitely  procured  as  to  what  titles  are  in  use,  is 
a  gi'owing  necessity,  and  one  which  will  compel  some  proper 
legislation  on  the  part  of  Congress  at  no  distant  day. 

The  only  suggestion  that  can  be  given,  therefore,  in  this 
latter  direction,  is,  that  the  party  desiring  to  adopt  a  new 
brand  in  those  trades  where  a  multiplicity  of  brands  are 
used,  should  resort  to  all  existing  agencies  to  endeavor  to 
ascertain  whether  the  brand  he  proposes  to  adopt  is  in  actual 
use  or  not,  and  to  register  his  brands  in  such  private  regis- 
tration bureaus  as  exist,  for  the  veij  good  reason  that  such 
service  is  first  of  all  inexpensive,  and  next,  it  gives  public 
.  notice  of  his  claim,  and  if  the  claim,  when  made,  should 
meet  with  the  eye  of  some  one  who  claims  priority,  he  will 
be  very  apt  to  hear  from  him  immediately,  and  thus  be  saved 
the  possibly  large  expense  of  getting  out  an  edition  of  labels 
or  advertising  matter  in  connection  with  the  brand,  which 
it  may  be  determined  he  has  no  right  to  use. 

At  all  events,  I  would  conclude  these  few  practical  sug- 
gestions to  trade-mark  owners  by  advising  them  to  consult 
trade-mark  counsel  in  the  case  of  adopting  each  and  every 
new  trade-mark.  At  times,  there  are  little  points  disclosed 
by  the  proposed  label  or  mark  which  will  at  once  strike  the 
expert,  trained  eye  of  the  trade-mark  lawyer,  and  which 
might  operate  very  disastrously  and  detrimentally  to  the 
owner  in  a  litigation,  and  which  would  escape  his  notice,  or 
appear  harmless  and  innocuous  to  him. 

Bear  two  things  in  mind  in  adopting  a  trade-mark;  the 
first  is  the  necessity  to  be  free  from  sin,  so  that  you  are  not 
exposed  to  a  successful  attack  whereby  you  may  be  restrained 
from  using  the  mark  after  you  have  expended  a  large  amount . 
of  effort  and  money  in  putting  it  on  the  market;  and  next, 
what  is  of  equal  importance,  you  must  endeavor  to  secure  a 
mark  that  you  can  enforce  as  against  others,  because  if  you 
spend  a  large  amount  of  money  in  introducing  your  trade- 
mark upon  the  market,  only  to  find  it  incapable  of  being 
exclusively  protected,  then  you  have  secured  nothing  of 
any  appreciable  value. 

So  that  if  you  desire  to  go  along  with  the  better  and 
higher  security  you  will,  in  all  cases,  when  you  consult  your 
trade-mark  counsel  at  the  veiy  inception  of  the  adoption  of 
your  trade-mark  and  before  you  put  the  same  on  the  market, 
"be  pursuing  the  very  wisest  course  imaginable,  and  you  will 
minimize  any  danger  you  may  run  of  an  infraction  of  the 
elementary  rules  governing  the  proper  and  secure  adoption 
of  trade-marks. 

In  conclusion,  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  trade-mark, 
being  perpetual,  is  of  a  much  more  intrinsic  value  than 
letters-patent,  and  many  manufacturers  have  told  me  that 
they  prefer  a  good  trade-mark  to  letters-patent;  be  that  as 
it  may,  it  is  at  all  events  of  the  highest  and  utmost  im- 
portance that  a  species  of  property  which  may  develop  into 
values  of  an  enormous  amount,  should  receive  proper  care 
nnd  motherly  recognition  at  the  hands  of  its  parents. 

A  trade-mark  is  apt,  when  it  is  a  little  baby  and  unable  to 
care  for  itself,  to  be  treated  veiT  much  as  a  Cinderella.  It 
is  only  after  it  is  grown  up  a  little,  and  has  demonstrated  its 
])()ssible  value,  that  its  parent  becomes  fond  of  it,  and  is  very 
much  grieved  to  find  the  child  illegitimate  and  the  pmppi-ty 
of  someone  else. 

I  have  witnessed  the  sad  results  of  the  want  of  care  on 
the  part  of  many  trade-mark  owners,  in  failing  to  use  proper 
precautions  in  the  adoption  of  their  brands,  and  have  seen 


MFTEENTH  iDAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


311 


many  tears  of  bitter  regret  which  were  shed  at  the  loss  of 
large  profits,  which  would  have  come  to  tlie  owner,  if  he 
had  properly  owned  that  which  he  fancied  was  his. 

It  has  always  appeared  strange  to  me  that  while  a  man 
would  not  buy  a  piece  of  real  estate  of  the  value  of  a  thou- 
sand dollars  only,  without  having  the  title  properly  searched, 
and  investigated  expertly,  to  see  whether  the  party  oifering 
to  sell,  had  something  to  convey;  yet  people  are  willing  to 
risk  their  entire  business  sometimes  in  going  ahead  ignor- 
antly  and  blindly  in  the  use  of  a  trade-mark,  to  find  out, 
when  too  late,  that  their  title  is  defective;  and  if  I  have 
sounded  a  note  of  warning  in  this  direction,  and  will  have 
made  the  trade-mark  owners  and  users  more  careful  in 
originating  and  devising  their  marks,!  will  certainly  have  ren- 
dered a  most  valuable  service  to  the  commercial  community . 

lion.  Charles  H.  Duell: 

The  next  paper  that  is  to  be  read  is  one  forwarded  by  j\1t. 
Arthur  P.  Greeley,  Assistant  Commissioner  of  Patents,  who 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Commission  to  Eevise  Trade-marks 
and  Patent  Laws  as  They  Relate  to  Foreign  Countries. 
(Read  by  Mr.  Andrew  Foulds,  Jr.,  New  York.) 

Teade-marks  and  Foreign  Trade. 

Arthur  P.  Greeley  (Assistant  Commissioner  of  Patents): 

The  United  States  is  already  in  the  front  rank  of  the 
nations  of  the  world  in  the  extent  of  its  export  trade.  While 
the  greater  proportion  of  the  exports  are  still,  as  has  been 
the  case  from  the  beginning,  agricultural  products,  and  the 
value  of  these  exports  has  increased  largely  in  recent  years, 
the  great  increase  has  been  in  manufactures.  While  in 
1880,  the  exports  of  manufactures  formed  but  little  over 
one-sixth  of  less  than  eight  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of 
dollars,  in  1898,  they  formed  nearly  one-fourth  of  a  total 
of  over  twelve  hundred  millions,  and  for  1899  they  will  form 
not  less  than  thirty  per  cent,  of  a  still  larger  total.  For  the 
future,  though  some  increase  in  the  agricultural  exports 
may  be  confidently  looked  for,  it  is  evident  that  the  great 
increase  to  be  expected  is  in  manufactures. 

This  increase  will  come  only  with  organized,  intelligent 
and  persistent  efliort.  Every  opportunity  to  introduce  our 
goods  into  new  markets  must  be  taken  advantage  of,  and 
we  must  see  to  it,  that  we  hold  and  increase  our  trade  in 
markets  which  we  have  already  entered. 

Wherever  we  go,  we  will  be  compelled  to  meet  competi- 
tion, both  fair  and  unfair.  Our  manufactured  articles  are 
distinctive,  and  particularly  in  the  line  of  tools  and  agricul- 
tural and  other  machinery,  are  recognized  throughout  the 
world  as  the  most  convenient,  neatest  and  most  effective;  in 
other  words,  the  best  that  can  be  obtained.  We  have  little 
to  fear  from  the  competition  of  Germany  or  Great  Britain 
or  France,  so  long  as  our  goods  are  recognizable  as  American 
goods  and  are  not  imitated  by  our  competitors.  Full  pro- 
tection against  imitation  can  be  secured  only  for  new  inven- 
tions, and  only  in  those  countries  in  which  there  are  laws 
providing  for  the  grant  of  patents  for  inventions.  In  many 
of  the  countries  in  which  we  look  for  valuable  trade,  particu- 
larly the  countries  in  which  manufacturing  interests  are  as  yet 
but  little  developed,  there  are  either  no  patent  laws  or  else 
patent  laws  w-hich  are  unsatisfactory  so  far  as  the  protection 
to  exports  is  concerned. 

Nearly  all  patent  laws,  with  the  exception  of  those  of 
Great  Britain  and  some  of  her  colonies,  by  their  require- 
ments as  to  the  working  of  patented  inventions  within  the 
country,  practically  prohibit  the  importation  of  articles  cov- 
ered by  the  patent  manufactured  in  this  country  on  pain  of 
forfeiture  of  the  patent. 


The  imitation  of  our  manufactures  in  foreign  countries 
cannot,  practically,  be  prevented,  but  the  sale  of  such  imi- 
tations of  American  goods  can  very  largely  be  prevented 
under  the  laws  of  nearly  every  country  of  the  worldj  even 
those  which  are  but  newly  opened  to  commerce  and  in  which 
the  industrial  arts  have  made  but  little  progress.  This  pro- 
tection may  be  secured  through  the  use,  on  the  goods  expor- 
ted, of  a  distinctive  mark — a  trade-mark — iwhich  shall  be  of 
such  character  as  to  be  recognized  by  the  purchasing  public 
in  whatever  country  the  goods  may  be  offered  for  sale  as  the 
mark  of  the  American  manufacturer  or  exporter. 

In  practically  all  countries  of  the  world,  such  marks  are 
recognized  as  the  distinctive  property  of  the  user  and  will  be 
protected  as  such,  the  unauthorized  use  of  thein  by  others 
being  everywhere  recognized  as  a  fraud  upon  the  rights  of 
the  owner  of  the  mark,  in  that  it  deprives  him  of  the  benefit 
of  the  reputation  which  he  has  built  up  for  his  goods,  and  a 
fraud  upon  the  purchasing  public,  in  that  it  is  an  attempt  to 
deceive  them  as  to  the  quality  and  origin  of  the  goods;  to 
induce  the  purchase  of  imitations  almost  invariably  inferior, 
by  representing  them  to  he  genuine.  But  while  the  laws  of 
nearly  all  countries  recognize  the  right  of  the  owner  of  a 
trade-mark  to  be  protected  in  his  use  of  the  mark,  it  does 
not  necessarily  follow  that  American  owners  of  trade-marks 
are  as  a  matter  of  course  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  these  laws. 
On  the  contrary,  it  may  be  stated  as  a  general  proposition 
that  unless  by  "diplomatic  arrangements  between  the  United 
States  and  the  particular  country  in  which  protection  for  a 
trade-mark  is  sought,  the  right  to  take  advantage  of  such 
laws  has  been  secured,  the  American  owner  of  a  trade-mark 
is  without  redress  against  infringers  of  his  mark,  however 
serious  the  injury  to  his  trade  may  be. 

Such  diplomatic  arrangements  as  have  been  entered  into 
l)y  the  United  States  with  foreign  nations  do  not,  and  ne- 
cessarily cannot,  provide  for  the  protection  of  the  trade- 
marks of  American  citizens,  except  upon  the  same  conditions 
as  those  upon  which  the  subjects  or  citizens  of  those  foreign 
nations  are  protected  in  their  own  coamtry.  Nor  do  such 
arrangements  provide  for  the  protection  of  trade-marks 
which  are  not  here  recognized  as  the  property  of  the  Ameri- 
can citizens  who  seek  to  protect  them  abroad. 

The  laws  of  most  foreign  countries  require  as  a  condition 
precedent  to  the  recognition  of  a  property  right  in  a  trade- 
mark, that  it  be  regularly  registered  as  such  in  such  country. 
They  further  very  generally  require  that  owners  of  trade- 
marks not  resident  in  the  country,  who  desire  to  register 
their  marks,  must  prove  that  such  marks  have  been  regularly 
registered  in  the  country  in  which  they  are  resident.  The 
American  owner  of  a  trade-ma:rk  must,  in  order  that  it  be 
protected  in  a  foreign  country,  with  which  the  United  States 
has  entered  into  an  agreement  on  the  subject,  as,  for  in- 
stance, Denmark,  first  register  his  mark  here  and  then  reg- 
ister in  that  country,  fulfilling  all  the  requirements  of  the 
registration  law  there. 

The  United  States  -has  entered  into  agreements  with  nearly 
all  of  the  leading  commeTcial  nations  with  regard  to  the  pro- 
tection of  trade-mai'ks.  In  European  countries,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  the  trade-marks  of  our  exporters  may  be  pro- 
tected, provided  their  owners  take  advantage  of  the  privileges 
accorded  to  them  under  these  diplomatic  arrangements.  In 
all  European  countries,  however,  registration  of  the  trade- 
mark is  of  primary  importance.  Mere  use,  however,  long 
continued,  does  not,  as  in  this  country,  determine  the  right  to 
the  exclusive  use  of  the  mark.  In  certain  countries,  as  for 
instance.  Germany,  registration  is  decisive  of  the  right  to 
ownership,  the  first  applicant  for  registration  being  recog- 
nized as  the  owner,  even  as  against  an  earlier  user.  It  is 
even  possible  under  the  German  law,  for  a  known  trade- 
mark of  a  foreign  manufacturer  to  be  registered  by,  and 


312 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


become  the  property  of.  a  person  other  tliau  the  originator 
and  real  owner. 

While  it  is  probable  that  the  exports  of  the  United  States 
to  European  countries  will  always  exceed  in  volume  and 
value  the  exports  to  other  countries,  and  for  this  reason  the 
protection  of  our  trade-marks  in  p]uropean  countries  will 
always  be  of  the  highest  importance,  it  is  to  be  rememljcred 
that  these  countries  are  manufacturing  countries  and  our 
goods,  in  order  to  compete  successfully  with  the  goods  of 
manufacturers  who  are  located  there,  must  be  sold  at  prices 
which,  after  the  payment  of  the  necessarily  heavy  freight 
charges,  leave  comparatively  little  profit. 

In  other  countries,  particularly  the  countries  of  Central 
and  South  America,  the  conditions  of  competition  are  more 
favorable  so  far  as  disitance  is  concerned.  In  these  countries 
we  may  and  should  control  the  markets.  Yet,  in  them  we 
have  to  meet  keen  and  active  competition.  Our  manufac- 
tures will  be  and  are  imitafed  by  foreign  manufacturers,  and 
the  imitations  are  sold  as  goods  of  American  manufacture. 
The  necessity  for  the  protection  of  our  trade-marks  in  these 
countries  is  apparent.  Yet  the  United  States  has  at  present 
diplomatic  arrangements  with  respect  to  the  protection  of 
trade-marks  with  but  one  South  American  country,  Brazil, 
and  with  none  of  the  Central  American  countries. 

The  commercial  nations  of  Europe,  the  competitors  most 
to  be  feared,  are  keenly  alive  to  the  importance  of  the  pro- 
tection of  their  trade-marks  in  these  countries.  France  and 
Great  Britain  both  have  entered  into  diplomatic  arrange- 
ments with  reference  to  trade-marks  with  Bolivia,  Colombia, 
(Guatemala  and  ilexico.  France  has  such  arrangements  also 
with  Brazil,  Costa  Rica,  Peru,  and  Venezuela.  Great  Britain 
has  such  arrangements  also  with  Ecuador  and  Paraguay. 
Germany  has  such  arrangements  with  Brazil,  Guatemala,  Mex- 
ico and  \'enezuela.  Other  European  nations  have  such  ar- 
rangements with  many  of  the  Central  and  South  American 
countries. 

Nearly  all  of  these  arrangements  as  to  the  protection  of 
trade-marks  are  of  comparatively  recent  date.  Of  their  im- 
portance to  the  establishment  of  trade  upon  a  substantial  and 
permanent  basis,  there  can  be  no  question. 

The  interest  manifested  by  the  commercial  nations  of  Eu- 
rope in  this  subject,  as  above  {)ointed  out,  so  far  as  the  coun- 
tries of  Central  and  South  America  are  concerned,  is  but  an 
indication  of  the  interest  manifested  in  respect  to  other  coun- 
tries. Wherever  there  is  a  market  or  the  prospect  of  a  mar- 
ket, these  nations  see  to  it  that  their  citizens  shall  have  the 
right  to  protect  their  trade-marks.  France,  Germany,  Bel- 
gium and  the  Netherlands  have  an  agreement  as  to  the  protec- 
tion of  their  trade-marks  in  China. 

A  report  made  in  1897  by  our  consul  at  Fuchau,  Mr.  Gra- 
cey,  on  labels  and  trade-marks  in  China  (Advance  Sheets  of 
('onsular  Reports,  No.  8,  January  11,  1898)  is  well  worth  the 
consideration  of  our  exporters,  whether  sending  their  goods  to 
China  or  to  some  other  market.  In  this  report  it  is  pointed 
out  that  the  trade-mark  has  much  to  do  with  the  sale  of  goods 
and  that  exporters  must  study  the  desires  and  ])rejudices  of 
purchasers  in  the  different  markets  of  the  world,  not  only  as 
to  the  goods  and  the  manner  of  putting  them  up,  but  as  to 
the  label  or  trade-mark  which  they  are  to  bear.  For  trade 
with  foreign  countries  generally,  picture  trade-marks,  or  ar- 
bitrary symbols  (the  marques  fiptratives,  as  they  are  termed 
by  French  writers),  rather  than  word-marks,  are  most  effective. 
A  picture  appeals  to  the  eye  and  l)elongs  to  a  language  under- 
stood ])y  all,  w^hile  a  word  may  be,  and  very  often  is,  unintelli- 
gible to  a  foreigner. 

American  goods  will  win  their  way  to  a  market  wherever 
they  arc  sent.  They  can  and  will  hold  that  market  .=>o  long 
as  they  meet  only  fair  competition.  I^et  us  hope  that  in  so 
far  as  it  depends  upon  the  protection  of  the  trade-marks  which 


they  bear,  they  will,  both  by  the  efforts  of  our  Government 
and  the  efforts  of  our  exporters,  be  protected  against  unfair 
competition.     (Applause.) 

lluii.  Charles  II.  Duell: 

Are  there  any  other  papers  to  be  read? 

.1//".  Francis  F(jrhes: 

1  have  a  paper  from  Mr.  William  C.  Barker,  of  New  York. 
Shall  I  read  it? 

Hon.  Charles  II.  Vuell: 
Yes,  if  you  please. 

Mr.  Francis  Forbes: 

Mr.  Barker  is  one  of  the  members  of  the  Patent  and  Trade- 
Mark  Committee  of  the  National  Association  of  Manufac- 
turers. He  was  invited  to  read  a  paper  of  that  kind,  and  the 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  of  the  American  Proprietary  As- 
sociation was  also  invited  to  read  a  paper.  I  do  not  know 
whether  he  is  here  or  not.  "International  Patents  and  Trade- 
marks."    Mr.  Barker  has  taken  in  both  subjects. 

Inteexation'al  Patents  and  Trade-marks. 

Mr.  William  C.  Barker: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Delegates:  As  I  am  neither  a  patent 
attorney  nor  inventor,  I  hardly  know  why  I  have  been  in- 
vited to  read  a  paper  on  the  subject  of  "International  Patents 
and  Trade-Marks,"  but  as  others,  who  are  learned  in  the  law, 
will  treat  of  the  legal  and  technical  features,  1  will  confine  my 
remarks  to  their  effect  and  l)earing  upon  international  com- 
merce. 

Confidence  is  the  foundation  upon  which  the  commerce  of 
the  world  is  established  and  conducted;  anything  that  af- 
fects confidence  also  affects  commerce.  If  a  manufacturer  has 
been  successful  in  establishing  a  trade  in  his  product,  he  has 
done  so  because  he  has  first  secured  the  confidence  of  the 
party  who  first  consumes  his  product.  A  product  becomes 
known  by  a  special  name  or  design  that  is  applied  to  it,  and 
that  name  or  design  is  the  property  of  the  manufacturer  of 
the  product,  and  should  be  protected  by  the  law,  just  as  much 
as  any  other  form  of  property. 

Inventions  are  the  result  of  study  and  thought,  and  become 
the  source,  if  not  the  actual  means,  of  a  livelihood  to  the  in- 
ventor, and  are  his  property  and  should  be  protected  the  world 
over,  as  much  as  any  other  fm-m  of  property.  Yes,  even  more 
so.  1  would  much  prefer  to  have  a  man  juit  his  hand  in  my 
]iocket  and  rob  me  of  a  sum  of  money,  than  to  rob  me  of  my 
invention  or  the  confidence  the  buying  public  have  in  my  pro- 
duct. If  I  lost  my  money,  1  could  soon  rejilace  it  by  use  of 
my  invention  or  from  the  result  of  the  confidence  of  the  buy- 
ing public  in  my  product,  but  if  robbed  of  these,  I  have  not 
only  lost  property  of  moneyed  value,  but  I  have  been  robbed 
of  the  means  to  replace  it. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  is  a  certain  class  of  manu- 
facturers in  almost  every  country  that  are  nothing  short  of 
"patent  pirates."  They  thrive  on  other  people's  inventions, 
and  trade  on  the  confidence  that  belongs  to  others.  The 
judges  in  some  of  the  higher  courts  in  this  country  have, 
within  the  last  few  years,  been  taking  advanced  grounds  in 
n  Terence  to  this  class,  and  justice  ha.s  been  meted  out  to 
many  of  them,  so  that  the  inventor  and  the  one  wh)  has 
gained  the  confidence  of  the  public  for  bis  product  begins  to 
see  some  hope  of  having  his  rights  respected  in  the  future. 

In  most  countries  patents  are  taxed  for  revenue.  In  the 
T'niti'd  States  no  tax  is  levied;  one  small  fee  is  charged,  and 


Fifteenth  day's  session,  October  so,  isdd 


313 


^lie  government  issues  a  patent  protecting  the  rights  of  the 
patentee  for  seventeen  years. 

In  most  foreign  countries  the  law  requires  that  the  pat- 
ented articles  be  manufactured  in  the  country  that  issues  the 
patent  within  a  specified  time.  I  contend  that  a  tax  on  pat- 
ents is  a  tax  on  inventive  genius,  enterprise  and  thrift,  and 
tends  to  retard  development  and  industry,  therefore,  is  a 
direct  injury  to  every  manufacturer  and  employe  engaged  in 
the  production  of  articles  of  commerce;  also  detrimental  to 
international  commerce. 

In  countries  wliere  patents  and  trade-names  or  marks  are 
free  from  these  restrictions,  you  will  find  the  classes  and  the 
masses  enjoying  the  blessings  derived  from  the  products  of 
the  inventor,  while  in  countries  where  these  restrictions  are 
enforced,  you  will  find,  as  a  rule,  the  classes  enjoying  the 
benefits  of  the  inventions  of  other  nations,  while  the  masses 
remain  in  practically  the  same  conditiiin  they  have  l)ecn  in 
for  generations  past. 

The  United  States  Government  oflEers  the  inventors  of  the 
world  the  opportunity  to  have  their  inventions  patented  in 
this  country;  it  levies  no  tax,  places  no  restrictions  as  to 
manufacture;  the  patentee  can  have  his  goods  made  in  his 
own  country  and  sell  them  in  this  country,  if  he  chooses;  the 
people  welcome  the  inventions  from  all  nations  for  the  bene- 
fits to  be  derived  from  tlieir  use,  and  not  for  the  tax  that 
can  be  levied  on  them.  If  they  have  a  good  thing,  we  want  it. 
Is  it,  therefore,  unreasonable  for  the  inventors  of  this  coun- 
try to  ask  for  like  liberal  treatment  at  the  hands  of  other 
governments?  Is  it  wise  for  other  governments  to  debar  its 
people  from  enjoying  good  things  from  the  inventions  of 
this  and  otlier  countries?  These  are  questions  for  you,  dele- 
gates, to  ask  your  governments,  and  for  you  to  suggest  the 
proper  solution. 

It  is  my  judgment,  that  the  laws  of  many  governments  per- 
taining to  international  patents  and  trade-nuirks  have  been 
based  on  jealousy  and  mistrust  of  our  brothers  in  other  comi- 
tries,  and  all  tliat  is  necessary  to  do,  to  arrive  at  a  Ijetter  con- 
ditilon  of  things,  is  to  cast  jealousy  aside  and  mistrust  will 
soon  be  turned  into  confidence. 

Ex-Speaker  Reed,  in  his  remarks  at  the  opening  of  a  ses- 
sion of  this  Congress,  tlie  other  day,  said  that  Cod  made  all 
mankind  of  one  blood  and  one  flesh,  but  in  His  wisdom  He 
made  the  people  of  one  nation  strangers  to  the  people  of  an- 
other, leaving  it  for  mankind  to  become  acquainted  with  each 
other;  He  has  placed  three  barriers  between  the  people  of 
the  United  States  and  those  of  other  countries,  viz.:  wide 
expanse  of  water,  high  mountains  and  mistrust.  Tlie  in- 
genuity of  man  has  bridged  the  waters  and  pierced  the  high 
mountains,  leaving  only  mistrust. 

I  now  think  as  a  result  of  the  deliberations  of  this  Con- 
gress, and  the  acquaintances  formed  while  here,  that  the 
last  barrier,  mistrust,  will  be  buried,  and  from  this  time 
forward,  all  governments  and  all  people  will  welcome  tlie 
inventions  of  every  other  nation.     (Applause.) 

Mr.  Francis  Furhes: 

Mr.  Chairman:  Before  we  close  I  want  to  present,  as  a 
part  of  one  of  the  papers,  an  argument  prepared  by  the  In- 
ternational Bureau  at  Berne,  to  sustain  the  agreement  made 
between  a  number  of  the  nations  having  trade-mark  laws, 
providing  for  international  registration  of  trade-mark?.  This 
paper,  which  is  almost  too  long  to  read,  1  ask  to  have  printed 
as  a  part  of  the  proceedings,  because  it  is  a  paper  prepared 
with  great  care  by  the  International  Bureau  itself,  which  is 
sustained  by  the  United  States,  and  gives  all  the  arguments 
in  favor  of  this  international  registration.  Our  nation  has 
not  yet  become  one  of  the  nations  which  have  adhered  to  this 
agreement,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  very  desirable  that 


it  should  do  so.     The  title  of  the  paper  is  "The  International 
Registration  of  Trade  and  Commercial  Marks." 

Hon.  Cliarks  H.  Duell: 

Are  there  any  other  papers  to  be  read?  If  not,  are  there 
any  resolutions?  And  if  there  are  any  resolutions,  they  will 
now  be  read  and  referred  under  the  rules  to  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions. 

Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da  Graqa: 

I  have  a  resolution  I  want  to  submit: 

Whereas,  The  International  Commercial  Congress,  now  be- 
ing in  session  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  has  for  its  object 
the  discussion  of  subjects  of  general  interest  in  regard  to  re- 
lations of  commerce  and  comity  between  the  various  nations 
for  tbe  general  welfare  of  the  civilized  world; 

Whereas,  Commerce  depends  principally  upon  credit,  by 
which  alone  it  can  be  increased  and  developed; 

Whereas,  Banks,  above  all,  are  the  real  promoters  of  com- 
merce; 

Whereas,  For  the  practical  realization  of  all  these  desiderata, 
adequate  transportation  facilities  are  needed;  and 

Whereas,  Tlie  ofticial  delegate  of  a  country  represented  in 
this  Congress  has  declared  tlie  willingness  of  his  government 
to  subsidize  a  steamship  company;  be  it,  therefore. 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress  issue 
an  appeal  to  manufacturers,  capitalists,  bankers  and  ship- 
owners to  thoroughly  study  this  subject,  and  to  meet  for  the 
purpose  of  effecting  a  practical  realization  of  the  plans  laid  out 
above. 

Hon.  Charles  II.  Duell: 

The  resolution  will  be  received  and  referred  to  the  perma- 
nent Committee  on  Resolutions. 

.1  Delegate: 

I  have  a  resolution  that  1  would  like  to  have  take  the  same 
course: 

Whereas,  The  condition  of  affairs  has  changed  in  the 
United  States  since  the  passage  of  the  Chinese  restriction  act; 

Whereas,  Since  the  passage  of  the  said  act,  the  United 
States  has  acquired  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  the  Philippines, 
wliere  there  is  a  large  population  of  Chinese; 

Whereas,  It  now  becomes  necessary  for  the  United  States 
to  modify  the  said  Chinese  restriction  act,  in  order  to  have  a 
uniform  law  for  the  whole  of  the  United  States  and  Terri- 
tories or  possessions; 

Wliereas,  The  United  States  and  Cliiiia  have  been  brought 
door  to  door  to  each  other,  and  a  great  future  in  trade,  manu- 
factures and  commerce  is  opened  up  for  each  country,  which 
will  be  beneficial,  not  only  to  the  two  respective  countries, 
but  to  the  entire  world;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That,  for  the  purpose  of  opening  up,  increasing 
and  developing  closer  commercial  relations,  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  bringing  about  a  merchant  marine  between  the  two 
countries,  the  United  States  and  China,  we  suggest  and 
recommend  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  be 
petitioned  to  pass  an  act  modifying  the  said  Chinese  re- 
striction act,  and  granting  to  the  Chinese  the  privileges  of- 
fered to  other  countries,  the  said  privileges  to  be  such  as  shall 
bring  about  a  harmonious  solution  of  the  question  of  labor 
between  the  United  States  and  China,  to  the  best  interests  of 
both  countries,  excluding  pauper  labor  and  the  criminal  class. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  presented  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  H.  Rotherham : 

Are  we  in  order  in  taking  notice  of  that  at  all?  It  has 
somewhat  of  politics  in  it. 


314 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


lion.  Charles  11.  Duell: 

The  resolution  is  not  debatable;  it  is  referred  to  the  Per- 
manent Conunittee  on  Resolutions.  If  tbey  report  it  back, 
tlien  it  is  debatable. 

Mr.  WilliaM.  W.  Snpplee:  ■     '■' 

1  have  a  resolution  that  I  would  like  to  offer: 

Whereas,  The  economic  advantages  of  an  Isthmian  ('anal 
would  be  of  supreme  importance  to  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  from  an  industrial,  economic  and  strategic  stand- 
point; and 

Whereas.  Its  utility  and  cost  have  been  under  considera- 
tion tor  many  years,  and  there  is  thought  to  he  no  reasonable 
douht,  either  as  to  its  practicability  or  expediency,  he  the  cost 
what  it  may;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  'J'hat  the  International  Commercial  Coiigress 
heartily  endorses  and  urges  the  cons.truction  of  an  inter- 
oceanic  canal  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  at  the  earliest 
practicable  moment. 

Hon.  Clnirle.'i  //.  Diii'll: 

The  resolution  will  be  received  and  take  tlie  usual  course. 

Mr.  Francis  Forhcs: 

I  have  a  resolution  which  is  germane  to  this  meeting: 
Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress  that  the 
assimilation  of  trade-mark  laws  to  a  common  standard  is 
necessary  for  the  full  protection  of  commerce;  and,  further, 
that  this  Congress  regards  the  conference  held  under  the 
Convention  for  the  Protection  of  Industrial  Property,  con- 
cluded at  Paris,  March  20,  1883,  as  an  important  forum  tor 
the  discussion  of  such  laws  and  their  proposal  to  the  nations. 
It  is  further 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress  that  all  na- 
tions, members  of  the  Union  created  by  the  Convention 
for  the  Protection  of  Industrial  Property  concluded  at  Paris, 
March  20,  1883,  should  become  members  of  the  Agreement 
for  the  International  Registration  of  Trade-Marks. 

Hon.  Charles  H.  Duell: 

The  resolution  as  read  will  take  the  usual  course.  Are 
there  any  other  resolutions  to  be  presented?  If  not,  the 
Congress  is  open  for  a  discussion  of  the  questions  raised  in 
any  of  the  papers  read  this  afternoon. 

Hon.  J.  C.  Miinaghan: 

Mr.  Chairman:  T  do  not  know  that  what  I  am  going  to 
say  is  exactly  germane  to  any  particular  paper;  but  after 
long  experience  abroad,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  would  be  wrong  for  me  to  omit  so  excellent  an  opportu- 
nity to  call  the  attention  of  American  inventors  and  manu- 
facturers to  the  importance,  the  very  great  importance,  of 
securing  letters-patent  in  l']uropc,  and  particularly  in  the 
German  Empire. 

I  have  sometimes  been  accused  of  calling  the  Gonnans 
a  race  or  nation  of  imitators.  While  they  are  one  of  the 
greatest  nation  of  imitators  in  the  world,  I  would  not  be 
understood  as  saying  that  they  are  not  great  originators. 
Any  person  familiar  with  the  fact  knows  that  they  have  prac- 
tically given  gunpowder  to  the  world  thnnigh  their  Monk 
Schwartz,  and  the  printing  press,  the  greatest  prnt)ai)ly  ol' 
all  inventions,  thi^ough  (Juttenberg,  Schiifer  and  Kaii.st,  and 
that  they  are  to-day,  in  chemistry,  and  in  various  branches 
of  the  sciences  and  arts,  leaders  among  all  nations. 

I  repeat,  when  one  is  familiar  with  those  facts,  it  becomes 
impossible  to  deny  to  the  Germans  the  credit  of  being  great 
inventors  and  great  originators.  What  has  stood  particularly 
in  the  way  of   their  progress  as  a  race  of    inventors    in    the 


pa.st  is  this  fact,  that  prior  to  the  year  1878,  when  Germany 
passed  her  Imperial  Patent  Law,  it  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  take  out  letters  patent  in  Saxony,  Wiirtemberg, 
Bavaria,  Mecklenburg,  etc.,, etc.,  and  some  twenty-eight  or 
thirty  petty  sitates  and  sovereignties.  The  Imperial  law  has 
done  away  with  this  necessity,  and  since  1878,  she  being  then 
No.  14  among  the  inventive  nations  of  the  earth,  Germany 
has  become,  if  I  remember,  mentioned  among  the  first,  second 
and  third  nations,  being  led  l)y  our  own  people.  The  point  I 
wish  to  make  is  this:  That  American  manufacturers  and  in- 
ventors neglected  patent  rights  in  the  German  Empire,  and 
under  the  law  as  it  stands,  the  clever  German  people,  watch- 
ing, as  perhaps  no  other  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth, 
the  scientific  progress  of  the  world,  took  out  patents.  In 
my  city,  I  suppose  there  are  dozens  of  men,  manufacturers, 
who  take  the  patent  papers  and  the  various  teclmieal  papers 
of  this  country,  and  keep  themselves  posted  as  to  every- 
thing that  occurs  here.  The  moist  prominent  technical  school 
of  my  city  has  on  file  the  leading  patent  papers  of  our 
country  and  the  records  which  they  give  here,  and  they  see 
owT  machines  of  all  kinds.  They  buy  more  or  less  and  take 
them  home,  where  they  take  them  ajiart  and  use  them  as 
models. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  do  not  want  to  be  understood  as 
finding  fault  with  them  for  doing  that  thing.  The  point  I 
want  to  make  is  that  any  inventor  in  this  country,  who  will 
take  care  to  ask  an  American  patent  lawyer  to  have  the  patent 
taken  out  in  the  German  Empire,  will  be  protected,  and  I 
think  these  gentlemen  here,  who  are  more  familiar  mth  the 
patent  laws  than  I  am,  know  there  is  no  country,  except  per- 
haps ours,  where  an  inventor  has  better  protection  than  in 
the  German  Empire  when  he  does  get  a  patent. 

Hon.  Charles  H.  Duell: 

In  connection  with  what  the  gentleman  last  having  the 
floor  said,  I  think  perhaps  a  single  word  from  me  might  not 
be  out  of  place  at  this  time.  The  gentleman  probably  knows 
the  great  difficulty  which  arises  whenever  an  American  in- 
ventor has  to  obtain  a  patent  in  Germany.  I  venture  to  say 
that  not  one  in  fifty  is  allowed,  not  only  when  they  attempt 
to  procure  those  papers  through  an  American  solicitor,  but 
when  they  also  employ  the  most  skilled  practitioners  in  the 
German  Empire.  This  question  oft'ers  another  objection,  or 
rather  difficulty.  The  machine  must  be  manufactured  there; 
they  cannot  be  made  here,  otherwise  the  patent  in  Germany 
becomes  invalid,  and  that  is  so  in  most  European  countries. 
There  is  no  other  country  in  the  world  that  has  more  liberal 
patent  laws  than  those  of  the  United  States.  We  grant  pat- 
ents in  this  country  to  inventors  at  the  price  of  thirty-five 
dollars  for  seventeen  years.  There  are  no  annuities  charged, 
as  they  are  charged  in  most  European  countries.  There  is 
no  clause  that  the  articles  must  be  manufactured  here,  as  is 
required  in  most  of  those  countries,  and  the  residt  has  been 
that  while  perhaps  we  have  not  been  able  to  protect  ourselves 
in  foreign  countries  as  we  ought  to  be  able  to  do,  and  that 
American  inventors  and  manufacturers  have  been  discour- 
aged in  taking  out  foreign  patents,  I  venture  to  say  that  the 
owners  of  American  patents,  the  owners  of  patent  machinery 
here  are  able  to  so  use  that  macliinery,  by  the  aid  of  our 
skilled  labor,  that  we  can  accomplish  more  with  the  ma- 
chinery than  can  any  <ither  nation  in  the  world  with  the- 
same  machinery  and  without  our  skilled  labor,  and  therefore 
they  do  net  suffer  as  much  from  their  failure  to  obtain  for- 
eign ])atents  as  might  be  feared. 

I  agree  with  the  gentleman  that  it  would  be  an  excellent 
thing  if  we  could  obtain  patents  for  our  inventions  in  Ger- 
many and  all  other  countries;  but  the  laws  of  those  coun- 
tries, with  scarcely  an  exception,  are  so  rigid  that  the  owners 


FIFTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  30,  1899 


315 


of  these  have,  after  a  few  years,  become  tired  of  paying  large 
annuities,  and  are  obliged  to  surrender  them.  When  an  ex- 
amination is  given  in  Germany,  the  examination  is  much  more 
rigid  than  it  is  here;  but  in  most  European  countries  all  you 
have  to  do  is  to  apply  for  a  patent  and  it  is  granted.  In 
■  some  of  the  countries,  however,  an  inventor  need  not  make 
the  application.  That  is  true  in  Great  Britain.  Now,  while 
it  is  an  excellent  thing  for  our  inventors  to  patent  their  in- 
ventions abroad,  yet  in  many  places — and  Germany  is  one  of 
them — dt  is  almost  impossible.  I  regret  this,  yet  it  is  a  fact, 
and  we  have  to  face  it. 


Hon.  J.  C.  Monaghan: 

While  I  admit  that  it  is  a  fact  that  you  have  to  make  the 
machinery  over  there,  and  it  is  very  difficult,  just  as  you  have 
said,  to  get  the  patent  granted,  and  that  the  examination  is 
very  rigid,  I  have  found  this  fact  by  working  for  others  in 
connection  with  ray  ofRce:  that  if  you  do  secure  good  lawyers 
over  there  who  are  familiar  with  the  language  and  familiar 
with  what  we  call  "red  tape"  and  the  other  facts;  if  you 
persist — and  that  may  be  told  to  the  American  public — that 
if  you  persist  in  asserting  and  showing  that  your  patent  is  no 
infringement  upon  others — you  can  get  a  patent  in  the  Ger- 
man Empire,  and,  as  I  said  before,  if  you  have  a  good  thing 
it  is  worth  something.  I  have  in  my  mind  quite  a  number 
of  cases  of  that  kind,  and  you  could  sell  the  right.  I  know 
as  a  fact  that  there  are  men  who  come  regularly  to  this  coun- 
try in  their  own  line — in  textiles  and  in  the  making  of  ma- 
chines— for  the  purpose  of  discovering  anything  new.  I 
know  one  man,  a  personal  friend,  who  got  rich  from  some- 
thing he  brought  out  in  this  city.  He  saw  something  in  one 
of  the  mills  and  got  an  idea  and  is  growing  rich.  Had  it 
been  patented,  that  man  would  have  lieen  willing  to  pay  a 
fairly  good  sura  for  the  patent  right.  Furthermore,  I  have 
gone  through  the  tanning  school  at  Friedenberg,  the  best 
in  the  Phupire,  and  of  the  machinery  in  that  school,  every  ma- 
chine was  invented  and  constructed  in  this  country  from  the 
garret  down  to  the  cellar.  I  have  gone  through  a  manufac- 
tory, through  a  boot  and  shoe  factory,  and  every  machine 
in  that  factory  was  made  in  the  State  of  Mas.sachusetts  and 
invented,  of  course,  in  this  country.  Now,  I  say  there  are 
special  lines  that  as  a  fact  are  so  probable  that  the  man  who 
does  not  innovate  upon  any  of  the  German  machines  would 
find  it  easy,  or  comparatively  easy,  to  take  out  a  patent  right, 
and  I  think  our  manufacturers  and  inventors  should  be  aware 
of  that  fact,  so  that  in  the  future  they  can  take  measures  to  se- 
cure those  rights  in  that  country.  As  I  said  this  raorning, 
there  is  no  country  on  earth,  never  was  and  probably  never 
will  be,  which  is  as  liberal  as  we  are. 


Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da  Graga: 

I  have  listened  to  what  the  gentleman  said  about  Brazil, 
and  I  think  it  proper  to  mention  here,  that  in  Brazil,  we  have 
lil^Cral  ajid  just  laws.  We  have  not  only  penalties,  but  also 
damages  for  infringement.  We  grant  patents  for  fifteen 
years.  Our  patents  are  very  cheap,  about  the  same  as  you 
pay  here  in  the  United  States.  I  remember  the  case  of 
matches  brought  from  Sweden.  The  man  applied  for  dam- 
ages, and  I  could  tell  you  the  name  of  the  firm  that  was 
obliged  to  pay  twenty  thousand  pounds  damages.  An  in- 
ventor has  a  right  to  register  his  patent.  He  does  not  need 
to  take  out  patent  papers,  but  all  he  is  required  to  do,  is  to 
prove  that  within  six  months,  he  has  taken  out  a  patent  in 
another  country.  He  must  also  .specify  wherein  his  inven- 
tion consists.  Three  years  ago  a  man  took  out  a  patent  to 
pave  streets  with  asphalt.  It  is  an  invention  that  has  been 
known  for  forty  years,  and  the  government  decided  that  he 
was  entitled  to  a  patent. 

Mr.  H.  liotherham: 

The  laws  of  England  and  Australia  are  very  liberal,  but  of 
course  I  cannot  say  how  secure  they  are. 

Mr.  Francis  Forbes: 

I  would  like  to  hear  frora  some  of  the  delegates  in  regard 
to  trade-marks,  as  to  what  their  experience  has  been.  I  will 
say  that  any  one  here  who  wants  to  see  the  trade-mark  pub- 
lications of  the  world  may  find  them,  as  I  think  they  are  all 
on  exhibition  down  stairs,  near  the  front  entrance.  Section 
0  55,  exhibited  by  the  United  States  Trade-Mark  Association 
of  New  York,  giving  practical  illustration  of  what  is  done  in 
the  different  civilized  cduntries  on  the  subject  of  trade-marks. 

Ho7i.  Charles  H.  Duell: 

The  Congress  will  be  in  order  while  Dr.  Wilson  gives  a 
notice. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilsoii: 

I  simply  wish  to  say  that  the  meeting  of  this  Congress  will 
take  place  to-raorrow  in  the  Assembly  E.oom  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Commercial  Museum,  233  South  Fourth  street,  and  not 
in  this  building.  The  subsequent  meetings  will  take  place 
at  the  Commercial  Museum.  We  hope  to  have  a  large  at- 
tendance. 

flon.  Charles  H.  Duell: 

If  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  done  this  afternoon,  the 
session  stands  adjourned  until  10.30  to-morrow  morning. 

(Adjourned  5.15  p.  m.) 


PROCEEDINGS 

OF 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


SlXTliENiH    DA-Y'S   SESSION 


riULADiiLi'UiA,  Tuesday,  October  ;)1,  IS'jy. 

MOEXTXG  SESSIOy. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  11.15  a.  ni.,  in  the  As- 
semblv  Room  of  the  Commercial  Ihiseum,  by  Director  \V.  P. 
Wilson. 

Director  11'.  P.  ^Yilson: 

We  will  come  tn  order  this  mornintj  and  the  tirst  paper 
will  be  from  Mr.  A.  Olivier,  Jlayor  of  Three  Rivers.  P.  Q., 
(^anada.  and  delegate  of  the  Hoard  of  Trade  to  the  Interna- 
tional Commercial  Congress.  1  have  pleasure  in  introduc- 
ing Mr.  Olivier. 

Mr.  A.  Olivier: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  desire,  hefore  beginning  my  address  to 
this  large  and  representative  body,  to  convey  to  you  and  to 
the  Board  of  Directors  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  your  kind 
invitation,  which  affords  me  an  opportunity  of  giving  you 
a  brief  account  of  the  resources  of  a  territory  practically  un- 
known, but  which,  nevertheless,  in  my  ojiinion.  offers  an  ex- 
tensive field  for  development. 

The  Kksoi'ucks  of  tiih  District  of  Three  Rivers,  P.  Q., 

('anapa. 

1.  Three  Rivers  as  a  seaport. 

2.  The  agricultural  ])art  of  Three  Rivers. 

3.  Forest  products. 

4.  Water  powers. 

.").    l].\ports  and  imports. 

(!.  Our  relations  with- the  Cnited  States. 


I.   T 


R'lVERS  AS  A  Seaport. 


The  city  of  Tln'cc  I{i\('rs  is,  geograpliirally  and  commei'cial- 
ly,  the  natural  cenler  of  an  immense  district  situated  in  the 
heart  of  the  Proviiu-e  of  (Juebec.  which  stretche-  from  the 
banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  northward  to  llud-oii  Hay.  The 
city  itself  it  situated  on  the  north  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence, 
midway  between  Monlreal  and  (Quebec.  Its  harbor  atfords  all 
the  facilities  required  for  modern  ocean  tratiic:  vessels  draw- 
ing as  much  as  thirty  feet  of  water  can  reach  its  wharves  witli- 
out  danger  or  diiliculty:  it  is  above  tidewater,  and  is  free  finm 
the  troubles  too  often  caused  by  organized  labor.  Several 
lines  of  railway  place  the  city  in  direct  and  daily  coiinnunica- 
tion  with  all  the  more  ini|ioii;nil  business  centres  of  Canada 
and  the  Fniled  States. 

The  district  of  which  Three  Hivers  is  the  commercial  cap'- 
tal  may  be  divided  into  two  principal  sections,  the  agricultural 
or  settled  jiart,  and  the  forest  section. 


II.   A(iiii('ri,'i'ii!Ai,  I'.MiT  OF  TiiiiEE  Rivers.  ' 

The  settled  part  of  the  district  of  Three  Rivers,  which  lies 
on  lioth  sides  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  has  a  farming  population 
of  aliout  300,000,  aiul  contains  within  its  borders  some  of  the 
most  fertile  lands  in  the  Province  of  (Quebec.  It  exports  an- 
nually dairy  products  to  the  value  of  $?oO,000,  and  produces 
•^')0,0()(i  tons  of  hay  a  year,  to  say  nothing  of  other  farm  pro- 
duets.  In  the  southern  portion  of  the  district  are  found 
large  and  valuable  deposits  of  asbestos,  the  value  of  the  annual 
production  of  which  already  exceeds  half  a  million  dollars. 
The  agricultural  products  of  this  district  are  not  only  rapidly 
increasing  in  quantity  every  year,  but  are  also  steadily  improv- 
ing in  quality. 

1 II.   Forest  Products. 

The  forest  district,  which  covers  an  area  of  more  than  thirty 
thousand  square  miles,  is  known  as  the  St.  Maurice  territory, 
and  takes  its  name  from  the  St.  ilaurice  River,  which  runs 
through  its  entire  length,  and  empties  into  the  St.  Lawrence 
at  Three  Rivers.  It  is  a  district  of  great  interest  to  investors 
and  manufacturers,  owing  to  the  rich  field  it  offers  for  ex- 
ploitation and  investment.  The  whole  territory  is  covered 
with  forests  of  pine,  spruce,  i-edar  and  hard  woods,  in  suffic- 
ient quantities  to  afford  a  practically  inexhaustil)le  supply  for 
export.  Iron  is  also  found  in  abundance,  as  well  as  mica,  lime- 
stone and  other  minerals,  which  are  certain  in  the  near  future 
to  give  rise  to  impoTtant  industries.  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  saying  that  tliis  almost  undevelo])ed  territory,  so  little 
known  abroad,  offers  great  inducements  t  >  capitalists,  and  de- 
serves tlicir  jiarticular  attention.  The  i-aw  n\aterials  I  have 
mentioned  are  found  in  immense  quantities,  and  the  rivers 
and  lakes  which  traverse  the  country  in  all  directions  provide 
the  means  of  chea])  transportafiim  to  the  natural  shi]i]iing 
pnint  (if  'riii'ce  RiviTs. 

IV.  Wai'ei!   I'o\vi':rs. 

l'>ut  I  be  iinsi  iniportant  point  by  far.  and  the  one  to  which 
1  wisli  most  parti(  uliirly  to  ilraw  your  attention,  is  the  fact 
that  nature  lias  |iiii\iilcil  Ihrougbout  all  this  district,  side  by 
side  with  (be  I'au  nialcrial  Uiv  manufacturing,  water-powers 
which,  in  point  of  number,  size  and  the  ea.se  with  which  they 
can  be  utilized,  deserve  to  rank  among  the  most  valuable  in 
X(U'tb  Aini'i'iea.  The  SI.  Mauriic  it-elf,  which  is  ab  nil  three 
liiindred  mile-  buig.  and  bas  sunie  tweidy  important  tribut- 
aries, fniiii-lies  within  Ibiity  miles  of  il<  mouth  at  Three 
K'ivei's.  Iiuir  large  falls  and  two  rapid-,  which  could  together 
dexclop  oM'i-  ball'  a  niillinn  burse  powei-.  These  falls,  called 
tlie  ■■(Jiv's."  the  ■■Shawenegan."  the  •"(irand'-niere."  and  the 
"I'iles."  \;iry  in  height  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  and  sixty 
feet,  while  the  two  rapids  of  the  "Iletres"  and  the  "Gabelle"' 


816 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION.  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


317 


have  but  a  moderate  descent,  yet  cme  that  could  easily  be 
utilized.  The  fall  of  "La  Tuque."  also  on  the  St.  Maurice, 
sixty  miles  above  the  "Piles,"  and  in  the  heart  of  the  northern 
forest,  is  also  capable  of  supplying  unlimited  power.  It  is  per- 
haps the  mist  wonderfully  adapted  of  all  for  industrial  pur- 
poses. The  whole  stream  of  the  St.  Maurice  at  this  point 
is  confined  within  a  natural  canal  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  wide,  which  has  been  eaten  out  of  the  rock  by  the 
force  of  the  current,  and  forms  a  series  of  i-a])ids  which  extend 
over  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  have  a  total  descent  of  two  hun- 
dred feet.  All  the  tributaries  of  the  St.  Maurice  and  the 
neighboring  river  afford  a  great  numljer  of  splendid  water- 
powers.  It  may  be  as  well  for  me  to  add  that  these  water- 
powers  are  in  no  danger  of  1)eing  lessened  or  of  failing  through 
the  destructinn  of  the  forests  or  similar  causes;  the  sources 
of  the  rivers  which  feed  them,  lie  in  tlie  cold  and  distant  reg- 
ions of  the  north,  where  they  are  beyond  the  possiliility  of 
being  injured  by  man. 

Here,  then,  we  have,  side  by  side,  abundant  raw  materials 
of  all  kinds  and  unlimited  power,  which  Providence  seems 
to  have  provided  expressly  for  human  industry.  Only  the  in- 
telligent action  of  capital  is  needed  to  create  prosperity  and 
wealth.  The  electric  current,  so  easily  developed  at  the  pres- 
ent day  by  water  power,  will,  without  doulit,  be  the  principal 
agent  in  the  approaching  transfonnation  of  these  vast  wastes. 

V.  Exports  and  Imports. 

These  facts,  Mr.  Chairman,  are  not  without  interest  to  busi- 
ness men  who  are  constantly  on  the  alert  to  take  advantage 
of  the  resources  of  foreign  countries  and  their  capacities  for 
trade,  but  I  desire  to  add  a  few  figures  to  show  that  the  indus- 
trial and  commercial  advance  has  already  begun  at  Three 
Rivers,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  a  prospect  of  steady 
growth  for  many  years  to  come.  Leaving  aside  the  subject 
of  agricultural  products,  I  desire  to  speak  more  particularly 
of  the  f  jrest  ijroducts  of  the  St.  Maurice  district,  which  at 
present  form  the  most  important  item  among  our  exports.  The 
total  quantitv  of  manufactured  lumber  exported  dii-ectlv  from 
the  port  of  Three  Rivers  amounted  in  1897  to  7.5,000,000  feet, 
value  at  $900,000;  in  1898,  to  65,000,000  feet,  valued  at 
$640,000;  tliis  year  it  will  reach  a  total  of  90,000,000  feet 
worth  one  nullion  dollars.  The  export  of  pulj)  wood  at  pres- 
ent reaches  an  annual  average  of  60,000  cords,  valued  at  $540,- 
000,  but  this  is  a  trade  which  is  still  in  its  infancy,  and  one  for 
which  the  necessary  material  exists  in  large  quantities.  Man- 
ufactured pulp  and  paper,  of  which  about  60,000  tons  a  year 
are  made,  nearly  all  of  which  is  for  export,  also  form  a  con- 
siderable item  of  our  trade.  It  nuiy  be  worth  while  to  men- 
tion that  these  latter  products  are  placed  on  the  market  by  a 
single  firm,  the  Laurentide  Pulp  Company,  which  has  its  mills 
at  ({rand  ilere  Falls  on  the  St.  Maurice,  twenty-five  miles 
from  Three  Rivers,  where  it  owns  one  of  the  largest  water- 
powers  in  North  America.  Another  large  mill  is  in  course 
of  construction  at  Shawenegan  Falls,  and  will  in  a  short  time 
help  to  considerably  increase  our  trade  in  this  product.  If  I 
add  to  this  the  nine  to  ten  thousand  tons  of  iron  made  by  the 
Canada  Iron  Furnace  Com])any.  at  Radnor  Forges,  1  will  have 
given  you  a  fair  idea  of  the  chief  items  of  the  export  trade  of 
Three  Rivers,  which,  including  agi'icultural  produce,  reaches 
a  total  of  over  two  million  dollars  a  year. 

The  value  of  our  annual  imports  may  be  estimated  at  about 
one  million  dollars.  They  consist  chiefly  of  hardware,  ma- 
chinery, firebricks,  flour  and  provisions,  chemicals,  cottons, 
dry  goods,  leather,  and  agricultural  implements.  The  customs 
reports  for  Three  Rivers  do  not  show  such  a  large  volume  of 
trade,  l)ut  the  difference  is  accouitted  for  by  the  fact  that  a 
considerable  part  of  our  trade  is  done  indirectly  through  other 


ports.  Our  export  business  may  be  divided,  according  to  the 
countries  with  which  it  is  carried  on,  as  follows:  Over  fifty 
per  cent,  is  with  the  United  States,  thirty-five  per  cent,  with 
Great  Britain,  and  the  remaining  fifteen  per  cent,  with  South 
America,  Australia,  France  and  Germany.  I  must  note,  how- 
ever, that  our  commercial  relations  with  France  and  the  other 
countries  of  the  continent  of  Europe  have  of  late  years  been 
becoming  closer,  and  our  trade  with  them  will  this  year  sliow 
a  considerable  increase. 

These  figures  seem  small  when  compared  with  the  immense 
trade  done  in  the  great  American  ports,  but  business  men 
should  not  forget  that  it  takes  dollars  to  make  millions,  and 
they  will  know  in  what  light  to  regard  a  district  which  is  cap- 
able of  great  devclo])ment,  though  its  trade  at  present  is  small. 
Personally,  1  am  convinced  that  the  yet  undeveloped  natural 
resources  of  the  district  which  I  represent  in  this  Congress 
will,  in  the  not  distant  future,  supply  a  very  considerable  for- 
eign trade.  We  are  but  in  the  beginning  of  a  .series  of  devel- 
opments which  may  attain  astonishingly  large  proportions, 
and  that  is  the  reason  why  I  thought  it  well  to  bring  those  few  . 
facts  before  you  to-day. 

VI.  Our  Relations  with  the  Ignited  States. 

Before  closing  I  am  happy  to  l)e  able  to  say  to  our  friends  in 
the  great  American  Rej)ublic,  who  have  so  kindly  received  and 
entertained  us,  that  the  people  of  Three  Rivers  view  with 
extreme  pleasure  the  rapid  enlargement  of  our  relations  with 
the  United  States.  The  establishment  of  the  first  American 
Consulate  in  Three  Rivers  dates  from  188-2,  at  which  time 
there  were  about  twenty-five  American  citizens  in  the  dis- 
trict, while  the  American  capital  invested  was  not  more  than 
$20,000,  Our  imports  from  the  United  States  did  not  ex- 
ceed $23,000  and  our  exports  to  them  were  $335,000.  The 
official  reports  for  1898  show  an  American  population  of 
500,  an  invested  capital  of  $6,000,000,  imports  of  $468,000 
and  exports  of  $664, (JOO,  and  this  notwithstanding  the  recent 
high,  not  to  say  prohibitive,  American  tariff  on  several  of  our 
chief  articles  of  export,  especially  hay  and  wood.  I  may  re- 
mark in  passing  that  our  ex]>orts  of  hay  to  the  United  States, 
which  liad  risen  to  a  value  of  $200,000  a  year  before  the  pass- 
ing of  the  Dingley  tariff,  have  now  ceased  altogether,  and 
that  during  the  year  1898  alone  our  exports  of  wood  de- 
creased $93,000  in  value.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  with 
a  lower  tariff,  the  total  of  our  trade  would  reach  a  much 
higher  figure,  to  the  advantage  of  both  countries.  However, 
I  am  able  to  say  that,  in  s])ite  of  this  disadvantage,  we  liave 
had  in  the  port  of  Three  Rivers  during  the  present  season 
over  six  hundred  American  vessels  loading  pulp-wood,  and 
that  the  American  Consulate  at  Three  Rivers  is  already,  next 
to  that  of  Montreal,  the  most  important  in  Canada. 

I  may  add  that  the  district  of  Three  Rivers  offers  many  at- 
tractions to  jileasure  seekers  from  the  United  States,  ^lany 
prominent  citizens  from  your  large  cities  have  summer  resi- 
dences by  the  sides  of  our  most  beautiful  lakes;  more  than 
fifteen  fishing  and  hunting  clubs  have  already  established 
themselves  among  the  forests  of  the  Laurentides;  and  Ameri- 
can sportsmen  come  among  us  every  year  in  thousands,  to 
first  rest  and  relaxation  after  business  worries,  and  to  spend 
a  pleasant  and  healthful  holiday. 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen.  I  beg  you  to 
accept  ray  most  sincere  thanks  for  your  kind  attention. 
(Applause.) 

Director  W .  P.  W'ilsiiii : 

In  the  alisence  of  Hon.  W.  AV.  Rockhill,  I  will  call  upon 
the  Hon.  Dr.  James  .Johnston,  delegate  from  the  Jamaica 
Government,  to  s.\vd&k  to  you. 


318 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Iliin.  Ur.  J  awes  Johnston: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Guntlumcn:  Before  prueeeding 
to  speak  on  the  subject  given  to  me,  "What  Jamaica  oflEers  to 
the  United  States,"  I  would  say  in  behalf  of  my  fellow- 
delegates  and  visitors  from  Jamaica,  that  I  desire  to  record 
very  emphatically  the  high  appreciation  we  feel  at  the  mag- 
nificent entertainment  and  hospitality  we  have  received  at 
the  hands  of  the  people  of  Philadelphia,  not  forgetting  tlu- 
hearty  welcome  of  the  President,  through  the  Assistant  Sec- 
retary of  State,  Mr.  Hill,  and  the  reception  of  Mayor  Ash- 
bridge.  Particidarly  do  we  refer  to  all  the  kindnesses  and 
courtesies  shown  us  by  the  gentlemen  composing  the  staff  of 
this  Commercial  Museum.  I  believe  also  I  express  the  senti- 
ments of  many  delegates  who  have  gone,  as  well  as  those  who 
are  present,  when  we  extend  hearty  congratulations  to  you,  Dr. 
Wilson,  for  the  manifest  success  of  this  huge  enterprise,  an 
undertaking  which  you  have  carried  to  a  grandly  succes.sful 
issue.  We  fully  realize  this,  and  as  the  years  go  on,  those 
who  don't  know  it  now  will  know  it  by  and  by,  that  this 
Exposition  has  been  a  genuine  success.     (Applause.) 

I  have  had  the  opportunity  of  watching  the  progress  of 
the  Exposition  from  day  to  day,  and  have  watched  with  in- 
terest the  contact  that  has  been  made  between  the  business 
men  here  and  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  I  have 
observed  the  growiusr  friendship,  which  is,  of  course,  the 
basis  of  all  true  business.  When  we  learn  to  know  and  to 
trust  each  other  here,  and  we  are  now  going  to  our  homes 
in  all  parts  of  the  world,  the  friendships  formed  here  in  va- 
rious business  lines  will  be  cemented  by  a.  larger  trade.  (Aji- 
plause.) 

I  have  also  the  honor,  sir,  and  the  privilege  to  present  to 
the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  from  the  Royal  So- 
ciety of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  and  Merchants'  Ex- 
change, of  Jamaica,  West  Indies,  a  souvenir  to  the  Inter- 
national Commercial  Congress,  held  in  Philadelphia  during 
this  month.  It  is  an  album  of  Jamaican  views  taken  in  all 
parts  of  the  island  and  faithfully  represents,  I  think,  oiii- 
scenery  and  industries.  This  album  will  remain,  I  trust,  not 
only  as  a  souvenir  of  the  Congress,  but  will  be  a  constant 
reminder  for  the  visitors  to  this  Museum  of  tin'  lovely  (muiu- 
try  I  represent. 

Now,  when  we  come  to  deal  with  Jamaica,  1  think  it 
would  be  wise  for  the  gentlemen  ])resent,  as  well  as  for  you. 
Dr.  Wilson,  to  remove  from  your  minds,  as  far  as  possible, 
the  many  laudatory  remarks  that  have  been  made  about 
other  coimtries,  for  what  I  have  got  to  say  of  Jamaica  is 
far  more  interesting  to  you  and  the  people  of  this  count r\ 
than  anything  you  have  heard  before.  (Applause  and 
laughter.)  Australia  is  very  far  away,  so  is  New  Zealand 
and  China  and  India,  and  all  tho.se  countries — they  are  so 
very  far  off,  that  all  we  know  of  tliem  is  what  we  have 
heard,  and  we  have  had  some  splendid  pa])ers  given  us,  and 
now  the  delegates  are  going  (laughter),  while  J;imaica  is 
right  here  at  our  door,  "^'ou  cannot  go  to  New  Zealand,  you 
cannot  go  to  Australia,  you  cannot  go  to  (!hiua,  but  you  can 
go  to  Jamaica. 

Time  forbids  me  giving  in  detail  our  interesting  history 
as  a  liritish  colony.  Many  questions  have  been  ])ut  to  me 
since  I  have  been  in  this  city,  even  by  nuni  who  have  tra\i'leil 
somewhat,  "Where  is  Jamaica,  anyhow?"  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  Now,  sir,  that  astonished  me  very  mneli.  1  know 
it  so  well  I  thought  everybody  else  should  kiuiw  it.  A  eile- 
bratcd  preacher  in  New  York  asked  me  if  we  had  any  lions 
in  Jamaica,  and  I  told  him  that  we  had  several  families, 
iiut  they  were  mainly  Hebrews.  (Fjaugiiter.)  Now,  sii-. 
seeing  this  lack  of  knowdedge  of  Jamaica.  I  third';  it  is  oidy 
right  to  say  that  it  came  to  be  a  Bi'itish  colony  in  1().5.'). 
when    the    town  of  St.  Jago  de  la  Vega,  or  Spanish   Town, 


capitulated  to  the  army  sent  out  by  Oliver  Cromwell  under 
General  Vcnables  and  Admiral  Penn.  Here  I  think  we 
nught  claim  relationship  with  Pennsylvania.  The  elder  Penn 
gave  Britain,  Jamaica;  the  younger  Penn,  William,  gave 
this  Republic  one  of  the  finest  States  of  the  Union — Pennsyl- 
vania.    (Applause.) 

At  this  time,  after  the  British  had  taken  possession,  and 
the  earthquake  of  1693,  that  nearly  annihilated  Port  Royal, 
was  over,  slavery,  of  course,  took  its  nuist  hideous  form,  and 
six  hundred  and  ten  thousand  black  people  were  imported 
from  Africa  to  work  upon  the  sugar  estates  during  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

But  such  a  condition  of  affairs  as  slavery  could  not  last 
long  in  the  enlightenment  of  modern  times,  and  in  1834  it 
was  declared  to  be  an  illegal  traffic.  We  didn't  fight  about 
it,  we  paid  the  money  down  (some  $6,000,000  for  Jamaica 
alone),  and  in  1838  every  slave  was  free.  From  that  time 
forward  no  race  of  people  ever  made  better  use  of  their  time, 
or  developed  more  readily  into  the  higher  civilization  of 
which  countries  such  as  this  can  boa,st  than  the  black  people 
of  Jamaica. 

They  were  handicapped  by  the  environment  of  vice  and 
degradation  that  attended  slavery.  They  had  to  fight  against 
the  bitter  prejudice  that  beset  their  race  of  those  who  had 
Ijcen  their  masters,  and  the  people  who  ruled  them.  But  the 
close  of  this  century  finds  them,  after  little  more  than  sixty 
years,  enjoying  all  the  rights  of  citizens  and  the  political 
"privileges  of  the  whites,  while  they  can  count  among  their 
number,  scores  of  clergymen,  schoolmasters,  lawyers  and  doc- 
tors, gifted  and  honored  members  of  their  profession-s — while 
the  masses  consist  of  small  peasant  proprietors  or  agricultur- 
ists, honest,  hard-working,  self-reliant  and,  above  all,  law- 
aliiding,  patriotic  and  true  to  their  Queen  and  country. 
(Applause.) 

■And  here  when  the  (|uestion  is  put  to  us  about  annexation, 
you  already  know  my  mind  about  that.  I  have  expressed  it 
here  very  freely,  and  I  liave  been  looking  to  both  this  coun- 
try and  "Canada,  and  considering  whether  it  would  be  better 
lo  annex  them  to  Jamaica  (laughter  and  applause) —  and  I 
luive  thought  it  were  better  not.  We  are  anxious  to  see  more 
of  America's  characteristics  of  progression  and  enterprise 
taught  our  people  as  exem]dified  by  the  United  Fruit  Com- 
jiany,  but  the  day  will  never  come  when  we  would  wish  to 
exchange  the  protection  of  the  Union  Jack  for  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  however  much  we  may  honor  that  glorious  Hag. 
Jamaica  has  only  one  white  man  to  every  five  hundred  blacks. 
We  have  good  newspapers,  and  we  read  the  newspapers  from 
this  country,  and  we  learn  of  the  iloings  down  South,  and 
wc  have  a  sort  of  trepidation  alxnit  a  certain  individual  who 
rules  many  of  the  molis  that  are  sometimes  gathered  to  wreak 
vengeance  upon  innocent  as  well  as  guilty  heads.  This  has 
cast  a  slur  and  reflection  upon  the  peoiife  of  the  South  that 
it  is  hard  to  eradicate  when  you  deal  with  the  colored  man  in 
Jamaica,  because  he  is  a  law-abiding  citizen  and  cannot  under- 
stand it.  In  twenty-five  years  in  Jamaica  1  have  yet  to  know 
of  a  single  instance  of  a  man  of  color  doing  a  wrong  to  a 
white  lady  on  the  island.  (Applause.)  I  do  not  remember  a 
single  instance  where  a  colored  nuin  was  brought  before  the 
|)ui)lic  courts  to  be  tried  for  assault  upon  any  woman  of  the 
«]iiie  raee.  Now  this  is  a  rei-oi-d  of  which  we  arc;  justly 
|)i(iiiil.  We  have  heard  it  said  in  tins  eounlry,  and  it  has 
been  |iublislie(l  ill  Some  id'  voui'  yellow  journals,  that  a  man's 
life  is  not,  safe  in  Jamaica,  lluit  |U'operty  is  not  safe,  that 
lliose  who  go  down  lo  invest  I  heir  money  liave  to  contend 
w  ith  a  rough,  wild  tribe  of  people,  and  a  man  must  go  around 
Willi  a  revolver  in  his  pocket  for  his  own  protection.  It 
is  my  duty  here  to  contradict  all  such  statemeids.  They 
were  made  by  the  unworthy  son  of  an  honored  father, 
therefore  T  will  not  name  him.     Tie  came  to  Januiica,  con- 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


319 


fessed  to  being  kindly  and  hospitably  entertained  while  among 
us,  then  returned  to  this  country  to  write  scurrilous  and  base 
abuse  of  those  who  had  been  his  friends.  There  is  not  a  por- 
tion of  Jamaica  where  a  lady  could  not  travel  on  horseback, 
in  any  part  of  the  island,  night  or  day,  in  safety.  I  have  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  concerned  myself  about  locking  my  door  since 
I  have  been  in  Jamaica,  and  have  been  careless  about  closing 
my  windows,  unless  it  rained.  And  yet  I  have  never  had  my 
house  or  property  injured  to  the  value  of  ten  cents  in  twenty- 
five  years.     (Applause.) 

I  have  not  finiished  descriliing  Jamaica.  Those  are  only  a 
few  of  the  features  that  commend  it  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States.  So  far  as  the  island  is  concerned — its  scenery 
— you  have  got  to  see  it  to  realize  what  it  is  like.  A  great 
many  people  from  this  country  have  gone  there  and  have 
traveled  over  its  beautiful  roads,  for  there  are  no  finer  roads 
in  the  world,  and  with  kodak  and  snap-shot  cameras  have 
brought  back  many  pictures  of  its  valleys  and  mountains. 
We  have  every  conceivable  temperature,  from  eighty  to  ninety 
degrees  in  the  plains  to  fifty-four  degi-ees  in  the  mountains, 
because  here  is  where  we  have  the  choice  of  altitude,  up  to 
7,500  feet  above  the  sea  level.  But  the  temperature  is 
constant. 

The  trade  relations  with  the  United  States  I  leave  to  my 
friend  and  fellow-delegate,  Mr.  Soutar,  to  deal  with,  and 
yet  there  is  something  I  would  like  to  say,  and  it  is  this:  We 
desire  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  come  and  see  us. 
We  have  the  finest  coffee-growing  country  in  the  world.  We 
produce  perhaps  the  best  quality  of  rum  and  the  best  sugar, 
and  when  you  come  down  you  will  get  the  best  fruit  in  the 
world.  There  is  nothing  equal  to  it  anywhere  in  any  tropical 
country,  whether  it  be  bananas,  oranges,  pineapples  or 
mangoes. 

We  are  not  crowded  yet  by  any  means.  We  have  still  a 
million  of  acres  of  good  laud,  that  we  call  virgin  soil,  abso- 
lutely untouched.  When  the  decline  in  sugar  took  place,  a 
good  many  years  ago,  we  wondered  what  was  going  to  open 
fox  us  for  the  future.  The  Gordian  knot  was  untied  by  a 
gentleman  who  came  down  from  this  country,  a  sea  captain, 
who  was  cruising  around  in  a  schooner.  He  began  to  take 
off  a  few  bunches  of  bananas,  found  that  they  carried  well, 
and  brouglit  him  a  fair  return  for  his  enterprise.  That  was 
only  some  eighteen  or  twenty  years  ago.  At  that  time  we 
had  no  market  in  the  United  States  for  bananas,  but  in  those 
few  years  we  had  developed  a  trade  in  bananas  and  other 
fruits,  in  the  United  States,,  and  we  owe  it  chiefly  to  that 
same  captain,  the  president  of  the  United  Fruit  Company. 
That  company  sometimes  loads  eleven  steamers  a  day,  and 
ships  as  many  as  a  million  of  bunches  a  month  to  this  coun- 
try. That  company  has  become  rich,  and  they  deserve  it, 
because  they  have  made  two  parishes  in  Jamaica  rich  that 
were  the  poorest  in  the  colony,  Portland  and  St.  Mary. 
Where  there  was  no  money,  it  is  plentiful  now,  thanks  to 
Captain  L.  T).  Baker  and  his  confreres  (applause);  he  has  been 
our  Washington,  for  he  came  just  in  the  nick  of  time  to  say 
to  us  that  sugar  and  rum  were  to  be  no  longer  king,  but 
fruit  was  to  take  its  place,  and  to  give  Jamaica  a  prosperity  it 
had  never  known  before — since  the  days  of  slavery. 

Now,  gentlemen,  if  you  want  to  share  in  some  of  these 
benefits,  you  have  got  to  come  down  quick.  The  land  is  going, 
but  you  may  have  it  anywhere  from  a  dollar  to  a  hundred 
dollars  an  acre.  You  are  not  going  to  require  a  long  wait 
for  your  seedlings,  for  your  orange  trees  and  your  grape-vines, 
to  yield  fruit.  You  can  place  your  seedlings,  your  stock,  ma- 
tured trees,  all  in  the  same  valley,  and  in  three  or  four  years 
your  plantation  will  give  you  a  handsome  crop  of  fi-uit,  of 
pineapples  or  oranges,  while  the  banana  tree  is  a  perennial 
money  producer. 

This  is  only  by  way  of  trade,  wliich  is  developing  into  some- 


thing beyond  the  dreams  of  avarice,  for  those  who  have  the 
pluck  to  invest  their  capital  and  wait  for  a  short  time. 

Now,  we  present  to  you  Jamaica  as  a  health  resort  and 
will  tell  you  what  it  has  got  to  offer  you  in  that  direction. 
That  I  can  speak  of,  not  only  as  a  physician,  but  because  I 
am  a  living  example  of  what  Jamaica  can  do  for  the  con- 
sumptive. (Applause.)  I  went  there  in  1874  a  haggard, 
broken-down  wreck  of  a  young  man,  weighing  one  hundred 
and  thirty-five  pounds,  and  with  a  cough  like  a  church-yard 
deserter,  and  the  ban  of  the  doctors  hanging  over  my  head 
like  the  sword  of  Democles.  "Poor  fellow,"  said  my  friends, ''he 
has  gone  to  Jamaica  in  the  forlorn  hope  that  his  years  may 
be  spun  out  for,  it  may  be,  three  or  four  years  more."  I  was 
in  Jamaica  just  one  year  when  the  last  vestige  of  my  lung 
trouble  disappeared,  and  from  that  time  I  went  steadily  on 
improving  in  looks  and  strength  (applause)  until  I  was  the 
admired  of  all  admirers.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  I  speak 
thus,  of  course,  to  the  credit  of  the  country.  The  simple 
reason  lies  in  this,  that  while  we  have  got  in  America  to-day, 
especially  in  the  Adirondacks  and  even  in  North  Canada,  a 
great  many  places  that  are  now  given  up  to  the  treatment 
of  pulmonary  troubles  by  open  air,  light,  good  hygiene  and 
good  food,  there  is  a  difficulty  for  those  who  are  so  far  gone 
that  they  are  not  strong  enough  to  contend  with  what  may 
he  called  heroic  treatment  in  that  direction.  1  went  to  see 
one  of  those  institutions  in  Canada,  a  place  called  Graven- 
hurst,  and  they  had  about  forty  to  fifty  patients  there.  I 
had  a  conversation  with  most  of  them  individually,  and  whih; 
there  would  be  about  fifty  per  cent,  improving  rapidly  under 
the  treatment,  it  was  found  that,  in  the  cold,  keen,  sharp  air, 
fifteen  to  sixteen  degrees  below  zei'o,  half  of  them  were  not  im- 
proving and  ought  to  have  been  in  a  warmer  climate.  They 
could  not  stand  the  treatment,  and  they  were  losing  weight, 
and  going  down  every  day.  Now,  the  north  will  help  the 
young  man  or  young  woman  who  has  suddenly  broken  down, 
with  otherwise  a  comparatively  good  constitution,  perhaps  the 
result  of  pneumonia.  They  begin  to  have  a  hectic  flush  and 
cough,  and  their  friends  feel  that  they  should  have  medical 
attendance,  and  the  doctor  pronounces  it  incipient  phthisis, 
and  there  in  dry  and  cold  atmosphere  is  the  place  for  such  a 
person  to  get  the  open  air  treatment.  If  he  has  an  inherited 
tendency  toward  phthisis,  insidiously  progressing  from  his 
childhood,  it  has  been  creeping  on  him  as  the  years  went  by 
until,  if  the  truth  were  told,  a  premature  grave  seems  to  be 
his  only  prospect. 

But  if  they  can  go  to  such  a  climate  as  Jamaica  offers,  they 
will  find  a  temperature  of  from  seventy  to  seventy-five  in  the 
day  and  sixty  in  the  night,  with  every  kind  of  luxuiy  in  the 
shape  of  fruit  and  good  food  which  can  be  obtained  by  them  at 
a  low  cost.  With  life  in  the  balmy  atmosphere,  exercise  among 
the  evergreen  hills,  in  a  few  months  the  results  will  be  mar- 
velous. In  fact,  Jamaica  offers  a  health  resort  in  winter  to  es- 
cape the  cold,  and  in  summer  to  avoid  the  heat  of  the  North. 

I  have  had  a  number  of  consumptive  people  stay  with  me 
in  my  house,  and  I  have  yet  to  know  of  a  single  instance  where 
decided  improvement  has  not  taken  place,  and  in  many  eases 
permanent  benefit  has  accrued  from  the  three,  four  or  six 
months'  stay  in  that  country. 

There  is  a  hope  for  you,  consumptives,  a  place  where  the 
debilitated  and  delicate  class  can  be  cured.  Colorado  and 
California  and  all  those  places  are  good  enough  in  their  way, 
and  the  United  States,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  a  very  good  coun- 
try, but  it  is  not  for  you.  Jamaica  commends  itself  to  you  in 
every  possible  way,  because  there  you  can  live  and  breathe  and 
enjoy  life  and  improve,  and  after  a  few  months'  horse-back 
exercise  out  in  the  open  air,  riding  all  over  the  hills,  you  will 
be  filled  with  a  new  life,  and  new  blood  will  be  coursing 
through  your  veins.  (Applause.)  It  is  not  only  a  fine  climate 
for  lung  troubles,  but  for  rheumatism,  bronchitis,  nervous  dis- 


320 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COAIMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


eases,  dyspepsia  and  all  the  allied  diseases  of  the  hlnod.  With 
these  diseases  Jamaican  climate  gives  magnificent  results. 
You  can  live  in  hotels  if  yon  desire.  We  have  hotels  there  of 
the  very  hest  character  that  can  be  found  in  any  colony  in  the 
world.  The  Myrtlebank  Hotel  in  Kingston  is  one  of  the 
finest.  But  I  will  not  go  over  all  the  details  of  the  place,  as 
J  shall  show  al  five  o'clock  on  the  screen  slides,  which  will  give 
you  a  view  of  Myrtleliank  Hotel  and  other  places.  You  can 
go  from  Philadelphia  or  from  New  York  by  steamer  to  Kings- 
ton, but  Philadel])hia  is  the  city  we  recommend  you  to  start 
from,  as  you  will  get  the  iiest  steamers  from  this  port.  Wc 
have  the  four  admirals,  Admiral  Schley,  Admiral  Farragut, 
Admiral  Dewey  and  Admiral  Sampvson.  (Applause.)  We  are 
loyal,  yon  see,  to  our  admirals.  We  have  four  of  the  smart- 
est steamers,  the  most  commodious  and  comfortable  afloat 
of  their  size,  connected  with  the  T'nitcd  Fruit  Company.  They 
run  from  Philadelphia  to  Port  Antonio,  and  if  there  is  a  sight 
you  ought  to  see  before  you  go  bey(md  this  dim  life,  it  is  the 
entrance  to  Port  Antonio  harbor.  Here  we  have  an  American 
hotel,  "The  Fitchfield,"  with  waitresses,  chefs  and  managers 
from  this  country.  It  is  built  upon  the  top  of  a  hill,  and  in 
the  channel  below  the  ships  glide  in  to  a  perfect  harbor  of  sur- 
passing beauty.  So  far  as  surroundings  are  concerned  they 
could  not  be  better. 

Nest  to  that  comes  tiic  ilandevillc  Hotel,  «  here  you  also 
get  the  benefit  of  a  tcnipci'ature  about  ten  degrees  lower  and 
all  the  comforts  of  a  home.  Tlie  colony  as  a  wdiole  and  its 
trade  have  mightily  improved  within  the  last  eight  or  ten 
years,  because  of  the  demand  upon  the  homes  of  the  jjeople: 
the  lodging  houses  and  residences  are  increasing  every  year, 
on  account  of  the  visitors,  until  we  can  scarcely  find  a  place 
to  put  them.  But  the  demand  produces  a  supply  and  you 
can  take  a  private  home  and  settle  there  and  have  all  the  bene- 
fits of  your  own  home,  while  you  have  very  few  of  the  troubles 
of  what  is  called  a  servant  e.\])erience.  Y^ou  can  get  intelli- 
gent, honest  help  from  the  people  around  you. 

As  1  shall  have  the  ])leasure  of  showing  vou  manv  ot  the 
details  connected  with  .Jamaica  by  tlie  pictures  I  shall 
throw  on  the  screen,  I  do  not  know  that  I  will  take  up 
your  time  any  longer.  I  should  like  to  have  spoken  to  vou 
about  Jamaica  from  many  points  of  view,  but  mv  sub- 
ject will  be  Jamaica  as  a  health  resort.  It  is  an  inex])ensive 
trip,  costing  about  seventy-five  dollars  for  tlie  round  trip. 
You  will  spend  more  than  that  whcTi  ynu  cross  tli..'  ocean  to 
the  Continent,  or  when  you  go  to  Chinatown  and  come  Ij.irk. 
But  if  you  go  to  Jamaica  you  will  never  regret  it,  you  will  see 
something  you  have  never  seen  before.  (Ajiplause.)  I  prom- 
ise you  that  if  you  will  all  come,  not  more  than  twenty  at  a 
time,  I  will  personally  conduct  you  through  the  island.  (A])- 
plause.)  There  are  a  great  many  people  here  in  Philadelphia 
who  have  had  e.xiierience  of  it,  business  men  and  others,  and 
they  have  leariu'd  many  lessons,  and  we  arc  very  an.xions  to 
get  more  of  your  pcojile  down  there,  for  wc  are  just  rising, 
like  I'ho'ni.v,  from  liie  fire  umler  the  magic  wand  of  the  Amer- 
icans who  have  come  down  there  already.  A\'e  want  more  of 
them  because  they  are  teaching  us  many  lessons  at  this  \']\- 
position.  1  hii\c  been  leai-ning  something  every  day  from 
your  merchants  of  tlirir  enli'rprisc  and  their  clearsiijhtedness. 
It  had  been  said  to  n\r  ihat  i'liiladclphia  was  a  (Quaker  City 
and  was,  therefore,  very  slow,  liul  Irnm  my  e.\|ierience  the 
last  month,  it  has  been  proven  to  me  yon  are  (piite  the  other 
way. 

Now,  gentlemen,  jK'rhajjs  when  you  exainine  this  allium 
and  have  seen  these  views  that  I  put  npon  tlir  scrcrn  this 
evening  at  five  o'clock,  you  will  realize  that  Jamaica  is  the 
place  where  you  are  going  to  spend  your  ne.\t  holidays.  If 
you  do  not  go  it  will  l)e  the  mistake  of  your  life.      (A|iplause.) 


Director  TT.  P.  Wilson: 

We  will  now  listen  to  a  paper  by  Mr.  J.  I-l  Duerden.  a  dele- 
gate from  the  Jamaica  Agricultural  Society. 

The  Natiu.vi,  Resoukces  of  Jamaica. 

Mr.  J.  E.  Duerden: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Fellow  Delegates,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
Before  commencing  my  subject  ])roi>er,  there  are  a  few  re- 
marks 1  wish  to  make  upon  tlie  conditions  of  commerce  in  the 
tropics  generally. 

I  take  it  that  the  ci}minei'ce  of  the  world  will  have  attained 
its  ideal  condition  when  each  nation  is  producing  and  distrib- 
uting to  its  utmost  those  resources  and  products  with  which 
nature  has  specially  endowed  it.  When  means  of  communica- 
tion are  perfected  and  artificial  ])rotective  barriers  are  broken 
down  so  as  to  allow  of  each  country  sending  to  others  those  ar- 
ticles it  can  best  produce  in  excess  of  its  needs,  and  receive 
in  return  those  necessities  of  life  in  the  production  of  which 
nature  has  ])laced  it  at  a  disadvantage. 

In  most  of  the  previous  papers  each  delegate  has  enlarged 
upon  the  particular  products  and  industrial  advantages  of  his 
own  country,  and  in  nearly  every  case  has  the  excess  of  these 
been  of  a  difl:'erent  character.  Thus,  the  I'anadians  have  di- 
rected attention  to  their  grains,  fish,  metals,  provisions  and 
wood:  the  Australians  and  New  Zealanders  to  their  gold  and 
other  minerals,  wool,  wines,  fruits  and  preserved  meat,s,  and 
Americans  to  their  manufactured  articles. 

Commerce  is  continually  progressive,  always  expanding 
from  regions  of  greater  pressure  to  those  where  competition 
is  less.  As  the  world  becomes  more  thickly  populated,  and 
means  of  C(nnmunication  are  increased,  attention  must  of  ne- 
cessity he  directed  to  more  and  more  out  of  the  way  places, 
and  regions  become  embraced  which  were  formerly  unthought 
of.  The  special  resources  of  these  will  be  taxed,  and  in  a 
,iii-caier  nr  less  degree  Ijenefit  the  whole  race.  Civilization  ex- 
tending, each  region  will  oe  called  upon  to  supply  its  peculiar 
i|Uota  to  the  common  good  of  mankind,  and  the  nation  or  peo- 
ple inca])able  of  fulfilling  this  will  have  to  subordinate  itself 
to  the  j)ressing  needs  of  more  vigorous  races. 

'i'here  are  reasons  for  thinking  that  man  at  first  progressed 
most  within  the  warmer  regions,  the  easier  conditions" of  ex- 
istence there  Ijcing  most  favorable  for  his  development.  He, 
however,  ajjpears  to  have  settled  down  at  an  early  stage  con- 
tent with  what  bounteous  nature  sup]ilied.  It  has  been  re- 
served for  the  inhabitants  of  the  sterner  temperate  regions  in 
later  days  of  necessity  to  enlarge  and  ex]iand  themselves,  and 
they  bid  fair  to  ultimately  control  the  whole. 

Within  recent  years  greater  attention  has  been  directed  to 
the  special  jiroductions  of  the  tro]iics.  It  !■;  realized  that  in 
certain  directions  they  possess  distinct  natural  advantages  over 
temperate  regions.  The  products  of  the  earth  upon  which 
commerce  has  ultimately  to  depend  are  here  to  be  obtained 
in  a  luxuriance  unattainable  elsewhere,  and  the  greater  possi- 
bilities of  trade  in  trojiical  fruits  and  materials  is  bound  to  re- 
ceive much  attention. 

During  the  meetings  of  this  Congress  it  has  been  hinted  on 
nioic  than  one  occasion  that  in  the  commercial  race  a  non- 
progi'cssive  people  would  have  to  succundi  before  a  ]irogressive 
people.  Fr(Hn  the  most  fiirseeing  minds  of  such  peojjle  has 
aiiscn  Ilic  ci-y  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  race:  "Come  over  and  help 
us;  hring  energy  and  capital."  This  is  the  ])eculiar  request 
of  thoughtful  peo[)le  in  the  tropics,  'i'hroughout  this  Con- 
gress the  representatives  of  trade  in  tem])erate  regions  have 
hut  asked  for  eciuity  in  commercial  relationships;  they  them- 
selves bear  the  impress  of  then  being  able  to  hold  their  own 
in  the  ci)ni))etition  for  the  windd's  marki'ts.  This  is  only  jiar- 
lially    the    rci|uircment    of   the    tropics.      I'he   dweller   there 


CHARLES    E.  ADAMS, 

Lowell,  Mass. 


8.  E.  ANCONA, 

Reading,  Pa. 


JAMES  ARBUCKLE, 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


WALLACE    K.    BACON, 

MiDDLETOWN.  CoNN. 


CHARLES   M.   BIDDLE, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 


JOHN    BINDLEY, 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 


BENJAMIN    E.  CHASE, 
Rochester,  N.  Y. 


JOSEPH   CLARKE, 
La  Crosse,  Wis. 


IRVING  COMINS, 
Worcester,  Mass. 


v"ERSITY 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEK  31,  1899 


321 


further  desires  to  interest  foreign  capital  and  to  solicit  the 
active  energy  of  foreign  enterprise  for  his  country.  This  he 
endeavors  to  accomplish  by  recounting  the  national  resources, 
wliich  he  is  not  strong  enough  to  develop  himself,  and  by 
showing  the  easy  access  to  wealth  afforded  liy  the  natural  ad- 
vantages of  his  country  and  the  absence  of  any  considerable 
competition. 

The  question  of  the  best  means  of  developing  the  resources 
of  the  tropics  is  one  of  paramount  interest  on  account  of  the 
many  factors  involved,  factors  which  are  of  little  or  no  account 
in  temperate  regions.  The  excessive  amount  of  solar  energy 
indicates  that  tropical  regions  should,  par  excellence,  be  the 
home  of  plant  and  forest  productions,  but  the  ability  of  man, 
by  whose  agency  these  should  be  utilized,  seems  to  be 
dwarfed  in  proportion.  The  most  favorable  conditions  for 
vegetable  existence  are  not  those  most  conducive  to  higher 
human  development.  In  addition  to  the  natives,  the  ever- 
expanding  Anglo-Saxon  race  resides  and  labors  there  under 
disadvantageous  conditions. 

The  past  history  of  tropical  countries  such  as  many  of  the 
islands  of  the  West  Indies,  the  republics  of  Central  America, 
and  much  of  Africa,  indicates  that  the  native  races  are  in- 
capable of  developing  their  possessions  to  the  utmost,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  well  established  by  experience  that 
these  regions  cannot  be  colonized  and  occupied  by  the  English 
speaking  race  in  the  same  manner  as  North  America,  Aus- 
tralia and  New  Zealand  have  been.  If  the  white  man  is 
pressed  to  occupy  them,  he  must,  in  a  large  measure,  content 
himself  with  the  administration  of  the  country  and  its  com- 
merce, leaving  the  actual  manual  work  to  h^!  carried  on  by 
tropical  natives. 

The  recent  interest  assumed  by  the  United  States  in  the 
tropical  islands  of  Cuba,  Porto  Rico  and  the  Philippines  ren- 
ders a  consideration  of  this  subject  of  some  significance  on 
such  an  occasion,  and  the  methods  and  results  of  British  trop- 
ical occupation  may  perhaps  be  of  some  use  as  object  lessons. 
My  experience  being  practically  limited  to  Jamaica,  I  shall 
confine  my  remarks  to  that  island. 


but  apparently  unavoidable  in  the  march  of  civilization,  as  at 
present  conducted. 

To  make  up  for  this  inability  and  loss  of  the  native  races 
others  capable  of  performing  labor  under  tropical  conditions 
had  to  be  imported;  hence  the  introduction  of  the  negro  in 
the  West  Indies  and  America.  In  the  tropical  parts  of  the 
New  World  we  have  the  curious  phenomenon  of  the  natives 
disappearing  under  the  exigencies  of  what  we  term  civilization, 
while  an  alien  race,  by  no  means  superior  in  intelligence,  has 
largely  taken  its  place  in  the  lower  walks  of  life,  and  is  prolific 
therein. 

For  its  supply  of  labor,  then,  Jamaica  is  dependent  mainly 
ujjon  the  negro  population.  The  descendant  of  slaves  im- 
ported in  days  gone  by  has  not  yet  attained  to  that  stage  in 
which  he  is  able  of  his  own  initiative  to  fulfil  very  complex 
duties.  An  extended  system  of  education,  a  complete  political 
and  social  freedom,  and  encouragement  on  all  sides  towards 
progress,  are,  in  time,  bound  to  draw  from  him  all  the  best 
qualities  of  his  nature.  He  is  decidedly  a  successful  laborer 
where  he  can  be  organized  in  gangs  under  supervision,  as  in 
sugar  and  banana  cultivation,  or  in  works  such  as  railroad  and 
tramway  construction.  The  Jamaica  negro  has  a  considerable 
reputation  outside  his  own  island  for  organized  work  of  this 
kind. 

For  a  considerable  time  the  prosperity  of  the  island  will  be 
dependent  on  those  industries  which  permit  of  organized  la- 
bor; it  is  only  slowly  that  the  independent  small  settler  will 
evolve.  Even  where  political  and  social  relations  are  favor- 
able, as  is  certainly  the  case  in  Jamaica,  the  conditions  of  mere 
existence  in  the  tropics  are  too  easy  to  produce  the  stern,  in- 
dependent laborer.  Constant  direction  and  supervision  in 
any  but  the  simplest  task  must  for  a  long  time  be  important 
factors  in  the  success  of  any  industrial  undertaking. 

The  imported  coolie  laborer  is  much  employed  where  these 
conditions  are  not  possible,  and  once  started,  proceeds  with 
automatic  regularity  on  the  lighter  tasks  of  which  his  strength 
only  permits. 

The  White  Race  in  the  Tropics. 


Tropical  Labor. 

An  impoi'tant  question  in  the  expansion  of  the  industries 
and  commerce  of  any  country  is  the  character  of  the  labor  ob- 
tainable. Upon  the  superiority  of  the  American  artisan  over 
others,  it  has  been  explained  in  a  former  paper  that,  natural 
resources  being  equal,  America  might  hope  to  outstrip  its 
competitors  in  the  struggle  for  the  world's  markets.  In  such 
fierce  labor  competitions  as  you  are  familiar  with  in  the  States, 
the  tropics  can  probably  never  hope  to  play  a  part;  the  ener- 
vating climate  will  never  permit  of  the  laborer  or  artisan  ac- 
complishing as  much  as  under  temperate  conditions. 

To  rightly  appreciate  the  labor  and  social  conditions  of  Ja- 
maica to-day,  it  is  necessary  to  briefly  review  its  past  history. 
The  earliest  accounts  are  much  the  same  as  those  of  the  Amer- 
ican continent  itself.  Discovered  by  (^lolumbus  in  May,  1494, 
on  his  second  voyage  to  the  new  world,  it  was  at  the  time  pop- 
vdated  by  what  appears  to  have  been  a  gentle  and  peaceable 
race.  Evidences  of  their  occupation  have  been  obtained  in 
considerable  abundance  from  shell  mounds  and  burial  caves. 
The  implements,  such  as  pottery  and  ornaments,  reveal  that 
they  had  not  progressed  far  in  nuinufactures  or  arts.  During 
the  century  and  a  half  in  which  Jamaica  was  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Spaniards  this  native  race  became  practically  ex- 
terminated. Throughout  the  other  islands,  and  also  through- 
out the  American  continent,  the  Indian  appears  to  have  been 
incapable  of  adapting  himself  to  modern  civilization;  the  lat- 
ter being  the  stronger  and  more  expansive,  the  native  tribes 
have  disappeared,  or  are  rapidly  doing  so,  a  deplorable  result. 


The  practical  student  of  tropical  life  realizes  that  the  de- 
velopment of  the  natural  resources  there  must  be  carried  out 
mainly  by  the  white  race  from  temperate  parts;  that  for  fullest 
expansion  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  larger  organizations  and 
governments  to  be  administrated  mainly  by  outsiders.  His- 
tory points  to  the  English-speaking  race  as  the  most  success- 
ful colonizers,  especially  so  far  as  the  process  concerns  the 
good  of  the  colony  itself,  and  not  alone  of  the  colonizing  pow- 
er. The  stationary,  and  in  some  cases  deteriorating,  condition 
of  some  of  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies,  and  also  the  Central 
American  Republics,  should  be  compared  with  the  advance- 
ment shown  by  similar  countries  administrated  by  a  white 
race. 

In  this  attempt,  however,  the  white  race,  in  a  measure,  sub- 
jects itself  to  unnatural  conditions,  and  only  under  certain 
limitations  can  the  undertaking  be  carried  out  with  con.sum- 
mate  success.  In  the  immense  associations  of  commercial,  pro- 
fessional and  other  classes  in  large  cities  in  temperate  par-ts  are 
obtained  the  necessary  conditions  and  stimulating  impetus  for 
the  utmost  expansion  of  man's  powers.  The  climate  and  soc- 
ial surroundings  encourage  this  to  a  great  degree.  In  the  lux- 
uriousness  of  the  tropics  such  stimulus  tends  to  be  withdrawn, 
and  the  tendency  is  towards  a  diminution  of  one's  powers. 
The  new  arrival  from  temperate  parts  is  always  recognizable 
for  a  time  by  an  excessive  display  of  activity  compared  with  an 
old  settler.  The  resident  back  from  a  holiday  trip  displays 
an  unwonted  energy  for  a  limited  period.  The  business  and 
professional  man  endeavors  as  often  as  possible  to  go  on  leave 
for  a  few  months,  and  proves  on  his  return  that  this  is  the 


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V  xiiit 


ri;oci:i:Di:NGS  of  tiik  i.\tkj:xatiu.\al  uuMMKiiciAL  co.\Giii:ss 


oaly  successful  method  of  maintaining  his  native  activity 
and  enterprising  spirit  for  properly  conducting  tropical  or- 
ganizations. The  home  government  realizes  that  only  by 
constant  intercourse  with  the  mental,  moral,  and  stimulating 
conditions  of  one's  native  land  can  the  efficiency  abroad  of  its 
chief  officials  be  obtained,  and  offers  inducements  for  this  in- 
terchange. 

The  primary  factors  to  be  considered  by  commercial  men 
entering  upon  tropical  relationships  such  as  exist  in  Jamaica 
are:  (1)  An  excessive  luxuriance  of  plant  life,  yielding  a 
larger  return  than  in  temperate  regions  for  the  same  expendi- 
ture; (2)  a  native  laboring  people,  capable  of  successful  man- 
agement under  certain  conditions;  (3)  a  tendency  to  physical 
and  mental  deterioration  during  extended  settlement,  to  be 
counteracted  liy  constant  n-turu  to  the  centres  of  civilization. 

Fisheries. 

Jamaica,  with  an  area  of  4,207  square  miles,  has  a  shore  line 
of  about  400  miles  accessible  at  nearly  all  points  for  fishing 
purposes.  The  industry  is  carried  on  to  a  greater  or  less  de- 
gree at  most  of  the  towns  and  villages  round  the  coast,  but  the 
amount  of  fish  obtained  is  far  from  sufficient  to  supply  the  de- 
mands of  a  population  of  upwards  of  700,000. 

The  yearly  value  of  the  fish  cauglit  has  been  estimated  at 
£30,000,  while  the  value  of  the  imports  of  cured  fish  is  ap- 
proximately £200,000.  This  salt  pickled  fish  is  much  used  as 
an  article  of  food,  and  is  received  almost  wholly  from  Canada. 

Native  fishing  is  carried  on  principally  by  means  of  the 
seine-net,  wicker-work  pots,  long  lines  and  hand-lines,  but  no- 
where on  an  extensive  or  organized  scale.  The  fish  obtained 
is  of  good  quality,  the  most  useful  and  common  being  various 
species  of  snappers,  grunts,  yellow  tail  silks  and  the  June  fish. 
River  fishing  for  mullets,  ealijievers  and  snook  is  pursued  to  a 
limited  extent. 

Until  within  tlie  la.st  year  or  so,  it  was  surmised  in  some 
quarters  that  the  Jamaica  fishery  industry  was  capable  of  con- 
siderable extension,  that  the  warm  waters  were  teeming  with 
suitable  fish,  and  that  with  improved  modern  methods,  such  as 
steam  trawling,  sufficient  might  be  obtained  to  render  the 
fresh  supply  more  adequate  to  the  needs  of  the  coimtry,  and, 
further,  that  native-cured  fish  might  in  a  large  measure  take 
the  place  of  the  imported  article. 

Quite  recently  the  subject  was  taken  up  with  great  persist- 
ency and  enthusiasm,  and  the  Caribbean  Sea  Fisheries  Devel- 
opment Syndicate  was  fonned  in  England.  Its  purpose  was 
mainly  preliminary  and  experimental,  the  intention  being  to 
enlarge  the  scheme  if  the  venture  i)roved  successful.  A  mo- 
tion was  introduced  into  the  Legislative  Council  of  1896  and 
passed,  authorizing  the  payment  of  an  annual  subsidy  of  £750 
toward  the  project,  the  chief  condition  being  that  a  certain 
quantity  of  fresh  fish  was  to  be  placed  on  the  markets  and 
retailed  at  a  minimum  rate. 

A  steam-trawler,  fitted  with  other  trawl,  long  lines,  seine 
and  mackerel  nets,  was  chartered  and  manned  by  a  crew  of 
Grimsby  trawlers.  The  investigations  commenced  towards 
the  end  of  January,  1898,  and  continued  with  more  or  less  in- 
terruption until  the  middle  of  March,  when  the  operations 
ceased. 

From  the  first  trip  it  was  obvious  that  the  conditions  of  Ja- 
maican waters  were  very  different  from  those  of  more  tem- 
perate parts.  A  copy  of  the  log  of  the  vessel  has  been  pub- 
lished, and  from  this  it  is  possible  to  arrive  at  an  estimate  of 
the  difficulties  encountered,  and  the  only  conditions  under 
which  the  industry  can  be  conducted. 

AVhat  were  anticipated  to  be  the  most  suitable  banks  for 
trawling,  such  as  the  California  and  Pedro  Banks,  were  found 
lo  be  luxuriant  miniature  forests  of  corals,  Alcyonarians,  and 
sponges.     Several  hundred  weight  of  sucli  material,  with  but 


few  fish,  would  be  taken  up  at  one  trawl,  and  in  most  cases 
the  trawl  was  very  seriously  damaged  by  being  torn  in  drag- 
ging over  the  aborescent  corals. 

Even  where  trawling  could  be  carried  on  over  a  large  area, 
as  in  some  of  the  bays,  of  which  the  floor  is  free  from  coral 
growth,  the  yield  of  fish  was  extremely  small.  On  one  occa- 
sion eleven  hours  trawling  brought  up  only  three  bushels  of 
fish  and  a  bushel  of  shrimps.  The  yield  in  such  a  place  as 
Kingston  Harbor  is  greater,  but  the  fish  are  usually  small. 
The  seine-net  here  affords  employment  for  several  parties  of 
natives,  but  the  locality  would  aid  little  towards  the  support  of 
a  steam  trawler. 

Compared  with  British  and  many  other  seas  there  is  a 
marked  scarcity  of  bottom  flat  fish — Pleuronectidae,  including 
the  sole,  plaice,  turbot  and  brill.  No  shoals  of  fish  corre- 
sponding with  those  of  the  herring,  nuickerel,  and  cod  of  other 
parts  were  encountered,  while  such  migratory  fish  as  the  June 
fish  and  the  king  fish  are  known  to  shoal  in  our  waters,  but 
their  movements  are  not  well  determined. 

Long-line  fishing,  where  two,  three  or  more  miles  of  line 
provided  with  several  thousand  hooks  are  put  out,  was  not 
more  successful  than  trawling.  The  lines  must  necessarily  be 
allowed  to  remain  down  for  two  or  three  hours,  and  the  usual 
experience  was  to  find  that  the  bodies  of  any  fish  caught  on 
the  hooks  had  been  bitten  away  by  the  many  predaceous 
sharks  and  barracoutas.  In  other  cases  the  lines  were  fouled 
by  the  coral  growth  and  lost  or  broken.  Likewise  .on  account 
of  the  abundance  of  sharks  and  barrancoiatas,  the  employment 
of  large  drift  or  mackerel  nets  was  not  more  encouraging. 
The  fish  entangled  were  usually  bitten  away  and  the  nets  dam- 
aged. 

Fish  pots  are  sufliciently  successful  in  the  hands  of  the  local 
fishermen;  but,  owing  to  the  coral  character  of  the  sea-floor, 
their  use  must  always  be  very  limited. 

The  scheme  was  definitely  abandoned  after  about  two 
month's  investigation,  the  result  indicating  that  any  develo- 
ment  of  the  Jamaica  fisheries  would  have  to  be  cai'ried  out  on 
a  less  pretentious  scale,  on  a  scale  insufficient  for  the  attrac- 
tion of  considerable  foreign  capital. 

Evidently  only  by  the  continued  encouragement  of  the 
present  methods  can  favorable  results  be  obtained.  A  small 
steamer  working  more  fish-pots  than  is  done  at  present,  an  in- 
crease of  short  lines,  and  trawling  and  shrimping  in  some  of 
the  bays  and  harbors  with  non-coral  floors,  would  probably 
yield  sufficient  remuneration  and  afford  the  island  the  muoh 
needed,  more  adequate  supply  of  fresh  fish.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  the  Pedro,  Morant,  and  California  Banks,  and  the  shal- 
lows around  the  Cayman  Islands,  there  are  no  other  banks  at 
any  suitable  distance  from  Jamaica  upon  which  fishing  can 
be  conducted,  unless  with  vessels  constructed  with  cool  stor- 
age. Fish  will  not  keep  in  the  tropics  for  more  than  ten  or 
twelve  hours,  and  a  distance  requiring  time  beyond  this  limit 
to  land  the  catch  would  necessitate  the  employment  of  ice 
chambers. 

At  the  present  time  the  use  of  permanent  leading  nets  and 
trap.s,  such  as  are  employed  in  many  Araeriean  and  Canadian 
waters,  is  being  experimented  with. 

I  have  dealt  somewhat  fully  with  the  subject  of  Jamaica 
fisheries  from  the  fact  that  the  United  States  Fisheries  Com- 
mission has  lately  sent  the  steamer  "Fish  Hawk"  to  investi- 
gate the  fishing  possibilities  in  the  newly  acquired  Porto  Rican 
waters.  The  vessel  returned  several  months  ago,  and  the 
official  report  is  awaited  with  interest  by  all  concerned  in 
fishery  nuitfers.  Jamaica  is  specially  desirous  of  learning 
whether  the  conditions  in  the  other  West  Indian  islands  cor- 
respond witii  her  own,  and  if  so.  whether  it  will  be  found  pos- 
sible to  encourage  the  industry  in  any  other  manner. 

The  United  States  Fi.shery  Commission  brings  a  vast 
amount  of  practical  experience  to  bear  on  such  a  question, 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  31,  1899 


323 


and  its  report  will  be  of  greater  scientific  and  practical  value 
than  the  results  of  a  purely  commercial  undertaking. 

Turtle. 

At  the  present  time  the  shores  of  Jamaica  are  the  resort  of 
but  few  turtles,  valuable  for  their  flesh  and  so-called  tortoise 
shell.  Occasionally  isolated  specimens  of  the  green  turtle,  be- 
loved for  soup,  come  ashore  for  the  purpose  of  laying  their 
eggs,  and  are  usually  captured  and  sold  in  the  neighborhood. 
The  Island  is,  however,  the  centre  of  a  considerable  trade  be- 
tween the  coasts  and  islands  around  Central  America  and 
England.  Schooners,  mostly  from  the  Cayman  Islands,  de- 
pendencies of  Jamaica,  visit  the  neighborhood  of  the  Mos- 
quito coast,  and  bring  loads  of  the  green  turtles  to  the  crawls 
in  Kingston,  whence  they  are  shipped,  as  required,  alive  to 
England.  A  shell  trade  is  also  carried  on  in  the  prepared 
calipse  of  the  green  turtle. 

The  tortoise  shell  of  commerce  is  mostly  obtained  from  the 
hawk's  bill  turtle,  and  specimens  are  occasionally  captured 
around  the  coast,  sufBcient  to  supply  the  demand  for  the  local 
manufacture  of  turtle  shell  ornaments.  The  smaller  speci- 
mens are  usually  stufEed  and  the  shell  polished  whole.  In 
times  past  Jamaica  turtle  shell  was  somewhat  celebrated  and 
realized  high  prices  on  the  London  markets. 

Booby  Eggs. 

The  Pedro  and  Morant  Cays  are  small  coral  islands,  situated 
some  distance  from  Jamaica.  They  are  leased  by  the  govern- 
ment for  an  annual  sum  for  the  right  of  collecting  the  eggs 
laid  there  in  thousands  by  several  species  of  marine  birds. 

Peael-Beaeing  Molluscs. 

Although  the  waters  around  Jamaica  are  not  occupied  by 
any  of  the  pearl-bearing  bivalves,  many  localities  are  suitable 
for  their  artificial  introduction,  and  only  a  year  or  two  ago 
an  effort  was  made  by  representatives  of  an  American  syndi- 
cate for  concessions  from  the  government  for  this  purpose. 
The  porcellanous  pink  pearls  are  occasionally  come  upon  in 
the  giant  conch,  Stromhis  gigas,  and  in  some  parts  of  the 
Island  a  regular  search  is  carried  on. 

Geology  and  Mining. 

After  this  review  of  the  economic  possibilities  of  the  tvaters 
around  Jamaica,  we  may  turn  to  the  solid  land  and  see  in 
what  degree  nature  has  provided  for  the  needs  of  the  in- 
habitants, and  with  what  stock  in  trade  she  is  prepared  to 
start  those  born  upon  her.  It  is  soon  found  that  the  pro- 
vision of  nature — the  soil — is  by  far  the  most  important,  but 
we  may  glance  at  the  possibilities  of  treasures  below.  Like 
many  other  localities,  the  Island  experiences  recurrent  mining 
fevers;  sometimes  by  the  reported  discovery  of  gold,  some- 
times of  copper,  and  even  of  coal.  A  geological  survey  was 
conducted  over  thirty  years  ago  in  connection  with  the  British 
Survey,  principally  with  the  object  of  ascertaining  the  eco- 
nomic value  of  its  deposits.  Since  then  various  regions  of  the 
Island  have  been  opened  up  and  rendered  more  accessible  for 
such  a  purpose,  and  other  investigations  of  a  more  or  less 
private  character  have  been  conducted  from  time  to  time,  so 
that  the  general  conditions  are  well  known. 

The  indications  of  the  presence  of  various  metals  are  just 
sufficient  to  encourage  hope  that  at  some  time  valuable  de- 
posits may  be  found,  or  that  some  of  the  known  occurrences 
may  prove  remunerative  if  the  operations  were  conducted 
under  the  best  modern  conditions.  Four-fifths  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  Island  consists  of  limestone  of  the  Cretaceous  or 


Tertiary  Age;  the  remainder  of  igneous,  volcanic  and  meta- 
morphic  rocks,  and  it  is  amongst  these  that  evidence  of 
metallic  ores  are  forthcoming. 

Over  many  parts  of  the  Island  deposits  of  red  earth  or  clay, 
the  result  of  the  decomposition  of  the  limestone,  are  met 
with,  constituting  ochres  and  other  pigments.  Up  to  the 
present  their  use  has  been  very  local,  but  as  labor  conditions 
improve  there  seems  some  likelihood  that  they  may  attain  a 
wider  and,  perhaps,  an  export  value.  The  numerous  limestone 
caves  often  have  their  floors  covered  with  a  thick  deposit  of 
cave  earth,  mostly  bat  refuse,  and  this  has  attracted  some 
attention  as  a  fertilizer.  At  the  present  moment  a  strong 
endeavor  is  being  made  to  work  certain  of  the  copper  deposits, 
and  considering  the  high  price  of  copper  there  appears  some 
likelihood  of  success. 

Agriculture. 

Neither  in  the  animal  life  of  the  sea,  nor  in  the  minerals 
below  the  soil,  can  Jamaica  and  the  tropics  generally,  hope  to 
excel  temperate  regions.  But  there  is  another  natural  condi- 
tion which  will  ever  give  them  a  superiority,  and  which  points 
out  the  true  position  they  will  occupy  as  the  regions  of  the 
earth  are  all  called  upon  to  render  their  special  quota  towards 
man's  subsistence.  For  his  food  and  most  of  his  materials, 
man  is  ultimately  dependent  upon  the  products  of  the  earth's 
surface,  that  is,  upon  plant  life.  Only  by  means  of  this  activity 
can  dead  inorganic  matter  be  raised  into  complex  materials 
suitable  for  food,  and  plant  growth  is  everywhere  dependent 
upon  the  sun's  light  and  heat,  and  chemical  rays.  When  we 
compare  the  productions  in  colder  regions  with  those  in  the 
tropics,  we  realize  at  once  the  immense  possibilities  of  the 
latter  over  the  former  and  the  special  part  they  are  called 
upon  to  play.  The  character  and  quantity  of  their  fruit  and 
vegetable  products  assign  to  them  distinctive  features  in  the 
world's  commerce. 

Every  agriculturist  in  Jamaica  is  prepared,  and  justly  so, 
to  go  into  superlative  terms  over  the  richness  and  fertility  of 
the  soil,  whose  cultivation  is  carried  out  with  a  minimum  of 
trouble.  In  general,  the  denudations  by  torrential  rains  on 
the  higher  elevations  give  rise  to  a  great  thickness  of  lower 
deposits  which  soon  form  soil.  Further,  the  tropics,  more 
than  other  regions,  are  the  home  of  the  nitrogen-fixing 
leguminosae,  a  process  in  the  enrichment  of  the  soil  to  which 
the  highest  importance  is  now  attached  in  agriculture. 

Sugar  and  Euir. 

Jamaica  was  formerly,  and  is  to  a  large  extent  to-day,  con- 
nected in  the  minds  of  the  outside  world  with  the  production 
of  sugar  and  nun.  "Jamaica  Eum"  is  still  a  household  term, 
and  if  all  the  spirit  sold  under  that  name  was  what  it  pre- 
tends to  be,  the  Island  would  be  in  a  far  more  prosperous  con- 
dition. Everyone  is  acquainted  with  the  story  of  the  gradual 
decline  which  has  taken  place  in  the  output  of  these  articles, 
in  the  case  of  sugar  as  a  result  of  the  bounty  system  on  beet 
sugar  on  the  continent  of  Europe;  an  artificial  system  intro- 
duced with  the  intention  of  making  the  European  continent 
independent  of  the  West  Indies  for  its  supply  of  sugar,  and 
one  which  its  supporters  n-ould  now  renounce,  if  opportune. 

During  the  past  year  the  acreage  in  Jamaica  under  culti- 
vation in  canes  was  28,764,  and  the  exportation  of  sugar  and 
rum  amounted  to  £313,010  in  value.  At  present  there  is  a 
buoyancy  in  the  best  situated  and  best  conducted  estates,  for 
encouraging  profits  are  being  realized.  The  planter  continues 
to  live  in  hopes  that  with  the  probable  extinction  of  the  con- 
tinental bounty  system  at  no  very  distant  date,  conditions 
will  be  again  favorable  for  his  existence.  He  may  not  hope 
to  realize  the  enormous  profits  of  the  last  and  early  part  of  the 


324 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


present  century,  when  the  West  Indies  held  almost  a  monopoly 
in  sugar  and  rum;  but  with  the  return  of  equality  in  com- 
mercial relations  a  new  impetus  would  be  given  to  the  in- 
vestment of  capital,  improvement  in  machinei-y,  and  combina- 
tions on  a  large  scale.  There  is  every  evidence  that  then 
Jamaica  would  be  able  to  compete  with  success  with  other 
more  recent  sugar  producing  countries.  Combinations  in  the 
form  of  central  factories,  so  as  to  lessen  cost  of  production, 
are  much  to  be  desired.  The  traditions  of  a  race  of  planters 
such  as  Jamaica  possesses,  have  to  be  considered  in  this  con- 
nection; such  a  factor,  often  praiseworthy,  can  scarcely  be 
appreciated  by  an  American  commercial  organization  untram- 
melled by  any  past  history. 

Fruit. 

The  development  of  the  fruit  industry,  pari  passu  with  the 
decrease  in  the  production  of  sugar  and  rum,  is  recognized  as 
having  been  the  means  of  saving  Jamaica  from  the  severe 
depression  which  has  overtaken  many  of  her  West  India 
neighbors.  To  such  an  extent  has  the  production  of  fruit, 
largely  bananas  and  citrus  fruits,  increased,  that  the  value  of 
the  export  of  the  first  mentioned  fruit  alone  is  now  two  or 
three  times  that  of  sugar  and  rum  combined.  In  the  year 
ending  the  31st  day  of  March,  1898,  the  output  of  this  fruit 
reached  the  considerable  total  of  6,981,858  bunches,  valued 
at  £445,866,  and  the  increase  is  going  ahead  with  leaps  and 
bounds. 

This  industry  has  arisen  almost  wholly  within  the  last 
twenty  years,  and  mainly  as  a  result  of  the  energy  and  ability 
displayed  by  an  American  company,  formerly  the  Boston 
Fruit  Company,  now  the  United  Fruit  Company.  From  a 
small  beginning,  with  a  single  sloop,  and  purchasing  from  a 
few  settlers  around  a  port  of  call,  the  company  has  now  a 
large  fleet  of  fruit  steamers  and  estates  and  wharves  in  nearly 
all  parts  of  the  Island.  Many  shiploads  of  Jamaican  bananas 
come  each  week  to  your  principal  port.':,  an*^  soon  there  will 
not  be  an  American  who  does  not  know  of  tlie  Island  by  this 
one  fruit. 

In  connection  with  what  has  been  said  as  to  the  conduct  of 
tropical  undertakings,  it  is  of  interest  to  note  the  methods 
of  this  successful  organization.  The  actual  labor  of  cultiva- 
tion, cutting,  loading,  etc.,  is  conducted  by  natives,  and  on 
such  a  scale  as  to  permit  of  either  task  work,  or  supervision 
in  gangs.  The  details  of  management  are  conducted  by  intel- 
ligent men  acquainted  with  the  local  conditions.  The  prin- 
cipal managers  are  in  constant  interchange  with  both  the 
American  and  Jamaican  depots,  and  in  this  way  maintain 
their  commercial  vigor. 

The  relative  importance  to  the  Island  itself  of  the  fruit 
industry,  compared  with  the  old  staple  sugar  industry,  is  a 
question  of  some  importance.  As  a  means  of  circiUation  of 
capital  within  the  island,  fruit  cultivation  is  much  inferior  to 
that  of  a  sugar  estate  with  its  complicated  manufacturing 
processes.  An  estate  employs  from  the  youngest  to  the  oldest 
of  both  sexes,  and  this  practically  all  the  year  round.  In  ad- 
dition, a  sugar  plantation  demands  the  skilled  mechanic, 
whereas  a  fruit  cultivation,  like  that  of  the  banana,  requires 
comparatively  little  labor,  and  only  during  a  certain  season. 

There  seems  no  doubt  that  unless  conditiins  are  changed, 
such  as  the  abolition  of  the  bounty  system  or  the  formation 
of  central  factories,  the  sugar  and  rum  industry  will  continue 
to  be  a  diminishing  factor  in  the  commerce  of  the  Island;  but 
there  is  no  fear  that  it  will  ever  become  extinct.  All  evidence 
at  the  present  day  points  to  an  eidarging  iinporliuice  of  th,. 
fruit  industry. 

Geographical  relations  would  dctemiine  the  Iljiiled  States 
as  the  natural  market  for  Jamaican  ])erishable  fruit;  political 
relations  point  to  the  English  market.    So  far,  the  former  has 


almost  exclusively  held  sway,  and  recent  events  seem  to  in- 
dicate a  predominating  continuance,  especially  if  favorable 
tariff  relations  can  be  established.  A  very  strong  effort  is 
now  being  made  to  bring  the  British  markets  within  the 
sphere  of  Jamaican  fruit.  The  time  required  for  the  con- 
veyance of  fi-uit  between  the  two  countries  has  hitherto  been 
a  barrier,  but  a  special  line  of  British  fruit  steamers  is  now  in 
process  of  construction,  and  may  be  in  operation  in  the  early 
part  of  the  coming  year. 

Citrus  Fruits. 

Under  the  term  citrus  fruits  are  included  oranges,  limes, 
lemons,  grape-fruits,  shaddock  and  allied  forms.  These  grow 
practically  wild  in  Jamaica.  The  large  quantity  now  bein? 
received  in  the  United  States  still  comes  mostly  from  trees 
which  have  obtained  little  or  no  cultivation,  it  being  only 
recently  that  much  commercial  importance  has  been  attached 
to  the  fruit.  Now  large  areas  are  being  laid  out  systematically 
in  groves  and  careful  selection  of  the  best  varieties  is  exer- 
cised. One  advantage  in  the  case  of  the  scattered  unculti- 
vated trees  is  in  their  comparative  freedom  from  insects  and 
other  pests,  which,  in  other  countries  where  cultivation  has 
been  long  established,  are  always  a  source  of  loss  and  trouble. 
As  the  citrus  fruit  industry  enlarges,  more  care  will  be  given 
tn  sorting  and  packing,  conditions  in  which  the  shipments 
arc  said  at  this  end  to  be  somewhat  deficient.  During  the  pa.st 
year  the  export  value  of  oranges  was  £123,71-5;  while  that 
of  grape  fruit,  a  fruit  much  appreciated  in  the  States,  was 
i7,983. 

Coffee. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  increase  in  the  production  of 
coffee  in  other  tropical  regions,  Jamaica  Blue  Mountain  coffee 
still  holds  the  highest  market  price,  26  dollars  per  cwt.  (113 
lt)s.)  Its  preparation  is  attended  with  the  greatest  care  in 
cdutrast  with  that  grown  by  the  settler,  who  secures  only  the 
very  low  prices  usually  obtainable  for  coffee.  The  value  of 
the  article  exported  last  year  was  £162,219. 

Tobacco. 

Some  advances  are  being  made  in  the  cultivation  of  this 
article,  an  impetus  having  been  given  by  the  residence  in  the 
Island  of  numerous  Cubans  during  the  late  Cuban  war.  Many 
of  the  alluvial  plains  are  very  suitable  for  the  growth  of  the 
plant.  The  estate  at  Montpelier  has  now  nearly  a  hundred 
acres  under  cultivation,  its  leaf  and  cigars  realizing  some  of 
the  highest  prices.  Samples  of  Jamaica  cigars  which  I  was 
able  to  bring  with  me  have  been  spoken  of  in  very  high  terms 
here. 

PiNEAPrLES. 

A  great  development  in  the  planting  of  pineapples  is  taking 
]>lace,  and  before  long  the  Januiican  fruit  will  ])robably  be 
found  in  abundance  on  both  the  American  and  British  mar- 
kets. A  typically  tropical  fruit,  it  grows  with  great  vigor  in 
Jamaica,  the  Florida  varieties  there  increasing  considerably 
in  size  and  quality.  The  samples  forwarded  by  the  Jamaica 
Agi'icultural  Society  and  placed  on  show  in  the  Exposition, 
arc  Mckniwledged  to  be  among  the  largest  seen  in  the  States. 
'I'ln-  recent  experiences  of  frost  in  Florida  have  driven  many 
of  the  fonncr  growers  of  fruit  there  to  more  reliable  climes, 
and  these  are  aiding  in  the  more  systematic  cultivation  of  this 
and  other  Jamaican  fruits. 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


325 


Pimento,  or  Allspice. 

The  pimento  tree  is  indigenous  to  the  Island,  and  prac- 
tically the  world's  supply  of  this  spice  comes  from  Jamaica. 
No  cultivation  whatever  is  required,  and,  though  very  fluctu- 
ating in  price  and  quantity,  the  possession  of  pimento  walks 
is  often  a  source  of  considerable  revenue  to  the  planter  or 
pen  keeper. 

Of  other  smaller  products,  the  trade  in  which  is  on  the  in- 
crease, may  be  mentioned  ginger,  cacao  or  chocolate,  kola, 
rice,  cocoanuts  and  honey.  These  have  all  a  commercial 
value.  The  people  are  awake  to  the  necessity  of  utilizing 
every  means  for  the  improvement  of  their  condition,  and 
every  encouragement  is  being  given  them  by  the  different 
agencies. 

Industry  and  capital  in  Jamaica  enjoy  the  advantage  of  a 
long-settled,  stable,  well-governed  country,  opened  up  by  rail- 
ways and  excellent  roads;  a  peaceful  and  more  or  less  indus- 
trious native  population;  and  numerous  means  of  communi- 
cation with  the  outside  world. 

Departments  and  Societies. 

Several  organizations,  mainly  supported  by  the  government, 
exist  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  development  of  the 
resources  of  the  Island. 

Botanical  Department. — By  means  of  botanical  stations  in 
different  regions  of  the  Island  this  department  conducts  ex- 
periments with  regard  to  the  introduction  and  propagation 
of  new  and  improved  varieties  of  plants;  affords  practical  in- 
struction in  gardening;  disseminates  information  by  means 
of  a  monthly  bulletin;  and  makes  important  contributions  to 
botanical  science  relative  to  the  Island's  flora.  The  director 
is  W.  Fa-weett,  Esq.,  B.  L. 

Agricultural  Society. — This  society,  which  I  have  the  honor 
of  representing  on  this  occasion,  has  for  its  main  purpose 
the  improved  cutivation  of  the  Island's  products;  improved 
breeds  of  stock  and  the  interests  of  agriculture  generally.  By 
means  of  a  plainly  worded  monthly  journal,  premiums  and 
shows,  branch  societies,  lectures  and  demonstrations,  a  great 
impetus  is  given  to  agricultural  progress.  The  secretary  is 
Mr.  G.  A.  Douet. 

The  Royal  Jamaica  Society  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce 
and  Merchants'  Exchange. — This  organization  concerns  itself 
with  matters  connected  with  the  agriculture  and  trade  of  the 
Island,  and  the  two  preceding  speakers  are  its  worthy  repre- 
sentatives to  this  Congress.    The  secretary  is  Mr.  Geo.  Levy. 

The  Institute  of  Jamaica  was  founded  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  literature,  science  and  art  in  the  Island.  A  journal 
devoted  to  these  objects  is  published  at  irregular  intervals. 
The  secretary  is  Mr.  F.  Bundell. 

I  bring  these  organizations  before  you,  and  the  names  of 
their  secretaries,  as  each  lays  itself  open  for  communication 
with  correspondents  abroad  upon  matters  in  its  own  special 
depai-tment  connected  with  the  interests  of  the  Island.  Any 
information  upon  Jamaica  omitted  from  these  papers  will  be 
gladly  supplied  by  them.  They  are  often  consulted  by  foreign 
merchants  and  intending  immigrants.  Combined,  they  supply 
for  Jamaica  that  which  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 
endeavors  by  means  of  its  army  of  specialists  and  correspon- 
dents to  furnish  for  the  whole  commercial  world.    (Applause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson  : 

I  now  take  pleasure  in  introducing  Mr.  Simon  Soutar,  dele- 
gate from  the  Royal  Society  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce, 
Kingston,  Jamaica. 


Trade  in  Jamaica. 

Mr.  Simon  Soutar: 

Jamaica  is  but  a  small  island,  a  mere  speck  upon  the  map  of 
this  hemisphere,  yet  its  commerce  gives  employment  to  a  large 
section  of  your  people,  and  its  products  contribute  in  no  small 
degree  to  the  happiness  and  comfort  of  the  inhabitants  of  this 
great  Republic. 

Its  bananas,  its  oranges  and  its  cocoanuts  are  well  known 
in  your  markets  and  appreciated.  Its  coffee,  rum,  ginger  and 
divi-divi  are  the  finest  in  the  world,  and  it  enjoys  the  unique 
distinction  of  being  the  only  place  in  the  world  where  pi- 
mento, a  pleasant  and  very  useful  allspice  and  important 
article  of  commerce,  is  grown. 

Jamaica  is  an  agricultural  country  and  has  but  few  indus- 
tries. Its  wealth  is  in  its  soil,  and  its  prosperity  depends  upon 
the  appreciation  of  its  exports.  When  prices  are  remunera- 
tive, its  people  are  happy  and  contented,  but  for  some  time 
past  our  principal  products,  sugar,  rum,  coffee  and  logwood, 
have  been  depressed  and  selling  at  prices  almost  below  the  cost 
of  production.  Our  principal  export  is  now  fruit,  which  this 
year  will  represent  nearly  one-half  of  the  entire  exports  from 
the  colony.  As  this  is  a  new  industry,  having  come  into  exist- 
ence within  the  last  thirty  years,  and  having  had  its  birth- 
place in  Jamaica,  no  account  of  the  trade  of  that  colony  would 
be  complete  without  it.  Thirty-five  years  ago,  when  I  last  had 
the  pleasure  of  being  in  your  hospitable  city,  the  banana  was 
unknown.  Now  it  is,  perhaps,  the  most  common  fruit  in 
America,  as  well  as  the  cheapest.  It  enters  largely  into  your 
commerce,  gives  employment  to  a  large  number  of  your  citi- 
zens and  appears  to  be  a  staple  article  of  food  amongst  the 
poorer  classes.  It  has  brought  prosperity  and  wealth  to  the 
colony  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent,  and  in  view  of 
the  great  depression  that  has  taken  place  in  our  usual  source 
of  revenue,  I  do  not  know  how  the  government  could  have 
gotten  on  without  it.  I,  therefore,  think  this  opportunity 
should  not  be  allowed  to  pa.ss  without  placing  on  record,  be- 
fore the  closing  of  this  great  Congress,  our  indebtedness  for 
the  introduction  of  this  wholesome  food,  the  Jamaica  banana, 
this  wonderful  industry  that  has  brought  prosperity  to  com- 
munities and  comfort  and  competence  to  so  many  homes;  to 
American  capital,  energy  and  enterprise;  to  Captain  L.  D. 
Barker,  of  Wellfleet,  a  Cape  Cod  fisherman.  I  mention  this, 
for  without  that  early  training,  it  is  doubtful  if  you  would 
have  had  a  banana  in  Philadelphia  to-day.  It  was  there  he 
learned  to  fight  the  elements,  to  brave  the  storm,  to  develop 
that  energy,  perseverance  and  determination  that  served  him 
so  well  in  after  life. 

I  well  remember  liis  coming  to  Jamaica  in  a  little  fishing 
schooner — the  "Eunice  P.  Newcombe," — his  sanguine  tem- 
perament and  strong,  magnetic  presence;  his  first  venture; 
the  purchase  of  his  first  estate;  his  friends  and  associates,  Mr. 
Hopkins,  Captains  Freeman  and  Young;  his  troubles,  disap- 
pointments and  failures.  It  was  uphill  work,  and  the  ob- 
stacles seemed  insui-mountable,  but  he  still  worked  on.  It 
was  a  herculean  task,  but  he  never  faltered.  He  saw  a  great 
future  for  the  banana,  and  refused  to  give  up,  until  at  last 
he  succeeded  in  foiTning  the  Boston  Fruit  Company,  an  asso- 
ciation that  has  done  more  to  develop  the  commerce  of 
Jamaica  than  any  other  enterprise  during  the  last  century. 
Now,  we  have  its  latest  development  in  the  creation  of  the 
United  Fruit  Company,  an  organization  of  great  power  and 
influence,  destined  to  control  the  entire  export  of  tropical 
fruit  in  the  near  future.  This  company  is  the  largest  busi- 
ness concern  in  Jamaica.  They  own,  lease  or  control  nearly 
a  hundred  thousand  acres  of  good,  arable  land,  some  of  it  the 
finest  in  Jamaica.  Then  they  have  miles  upon  miles  of  ban- 
ana and  cocoanut  plantations.  They  have  large  tracts  laid  out 
in  orchards  of  the  best  descriptions  of  budded  oranges.    The 


326 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Jamaica  orange  of  to-day  is  juicy  and  sweet,  but  when  these 
come  into  bearing,  they  will  j^roduce  an  orange  that  will  be  a 
surprise  to  your  fruit  dealers.  They  have  planted  immense 
fields  of  the  finest  varieties  of  the  pineapple,  which  will  soon 
come  into  bearing.  Jamaica  is  the  home  of  the  pineapple. 
It  is  our  coat-of-arms.  There  the  smooth  cayenne  develops 
a  weight  of  twelve  to  fourteen  pounds,  sometimes  more,  and 
a  peculiar,  delicate  flavor  not  to  be  found  elsewhere.  The 
company  has  branches  and  wharves  at  every  important  ship- 
ping place,  and  agencies  in  every  centre.  They  have  their 
own  railways  and  tramways,  as  well  as  their  own  telegraph  and 
telephone  service.  They  possess  a  fleet  of  large,  first-class, 
fast  passenger  steamships,  wliich  have  reduced  the  voyage  to 
Jamaica  to  four  and  one-half  or  five  days.  These  vessels  are 
steady,  comfortable,  free  from  vibration,  and  replete  with 
every  comfort  and  convenience. 

In  connection  with  the  passenger  trade,  the  company  oper- 
ates a  first-class  hotel  at  Port  Antonio,  delightfully  situated 
on  an  eminence  overlooking  the  town  and  harbor,  and  com- 
manding extensive  land  and  sea  views. 

The  company  does  not  confine  its  operations  to  its  own 
plantations  alone,  but  purchases  fruit  and  other  produce  from 
surrounding  districts  at  current  rates.  It  is  the  presence  of 
this  American  company  that  gives  importance  to  our  trade 
returns  and  enables  us  to  do  a  large  and  increasing  business 
with  the  United  States.  During  three  months  of  this  year, 
they  shipped  3,000,000  bunches  of  liananas,  almost  as  much 
as  the  total  importation  into  the  United  States  a  few  years  ago. 

The  trade  and  commerce  of  Jamaica  is  considerable.  Dur- 
ing the  fiscal  year  ending  March  31st  last,  445  sailing  and  975 
steam  vessels,  having  a  net  tonnage  of  917,449,  arrived,  and 
457  sailing  and  972  steam  vessels  departed  from  ports  in  the 
Island. 

The  total  imports  into  the  Island  from  all  parts  during  the 
same  period  were  valued  at  $8,711,806,  of  which  $3,876,508, 
or  about  45  per  cent.,  came  from  the  United  States,  as  against 
42  per  cent,  the  previous  year,  and  39  per  cent,  in  1897.  The 
value  of  the  total  exports  from  the  colony  during  the  same 
period  was  $7,661,885,  of  which  no  less  than  $4,850,615,  or 
nearly  64  per  cent.,  went  to  the  United  States,  as  against  62 
per  cent,  in  1898,  and  56  per  cent,  in  1897. 

These  figures  must  be  highly  gratifying  to  this  Congress, 
as  showing  our  large  and  increasing  trade  with  the  United 
States,  but  our  exports  for  the  first  six  months  of  this  fiscal 
year  show  a  still  more  rapid  increase,  which,  if  continued  for 
the  balance  of  the  year,  will  probably  reach  75  per  cent.  Nor 
is  it  in  exports  alone  that  this  increase  is  apparent,  for  the 
Collector-General,  in  his  last  report,  draws  attention  to  the 
increased  importation  of  cotton  goods  from  the  United  States. 
He  says:  "In  1897,  the  value  of  textiles  imported  from  the 
United  States  was  £26,614,  and  in  the  past  year,  the  trade 
has  increased  to  £50,595,  a  stride  of  90  per  cent,  in  a  single 
year." 

If  further  proof  be  wanting  of  the  tendency  of  our  trade 
towards  your  shore,  it  is  supplied  by  the  official  returns  of  the 
exports  for  the  first  six  months  of  this  fiscal  year.  I  only  give 
a  few  of  the  principal  items: 

Exports  to  the  United  St.te,,  ,^j;'\\  \>^  ^  AprH  1  t^,^ 

Coffee  (cwt.) 8,961  6,898 

Cocoanuts  (number)  9,303,581  5,230.190 

Bananas  (bunches) 6,318,453  4,256,668 

Oranges  (number) 10,971,653  4,651,350 

Pineapples  (dozen) 4,608  2,351 

Ginger  (cwt.) 4,213  1,436 

Sugar  (tons) 13,553  10,049 

These  official  returns  prove  that  the  United  States  is  the 
natural  market  for  Jamaica.    Canada  tries  hard  for  a  share  of 


our  trade,  but  somehow  does  not  make  any  progress.  During 
the  last  fiscal  year,  we  only  received  from  Canada  7  per  cent, 
of  our  entire  imports,  as  against  7  per  cent,  the  previous  year, 
and  8.2  per  cent,  in  1897.  Of  our  exports,  the  percentage  is 
1^  per  cent,  of  last  year,  as  against  1.3  per  cent,  in  1898  and 
1.2  per  cent,  in  1897. 

The  government  of  the  Dominion  subsidizes  a  line  of  steam- 
ships, with  fortnightly  sailings  from  Halifax.  They  have  a 
resident  commercial  agent  in  Kingston  who  attends  to  their 
interests,  yet  their  efforts  apparently  fail  to  influence  trade. 
Canada  even  affords  us  preferential  treatment  of  our  sugar. 
Yet,  we  send  it  all  to  the  United  States,  where  you  impose  a 
countervailing  duty  on  bounty-fed  sugar,  equal  to  the  bounty 
paid  by  the  country  of  export,  and  this  enables  us  to  com- 
pete. There  is  no  sentiment  in  business;  men  will  buy  and 
sell  in  the  market  they  find  most  advantageous.  So  long 
as  the  United  Stales  can  offer  us  suitable  goods  of  good 
ijuality  and  cheap,  we  will  buy, — otherwise,  we  go  elsewhere. 

There  are,  however,  legitimate  means  which  can  be  adopted 
in  the  aid  of  commerce,  and  to  extend  and  foster  foreign  trade. 
There  are  probably  none  so  effective  or  so  perfectly  adapted 
to  the  needs  of  modern  commerce  as  reciprocity.  The  prin- 
ciple is  not  only  good,  but  sound,  making  concessions  in  the 
tariffs  of  the  reciprocating  countries,  mutually  advantageous 
to  both.  Under  the  powers  conferred  on  the  President  of 
the  United  States,  by  the  Tariff  Act  of  1897,  a  reciprocal 
agreement  was  entered  into  with  the  colony  I  have  the  honor 
to  represent,  and  which  will  shortly  come  before  the  Senate  for 
ratification.  The  exact  terms  of  this  treaty  have  not  yet  been 
made  public,  but  I  have  seen  it  stated  in  American  news- 
papers, that  in  exchange  for  a  reduction  in  the  duties  im- 
posed by  the  Jamaica  tariff  on  certain  articles  of  import  from 
the  United  States,  the  United  States  Government  has  agreed, 
subject  to  the  ratification  by  the  Senate,  to  make  a  reduction 
of  20  per  cent,  in  the  duties  now  levied  on  citrus  fruits  im- 
ported from  Jamaica — an  agreement  which  cannot  fail  to 
increase  the  commerce  of  both  countries.  Exception  has 
been  taken  by  the  orange  growers  of  California  to  the  treaty, 
who  intend  using  every  means  in  their  power  to  prevent  its 
ratification,  on  the  ground  that  it  will  be  inimical  to  Iheir 
interests,  but  it  is  ditficult  to  see  how  they  can  be  affected. 
The  Jamaica  orange  crop  comes  in  from  August  to  Decem- 
ber, when  there  are  no  other  oranges  in  tlie  market,  thus 
supplying  a  demand  which  cannot  otherwise  be  filled. 

Should  this  treaty  be  ratified,  it  will  be  the  means  of  pro- 
moting the  interests  and  extending  the  commerce  of  both 
countries.  If  not,  it  appears  to  me,  you  will  continue  to  buy 
the  Jamaica  oranges.  You  must  have  them,  and  your  people 
must  still  continue  to  pay  the  difference  in  duty.  Make  the 
concession,  and  you  cheapen  the  product,  create  a  larger  de- 
mand and  add  further  to  the  comforts  of  your  people. 

Another  great  factor  in  extending  and  fostering  foreign 
trade  is  credit,  which  has  been  aptly  termed,  the  "soul  of 
commerce."  In  one  of  the  early  sessions  of  this  Congress,  a 
banker  stated,  he  sometimes  met  men  so  shrewd  and  so  clever, 
that  they  would  tell  him  "they  trusted  no  one,"  showing  a 
lack  of  knowledge  of  the  use,  the  value  and  the  necessity  of 
credit,  without  which  it  is  impossible  to  carry  on  a  business 
of  any  imporiance.  We  all  meet  men  of  this  stamp,  who  do 
nothing  for  the  advancement  of  trade  aiul  commerce.  In  this 
respect,  the  United  States  cannot  do  better  than  follow  the 
practice  of  Europe,  by  giving  a  reasonable  term  of  credit  to 
responsible  parties. 

I  congratulate  this  Congress  on  the  healthy  trade  relations 
existing  between  this  great  Rejniblic  and  the  Island  of  Jamaica. 
The  achievements  of  modern  science  have  made  us  near  neigh- 
bors. In  five  days,  and  at  an  expense  of  a  few  dollars,  you  can 
reach  our  land  of  eternal  summer.  The  possibilities  of  trade 
and  commerce  with  us  are  great.     We  have  a  lovely  island. 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


327 


au  ideal  climate,  healthy  surroundings,  a  death  rate  of  only 
23  per  1,000,  a  most  fertile  soil,  good  government,  the  best 
roads  in  the  world — the  cyclist's  paradise, — an  extensive  range 
of  products,  great  opportunities  and  openings"for  American 
capital  and  enterprise.  Our  principal  and  best  fruits  are  still 
unknown  to  you.  The  mineral  resources  of  our  country  are 
rare  and  varied.  We  have  gold,  silver,  nickel,  lead,  copper, 
hematite  and  manganese  ores  in  abundance;  in  every  one  of 
which  lies  a  fortune  waiting  for  the  energetic  American  to 
develop. 

We  invite  you  to  come  and  see  for  yourselves  the  immense 
resources  of  our  beautiful  Island.  A  number  of  your  countrj'- 
men  are  already  enjoying  life  and  assisting  to  develop  the 
enormous  wealth  lying  dormant  in  our  soil.  To  the  invalid, 
we  say  come,  bathe  in  the  sunshine  and  spend  your  winters 
with  us  in  a  climate  that  is  particularly  delightful  and  suited 
to  the  most  delicate  constitution.  We  ask  the  man  of  leisure 
to  come  and  enjoy  our  mountain  climate  and  balmy  breezes. 
You  will  find  much  to  interest  and  instruct  you.  Our  people 
are  kind,  hospitable  and  will  do  all  in  their  power  to  make 
your  stay  amongst  them  as  agreeable  and  comfortable  as  pos- 
sible. 

To  those  who  wish  to  combine  business  with  pleasure,  the 
trip  is  particularly  delightful.  First-class  steamships  leave 
the  United  Fruit  Company's  pier  every  Wednesday  for 
Jamaica,  fitted  with  every  comfort  for  passengers  and  com- 
manded by  experienced  navigators, — gentlemen,  whom  it  is 
a  pleasure  to  know.  A  couple  of  days  out  and  you  feel  you 
have  left  the  rigors  of  a  northern  climate;  next  day,  you  reach 
the  outlying  Bahamas,  islands  of  historic  interest,  and  from 
thence  forward,  you  begin  to  enjoy  the  beauty  and  splendor 
of  the  tropics.  As  you  enter  Port  Antonio,  the  fairyland  of 
Jamaica  bursts  upon  your  view,  and  you  begin  to  wonder 
whether  you  are  still  in  this  mundane  sphere.  Here  you  find 
a  Jamaica-American  town,  and  a  first-class  hotel.  Through- 
out the  Island,  you  will  find  good  hotels,  good  railway  service, 
and  in  Kingston,  good  streets  and  up-to-date  electric  car  ser- 
vice, electric  light,  and  all  the  comforts  and  conveniences  of 
modern  life. 

I  cannot  close  without  referring  to  the  wonderful  power 
and  influence,  for  extending  the  foreign  trade  of  this  great 
country,  exercised  by  the  Philadelphia  Museum  and  this  great 
International  Congress  held  under  its  auspices.  It  is  shown 
not;  alone  in  the  views  expressed  in  the  papers  read,  which,  to 
a  great  extent,  must  of  necessity  be  more  or  less  formal,  but  in 
the  bringing  together  of  a  large  body  of  business  men,  repre- 
sentatives of  trade  and  commerce  from  all  parts  of  the  world. 
Visiting  your  factories  and  seeing  what  you  produce,  has 
alread)'  led  to  the  making  of  lasting  business  connections,  and 
the  giving  of  large  orders.  It  is  difficult  to  say  how  and  to 
what  extent  these  influences  may  reach,  but  they  must  result 
in  a  large  increase  in  your  trade.  Human  progress  in  these 
days  is  so  rapid  and  so  wonderful,  as  to  render  these  meetings 
necessary  every  few  years. 

(At  12  m..  Director  W.  P.  Wilson  called  Dr.  Johnston  to 
take  the  chair.) 

Dr.  James  Johnston: 

In  reference  to  the  remarks  made  so  clearly  and  concisely 
regarding  the  pests  in  Jamaica,  did  I  mention  anything  of 
the  kind?  (Laughter  and  applause.)  You  will  all  be  pleased 
to  hear,  I  am  sure,  that  there  is  very  little  foundation  for  fear 
from  the  mongoose,  because  it  is  passing  away.  Nature  will 
always  protect  itself.  When  the  mongoose  came  it  ate  up  the 
snakes.  It  would  be  difficult  now  to  find  a  single  snake  in 
the  Island,  whereas  before  there  were  thousands  of  them,  and 
they  destroyed  the  bird  creatures  that  lived  on  the  ticks. 
Having  destroyed  the  birds,  the  ticki  in  time  are  destroying 


the  mongoose.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  mongoose  is  ob- 
jectionable. But  it  is  about  the  only  objectionable  animal  we 
have  in  the  Island.  Of  course,  we  have  scorpions  and  centi- 
pedes, but  you  don't  need  to  get  bitten  by  them  unless  you 
like.  You  do  not  need  to  go  looking  for  scorpions,  or  centi- 
pedes, or  tarantulas,  which  are  the  rarest  things  possible. 
About  once  a  year,  probably,  we  hear  of  a  person  being  bitten 
by  them.  Mr.  Duerden  looks  for  them  for  his  museum,  and 
if  he  gets  bitten  he  must  take  it  as  the  accidents  of  war. 
You  may  travel  the  Island  through,  and  live  in  it  for  a  life- 
time of  fifty  or  sixty  years  without  being  troubled  by  the 
pests.  Again,  in  .Jamaica  we  have  no  frost-bites.  It  is  a  rare 
thing  to  be  troubled  with  mosquitoes.  Your  mosquito  is 
much  bigger  than  ours  and  his  sting  is  more  venomous.  Flies 
are  scarcely  known  with  us,  whereas,  in  this  country  if  you  lie 
down  for  a  siesta  you  are  sure  to  be  worried  by  flies.  You 
must  not  believe  in  newspapers  that  tell  you  about  those 
things,  because  it  is  all  nonsense.    (Laughter.) 

I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  calling  upon  Hon.  W.  W. 
Kockhill,  if  present.  If  he  is  not  here,  I  have  another  string 
to  my  bow,  and  will  call  upon  Mr.  C.  Arthur  Shand,  who  will 
speak  to  you  on  the  subject  of  the  "Trade  Relations  between 
the  United  States  and  the  I^eeward  Islands." 

Mr.  C.  Arthur  Shand: 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  must  first  of  all 
begin  by  claiming  the  indulgence  of  my  audience  to  say  that 
I  am  suffering  from  a  very  severe  cold  which  affects  my 
throat.  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  get  through  my  paper;  if 
I  break  down,  I  hope  you  will  extend  to  me  your  forgiveness 
and  your  pity. 

You  have  been  told  about  the  topography  of  Jamaica,  and 
were  also  told  about  the  topography  of  certain  parts  of  Aus- 
tralia, but  there  is  very  much  more  to  say  with  regard  to  the 
Leeward  Islands,  as  a  great  many  people  here,  whom  I  have 
come  across,  have  asked  me  where  the  Leeward  Islands 
were.  They  had  a  sort  of  idea  that  they  were  somewhere  in 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  I  had  to  relieve  their  minds  that  I  had 
not  all  that  distance  to  go  in  coming  to  America.  ^V^lere 
we  are,  we  are  much  nearer  to  you  than  we  are  to  our  brethren 
in  England,  and  I  thought  you  certainly  must  have  been 
posted  up  a  little  about  our  geography,  but  I  found  that  you 
were  exceedingly  in  the  dark  about  it.  I  found  that  you 
know  very  little  about  our  topography.  I  did  not  think  that 
this  could  be  the  case  of  such  a  country  as  America,  with  such 
advanced  ideas  and  such  a  high  civilization.  I  thought  that 
topography  and  geography  would  be  at  the  tip  of  everybody's 
tongue.  I  find  it  is  not  so;  therefore,  I  will  preface  my  paper 
with  a  consideration  of  the  locality  of  the  Leeward  Islands. 

The  colony  that  I  represent  at  this  International  Com- 
mercial Congress  is  known  as  the  Federation  of  the  Leeward 
Islands,  and,  as  its  name  implies,  consists  of  a  number  of 
islands  amalgamated  under  one  government,  the  seat  of  which 
is  the  Island  of  Antigua. 

Antigua  has  an  area  of  one  himdred  square  miles,  with 
a  population  of  36,119  inhabitants,  of  whom  about  one-third 
reside  in  the  Cathedral  City  of  St.  John.  The  exports  of  An- 
tigua for  the  year  1898  consisted  of  sugar  (which  is  the  staple 
crop),  molasses,  rum,  live  stock,  satinwood,  firewood,  log- 
wood and  lime  juice,  of  which  the  woods  come  chiefly  from 
the  neighboring  Island  of  Barbuda,  which  is  a  dependency  of 
Antigua,  to  its  extreme  north,  with  an  area  of  sixty-two  square 
miles. 

The  value  of  these  exports  amounted  to  $370,990,  of  which 
$318,065  worth  found  its  way  to  the  United  States. 

There  is  also  another  small  dependency  of  Antigua,  named 
Redonda,  which  is  leased  to  a  mining  company  and  worked  for 
phosphate  of  alumina. 

Dominica  is  the  most  southern  and  largest  of  the  Le«ward 


328 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Islands,  occupying  an  area  of  291  square  miles,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  2{J,84L  Last  year  the  exports  included  coffee,  cacao, 
lime  juice  and  its  accessories,  fruits  and  vegetables,  amount- 
ing to  $298,315  in  value,  of  which  $60,920  worth  was  shipped 
to  America. 

Montserrat,  with  its  thirty-nine  square  miles  and  11,762 
inhahitants,  exported  in  1898  live  stock,  coffee,  sugar,  cacao, 
lime  juice,  fruit,  vegetables  and  fruits  in  syrups  reaching  a 
total  value  of  $60,700,  $14,995  worth  of  which  went  to 
America. 

Saint  Kitts  or  Saint  Christopher,  Nevis  and  Anguilla  are 
three  sejjarate  islands  of  69,  50  and  35  square  miles  respec- 
tively, with  a  population  of  38,262,  united  for  governmental 
purposes  as  one  Presidency.  Last  year  the  exports  from  these 
islands  included  live  stock,  sugar  (which,  as  in  Antigua,  forms 
the  staple  crop),  molasses,  rum,  hides,  fruit,  vegetables  and 
salt,  amounting  to  $571,310,  of  wliich  amount  $491,625  worth 
was  shipped  to  the  United  States. 

Last  on  the  list  come  the  Virgin  Islands,  consisting  of  an 
archipelago,  the  total  area  of  which  is  about  fifty-eight  square 
miles,  with  a  population  of  4,639  inhabitants.  Tlie  exports 
for  1898  amounted  to  only  $18,765,  nearly  all  of  which  went 
to  the  neighboring  island  of  Saint  Thomas,  Danish  West  In- 
dies, in  the  shape  of  live  stock,  vegetables,  salt  and  charcoal. 
The  chief  islands  of  this  group  are  Tortola,  the  soil  of  which 
is  fertile;  Virgin  Gorda,  which  was  once  worked  for  copper, 
and  Anegada;  but  as  these  islands  are  not  looked  upon  at 
present  as  of  much  commercial  value,  and  as  there  exist  no 
trade  relations  between  them  and  the  United  States,  I  shall 
not  again  refer  to  them  in  this  paper. 

It  will  thus  be  seen,  that  the  islands  fonning  this  govern- 
ment occupy  a  total  area  of  some  seven  hundred  square  miles, 
with  a  population  of  118,203  inhabitants,  exported  last  year 
produce  to  the  extent  of  $1,310,080,  of  which  $885,605  worth 
was  shipped  to  the  United  States  of  America.  That  is  to  say, 
more  than  two-thirds  of  our  produce  found  a  market  in  the 
United  States. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  in  Antigua  and  Saint  Kitts-Nevis, 
which  islands  are  solely  dependent  upon  sugar  as  their  staple, 
almost  the  total  exports  were  shipped  to  America,  and  this 
result  was  entirely  due  to  the  so-called  "Free  Trade"  policy 
of  the  British  Government,  which  admits  boimty-fed  beet 
sugars  to  the  English  market,  to  the  necessary  exclusion  of  her 
own  colonial  sugars,  which  are  unable  to  compete  with  their 
foreign  rivals  when  so  unfairly  handicapped.  But  we  have 
received  at  the  hands  of  the  United  States  the  equitable  treat- 
ment denied  us  by  our  own  Tuother  country.  This  is  in  itself 
a  bond  to  cement  a  friendship  which  has  always  existed,  and 
which  each  advancing  year  tends  to  develop. 

Out  of  $1,560,460,  the  total  value  of  the  imports  into  our 
Colony  for  the  year  1898,  the  United  States  contributed  $569,- 
305.  I  have  prepared,  and  attach  to  this  paper,  a  compara- 
tive slatement  showing,  first,  the  total  amounts  imported 
under  each  heading,  and  secondly,  the  proportion  of  that 
amount  imported  from  the  LTnited  States.  It  would  take  too 
much  of  your  valuable  time  to  deal  at  length  with  these 
figures.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  in  provisions,  breadstuffs,  food- 
stuffs, tobacco  (for  what  reaches  us  of  this  commodity  from 
other  sources  was  mostly  originally  exported  from  the  States), 
lumber  and  kerosene  oil,  the  United  States  practically  enjoy 
a  monopoly,  but  dry  goods,  hardware  and  oilier  articles  come 
from  Great  Britain. 

Though  fate  has  dealt  unkindly  of  late  with  these  lovely 
islands,  there  are  evidences  of  an  improvement  in  their  pros- 
pects at  no  distant  date.  Consequent  upon  the  recommenda- 
tions of  the  Royal  Commissioners,  who  were  appointed  in 
1897  to  report  upon  the  conditions  of  the  West  Indies,  a  new 
agricultural  and  botanical  department  has  been  inaugurated, 
the  cost  of  which  for  a  period  of  ten  years  is  to  be  provided 


for  from  Imperial  funds.  This  new  department  is  presided 
over  by  Dr.  Morris,  C.  M.  G.,  who  was  so  successful  as  Di- 
rector of  the  Royal  Garden  at  Kew,  and  has  for  its  object  not 
(inly  the  improvement  of  the  methods  of  sugar  cultivation, 
but  also  the  promotion  of  the  cultivation  of  any  other  indus- 
tries that  may  be  discovered  to  suit  the  climatic  con- 
ditions and  prove  of  a  remunerative  nature.  Under  such 
favorable  auspices,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  latent  resources 
of  the  colony  may  be  gradually  developed,  and  to  enable  the 
growers  of  fruit  and  other  perishable  produce  to  get  their 
goods  placed  upon  the  market  in  the  best  condition,  lines  of 
steamers  are  being  subsidized  that  will  afford  all  the  necessaij 
facilities,  which  have  hitherto  been  unobtainable.  This  should 
prove  an  inestimable  boon  to  the  islands,  Dominica  especially, 
as  in  Dominica,  at  present,  only  the  lands  nearest  the  sea- 
coast  are  cultivated,  although  there  are  really  three  zones 
available  for  different  kinds  of  cultivation,  viz.:  (1)  The  coast 
zone  or  lowlands,  suitable  for  sugar,  limes,  cacao,  Liberian 
coffee,  cocoanuts,  fibre  and  starch-bearing  plants,  and  ceara 
rubber,  etc.  (2)  The  middle  zone,  extending  from  an  eleva- 
tion of  1,000  to  2,000  feet  above  the  sea  level,  and  suitable 
for  the  cultivation  of  oranges  and  other  fruits,  vanilla,  nut- 
megs, cloves,  cinnamon,  cacao,  kola  nuts,  tara  rubber,  etc. 
(3)  The  higher  zone  above  2,000  feet  elevation,  where  coffee 
as  well  as  early  temperate  vegetables  might  be  grown  profit- 
ably. This  island,  I  may  mention,  has  an  annual  rainfall 
averaging  one  hundred  inches.  In  the  islands  dependent 
upon  sugar,  central  factories,  under  some  sort  of  Imperial 
guarantee,  are  taking  the  place  of  the  old  processes  of  manu- 
facture, which  are  probably  admitted  to  be  obsolete  and  waste- 
ful. The  planters  have  been  blamed  for  having  so  long  ad- 
hered to  primitive  methods,  but  it  must  not  be  lost  sight  of 
that  the  natural  conditions  were  so  favorable,  that  is  to  say, 
that  sugar  could  be  produced  so  economically  owing  to  the 
exceptional  richness  of  the  juice  and  the  cheapness  of  labor, 
that  it  was  possible  to  manufacture  at  a  profit  muscovado 
sugar  in  Antigua  and  St.  Kitts-Nevis,  long  after  less  favor- 
ably situated  places  had  been  driven  by  stress  of  circum- 
stances to  resoi-t  to  more  approved  methods.  In  both  these 
it^lauds  pines  thrive  to  advantage,  and  the  black  pine  produced 
in  Antigua  has  a  flavor  unsurpassed  by  other  varieties. 

There  is  one  point  I  would  like  to  touch  upon  before  con- 
cluding, and  that  is,  the  future  prospect  of  our  obtaining  a 
market  for  our  sugars  in  the  United  States.  Negotiations 
are,  I  believe,  in  progress  for  reciprocal  relations  between 
our  colony  and  the  United  States,  but  the  great  difficulty 
that  presents  itself  is  the  absence  of  any  line  of  margin  be- 
tween our  revenue  and  expenditure.  That  is  to  say,  taking 
off  duties  any  further  would  involve  a  deficit,  and  taxation, 
on  land  especially,  has  reached  a  limit  that  cannot  be  ex- 
tended. I  can  only  hope  that  this  great  nation,  the  United 
States,  may  not  close  its  doors  on  a  colony  which,  from  its 
natural  geographical  location,  is  especially  adapted  for  com- 
mercial relations  with  the  neighboring  mainland.  At  the 
time  of  the  passing  of  the  act,  so  well  known  by  the  name 
of  that  illustrious  statesman  who  is  now  Presiclent  of  the 
United  States,  our  government  had  to  make  several  impor- 
tant concessions  to  enable  our  produce  to  reap  the  benefits 
promised  under  the  tariff.  Unfortunately,  these  privileges 
were  only  teniporaij,  but  the  concessions  then  accorded  have 
not  been  withdrawn,  and  in  dealing  w^ith  the  question  of 
reciprocity  now,  1  can  only  hope  that  this  fact  nuiy  be  taken 
into  consideration. 

I  am  afraid  I  have  trespassed  too  long  u]ioii  y(uir  ronsidera- 
fion,  and  in  conclusion  I  would  express  in  niy  own  name, 
and  also  that  of  the  government,  most  heartfelt  thanks  for 
llie  princely  (I  can  find  no  other  sufficiently  expi-essive  term 
ill  my  vocabulary)  hos])itality  accorded  to  nie  liy  Philadel- 
phia and  its  inhabitants  during  the  whole  of  my  stay  in  this 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


829 


aptly  designated  city.  We,  in  our  part  of  tlie  world,  can 
hold  out  no  hopes  of  ever  repaying  you  adequately,  but  to 
any  of  you  who  visit  our  shores,  believe  me,  a  most  hearty 
welcome  will  be  extended.  I  do  not  ask  you  to  take  all  I 
say  upon  trust,  but  to  come  and  see  for  yourselves,  and  I  feel 
certain  that  whilst  steaming  along  through  our  sum.mer  seas, 
fanned  by  the  cooling  trade  breezes,  with  one  or  more  pic- 
turesque islands  ever  in  sight,  you  will  realize  that  the  West 
Indies  can  still  afford  a  delightful  holiday  resort.  For  those 
among  you  fond  of  sport  with  rifle  or  with  gun,  we  can  provide 
all  that  you  require  in  the  Island  of  Barbuda,  which  is  plen- 
tifully stocked  with  deer,  wild  duck  of  many  kinds,  pigeon 
and  guinea  fowl — a  veritable  sportsman's  elysinm. 

Even  with  the  present  steam  communication,  which  is  not 
of  the  speediest,  our  Island  can  be  reached  in  a  week's  run 
from  New  York,  so  that  the  experiment  would  not  absorb 
much  time.  Come,  then,  I  say,  and  whilst  with  us,  your 
enterprise  and  ingenuity,  of  which  this  Exposition  gives  so 
many  substantial  proofs,  may  help  to  rebuild  the  fortunes  of 
our  erstwhile  prosperous  islands. 

Comparative    Statement    of    iMroETS     Into  the  Lee- 
ward Islands,  British  West  Indies,  for 

THE    TEAR    1898. 

™  .   ,    .  .    .     From  United 

_        ■    I  Total    imported         u.-to^nf 

Desc.ipiion.  fro.n  all  sources.        IJjerica. 

Bread  and  biscuits,  barrels 13,093  11,909 

Flour  of  wheait,  barrels 36,720  34,771 

Flour,  rye  or  oats,  barrels 118  28 

Flour  (cornmeal  and  maize),  barrels ...  .  24,291  23,091 

Grain,  corn  and  wheat,  bushels 44,432  44,138 

Oats,  bushels S,364  1,020 

Peas,  beans,  barley,  etc.,  bushels 3,957  1,593 

Rice   lbs        . .    .'. 1 ,269,019  135,504 

Salted  and  dried  beef,  lbs 80,721  76,944 

Butter,  lbs 94,318  ■  34,933 

Cheese,  lbs 39,620  27,133 

Fish,   dried,  cwt 30,356  601 

Fish,  pickled  salmon,  barrels 21^  3 

Fish,  pickled  mackerel,  barrels 17 

Fish,  pickled  herring,  barrels 4,434  343 

Hams  and  bacon,  lbs 42,871  29,175 

Lard,  lbs 135,069  138,135 

Oleomargarine,  lbs 131,168  104,366 

Pork,  lbs 814,408  775,400 

Sausages  and  tongues,  lbs 5,088  3,960 

CofEee,  lbs 24,233  13,663 

Cacao,  lbs 1,617  90 

Fruit  and  vegetables,  tinned,  lbs 17,757  3,737 

Fruits,  raisins,  etc.,  lbs 10,245  1,751 

Sugar,  lbs 33,067  19,713 

Salt,  barrels 2,573  1 

Starches,  viz.,  arrowroot,  etc.,  llis 35,386  3,677 

Tea,  lbs 15,346  153 

Vermicelli,  Macaroni,  lbs 7,838  12 

Vinegar,  gallons 580 

Aerated  waters,  dozens 1,136 

Cordials  and  liqueurs,  gallons 68 

Bitters,  pints,  dozens 197|  3 

Malt  in  wood,  gallons 4,146 

Malt  in  bottles,  dozens 3,463  558 

S])irits  per  proof,  gallons 17,633  700 

AVine  in  wood,  gallons 4,393  44 

Wine  in  bottles,  dozens 585  1 

Narcotics,  opium,  bhang,  etc.,  llis 22  10 

Tobacco,  cigars,  lbs 181^  44^ 

Cigarfittes,  lbs.   1,169"  440 


Tobacco,  leaf,  lbs 

Tobacco,  manufactured,  lljs 

Coal,  tons 

Hardwood,  feet 

Piteli,  pine,  feet 

Spruce  and  white  pine,  feet 

Manufactured  textiles,  value 

Haberdashery  and  millinery,  value 

Hardware,  fire-arms,  value 

Jewelry,  value  

Machinery  for  manuf .  of  sugar,  value .  . . 

Other  machinery,  value 

Miscellaneous  metal  articles,  value 

Ammunition  and  explosives,  value 

Books  and  printed  matter,  value 

Boots  and  shoes',  value 

Bricks  and  tiles,  value 

Carriages,  cars  and  carts,  value 

Drugs,  chemicals  and  appliances,  value .  . 

Cement,  barrels  

Earthen  and  glass  ware,  value 

Fancy  goods,  toys,  games,  etc.,  value.  . .  . 

Furniture,  value 

Patent  fuel,  coke  and  charcoal,  tons 

Gutta-percha  and  rubber  goods,  value.  .  . 

Hay  and  forage,  value 

Leather  and  saddlery 

Manures  with  bones,  etc.,  value 

Matches,  gross  

Oil  meal  and  oil-cake,  value 

Musical  instruments,  value 

Packages,  value    

Paint,  value    

Perfumery,  value 

Pitch,  tar,  turpentine,  varnish,  etc.,  value 
Rope,  cordage  and  naval  stores,  value. . . 

Stationery  and  paper,  value 

Tallow,  tallow  candles,  etc.,  value 

Kerosene,  value 

Other  oils,  value 

Soap,  value   

Estates  stores,  value 

Tombstones,  value 

Shingles,  value 

Shocks  and  wood  hoops,  value 

Potatoes,  value 

Other  wooden  manufactures,  value 

Ice,  value   

Ellectrical  apparatus,  value 

Ho/i.  Dr.  James  Johnston: 

It  is  no  use,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  Mr.  Shand  has  done  his 
best  and  has  read  a  magnificent  paper,  but  he  speaks  of  seven 
days  to  get  there.  It  is  too  long.  One  gets  weary  by  the 
time  he  has  been  a  week  on  board.  Now,  Jamaica  is  only 
four  days — just  long  enough  to  get  the  benefits  of  the  voyage, 
with  all  the  pleasure  of  two  days  from  the  city  of  Philadel- 
phia in  the  depth  of  winter,  and  you  begin  to  look  for  your 
warm  summer  clothes.  By  this  time  the  awnings  are  spread 
out  on  the  ship,  and  under  their  grateful  shade  you  sit  and 
watch  the  flying  fish,  skimming  on  the  crest  of  the  rolling 
wave,  the  tangled  meadows  of  Sargossa  sea  weed  afford  per- 
petual interest,  until  the  third  day,  when  you  see  the  AVatling 
Islands,  the  spot  where  Columbus  first  sighted  this  continent. 
Then  you  go  to  Fortune  Island.  Then  to  Cape  Maysi,  and  for 
a  half  day  you  coast  along  the  shore  and  watch  the  spot  and 
see  the  places  where  your  American  soldiers  won  victory  and 
glory  in  Cuba.  You  don't  get  these  sights  if  you  go  to  Mr. 
Shaiid's  country.     (Applause.) 


113,008 

112,726 

2,384 

38 

752 

21i 

7,751 

299 

98,380 

30,284 

1,354,946 

806,487 

$303,050 

$3,080 

109,630 

740 

49,055 

5,760 

3,245 

180 

11,230 

230 

1,695 

185 

470 

35 

565 

10 

6,165 

480 

29,340 

6,500 

575 

1,560 

1,145 

12,615 

3,915 

674 

4 

10,635 

2,135 

6,600 

1,535 

5,750 

875 

7 

1 

15,085 

1,265 

290 

155 

11,375 

1,420 

40,375 

490 

879 

528 

22,790 

22,340 

950 

150 

25,720 

460 

3,835 

270 

3,125 

1,050 

935 

380 

9.940 

3,065 

10,555 

3.610 

3,185 

970 

19,060 

18,435 

8,030 

2.940 

16,675 

1.070 

6,890 

1,035 

2,655 

375 

7,065 

2,050 

14.465 

11.845 

3,375 

175 

1,035 

600 

1,365 

445 

210 

330 


rROrEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


.)/;•.  ('.  All  Inn-  S  Jin  ml: 

1  rise  to  a  point  of  order.  I  don"t  think  the  eliair  has  a 
right  to  criticise. 

Ihiii.   I>r.  James  Johnston: 

1  am  giving  prominence  to  the  Leeward  Islands;  and  now 
I  have  the  very  great  pleasure  of  calling  upon  Mr.  R.  B. 
Jones,  delegate  from  Ecuador.    (Applause.) 

.Ur.  E.  B.  Jones: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  was  about  to  ask  you,  if  po.s- 
sihle,  to  forget  Jamaica  and  Dr.  Johnston.  Now,  you  may 
forget  Jamaica,  but  I  am  sure  you  will  never  forget  Ur. 
.lohnston;  neither  will  I.     (Applause.) 

Arriving,  as  I  have,  almost  at  the  close  of  this  Congress, 
1  did  not  e.xpect  to  have  the  honor  of  addressing  you,  but 
having  listened  to  so  many  of  my  fellow-delegates  from  neigh- 
horing  repulilics  extol  the  resources  of  their  respective  coun- 
tries, I  felt  that  Ecuador  should  have  her  little  say,  even 
(liough  at  my  hands,  and  not  at  all  commensurate  with  her 
commercial  importance,  and  so  made  brave  to  accept  the  kind 
invitation  that  was  extended  to  me  to  speak. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  weary  you  with  s-tatistics  which 
no  doubt  are  already  in  the  possession  of  the  Philadelphia 
.Museum,  but  Ecuador  has  some  claim  for  distinction,  being 
the  greatest  cacao  producing  country  in  the  world;  she  also 
exports  coffee,  rubber,  hides,  ivory  nuts,  sarsaparilla  and 
quinine  bark,  and  is  the  home  of  the  famous  Panama  straw 
hat.  As  I  understand  it,  one  of  the  purposes  of  this  Con- 
gress is  to  help  the  American  manufacturers  to  extend  their 
trade  in  our  quarter  of  the  globe;  and  having  had  twenty 
years'  experience  in  the  impoi't  trade  of  Ecuador,  largely 
with  the  United  States,  I  want  to  tell  you  some  of  the  diffi- 
culties Guayaquil  merchants  have  to  contend  with,  who  are 
trying  to  extend  that  trade. 

First  of  all,  few,  if  any,  of  the  export  commission  houses 
of  New  York  are  as  properly  equipped  for  the  work  as  are 
their  competitors  in  England,  France  and  Germany;  usually 
they  occupy  offices  in  the  upper  floors  of  some  sky-scraper, 
and  have  no  facilities  for  packing  or  examining  cases  or 
bales,  to  see  if  they  are  properly  packed,  weighed  and  num- 
bered; and  many  manufacturers  pack  their  goods  as  if  they 
only  had  to  go  from  New  York  to  Jersey  City,  and  conse- 
(|uently  they  often  arrive  at  their  destination  with  cases  and 
contents  badly  damaged  or  marks  too  indistinct  to  be  deci- 
phered; then  sometimes,  they  put  ten  cubic  feet  of  goods  in  a 
case  which  holds  fifteen,  for  which  we  have  to  pay  fifty  cents 
per  foot  of  freight,  besides  the  extra  gross  weight!  duties.  It 
certainly  is  strange,  that  manufacturers  who  display  so  much 
ability,  and  spend  so  mucli  time  and  money  to  invent  and 
perfect  their  wares,  will  entrust  the  packing  of  them  to  em- 
ployes who  evidently  have  no  brains,  or  do  not  use  them. 
I'erhaps  you  can  imagine  the  feelings  of  a  merchant  on  open- 
ing a  case,  only  to  find  its  contents  damaged  beyond  repair, 
lie  complains  to  his  commission  merchant  at  New  York,  who 
111  turn  writes  to  the  manufacturer,  who  either  declares  the 
packing  was  first-class,  or  if  the  article  does  not  cost  very 
much,  replaces  it.  But  who  will  pay  the  lost  freight  and 
duties,  which  almost  always  amount  to  twice  as  much  as 
the  first  cost  of  the  article?  And  often  this  happens  in  spite 
of  the  most  minute  and  explicit  instructions  in  regard  to  the 
packing. 

The  honorable  delegate  from  Venezuela,  Air.  Romero, 
suggests  a  college  to  improve  your  geography,  and  if  suc- 
cessful I  ho))e  he  will  add  a  school  for  ]iacking.  I  have 
known  several  in.stances  where  merchants  positively  refused 
to  place  a  second  order  with  the  United  States,  simply  be- 
cause their  first  experience  had  been  disastrous  on  account  of 


defective  packing.  Of  course,  there  are  many  honorable  ex- 
ceptions of  manufacturers  whose  packing  is  as  perfect  as 
their  wares,  and  whose  trade  is  always  on  the  increase. 

A  great  many  years  ago  I  was  made  general  agent  for  one 
of  the  largest  sewing  machine  companies  in  the  United 
States,  and  in  almost  every  shipment  that  arrived  there  was 
about  ten  per  cent,  of  breakage.  I  complained  bitterly  to 
the  manufacturer,  and  once,  while  I  was  up  here,  the  presi- 
dent called  me  and  said,  "Jones,  you  have  been  complain- 
ing a  great  deal  about  the  packing  and  I  want  you  to  come 
up  here  to-morrow;  I  want  you  to  go  into  the  factory.  1 
was  in  the  packing  business  myself."  So,  as  he  was  the 
jiresident  and  had  worked  for  eight  dollars  a  week,  he  was 
familiar  with  the  methods.  He  took  me  to  the  heads  of  the 
department.  "Now,"  he  says,  "state  your  case."  I  told 
them  exactly  what  our  goods  had  to  go  through.  They  first 
went  to  Colon  and  were  trans-shipped  to  the  Panama  Rail- 
road, then  taken  in  a  launch  out  to  the  steamer  in  Panama 
Bay,  and  thence  they  got  to  Guayaquil.  Sometimes  they 
were  tlirown  from  the  wharves  to  the  men  who  carried  them. 
And  after  I  got  through  they  all  left;  they  said  it  was  impos- 
sible for  any  kind  of  packing  to  stand  that.  I  said,  "Gen- 
tlemen, you  are  wrong.  I  know  Japanese  and  domestic  com- 
panies which  are  willing  to  guarantee  their  packing,  and  any- 
how they  haven't  more  than  one  or  two  per  cent,  of  break- 
age." Finally  I  said,  'Til  show  you.''  I  told  them  just  what 
I  wanted,  and  I  got  them  to  pack  for  me  and  showed  them 
how  to  do  it. 

Well,  coming  back  to  the  point,  I  said  to  the  president, 
"Will  you  let  me  pack  the  sewing  machines?"  He  said, 
"Ye.s,  indeed."  I  said,  "I  will  show  your  men  how  to 
pack  them."  He  gave  me  every  facility,  and  I  packed  the 
shipment  of  sewing  machines  myself.  His  packers  probably 
got  seven  dollars  a  week,  and  the  men  were  watching  me. 
That  shipment  went  to  Guayaquil  in  perfect  condition,  with 
not  one  per  cent,  of  breakage.  The  very  next  shipment  I 
got  had  at  least  ten  per  cent.,  and  I  assure  you  that  in  the 
seven  or  eight  years'  time  I  was  there  as  general  agent,  I 
must  have  paid  about  three  thousand  dollars  in  gold  to 
make  the  packing  good.  Many  a  bed  plate  had  come 
broken  that  cost  me  three  dollars  apiece,  and  it  cost  me 
money  to  repair  the  sewing  machines. 

Just  before  I  came  away  there  arrived  a  shipment  of 
nickle-in-the-slot  machines — you  see  we  expected  to  bunco 
the  natives.  I  had  given  orders  to  have  them  packed  in  a 
special  way  so  there  should  be  plenty  of  excelsior  around 
them.  I  also  sent  down  ten-cent  pieces  from  there  to  have 
them  made  to  suit  these  machines.  The  machines  arrived 
before  I  left  without  anything  having  been  done.  They  cost 
me  six  dollars  and  fifty  cents  here,  but  they  have  cost  me 
sixty-seven  dollars  to  put  them  in  working  order,  and  that 
is  good  pay  for  them.  They  were  of  no  use  to  me,  unless  I 
could  spend  weeks  in  fixing  them  up,  and  so  it  goes  on. 

This  may  be  an  old  story,  but  it  has  not  been  learned  yet, 
and  I  feel  cannot  be  repeated  too  often.  The  next  best 
thing  for  us,  if  you  will  not  learn  to  pack,  will  be  to  build 
that  canal  so  that  your  goods  will  get  less  handling  in  tran- 
sit. Commercial  supremacy  in  South  America  is  an  assured 
fact,  and  the  people  of  those  countries  being  in  closer  touch 
with  you,  w-ill  learn  to  have  a  warmer  regard  for  you  and 
your  products. 

Before  closing  T  wish  to  say  a  word  for  our  exporters. 
We  ship  hides  to  New  York,  and  in  accordance  with  United 
States  customs  regulations,  invoice  them  at  their  true 
market  value,  which  wc  will  say  is  30  cents  I'cuatorian  sil- 
ver per  pound.  The  appraiser  at  New  York  says  they 
should  be  invoiced  at  22  cents,  basing  his  ruling  on  the 
value  given  to  the  Sucre  or  Ecuatorian  dollar  by  the  United 
States  Mint,  which    is  about  43   cents  United   States  gold; 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


331 


whereas  the  Sucre  is  actually  worth  ahont  47i  cents,  being 
exchangeable  for  United  States  gold  at  that  rate,  just  the 
same  as  your  silver  dollar  is  taken  for  a  gold  dollar's  worth, 
though  intrinsically  worth  less'  than  half  that  amount.  Now 
what  are  our  exporters  to  do?  The  United  States  Consul- 
General  sees  the  justice  of  their  case,  and  has  written  very 
strongly  on  the  subject,  but  he  is  under  the  State  Depart- 
ment, while  the  appraiser  is  under  the  Treasury,  and  appa- 
rently they  can  come  to  no  understanding.  The  consul  in- 
sists on  the  merchants  invoicing  their  hides  at  20  cents, 
their  true  value,  but  their  agents  in  New  York  say  they  will 
be  fined  unless  they  place  their  value  at  22  cents,  so  that  our 
exporters  are  placed,  as  it  were,  between  the  devil  and  the 
deep  sea.  One  of  your  largest  New  York  commission 
houses  informs  me,  that  appeals  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury have  been  made,  but  all  to  no  use;  he  merely  refers  them 
back  to  the  appraiser,  who  seems  to  be  a  law  unto  himself. 
Now,  that  is  not  the  way  to  increase  trade.  Those  exporters 
will  be  compelled  to  ship  to  other  countries  where  there  is 
less  red  tape.  I  might  continue  in  this  strain  much  longer, 
but  the  man  who  kicks  or  complains  is  generally  "persona 
noil  grata"  so  I  will  close,  heartily  thanking  the  officers  of 
the  Museum  in  behalf  of  myself  and  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  Guayaquil,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent, 
for  your  kind  invitation  and  splendid  hospitality,  and  wish 
you  every  success  in  your    great  undertaking.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Dr.  James  Johnston: 

I  have  much  pleasure  in  calling  upon  Mr.  Willis  L.  Moore, 
of  the  United  States  Weather  Bureau.     (Applause.) 

(Mr.  Moore  not  present.) 

Mr.  Albert  Lucas: 

If  none  of  the  other  delegates  present  desire  to  speak  to- 
day I  should  like  to  have  the  privilege  of  the  floor  for  a  few 
minutes.  I  am  not  a  delegate.  I  merely  represent  the  firm 
of  John  Lucas  &  Co.  In  this  particular  case,  however,  I 
am  not  speaking  for  Me.ssrs.  John  Lucas  &  Co.,  but  as  an 
American  manufacturer. 

Hon.  Dr.  James  Johnston: 

Certainly,  if  there  are  no  objections,  I  see  no  reason  why 
you  should  not  have  the  floor. 

Mr.  Albert  Lucas: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  As  a  young  man  graduated  from 
Yale,  one  of  our  leading  universities,  and  as  having  had  the 
privilege  of  studying  at  the  Universities  of  Berlin  and 
Strassburg,  in  Germany,  I  must  frankly  admit  that  the  first 
great  lesson  I  learned  abroad  was  "how  "little  I  know."  At  this 
great  Congress  I  have  learned  again  for  the  hundredth  time 
"how  little  I  know."  The  great  country  of  which  I  have 
the  honor  to  be  a  citizen  is  still  young,  and  willing  to  learn 
from  you  foreign  gentlemen  who  have  come  to  us  from  dis- 
tant Australia  (12,000  miles  away)  as  well  as  from  our  neigh- 
bors in  Jamaica,  (only  about  1,000  miles  away). 

Hon.  Dr.  James  Johnston: 

More  than  that, — 1,350  miles.     We  have  good  steamers. 

Mr.  Albert  Lvcas: 

I  have  looked  at  the  Congress  as  a  young  man  with  no 
axe  to  grind  and  with  a  great  deal  to  learn;  not  how  to  make 
what  my  German  student  friends  used  to  call,  "the  almighty 
dollar,"  but  the  honest  penny,  and  the  friendships  that  de- 
velop by  reciprocity  (applause).  I  have  no  intention  of  mak- 
ing a  long  speech,  but  will  sum  up  what  you  have  taught 


me,  and  what  many  others  have  learned  at  this  wonderful 
Congress. 

The  greatest  congress,  or  one  of  the  greatest  congresses  the 
history  of  the  world  has  ever  known,  recently  assembled  at 
The  Hague,  and  sought  to  persuade  nations  to  arbitrate  their 
difficulties;  but  the  effects  of  this  Trades  Congress  will  com- 
pel men  to  arbitrate  (applause).  Commerce  is  the  hand- 
maiden of  peace  (applause  and  cries  of  "hear"),  and  the  ex- 
tension of  commerce  means  the  extension  of  peace.  As  was 
said  by  the  eminent  Ex-Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives at  the  opening  session  of  this  Congress,  "We  are  prac- 
tically all  one  people  in  that  we  are  all  of  one  blood."  To- 
day the  trend  of  this  conference  is  for  something  greater  than 
merely  hands  across  the  sea,  it  means  hands  around  the  world. 
Here  in  America  the  opportunity  of  the  average  man  is 
greater  because  our  public  schools  are  the  best  and  our  edu- 
cation the  broadest.  For  this  reason  the  washerwoman's  son 
can  become  the  President  of  the  United  States  if  he  shows 
the  required  ability,  thrift  and  energj'.  The  venerable  Ex- 
President  Timothy  Dwight,  of  Yale  University,  in  his  an- 
nual report  of  a  few  years  ago  called  the  attention  of  the 
under-graduates  to  the  fact  that  they  did  not  begin  to  pay 
for  their  education,  but  owed  a  large  part  of  it  to  the  Van- 
derbiits,  who  never  went  to  a  university;  to  the  self-made 
men  of  our  country,  who,  feeling  the  trials  of  their  own  youth, 
enflowed  o\ir  universities,  because  they  saw  the  utility,  the 
beauty  and  the  strength  of  giving  to  the  coming  generation 
the  advantages  they  themselves  did  not  have. 

Briefly,  you  have  taught  us  the  need  of  a  better  consular 
service.  It  is  natural  that  the  gentlemen  from  South  Amer- 
ica and  Australia  do  not  like  to  reflect  upon  our  consular  ser- 
vice, but  the  general  testimony  of  the  Congress  has  undoubt- 
edly proven  that  we  need  efficient,  practically  trained  expert 
consular  service  (applause).  We  need,  as  Mr.  Jones,  the  ex- 
cellent speaker  from  Ecuador,  stated,  broader,  fuller,  and 
more  economical  methods,  and  greater  thoroughness  in  all 
details.  The  speaker  claimed  that  the  percentage  of  break- 
age on  American  goods  was  much  higher  than  on  those  re- 
ceived from  Europe,  and  that  even  after  he  had  personally 
shown  the  packers  of  one  of  our  American  manufacturers 
how  to  pack  sewing  machines,  he  .still  received  a  large  per- 
centage of  broken  machines.  Personally  I  am  inclined  to 
tliink  that  the  employes  referred  to  must  have  been  recently 
imported  cheap  foreign  labor  and  not  the  well-paid  American 
mechanic,  otherwise  I  am  quite  sure  that  they  would  have 
profited  by  his  practical  assistance  and  direction  in  methods 
of  packing. 

You  have  taught  us  that  we  should  assist  our  merchant 
marine  by  subsidizing  our  steamsMp  lines,- — in  this  I  have 
no  axe  to  grind,  it  is  for  the  entire  manufacturing  trade  of 
the  United  States  that  I  speak.  I  will  mention  that  a  sa- 
gacious member  of  this  Congress  from  Australia  called  my  at- 
tention to  the  fact  that  the  freight  from  England,  say  from 
Liverpool  to  Melbourne,  is  just  about  double  what  it  is  from 
New  York  to  Melbourne;  on  the  other  hand,  whereas  the 
freight  from  New  York  to  Melbourne  (about  13,000  miles) 
is  only  about  25  shillings  or  $6.00  per  long  ton;  the  rate 
from  New  York  to  Rio  (about  1-3  the  distance,  or  4,500 
miles)  is  33  1-3  per  cent,  higher,  or  over  $8.66  per  short 
ton. 

You  have  proven  to  us,  gentlemen,  that  much  of  the  trou- 
ble is  right  here  at  home.  That  we  need  a  parcels  post;  that 
we  should  cut  an  Isthmian  canal  and  cut  it  quickly.  It  is 
perhaps  not  for  us  manufacturers  to  say  exactly  where,  but 
the  need  of  a  canal  and  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  it, 
are  recognized  by  all.  The  amount  of  $350,000,000  is  said 
to  have  been  appropriated  for  the  Panama  Canal,  and  only 
$35,000,000  of  this  magnificent  amount  has  been  expended 
upon  the  canal.     You  know  where  the  difference  has  gone. 


332 


PROOEEDIJJGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


as  you  are  all  familiar  with  the  now  famous  Panama  scandal 
in  France.  I  do  not  vouch  for  the  figures,  although  I  have 
seen  it  stated  that  they  were  approximately  correct.  We 
want  a  canal,  and  we  want  it  quickly. 

The  American  manufacturers  who  are  present  ought  to  do 
evervthing  in  their  power,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  secure 
the  same. 

You  have  taught  us  that  we  need  banks  in  foreign  coun- 
tries controlled  by  American  capital. 

'Mi:  n.  B.  J  OIK'S: 

The  banks  in  my  town  pay  33  per  cent. 
I 
Mr.  Albert  Lucas: 

You  have  taught  us  that  we  should  support  the  Pan-Amer- 
ican p]xposition;  in  short,  everything  that  will  promote  bet- 
ter and  more  friendly  relationship  between  the  countries  of 
ihe  Western  Hemisphere  in  particular,  and  the  whole  world 
in  general. 

I  trust  the  American,  manufacturers  within  hearing  of  my 
voice  will  come  forward  and  back  up  everything  that  will 
help  to  develop  and  bring  us  in  closer  and  more  friendly 
contact  with  foreigners.  I  refer,  with  pleasure,  to  his  Ex- 
cellency the  Chinese  Ministers  quotation  from  his  philoso- 
pher Confucius:  "Deal  fairly  with  all  men,  and  all  men  within 
the  four  seas  will  be  your  friends  and  brothers."  On  the 
other  hand,  we  want  you,  foreign  gentlemen,  to  help  us  out; 
you  gentlemen  from  Jamaica  in  particular.  I  would  remind 
you  that  we  consume  your  rum;  right  here  in  Philadelphia 
we  brew  the  most  celebrated  pimch  in  the  world.  It  is  called 
"Fish  House  Punch,"'  and  its  most  efficient  component  is  Ja- 
maica rum  (applause).  Not  only  your  rum,  but  your  fruit 
and  all  your  products,  as  you  well  know,  are  consumed  here 
in  large  quantities,  and  yet  your  steamers,  especially  those 
of  the  United  Fruit  Co.,  decline  to  carry  our  products, — ■ 
our  paints,  our  chemicals,  our  breadstuffs,  etc. — to  your  sunny 
shores.  We  invite  your  reciprocity  and  co-operation  in  build- 
ing up  stronger  and  more  friendly  commercial  relations,  as- 
suring you  of  our  desire  to  deal  fairly  with  all  people. 

I  thank  you  Mr.  Chairman,  and  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
for  your  kind  attention  and  courteous  consideration. 

Mr.  H.  Jioiherham: 

I  was  pleased  with  the  remarks  of  the  last  speaker,  Mr. 
Lucas,  but  do  not  agree  with  him  with  regard  to  one  remark 
he  made  in  reference  to  pauper  labor.  I  wish  to  inform  this 
Congress  that  we  in  Australia  pay  fairly  good  wages,  as 
good  wages  as  you  pay,  and  the  only  stigma  that  I  have 
come  across  in  the  discussion  is  the  fact  that  you  permit 
manufactured  products  to  be  made  entirely  in  jail  and  send 
them  to  foreign  markets. 

Ho7i.  Dr.  Jamr.'t  Johnston: 

I  am  very  sorry,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  I  am  Chair- 
man, because  J  did  just  want  to  say  a  word  on  the  question 
of  why  our  fruit  steamers  do  not  take  back  your  cargoes;  but 
if  I  hadn't  been  Chairman,  I  would  have  said  (laughter 
and  applause)  that  our  steamship  companies  go  on  the 
principle  of  live  and  let  live,  and  the  steamship  com- 
panies that  carry  fruit  to  this  country  don't  pretend  to  be 
competing  with  those  lines  of  steamers  that  (hi  carry  car- 
goes. Instead  of  l)cing  a  matter  in  wliich  Ibcy  should  be 
censured,  I  think  il  is  one  in  which  they  shdiild  Ije  enni- 
mended,  for  it  would  be  very  ea.*y  tor  them  to  carry  cargoes 
at  very  cheap  rates,  because  so  many  steamers  come  up  here 
and  go  back  with  ballast;  but  there  are  also  a  great  many 
lines  competing  to  the  Leeward  Islands  that  do  nothing  but 
carry  freight  and  passengers.     Of    course,    this    will    right 


itself  in  time,  for,  after  this  Congress  is  over,  and  the  Ex- 
position comes  to  a  close,  it  will  be  found  that  the  lines  at 
present  running  will  not  be  able  to  handle  the  freight  (ap- 
plause), and  the  fruit  steamers  will  then  be  compelled  to  take 
it  (applause),  and  I  know  when  they  do  they  will  take  it 
cheap.  But  I  am  certain  that  their  interests  are  the  inter- 
ests of  the  people  of  the  L'nited  States.  We  must  not  forget 
that  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day.  I  remember  when  it 
took — I  am  not  saying  this  as  Chairman — eight  days  to 
come  up  from  Jamaica  when  we  had  a  slow  line  of  steamers. 
I  remember,  too,  when  the  freight  was  double  that  which  it 
is  now,  and  we  are  soon  going  to  get  a  trade  with  the  West 
Indies  that  will  be  mutually  beneficial. 

We  now  stand  adjourned  until  2.30.  and  I  would  just 
make  this  remark,  that  on  account  of  the  day  being  a  diffi- 
cult one  to  show  pictures  in  the  day  time,  I  have  put  off  the 
hour  of  exhiliiting  the  views  of  Jamaica  until,  say,  half-past 
four.  These  views  are  simply  going  to  s})eak  for  themselves, 
and  I  hope  that  you  will  all  be  here  to  see  them,  because 
once  you  have  seen  the  views  you  are  bound  to  come  to 
Jamaica. 

(Adjourned  at  1.30  p.  m.) 


Philadelphia,  Tuesday,  October  31,  1899. 

Afternoon  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  3.05  p.  m.,  by  Hon. 
Robert  Adams,  Jr. 

Hon.  Eohert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Will  the  Congress  please  come  to  order?  Allow  me,  gen- 
tlemen, to  express  the  honor  I  feel  in  presiding  again  over 
such  a  disting-uished  body  of  men. 

I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  the  Hon.  W.  W.  Rockhill, 
Director  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics,  who  will 
read  a  paper  on  "Commercial  Development  in  the  Balkan 
Peninsula."    (Applause.) 

Hon.  IV.  IF.  Rockhill: 

My  text  is  the  commercial  development  in  the  Balkan 
States,  by  which  I  understand  the  study  of  the  ways  and 
means  of  creating  rather  than  increasing  trade  between 
these  countries  and  the  United  States.  It  is  beyond  the 
scope  of  this  necessarily  short  address  to  attempt  to  outline 
the  nature  and  value  of  the  foreign  trade  of  this  portion  of 
Southeastern  Europe,  nor  would  such  an  inquiry  serve  any 
practical  purpose.  I  shall  only  show  the  methods  followed 
by  the  few  Americans  who  have  traded  with  these  countries, 
and  indicate  the  reasons  which  seem  to  me  to  have  prevented 
the  extension  of  this  commerce.  Though  I  resided  in  the 
Balkan  States  less  than  two  years,  while  having  the  honor 
to  represent  the  United  States  as  Minister  to  Greece,  Rou- 
mania  and  Servia,  I  was  on  my  arrival  so  struck  by  the 
nearly  complete  absence  of  American  products  in  these 
countries  that  I  sought  by  every  means  to  explain  this 
anomaly,  and  to  liml,  if  p:>ssibh\  a  remedy  I'er  tiiis  unfortu- 
nate condition. 

The  bulk  of  the  foreign  commerce  of  Servia,  Roumania 
and  P>ulgaria,  which  arc  in  direct  conmnmication  by  rail 
and  by  the  Danulje  with  Central  Europe,  will  always  be 
with  Austria-Hungary  and  (iermany,  nor  can  the  United 
Slates  ever  expect  to  develop  a  very  large  trade  in  that 
region;  but  that  we  can  successfully  coin])ete  there  with 
Austria  and  Germany,  France  and  P.elgium  in  supplying 
these  countries  with  some  products,  there  is  not  the  shadow 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


383 


of  a  doubt,  and  I  take  it  that  at  this  era  of  sharp  competi- 
tion for  all  the  markets  of  the  world,  no  possible  trade  out- 
let should  be  neglected  by  us.  The  few  manufactures  of 
American  origin  which  I  have  found  in  the  Balkan  States, 
especially  agricultural  machinery  and  textile  fabrics,  are 
highly  appreciated  and  preferred  to  similar  products  of  other 
countries,  even  though  sold  at  higher  prices.  But  so  little 
attention  has  been  paid  by  our  people  to  these  markets  that 
in  Greece  our  trade — export  and  import — is  not  worth  a 
million  dollars;  in  Roumania  we  have  about  one-half  of  one 
per  centum  of  the  total  import  trade  of  the  country,  while 
in  Servia  and  Bulgaria  our  imports  are  practically  nil.  The 
few  goods  which  do  reach  the  last  three  countries  from  the 
United  States  are  brought  there  via  Hamburg  or  Antwerp 
by  rail,  and  in  some  cases  by  British  steamers  plying  be- 
tween Liverpool  and  the  Black  Sea  ports.  So  far  as  I  am 
aware,  no  attempt  has  been  made  to  ship  our  goods  directly 
to  Eoumania  by  its  port  on  the  Black  Sea,  Constanza,  or  to 
reach  the  Servian  markets  by  Trieste  or  Fiume,  though  by 
doing  so  the  excessive  freight  rates,  resulting  from  frequent 
transhipments,  which  now  more  than  anything  el.se  prevent 
lis  from  selling  in  these  localities,  would  be  greatly  reduced. 

Wliat  little  American  trade  already  exi-sts  in  Servia  and 
Roumania — and  for  that  matter  in  Turkey,  (ircece,  and 
throughout  the  Levant,  for  everywhere  I  have  found  the 
same  conditions  prevailing — has  never  been  fostered,  no  at- 
tempts having  been  made  to  improve  or  develop  it.  No 
well  qualified  American  agents  have,  so  far  as  my  knowl- 
edge goes,  ever  been  sent  to  reside  in  this  part  of  Europe  to 
introduce  the  products  of  our  manufactories  or  of  our  mills. 
Now  and  then  a  sample,  hardly  ever  made  to  suit  local 
requirements,  has  been  sent  to  some  person  in  Belgrade, 
Bucharest,  Constantinople  or  the  Piraeus,  usually  an  Eng- 
lishman, a  German,  or  a  Greek  already  acting  as  agent  for 
foreign  competitors  in  the  same  field,  and  he  has  been  told 
that  we  will  sell  him  these  goods  for  cash,  payable  on 
delivery  of  goods  at  port  of  shipment.  As  a  general  rule, 
however,  we  have  been  content  to  send  out  mail-ljags  full 
of  illustrated  catalogues,  all  written  in  English,  with  prices 
quoted  in  United  States  currency,  and  have  expected  that 
orders  woidd  immediately  follow.  When  some  American 
firm  has  sold  a  small  amount  of  its  merchandise  in  these 
countries,  it  has  often  not  taken  the  most  elementai-y  pre- 
cautions to  ascertain  the  standing  and  solvency  of  the  pur- 
chasers, and,  meeting  with  loss,  or  incurring  great  delay 
in  getting  its  payments,  it  has  thereafter  refused  to  have  busi- 
ness relations  with  that  part  of  the  world. 

Take,  for  example,  Roumania,  a  great  agricultural  country, 
with  a  system  of  cultivation  similar  to  that  followed  on  our 
wheat  farms  of  the  Northwest;  American  agricultural  machin- 
ery is  highly  thought  of  by  the  few  Roumanians  who  have 
seen  it.  It  is  preferred  to  that  of  Great  Britain  and  Germany, 
and  we  could  find  a  good  market  for  it  in  the  Kingdom,  but 
notwithstanding  this,  we  allow  British  and  German  machinery 
to  be  nearly  exclusively  used,  the  only  house  in  Bucharest  in 
which  I  found  a  few  American  agricultural  machines  being 
a  large  British  firm  engaged  in  selling  similar  British  pro- 
ducts. Not  a  single  American  was  engaged  in  business  in  the 
whole  Kingdom!    Not  one  represented  an  American  firm. 

In  Bulgaria  and  in  Tiu-key  our  missionaries  have  in  the 
industrial  schools,  which  they  there  maintain,  taught  thou- 
sands of  the  people  the  use  of  American  machinery,  and  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  our  products,  if  properly  presented  and 
made  to  suit  local  requirements,  would  find  a  ready  sale,  but 
nothing  has  lieen  done  by  our  exporters  to  develop  this  trade. 
Wherever  I  have  turned  in  Turkey,  I  have  seen  the  same  con- 
ditions prevailing  as  in  the  other  Balkan  States. 

Greece,  for  example,  is,  to  a  great  extent,  dependent  for  its 
very  existence  on  foreign  imports;  it  produces  nothing  save 


wine,  currants,  sponges,  olive  oil,  a  small  quantity  of  cereals, 
some  wool,  and  a  few  other  unimportant  articles,  but  the 
only  product  of  the  United  States  seen  in  Greece  is  petro- 
leum. We  have  allowed  poor  imitations  of  our  clocks  and 
firearms  and  of  our  textile  fabrics  to  drive  the  superior  prod- 
ucts of  our  New  England  manufacturers  out  of  the  market, 
and  woolen  and  cotton  goods  and  machinery  are  now  prac- 
tically unknown,  but  England,  Germany  and  Belgium  carry 
on  a  thriving  trade  throughout  the  kingdom.  Take  again 
flour;  Greece  is  practically  dependent  on  Russia  and  Rou- 
mania for  its  supply.  We  know  that  the  United  States  could 
compete  in  the  Greek  markets  with  these  countries,  for  re- 
cent importations  of  American  flour  into  Constantinople  have 
proved  that  even  there  we  ca^"  advantageously  sell  the  prod- 
ucts of  our  mills,  but  nothing  has  ever  been  done  by  us  to 
develop  this  branch  of  our  trade  in  Greece. 

What  I  have  said  of  trade  with  Greece,  Roumania  and 
Servia,  applies  with  equal  force  to  that  of  Turkey  and  South- 
ern Russia;  everywhere  we  find  that  American  houses  are  not 
willing  to  manufacture  to  suit  local  tastes  and  requirements, 
that  we  use  foreigners  as  our  agents,  that  we  refuse  to  give 
long  credits,  that,  having  no  direct  lines  of  steamers  plying 
between  our  country  and  foreign  ports,  freight  rates  are  in 
many  cases  prohibitive.  In  short,  if  at  the  present  day  we 
find  ourselves  with  no  trade  worth  mentioning  in  South- 
eastern Europe,  we  must  realize  that  the  fault  lies  mainly  with 
ourselves. 

The  faults  of  our  trade  methods  which  I  found  in  the 
Balkan  States  are  not  confined  to  that  part  of  the  world; 
they  are  the  same  in  nearly  every  country  with  which  we 
have  commercial  dealings.  They  have,  for  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century,  been  reported  on  by  every  diplomatic  and  con- 
sular officer  of  the  United  States;  every  writer  on  the  subject 
of  our  foreign  trade  has  referred  to  their  existence  and  bane- 
ful influence,  but.  still  we  hold  to  them  with  a  steadfastness 
worthy  of  a  better  cause. 

We  have  seen  German  foreign  commerce  grow  up  over 
the  face  of  the  world  by  following  the  methods  advocated  as 
good  for  our  people  by  our  consular  officers,  but  we  have  not 
changed  ours;  we  see  British  trade  thriving  everywhere  by 
means  we  are  perfectly  familiar  with  and  unresei-vedly  ap- 
prove, but  still  we  make  but  the  faintest  attempt  to  follow 
this  lead. 

To  revert  to  trade  development  in  the  Balkan  States,  I 
may  sum  up  the  reasons  for  our  exclusion  from  these  mar- 
kets as  follows: 

1.  Absence  of  direct  transportation  lines  and  resulting 
heavy  freight  rates. 

2.  American  goods  not  made  known  by  proper  agents  or 
in  a  proper  way. 

3.  Representatives  of  American  houses  badly  chosen. 

4.  Long  credits  not  given. 

5.  Goods  not  manufactured  to  suit  local  tastes  or  require- 
ments. 

6.  No  banking  facilities  with  the  United  States. 

An  effort  has  been  recently  made  to  establish  a  direct  line 
of  steamers  Ijetween  New  York  and  the  ports  of  the  Eastern 
Mediterranean  and  the  Black  Sea,  and  I  shall  watch  with 
intense  interest  the  results  of  this  enterprise,  for  I  have  not 
the  least  doubt,  and  in  that  I  but  concur  with  the  views  of  our 
Consul-General  at  Constantinople  and  our  Consul  at  Athens, 
that  such  direct  comm^mication  is  a  first  necessary  requisite 
to  the  growth  of  our  American  commerce  in  this  part  of  the 
world.  This,  or  any  other  line  can,  however,  only  succeed 
at  first  if  used  by  all  shippers  to  or  from  the  Unitefl  States, 
for  at  present  the  bulk  of  the  tonnage  from  the  Turkish, 
Black  Sea  and  Grecian  ports  is  not  150,000  tons.  Let  us  hope 
they  will  give  it  their  sujjport. 

A  point  not  to  be  lost  sight  of  by  our  manufacturers  and 


334 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


exporters  is,  that  the  trade  of  the  Balkan  States  must  be 
considered  by  them  as  a  whole,  that  it  must  be  developed  at 
one  and  the  same  time  throughout  this  portion  of  Europe, 
in  which  conditions  are  practically  the  same,  and  where  the 
same  styles  of  our  products  will  always  be  in  demand.  The 
amount  of  trade  we  may  hope  to  secure  in  any  one  portion 
of  the  peninsula  will  be  comparatively  small,  but  the  whole 
bulk  of  our  trade  in  the  various  States  which  compose  it,  will, 
if  we  but  take  the  st«ps  recognized  on  all  sides  as  absolutely 
necessary  to  success,  bo  well  worth  the  labor  and  expenditure 
it  must  at  first  entail. 

Gentlemen,  it  has  undoubtedly  struck  you  that  what  I 
have  had  to  say  of  trade  developments  in  the  Balkan  States 
bears  a  very  strong  resemblance  to  what  other  speakers  in 
this  Congress  have  told  you  of  commercial  conditions  and 
possibilities  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  I  am  delighted  that 
this  should  be  so.  I  feel  sure  that  seeing,  as  you  must,  that 
the  causes  which  are  operating  against  the  rapid  extension 
of  our  foreign  trade  are  everywhere  the  same,  and  that  they 
are  easily  remedied,  you  will  suggest  to  the  various  organi- 
zations you  represent,  the  need  of  removing  them  jtromptly 
and  effectually. 

If  I  have  contributed  in  any  way  to  bring  about  this  result, 
I  shall  consider  I  have  rendered  a  great  service  to  my  coun- 
try, and  to  its  foreign  trade.    (Applause.) 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Gentlemen:  I  have  the  pleasure  now  of  calling  upon  the 
Hon.  Willis  Ij.  Moore,  who  will  read  a  paper  which  I  am 
sure  ^vill  interest  you,  on  '"'The  Commercial  Importance  of 
Weather  Forecasts."    (After  a  pause.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Is  Mr.  Moore  here?    (Not  present.) 

Ho7i.  Eohert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Gentlemen:  The  hour  has  now  arrived  when  the  order  of 
proceedings  is  to  be  opened  for  the  considei-ation  of  the  last 
two  sessions  of  the  Congress  of  general  resolutions.  There- 
fore, anyone  having  such  to  offer,  will  be  in  order. 

I  would  like  to  state  that  if  everybody  will  address  the 
Chair  and,  one  at  a  time,  they  will  receive  due  recognition, 
and  everybody  will  be  heard.  The  Chair  is  now  ready  to  re- 
ceive any  resolutions  that  may  be  offered. 

Mr.  C.  J.  WJtellams  (Minnesota): 

Mr.  Chairman:  Will  I  be  in  order  in  submitting  a  resolu- 
tion? 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

You  will  be  in  order;  yes,  sir. 


do  all  in  its  power  to  remove  the  existing  disabilities  to  our 
merchant  marine  and  further  encourage  the  building  of  ships 
in  the  most  practical  manner  it  deems  wise  and  fitting,  either 
by  a  subsidy  or  otherwise. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Under  the  rules  adopted  by  this  Congress,  that  will  be 
referred  to  the  committee  without  debate.  The  Chair  is  ready 
to  entertain  any  other  motions. 

Mr.  H.  Rotlierluun: 

I  beg  to  offer  the  following  resolution  without  any  pre- 
amble. 

That  the  resolutions  passed  on  the  fourth  day  of  this  Con- 
gi-ess,  referring  to  certain  economic  and  fiscal  questions 
affecting  two  specified  countries,  such  resolutions  being  out- 
side the  conunercial  scope  or  ])urpose  of  the  present  delibera- 
tions, be  expunged  from  the  proceedings. 

Mr.  Antonio  Cxiyas  (Madrid): 
I  second  it. 

Hon.  Robert  Adatiis,  Jr.: 

This  resolution,  having  been  offered,  is  seconded,  and  will 
be  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  Any  further 
resolutions? 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher  (Mexico): 

I  want  to  know  if  all  motions  made  here  will  be  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions? 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

All  resolutions  affecting  the  action  of  the  Congress  must 
go  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  for  consideration,  but 
any  motions  in  reference  to  adjoiimment  or  in  reference  to 
the  routine  business  of  the  Congress  or  order  of  exercises,  or 
anything  that  affects  the  body  itself,  are  to  be  considered  by 
the  Congress. 

Dr.  Tho7nas  S.  Butcher: 

Then  a  motion  to  expunge  any  part  of  the  minutes  would 
have  to  come  licfnre  the  Committee  on  Resolutions? 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

I  understand  the  situation  is  that  some  resolutions  were 
introduced  at  the  beginning  of  this  Congress  before  the  Com- 
mittee was  instituted.  Those  were  passed  by  the  Congress 
and  stand  to-day  adopted  by  the  Congress.  If  it  is  desired 
to  change  those  resolutions,  or  expunge  them  from  the  record, 
that  motion  should  lie  made  by  the  body  that  adopted  them 
itself,  and  they  should  be  either  amended  or  expunged  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  delegates. 


Mr.  C.  J.  Whellams: 

Whereas,  It  has  been  shown  by  the  representatives  of 
foreign  governments,  chambers  of  commerce,  boards  of  trade, 
and  other  commercial  bodies  attending  this  convention,  that 
our  import  and  export  trade  can  lx^  largely  increased;  and, 

Whereas,  In  order  to  extend  our  foreign  trade  it  is  essen- 
tial and  necessary,  before  that  can  be  accomplislicd,  that  our 
merchant  marine  be  enlarged ;  and. 

Whereas,  Certain  conditions  exist  that  ii'annnel  our  mer- 
chant marine  and  make  it  almost  prohibitory  and  unprofitable 
to  do  so;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress 
respectfully  urge  upon  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  to 


Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher: 

Then  I  take  it,  Mr.  ('hairman.  that  this  general  motion  is 
in  order  without  having  l)een  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Rosolutions,  inasmuch  as  it  makes  a  motion  that  a  certain 
pdrtion  of  the  minutes  of  this  Congress  should  be  expunged 
from  the  record. 

Hon.  Txobert  Adams.  Jr.: 
That  is  right. 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher: 

\n  tliat  case.  1  tliink  you  will  agree' with  jne  that  this 
gentleman  might  make  it  simply  as  a  motion   telling  what 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEK  31,  1899 


335 


part  of  the  minutes  he  desires  to  expunge;  then  the  Congress 
can  vote  intelligently  and  definitely  as  to  whether  we  shall 
expunge  that  part  of  the  minutes,  or  whether  it  shall  go 
upon  the  record  as  the  minutes  of  this  meeting.  Therefore, 
I  think  it  would  be  in  order  for  me  to  ask  the  gentleman  to 
simply  make  a  motion  that  portions  of  the  minutes  of  this 
Congress  be  expunged.  In  that  way,  I  think  it  would  facili- 
tate business  and  give  us  a  more  clear  and  intelligent  idea  how 
to  proceed.    In  that  case,  I  second  the  gentleman's  motion. 

^[|■.  IT.  Rotherham: 

It  does  not  need  any  explanation  on  my  part  to  explain  that 
resolution.  It  mu.st  l>e  referred  to  the  Committee  and  then 
come  up  for  further  consideration. 

Hon.  Bdbert  Adams,  Jr.  : 

No,  sir;  I  do  not  understand  it  so. 

The  ditficulty,  of  course,  that  a  temporary  chairman  com- 
ing into  a  body,  labors  under  is  that  he  is  not  familiar  witli 
what  has  gone  on  before  on  the  previous  day.  When  you 
offered  your  resolution.  I  understood  it  was  a  new  resolution, 
and  therefore,  under  the  rule,  should  go  to  the  Committee; 
but  any  action  that  has  been  taken  by  this  body  and  passed  is 
subject  to  the  action  of  this  body  and  not  of  the  committ-ee. 
When  the  body,  the  main  body,  of  any  assemblage  has  acted 
im  a  resolution,  anythino;  to  amend  or  expunge,  or  recon- 
.sider  the  motion,  or  any  action  relating  to  the  action  of  the 
body  at  large  itself,  is  to  be  considered  by  the  body  and  not  by 
the  committee.  Therefore,  if  you  are  ready  for  the  question, 
I  will  put  it.  Will  the  gentleman  read  his  motion?  I  did  not 
understand  the  situation  or  T  would  not  have  put  it. 

Dr.  Thomas  8.  Butcher: 

Before  the  motion  is  put,  I  think  it  will  be  proper  for  me, 
as  a  foreign  delegate,  to  say  a  word  in  furtherance  of  this 
resolution.  I  do  not  think  that  we.  as  an  International  Con- 
gress, can  act  iipon  some  of  the  resolutions  that  have  been 
suggested  to  this  body.  I  think  it  is  hardly  fair,  and  being  an 
American,  I  can  speak  perhaps  better  upon  the  subject 
than  some  of  my  colleagues  from  other  countries.  As  an 
American  citizen,  I  have  lived  in  Mexico  for  the  last  fifteen 
years,  and  it  is  my  privilege  and  honor  to  represent  the  City 
of  Coahuila,  Eepublic  of  Mexico,  in  this  Congress.  Hence. 
I  come  as  a  delegate  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  as  well 
as  from  my  government,  and  possibly  I  could  speak  better 
than  be  who  only  represents  bis  government. 

I  think  as  an  International  Congress,  that  we  cannot  send 
abroad  the  expressions  which  are  contained  in  some  of  these 
resolutions.  On  the  other  hand,  I  think  it  is  hardly  fair  that 
delegates  who  have  come  three  or  four  or  five  thousand  uiiles 
to  take  part  in  an  International  Congress,  should  be  asked 
to  vote  upon  questions  which  are  entirely,  I  might  say,  politi- 
cal to  other  countries,  and  foreign  to  their  own.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  hardly  courteous  to  ask  these  gentlemen  to  sit  still 
and  not  to  vote  upon  these  questions,  because  they  are  foreign 
to  them.  Nor  should  there  be  sent  out  from  this  Congress 
expressions  as  the  sense  of  the  Congress  when  it  is  not  the 
sense  of  the  Congress,  but  the  sense  of  the  American  dele- 
gates. If  it  is  fair  for  the  American  delegates  to  be  allowed  to 
vote  upon  certain  questions,  while  the  foreign  delegates  sit 
still,  I  think,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  equally  fair  for  the 
foreign  delegates  to  vote  on  certain  questions  relating  to  their 
countries,  while  the  American  delegates  sit  still.  (Laus^hter. 
cries  of  "Hear".)  I  think  that  is  just:  I  think  that  is  fair:  I 
think  that  is  liberal:  but  I  think  there  would  be  no  doubt 
about  the  complicated  condition  of  affairs  if  we  took  this 
course.  I  refer  now  to  the  unity  of  the  business  interests  of 
the  Commercial  Congress.    (Cries  of  "Hear".) 


Nobody  knows  the  result  that  will  follow  the  work  of  this 
gathering.  It  will  be  much  more  far-reaching  than  we  have 
any  idea  of  at  this  time.  (Cries  of  "Hear".)  I  have  kept 
quiet.  I  have  made  no  address  nor  presented  any  papers. 
I  am,  as  a  gentleman  said  this  morning,  beginning  to  learn 
how  much  I  do  not  know;  but  I  will  go  away  from  this  Con- 
gress with  a  store  of  infomiation  that  will  be  of  great  service 
to  me  and  the  government  I  represent.  And  I  think,  if  we 
want  to  show  good  results,  as  we  have  done  in  the  previous 
days  of  the  sessions,  that  we  should  expunge  these  questions 
which  bear  entirely  upon  political  subjects,  and  that  we 
should  pass  no  resolutions  that  will  not  add  to  the  furthe: 
interests  of  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  every 
country  tliat  is  here  represented.     (Applause.) 

Hon.  Rolert  Adams,  Jr. : 

Are  you  ready  for  the  question? 

(The  question  being  on  the  motion,  it  was  agreed  to  and 
the  resolution  was  adopted.) 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Are  there  any  other  resolutions? 

Direclor  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  have  a  resolution  which  was  handed  to 
me  by  Professor  Mario  Salvini,  of  Florence,  Italy. 

"Eesolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
gathered  in  solemn  assembly  in  Philadelphia,  recommends  to 
all  governments  of  the  world  the  free  exchange  of  art  and 
artistic  works,  considering  such  an  exchange  a  means  of  civili- 
zation, instmetion  and  refinement  of  the  people. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Is  that  resolution  seconded?  Under  the  rules  it  will  be  re- 
ferred to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Gentlemen,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolu- 
tions, to  whom  have  been  referred  the  resolutions  offered  here 
in  the  past,  now  has  a  report  to  make.  Mr.  Chairman,  you 
have  the  floor. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

I  have  just  understood  that  there  was  one  further  resolu- 
tion refeiTed  to  the  house.    I  will  take  that  first. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Pending  the  presentation  of  this  report,  the  gentleman  has 
the  floor  to  oifer  a  resolution. 

Mr.  Antonio  Cuyas: 

I  beg  to  offer  the  following  resolutions: 

Whereas,  The  Philadelpliia  Commercial  Museum  is  an 
othcial  and  national  institution,  by  virtue  of  its  organization, 
and  by  the  support,  financial  and  other\rise,  that  it  receives 
from  the  United  States  Government,  as  well  as  from  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  and  the  City  of  Philadelphia;  and. 

Whereas,  The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  may  well 
be  considered  an  international  institution,  by  reason  of  its 
Advisory  Board  wherein  are  represented  one  hundred  andfiftv 
domestic,  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  foreign  Chambers  of 
Commerce,  Boards  of  Trade,  and  other  commercial  organiza- 
tions: by  reason  of  its  comprehensive  collection  of  samples  of 
the  world's  products,  admirably  classified  and  presented;  and 
by  reason  of  its  well-organized  system  of  commercial  informa- 
tion, whereby  American  manufacturers  and  merchants  can 
obtain  reliable  data  and  information  in  regard  to  foreign  pro- 
ducers and  importers,  and  vice  versa;  and, 


836 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


\\'hereas,  The  sphere  of  influence  of  said  institution  is 
world-wide  and  efficient  in  the  development  of  universal  trade 
relations;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  International  Com- 
mercial Congi-ess,  that  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 
is  an  institution  worthy  of  and  deserving  the  hearty  support 
of  every  Government  and  of  every  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Board  of  Trade  and  other  commercial  and  industrial  organi- 
zation in  evei7  country  of  the  world;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Congress  that  the 
reciprocal  conmiercial  relations  of  the  world  would  be  vastly 
promoted  and  facilitated  by  the  creation  in  each  country  of 
an  International  Bureau  of  Commercial  Information,  all 
organized  and  to  operate  on  practically  uniform  lines  as  initi- 
ated by  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  or  as  may  be 
mutually  agreed  upon;  all  to  interchange  all  data  and  in- 
formation, and  othenvise  maintain  reciprocal  relations;  all  to 
take  up  commercial  matters  of  national  and  intenuitionnl 
scope,  and  all  conjointly  to  act  as  an  International  Board  of 
Commerce;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  delegates  to  this  Congress  be  individu- 
ally, and  they  hereby  are  earnestly,  requested  to  include  in 
their  reports  to  their  respective  Governments  and  Chambers 
of  Commerce,  a  special  recommendation  tending  to  enlist  the 
active  co-operation  of  said  Governments  and  commercial 
bodies  in  furthering  the  ends  and  objects  of  the  Philadelphia 
Commercial  Museum,  and  tending  also  to  the  accomplishment 
of  the  project  set  forth  in  the  resolution  just  preceding. 

lion.  Bohert  Adams,  Jr.: 
Is  the  resolution  seconded? 

Mr.  W.  J.  Mnxham  (Sydney,  New  South  Wales): 
I  second  it. 

Hon.  Bohert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Under  the  rules  it  will  be  referred  to  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions.  Now  the  report  will  be  read  by  the  Secretary  of 
tlie  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Mr.  Chairman,  this  Committee  held  its  session  yesterday, 
and  now  we  will  call  upon  the  Secretary  of  the  Committee  to 
read  the  report. 

(Report  read  by  Mr.  W.  H.  SchofE.) 

Report  of  Committee  on  Resolutions,  International 
Commercial  Congress. 

Hotel  Walton,  October  30,  1899. 

Present,  Dr.  Wilson,  Mr.  Harper,  Mr.  Sell,  Mr.  Kelly,  Mr. 
.lohnston,  Mr.  Cuyas,  Mr.  Todd,  Mr.  Knoller,  Mr.  Rotherham, 
and  Mr.  Sehoff. 

The  resolution  of  Mr.  Francis  Forbes  was,  on  motion  of 
Mr.  Cuyas,  seconded  l)y  Mr.  Harper,  unanimously  adopted  in 
amended  form,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress  that  the 
assimilation  of  trade-mark  laws  to  a  common  standard  is 
necessary  for  the  full  jirotection  of  commerce;  and,  furtlier, 
that  this  Congress  regards  the  Conference  held  under  the 
Convention  for  the  Protection  of  Industrial  Property,  con- 
cluded at  Paris,  March  20,  1883,  as  an  important  forum  for 
the  discussion  of  such  laws  and  their  proposal  to  the  nations. 

Resolved,  further.  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress  that 
all  nations,  members  of  the  union  created  by  the  Convention 


for  the  Protection  of  Industrial  Property  concluded  at  Paris, 
March  20,  1883,  may,  with  great  advantage  to  their  com- 
mercial interests,  become  members  of  the  sub-union  created 
by  the  Agreement  of  Madrid,  April  1,  1891,  for  the  interna- 
tional registration  of  trade-marks. 

The  resolution  of  Mr.  H.  Rotherham  (seconded  by  Mr. 
Harper.) 

Resolved,  That  the  resolutions  considered  by  this  Congress 
prior  to  the  appointment  of  a  standing  committee  on  Resolu- 
tions be  referred  to  a  sub-committee  for  deliberation,  and  that 
tliey  form  part  of  the  usual  procedure  in  such  cases.  (Carried.) 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Kelly,  the  following  resolutions,  consid- 
ered by  the  prior  Committee  on  Resolutions,  were  taken  up 
and  disposed  of  as  follows: 

(1.)  Resolution  offered  relative  to  parcels  post  extension: 

Whereas,  It  has  been  demonstrated  in  various  foreign  coun- 
tries that  the  parcels  post  system  is  one  that  is  of  incalculable 
advantage  to  the  respective  countries;  and. 

Whereas,  By  means  of  the  parcels  post  a  far  more  direct 
and  effective  means  of  introducing  samples  of  commerce  can 
be  established  in  the  countries  of  tlie  world;  and, 

Wliereas,  This  International  Commercial  Congress  is 
jnimarily  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  such  matters  as  will 
tend  to  further  the  mutual  commercial  interests  of  the  United 
States  and  foreign  countries,  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
do  recommend  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  be  re- 
quested to  est<ablish  such  a  system.    (Carried.) 

(2.)  Resolution  offered  by  Lieut.-Gen'l  Laurie,  M.  P. 

Resolved,  That  it  is  most  desirable  that,  as  far  as  practi- 
cable, the  trade  statistics  of  all  countries  should  be  assimi- 
lated for  purposes  of  accurate  comparison,  and  that  this  Con- 
gress place  this  resolution  before  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  with  a  view  to  any  action  which  may  be  found 
j>ossible  by  consultation  with  foreign  governments  to  obtain 
such  assimiliation  of  statistical  returns.    (Carried.) 

(3.)  On  motion  of  Mr.  Kelly  (seconded  by  Mr.  Harper,) 
the  Resolution  offered  by  the  Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade 
through  its  President,  Mr.  Joel  Cook,  seconded  by  Mr.  de 
Houtkowsky,  delegate  from  the  Russian  Government,  was 
adopted,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress  in 
session  assembled,  request  the  United  States  Government  and 
other  nations  to  consider  the  subject  of  establishment,  by  the 
commercial  nations  of  the  world,  of  an  International  Bureau 
for  the  collection  and  dis.semination  of  the  agricultural  reports 
of  said  nations  as  to  their  cereals,  with  a  view  of  securing  the 
widest  and  promptest  international  circulation  of  said  reports. 

(4.)  The  resolution  otTered  by  Mr.  Smith,  of  Bridgeton, 
X.  J.,  relative  to  the  Chinese  Restriction  LaAV,  was  consid- 
ered, and  by  vote  indefinitely  postponed. 

(5.)  The  following  resolution,  olfcred  by  Mr.  Antonio 
Cuyas,  was  adopted: 

Wherea.s,  The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  is  an  offi- 
cial and  national  institution,  by  virtue  of  its  organization, 
and  by  the  support,  financial  and  otherwise,  that  it  receives 
from  the  United  States  Government,  as  well  as  from  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  City  of  Philadelpliia;  and, 

AViiereas,  The  Philailelphia  Commercial  Museum  may 
well  be  considered  an  internal  iiuial  institution,  by  reason  of 
its  Advisory  Board  wherein  arc  rcpi'csented  one  hundred  and 
fifty  domestic  and  two  hundn>d  and  fifty  foreign  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce,  Boards  of  Trade,  and  other  commercial 
iirgaiiizations;  by  reason  of  ifs  comprelu'ii>i\r  cnlli'd  ion  nf 
samples  of  the  world's  products,  admirably  classified  and 
jjresented;  and  by  reason  of  its  well-organized  system  of 
commercial  information,  whereby   American   manufacturers 


PROF.  GEORGE  DAVIDSON. 

San  Francisco.  Gal. 

CLARENCE  H.  FORREST, 
Baltimore,  Md. 

MILTON   B.  GIBSON, 
York,  Pa. 


T.  JAMES  FERNLEY, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

HOWARD  B.  FRENCH, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 

ALFRED  HAINES, 
Buffalo,  N,  V. 


C.  D.  FIRESTONE, 
Columbus,  O. 

E.  R.  GERBER. 
Reading,  Pa 

EDWARD  H.  HANCE, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBER  31,  1899 


337 


and  merchants  can  obtain  reliable  data  and  information  in 
regard  to  foreign  producers  and  importers,  and  vice  versa; 
and. 

Whereas,  The  sphere  of  influence  of  said  institution  is 
world-wide  and  efficient  in  the  development  of  universal 
trade  relations;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  International  Com- 
mercial Congress,  that  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 
is  an  institution  worthy  of,  and  deserving  the  hearty  support 
of  every  Government  and  of  every  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Board  of  Trade  and  other  commercial  and  industrial  organi- 
zation, in  every  country  of  the  world;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Congress,  that  the 
reciprocal  commercial  relations  of  the  world  would  be  vastly 
promoted  and  facilitated  by  the  creation  in  each  country 
of  an  International  Bureau  of  Commercial  Information,  all 
organized  and  to  operate  on  practically  uniform  lines  as 
initiated  by  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  or  as  may 
be  mutually  agreed  upon;  all  to  interchange  all  data  and  in- 
formation and  otherwise  maintain  reciprocal  relations;  all  to 
take  up  commercial  matters  of  national  and  international 
scope,  and  all  conjointly  to  act  as  an  International  Board  of 
'Commerce;  and  be  it  further 

Resolved.  That  the  delegates  to  this  Congress  be  indi- 
vidually, and  they  hereby  are  earnestly,  requested  to  include 
in  their  reports  to  their  respective  Governments  and  Cham- 
bers of  Commerce,  a  special  recommendation  tending  to  enlist 
the  active  co-operation  of  said  Governments  and  commercial 
bodies  in  furthering  the  ends  and  objects  of  the  Philadel- 
phia Commercial  Museum,  and  tending  also  to  the  accom- 
plishment of  the  project  sed;  forth  in  the  resolution  just  pre- 
ceding. 

(6.)  The  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  George  H.  Anderson, 
of  Pittsburg,  was,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Harper,  seconded  by 
Mr.  Sell,  adopted  in  the  following  amended  form: 

Whereas,  At  this  time,  when  the  nations  of  the  earth  are 
finding  their  relations,  political  and  commercial,  growing 
closer,  and  it  becomes  evident  that  commercial  prosperity 
can  only  be  made  permanent  in  the  event  of  peaceful  rela- 
tions among  nations:  it  is  therefore 

Resolved,  By  the  International  Congress  now  assembled. 
That  it  is  the  concensus  of  judgment  of  its  representatives 
that  there  should  be  placed  upon  record  an  earnest  desire  to 
secure  lasting  peace  among  nations;  and  that,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, international  coiirts  of  arbitration  should  be  created 
to  which  all  differences  among  nations  shall  be  submitted. 

(7.)  The  resolution  offered  by  Mr.  William  W.  Supplee, 
was  adopted  in  amended  form  as  follows: 

Whereas,  The  economic  advantages  of  an  Isthmian  canal 
would  be  of  supreme  importance  to  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  from  an  industrial  and  economic  standpoint;  and, 

Wiereas,  Its  utility  and  cost  have  been  under  considera- 
tion for  many  years,  and  there  is  thought  to  be  no  reason- 
able doubt,  either  as  to  its  practicability  or  expediency,  be 
the  cost  -what  it  may;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress 
heartily  endorses  and  urges  the  construction  of  an  inter- 
oceanic  canal  on  the  Western  Hemisphere  at  the  earliest  prac- 
ticable moment. 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Harper,  the  committee  adjourned  to 
meet  at  the  Board  Room  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum,  on  Tuesday,  October  31,  at  12.30. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

If  there  are  no  prescribed  methods  for  presenting  this  reso- 
lution, I  suggest  that  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  offer  them  to  the  Congress,  beginning  at  the  first 


and  submitting  them  for  final  passage  in  accordance  with 
the  recommendation  of  the  Committee,  or  othem'ise,  as  the 
delegates  may  see  fit. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

May  I  ask  a  question?  I  did  not  quite  understand  what 
was  done  with  the  resolutions  before  the  former  committee. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

The  Chainnan  of  the  Committee  can  probably  answer 
that  question. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 
WTiat  is  the  question? 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

The  gentleman  wishes  to  know  what  became  of  the  resolu- 
tions passed  by  the  Congress  before  the  Committee  was  ap- 
pointed. It  is  understood  that  those  resolutions  were  re- 
ferred to  the  incoming  committee  at  that  time. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

There  were  three  resolutions  offered  and  adopted  during 
the  first  two  days'  proceedings  of  the  Congress,  when  there 
was  no  Committee  on  Resolutions  in  existence. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr. : 

Those  resolutions  have  been  expunged  by  the  motion  of 
the  gentleman,  proposed  to  the  Congress  a  few  moments  ago. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

The  reason  I  asked  that  question  is,  that  he  did  not  intend 
to  expunge  more  than  two.  There  is  the  third  one;  that 
third  one  was  introduced  a  few  days  later,  he  had  no  knowl- 
edge of  it.  There  was  another  one  that  came  up  before  the 
Congress,  and  a  Committee  on  Resolutions  was  appointed  for 
the  purpose  of  taking  care  of  that  resolution.  Now  there  are 
two  resolutions  left  out  in  the  cold.  They  have  not  been 
heard  from  in  any  shape.  I  merely  wanted  to  know  what 
will  become  of  them,  or  how  that  should  be  corrected  upon 
the  record. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

My  recollection  is  that  was  the  last  resolution.  I  was  pre- 
siding that  day,  and  it  was  referred  to  the  incoming  com- 
mittee. That  has  been  considered.  If  the  gentleman's 
motion  only  included  two  out  of  the  three  resolutions  passed 
by  the  Congress,  of  course,  there  is  the  third  one  still 
unacted  upon,  as  it  stands  now  for  the  adoption  of  the 
Congress. 

Mr.  H.  Rotherham: 

Those  resolutions  referring  to  the  fiscal  policy  of  two 
specific  countries,  in  the  proceedings  of  the  fourth  day,  will 
be  exi>unged  according  to  my  resolution,  and  no  more.  That 
is,  all  resolutions,  except  those  covered  by  my  resolution  will 
be  referred  to  the  existing  Committee  on  Resolutions,  and  be 
acted  upon  by  that  Committee. 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

I  asked  the  question  for  information,  as  it  was  not  stated 
definitely. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

1  will  state  the  resolution  to  which  Mr.  Smith  refers  is 
before   the   Committee.      All   the   resolutions,   except  those 


338 


PllOCEEDlNOS  OF  THE  INTERNA TIOJS'AL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


wliieli  wore  c'X]nnified,  and  were  purely  political,  have  been 
or  are  before  that  Committee.  There  are  some  before  the 
Committee  not  decided  upon. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

I  understand  that  it  is  agreeable  to  the  Congress  that  the 
Chairman  offer  these  resolutions;  for  example,  beginning  witli 
the  first  in  their  order,  and  submit  them  to  the  vote  of  the 
Congress  or  the  action  of  the  Congress. 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  first  resolution  presented  was  by  Mr.  Forbes: 

"Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress  that  the 
assimilation  of  trade-mark  laws  to  a  common  standard  is 
necessary  for  the  full  protection  of  commerce;  and,  fuiiher, 
that  this  Congress  regards  the  conference  held  under  the 
Convention  for  the  Protection  of  Industrial  Property,  con- 
cluded at  Paris.  March  20,  1883,  as  an  important  foi-um  for 
the  discussion  of  such  laws  and  their  proposal  to  the  nations." 

This  refers  to  an  International  Congress  which  was  held — 
I  would  state  there  is  going  on  at  the  present  time,  that  is, 
once  every  three  years,  an  International  C'ongress  of  Trade- 
marks, and  Mr.  Forbes  is  the  delegate  sent  by  this  govern- 
ment—this resolution  refers  to  a  previous  meeting  that  had 
taken  place. 

"Resolved,  further,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  Congress 
that  all  nations,  members  of  the  union  created  by  the  Con- 
vention for  the  Protection  of  Industrial  Property,  concluded 
at  Paris,  March  20,  1883,"— 

Nearly  every  commercial  nation  in  the  world  is  a  member 
of  this  international  body. 

— "may,  with  great  advantage  to  their  commercial  inter- 
ests, become  members  of  the  sub-union  created  by  the  Agree- 
ment of  Madrid,  April  1,  1891,  for  the  international  regis- 
tration of  trade-marks." 

I  might  state  for  your  information  here,  that  this  sub-union 
simply  means  an  organization  by  which  all  the  trade-marks 
from  every  nation  of  the  world  having  trade-marks  shall  be 
recorded  in  such  a  way  that  they  can  be  internationally  pro- 
tected.    (Applause.) 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

In  order  that  the  resolutions  may  come  before  this  Con- 
gress, will  some  one  move  that  that  be  adopted? 

IJirerliir  W.  P.  Wihon: 

T  move  that  tbo  rcsdliilioii?  lie  adnplcd. 

Mr.N.  B.KrlJ,/: 

I  second  tliiit  iiinlioii. 

(The  question  being  on  the  motion  made  by  Director  W. 
P.  Wilson,  and  seconded  by  Mr.  N.  B.  Kelly,  it  was  agreed  to, 
and  the  resolutions  were  adopted.) 


Jliri'cliir 


I'.  Wilson. 


I  have  a  resolution  which  was  presented  yesterday  by  Mr. 
n.  Rotherbam,  and  at  that  time  received  a  second,  and  was 
referred  to  this  Committee.     It  is  as  follows: 

"Resolved,  That  the  resolutions  considered  by  this  Con- 
gress, prior  to  the  appointment  of  a  standing  Committee  on 
Hrsohitidiis,  !}(■  iTfcrrcd  In  a  siili-coiinnitirc  for  ilcliln'i-ali<ui. 
and  tliai  they  lonii  paii  u(  the  n-iial  |ii-n<cdiirc  in  -luli  cases."" 

J  fun.  H'lhcrl  Adfiiiis,  Jr.. 

Do  1  understand   il    is  rc]i(irlcd   id  llic  Congress   I'l-om   lli<. 
(-'nmmiticc? 


Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 
To  be  passed. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams.  Jr. : 

You  ofFer  it  as  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee? 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 

I  offer  it  if  some  one  will  second  it. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

"Will  some  one  second  the  resolution  ? 

Mr.  N.  B.  Kelly: 

I  second  the  resolution. 

A  Delegate: 

I  rise  to  a  question  of  information.  Was  not  the  motion 
to  expunge  all  that  from  the  minutes  to  cover  that? 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

The  Chair  will  again  state  the  situation.  There  were  three 
resolutions  passed  by  the  Congress  at  the  beginning  of  its 
session.  Two  out  of  three  of  these  resolutions  have  been  ex- 
punged from  the  records  by  the  Congress  itself.  Therefore, 
they  are  no  longer  the  acts  of  this  body.  There  is  a  third 
resolution  that  remains  on  the  records  of  the  action  of  the 
Congress  itself,  as  to  which  nothing  yet  has  been  done.  That 
is  the  situation. 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher: 

Is  that  the  one  resolution  that  has  made  all  the  difficulty 
that  is  to  be  referred  to  this  Committee? 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 
So  I  understand  it. 


There  was  only  one 


Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher: 

Then  you  cannot  call  it  a  resolution, 
resolution.    ' 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 
There  seem  to  be  two. 


Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher: 

This  resolution  is  in  the  hands  of  the  Committee.  We  have 
nothing  to  do  with  it.  This  resolution  has  been  referred  to 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  Now  then,  it  is  in  the  hands 
of  that  Committee.  It  is  none  of  our  business  until  the  Com- 
mittee brings  it  to  us.    (Cries  of  "Hear.") 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Smith: 

I  do  not  wish  to  make  any  difficulty  in  the  matter;  I  merely 
asked  for  information,  because  I  did  not  hear  the  first  part 
clearly.  I  do  wish  to  have  it  appear  that  I  objected  to  it  in 
any  way. 

Mr.  N.  B.  Kelly: 

I  understand  there  were  a  number  of  resolutions  referred 
to  the  prior  committee  which  resigned,  of  which  I  was  also 
a  member,  and  that  the  resolutions  considered  by  that  com- 
mittee have  been  referred  to  this  suliscquent  committee  ap- 
pointed by  the  Chair,  and  they  arc  now  to  he  considered. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

The  ("hail-  docs  nut  so  understand  the  sit\iii(ion.     There  is 
one  resolution  that  apparently  was  passed  by  this  body;  that 


SIXTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  OCTOBEE  31,  1899 


339 


remains  as  an  act  of  tMs  body,  and  has  not  been  reconsidered, 
has  not  been  referred  to  the  Committee,  and  stands  as  an  act 
01  this  body  to-day.  According  to  the  information  given  to 
the  Chair,  you  see  that  there  were  three  resolutions  passed. 
Two  have  been  expunged;  that  certainly  leaves  one  unacted 
upon.  The  Chair  wishes  to  say  that  if  you  wish  to  recon- 
sider or  expunge  it,  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  other.  It 
was  passed  by  this  Congress  the  same  as  the  two  were,  which 
you  have  expunged.  The  Chair  wishes  the  Congress  to  under- 
stand so  that  it  can  act,  as  it  feels  it  should  act  with  reference 
to  this  resolution. 

A  Delegate: 

To  make  that  straight,  I  make  the  motion  that  the  resolu- 
tions referred  to  the  previous  committee  be  referred  to  the 
present  standing  committee. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

That  will  be  in  order,  and  will  cover  the  ground.  The  mo- 
tion is  as  follows:  It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  all  resolu- 
tions passed  by  this  Congress  prior  to  the  appointment  of  the 
Committee  on  Eesolutions  be  and  are  hereby  referred  to  the 
Committee  on  Resolutions  for  action  on  their  part. 

Mr.  H.  Rotherham: 

My  resolution  was  exactly  that  and  nothing  more.  At  the 
time  I  moved  that  resolution,  my  sole  object  and  aim  was  to 
place  the  resolutions  and  all  matters  coming  before  the  first 
committee  in  such  shape  that  they  would  come  up  for  con- 
sideration by  the  present  standing  committee. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Gentlemen,  you  have  heard  the  motion.  It  is  that  all  reso- 
lutions passed  by  this  Congress  before  the  appointment  of 
the  Committee  on  Resolutions  be  expunged  from  the  action 
of  this  Congress,  and  that  they  be  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Eesolutions. 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher: 

If  you  expunge  all  the  resolutions,  what  have  you  before  the 
conmuttee? 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

You  expunge  it  as  the  action  of  the  Congress. 

Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher: 

That  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  resolutions  to  be  referred 
to  the  committee. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr. : 

If  you  expunge  the  action  of  the  Congress  with  reference 
to  a  certain  resolution  your  action  is  final. 

(The  question  being  on  the  motion,  it  was  agreed  to,  and 
the  resolution  was  adopted.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  following  resolution  was  offered,  relative  to  parcels 
post  extension: 

Whereas,  It  has  been  demonstrated  in  various  foreign 
countries  that  the  parcels  post  system  is  one  that  is  of  incal- 
culable advantage  to  the  respective  countries;  and 

Whereas,  By  means  of  the  parcels  post  a  far  more  direct 
and  effective  means  of  introducing  samples  of  commerce  can 
be  established  in  the  countries  of  the  world;  and 

Whereas,  This  International  Commercial  Congress  is  pri- 
marily for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  such  matters  as  will  tend 


to  further  the  mutual  commercial  interests  of  the  United 
States  and  foreign  countries;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
do  recommend  that  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  be  re- 
quested to  establish  such  a  system. 

Mr.  H.  Rotherham: 

I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  as  read. 

Mr.  Antonio  Cuyas: 

I  move  to  amend  by  inserting  the  words  "and  all  other 

governments  not  now  possessing  a  parcels  post  system,"  after 
the  words  "United  States." 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr. : 

Mr.  Chairman,  do  you  accept  that  amendment? 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 
I  do. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Does  the  seconder  accept  that  amendment? 

Mr.  H.  Rotherham: 

I  do. 

(The  question  being  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolutions  as 
amended,  it  was  agreed  to,  and  the  resolution  was  adopted.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

The  next  resolution  is: 

Resolved,  That  it  is  most  desirable  that,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, the  trade  statistics  of  all  countries  should  be  assim- 
ilated for  all  purposes  of  accurate  comparison,  and  that  this 
Congress  place  this  resolution  before  the  Government  of  the 
United  States,  with  a  view  to  any  action  which  may  be  found 
possible  by  consultation  with  foreign  governments  to  obtain 
such  assimilation  of  statistical  returns. 

Is  this  resolution  seconded? 

Mr.  W.  J.  Moxham  (Sydney,  Australia): 

I  second  the  resolution. 

(The  question  being  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolution,  it 
was  agreed  to  and  the  resolution  was  adopted.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 

The  next  resolution  is: 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress,  in 
session  assembled,  requests  the  United  States  Government 
and  other  nations  to  consider  the  subject  of  establishment, 
by  the  commercial  nations  of  the  world,  of  an  International 
Bureau,  for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  the  agricul- 
tural reports  of  said  nations  as  to  their  cereals,  with  a  view 
of  securing  the  widest  and  promptest  international  circulation 
of  said  reports. 

Hon.  Robert  Adams,  Jr.: 
Is  that  resolution  seconded? 

A  Delegate: 

I  second  the  resolution. 

(The  question  being  on  the  resolution  as  read,  it  was  agreed 
to  and  adopted.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 

The  next  resolution  is  as  follows: 

Whereas,  The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  is  an  offi- 


840 


rKUCEEDlNGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  CUMMEIUJIAL  CONGRESS 


uial  and  national  institution,  by  virtue  of  its  organization,  and 
by  the  support,  financial  and  otherwise,  that  it  receives  from 
the  United  States  Government,  aa  well  as  from  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  City  of  Philadelphia;  and 

Whereas,  The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  may  well 
be  considered  an  international  institution,  by  reason  of  it< 
Advisory  Board  wherein  are  represented  one  hundred  and 
fifty  domestic  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  foreign  Chambers  of 
Commerce,  Boards  of  Trade  and  other  commercial  organiza- 
tions; by  reason  of  its  comprehensive  collection  of  samples  of 
the  world's  products,  admirably  classified  and  presented;  and 
by  reason  of  its  well-organized  system  of  commercial  informa- 
tion, whereby  American  manufacturers  and  merchants  can 
obtain  reliable  data  and  information  in  regard  to  foreign 
producers,  and  vice  versa;  and 

Whereas,  The  sphere  of  influence  of  said  institution  is 
world-wide  and  efficient  in  the  development  of  universal  trade 
relations;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  International  Com- 
mercial Congress,  that  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 
is  an  institution  worthy  of  and  deserving  to  have  the  support 
of  every  Government,  and  of  every  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
Board  of  Trade  and  other  commercial  and  industrial  organi- 
zation in  every  country  of  the  world:  and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Congress  that  the 
reciprocal  commercial  relations  of  the  world  would  be  vastly 
promoted  and  facilitated  by  the  creation  in  each  country  of 
an  International  Bureau  of  Commercial  Information,  all  or- 
ganized and  to  operate  on  practically  uniform  lines  as  initiated 
by  the  Philadalphia  Commercial  Museum,  or  as  may  be 
mutually  agreed  upon;  all  to  interchange  all  data  and  infoi-m- 
ation,  and  otherwise  maintain  reciprocal  relations;  all  to  take 
up  commercial  matters  of  national  and  international  scope, 
and  all  jointly  to  act  as  an  International  Board  of  Commerce; 
and  be  it  further 

Resolved,  That  the  delegates  to  this  Congress  be  individ- 
ually, and  they  hereby  are  earnestly,  requested  to  include  in 
their  reports  to  their  respective  Governments  and  Chambers 
of  Commerce  a  special  recommendation  tending  to  enlist  the 
active  co-operation  of    said    Governments    and    commercia 


bodies  in  furthering  the  ends  and  objects  of  the  Philadelf 
Commercial  Museum,  and  tending  also  to  the  accomplishment 
of  the  project  set  forth  in  the  resolution  just  preceding. 

Hon.  Bobert  Adams,  Jr.: 
Is  that  resolution  seconded? 

Mr.  J.  Barre  Johnston: 

As  a  representative  of  the  Sydney  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
I  am  very  happy  to  say  that  I  am  very  much  in  favor  of  this 
resolution,  and  I  take  pleasure  in  seconding  this  resolution 
and  recommending  its  ado]itiou. 

(The  question  being  on  the  resolution  as  read,  it  was  agreed 
to  and  was  adopted.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 

The  next  resolution  is  as  follows: 

Whereas,  At  this  time,  when  the  nations  of  the  caxth  are 


finding  their  relations,  political  and  commercial,  drawing 
closer,  and  it  becomes  evident  that  commercial  prosperity  can 
only  be  made  permanent  in  the  event  of  peaceful  relations 
among  nations;  it  is  therefore 

Resolved,  by  the  International  Congress  now  assembled, 
That  it  is  the  consensus  of  judgment  of  its  representatives 
that  there  should  be  placed  uj)nn  record  an  earnest  desire  to 
secure  lasting  peace  among  nations:  and  that,  as  far  as  pos- 
>il)le,  international  courts  of  arbitration  should  be  created, 
to  which  all  differences  among  nations  shall  be  submitted. 

(This  resolution  wa.<  secmdrd  by  ^Ir.  Whellams  and  Mr. 
Nicolas.  The  question  being  mi  this  resolution,  it  was  agreed 
to  and  was  adopted.) 

Director  W.  P.  Witso7i: 

The  next  resolution  is: 

Whereas,  The  economic  advantages  of  an  Isthmian  Canal 
would  be  of  supreme  importance  to  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  from  an  industrial  and  economic  standpoint;  and 

AVhereas,  Its  utility  and  cost  have  been  under  consideration 
for  many  years,  and  there  is  thought  to  be  no  reasonable 
doubt,  either  as  to  its  practicability  or  expediency,  be  the  cost 
what  it  may;  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress 
lieartily  endorses  and  urges  the  construction  of  an  inter- 
oceanic  canal  on  the  AVestern  Hemisphere  at  the  earliest  prac- 
ticable moment. 


Mr.  Charles  M.  Biddlc: 

1  second  that  resolution. 

(The  question  licing  on  the  resohitioii,  it  was  agreed  to  and 
was  adopted.) 

linn.  Buhert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Are  there  anv  further  resuhitions? 


1       Pircclnr  W.  I'.  WihiDi : 

The  committee  has  no  further  resolutions  to  present  at  this 
time^ 


Hon.  Bobert  Adams,  Jr.: 

Gentlemen,  the  regular  business  of  the  Congress  will  now 
come  to  an  end  for  this  afternoon,  and  there  will  be  an  illus- 
trated lecture  on  Jamaica  in  this  room.  The  Convention  now 
stands  adjourned  until  to-morrow  at  10  a.  m. 


Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Some  of  you  seem  to  be  going.  You  will  pardon  me  for 
savdng,  that  if  you  go  you  will  miss  a  most  interesting  descrip- 
tion— the  illustrated  lecture  liy  Dr.  Johnston,  on  Jamaica 
and  its  resources — to  be  i^iven  here  in  three  minutes. 


Adjourned  at  4.30  p.  m. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


SEVENTEENTH    DAY'S   SESSION 


Philadelphia,  Wednesday,  November  1,  1899. 

Final  Session. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  by  Sir  Horace  Tozer.  in 
the  Assembly  Room  of  the  Commercial  Museum,  at  10.30  a.  m. 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  have  been  requested  to  call  the 
meeting  to  order,  so  that  we  may  receive  Director  Wilson 
sitting.     He  will  be  here  in  a  minute. 

(The  following  named  gentlemen,  composing  the  commit- 
tee for  presentation  of  a  silver  service  to  Director  W.  P. 
Wilson,  then  took  their  places  on  the  platform:  Sir  Horace 
Tozer,  speaker;  Professor  Mario  Salvini,  Consul  Alfred  J. 
Ostheimer,  Henry  Sell  and  Emil  S.  Fischer.  Hon.  J.  C. 
Monaghan,  also  a  member  of  the  committee,  was  absent.) 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson  entered  the  room  at  10. .56,  and  was 
greeted  with  enthusiastic  applause,  when  Sir  Horace  Tozer 
turned  to  him  and  said: 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

May  I  have  the  privilege  of  calling  this  meeting  to  order? 

(Director  W.  P.  Wilson,  turning  to  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  said): 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Will  you  act  as  chairman,  then? 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

May  I  also  have  the  privilege  of  addressing  you  and  this 
meeting? 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson : 
Yes.  sir. 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson,  the  regular  business  of  this  Con- 
gress is  now  drawing  to  a  close,  but  before  we  separate,  I 
would  crave  your  permission  to  offer  a  few  observations.  I 
promise  you  they  will   be  brief,  but  relevant. 

We  have,  as  a  Congress,  proclaimed  the  value  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum:  we  have  given  our  opinions 
of  your  instructive  Exposition:  we  have  expressed  our 
appreciation  of  the  generous  hospitality  of  your  magnifi- 
cent countrv,  and,  in  particular,  of  your  city  of  Philadel- 
phia and  its  warm-hearted  people,  and  we  have  both  ad- 
mired and  praised  the  manner  in  which  you  and  all  the 
officers  of  this  Museum  have  carried  out  your  various  onerous 
congressional  duties.     There  only  remains  for  us  one  other 


function,  and  it  is  one  I  trust  that  will  be  as  agreeable  to  you 
as  it  certainly  is  to  all  those  who  have  now  the  privilege  of 
being  present   in   this   hall. 

Ordinarily,  this .  would  assume  the  form  of  a  cordial 
vote  of  thanks  to  yourself  as  our  presiding  officer,  but  on 
this  occasion  we  propose  to  dispense  with  this  comparatively 
hollow  ceremonial  and  to  testify  our  thanks  to  you  in  some 
material  fonn.  Outside  altogether  of  your  duties  as  an 
officer  of  this  excellent  institution,  we  have  realized,  in  our 
intercourse  with  you,  the  man — may  I  add,  the  per,~onal 
friend, — and  it  is  in  that  capacity  I  now  wish  to  address 
you.  (Applause.)  I  am  not  now  speaking  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  any  particular  body  or  locality,  but  as  the 
selected  delegate  of  all  present  in  this  room  representing 
commerce  all  over  the  world,  who  wish  me  to  express  their 
appreciation  of  your  unceasing  kindness  and  of  your  suc- 
cessful efforts  to  make  their  stay  in  tliis  city  so  comfortable 
and  delightful.    (Cries  of  "Hear!"'  and  applause.) 

We  will  carry  away  in  our  hearts  the  most  grateful  recol- 
lection of  all  you  have  done  fo-  us  in  a  variety  of  ways,  and 
especially  will  we  ever  remember  the  proud  privilege  you 
obtained  for  us  and  for  our  ladies  of  being  received  by 
the  illustrious  head  of  the  United  States.  President  McKin- 
ley  (applause),  and  the  dignified  courtesy  shown  by  your- 
self to  us  in  the  deliberations  of  this  Congress;  but  we  want 
one  thing  more,  and  that  is  to  be  kept  in  lasting  remem- 
Virance  by  you.  For  that  purpose  we  desire  that  you  should 
possess  a  symbol  of  our  good  feeling  towards  yourself  per- 
sonally, hoping  that  it  will  not  only  remind  you  of  your 
patriotic  exertions  in  your  country's  welfare,  of  a  gathering 
whose  aims  are  well  worthy  of  the  liistoric  city  of  Philadel- 
phia, but  even  more  of  a  grander  work,  the  general  advance- 
ment of  international  commerce,  which,  by  creating  a  wider 
common  interest,  is  best  calculated  to  contribute  to  the  peace 
and  happiness  of  mankind.  (Applause.)  No  more  appro- 
priate conclusion  to  this  departing  century  could  have  been 
devised  by  you  than  this  harmonious  gathering  of  representa- 
tives of  all  peoples  of  the  earth,  intent  upon  their  mission  of 
peace  on  earth  and  good  will  toward  man. 

We  hope  and  pray  that  you  may  be  long  preserved  to 
realize  the  development  of  your  ideas,  that  this  token  (small 
though  its  intrinsic  value  is)  may  stimulate  you  to  further 
efforts  in  the  same  direction,  and  that  those  who  follow  you 
may  see  this  evidence  of  the  esteem  and  affection  in  which 
you  are  personally  held  by  the  individual  members  of  the 
international  Commercial  Congress.     (Applause.) 

We  will  not  say  "Good-hye,"  but  prefer  the  "Au  Revoir.'' 
Some  day  you  may  pay  a  return  visit  to  the  distant  climes 
and  countries  we  are  now  returning  to.  If  so.  I  can  promise 
you  such  a  welcome  there  as  will  assure  you  that  your  kind- 
ness to  us  can  never  be  forgotten.  (Applause.)  We  hope 
that  this  expression  of  ours  vdW  find  a  place  in  your  official 
records  of  the  proceedings  of  this  Congress. 

May  I  now  ask  Professor  Salvini  to  support  me  in    this 

341 


342 


riJOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


function  by  the  presentation  of  the  articles  selected  for  your 
acceptance.    (Applause.) 

(At  this  moment  Consul  Alfred  J.  Ostheimer  stepped  for- 
ward and  uncovered  a  beautiful  silver  service— the  gift  of 
the  delegates  to  Director  W.  P.  Wilson — upon  the  largest 
piece  of  which  was  inscribed  the  following): 

"To  Dr.  William  P.  Wilson, 

"Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  and 
chief  organizer  of  the  first  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress, held  at  Philadelphia,  in  October,  1899,  with  assur- 
ances of  sincere  gratitude  for  his  uniform  courtesy  and  in 
recognition  of  his  extraordinary  services  to  international 
commerce. 

"From  the  Foreign  and  American  Delegates." 

(Then  Professor  Mario  Salvind,  turning  to  Director  W.  P. 
Wilson,  said): 

Professor  Mario  Salvini: 

Dr.  Wilson:  You  have  told  me  that  you  spent  some 
months  in  Italy.  I  am  sure  that  you  must  have  noticed  that 
Italian  people  often  express  with  their  eyes  their  internal 
impressions.  I  hope,  then.  Dr.  Wilson,  that  you  will  now 
see  in  my  eyes  the  feelings  of  gratitude  which  animate  me, 
and  all  sentiments  which  my  poor  English  does  not  allow 
me  to  express,  in  the  name  of  my  fellow-delegates. 

May  the  brilliancy  of  this  silver,  that  the  delegates  repre- 
senting the  world  present  you,  remain  to  you  in  the  future 
as  a  symbol  of  the  brillant  success  which  has  crowned  this 
International  Commercial  Congress,  the  product  of  your  in- 
telligent and  active  mind.    (Applause.) 

(Dr.  Wilson  then  gracefully  bowed  his  acknowledgments, 
and,  turning  to  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  and  then  to  the  delegates, 
spoke,  with  much  feeling,  as  follows): 

Director  W.  P.  Wilson: 

Mr.  Chainnan,  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  Prof.  Salvini  and  Dele- 
gates: I  must  say  that  I  have  been  met  by  the  delegates  of 
this  Congress,  and  by  the  gentlemen  assembled  here,  with 
uniform  courtesy  and  kindness.  But  I  have  to  confess  that 
1  did  not  anticipate, — and  I  mean  to  say  it  not  over  lightly, — 
that  such  an  unfair  advantage  would  be  taken  of  me  at  the 
last  moment  (applause  and  laughter),  as  to  have  me  stand 
here  and  listen  to  a  formal  speech  and  presentation,  all 
arranged  without  my  knowledge,  and  then,  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, to  be  expected  to  answer  in  a  single  word.  This 
is  rather  more,  I  think,  than  ought  to  be  expected. 

I  confess  that  I  have  had  in  the  anticipation  of  this  Con- 
gress great  pleasure  in  the  thoughts  which  it  gave  me  as 
well  as  my  excellent  associates  in  the  work.  These  plans 
have  not  been  of  a  day  or  a  week  or  a  niontli,  but  of  the 
past  two  years,  in  bringing  together  this  admirable  assembly 
of  gentlemen  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  anticipation 
was  great.  Of  the  realization  here,  I  shall  not  have  to  speak. 
There  have  been  presented  many  papers.  We  have  discussed 
the  universal  interests  of  the  whole  world.  What  may  come 
out  of  it,  W'hat  may  be  the  results  in  the  future,  it  will  be 
impossible  for  any  of  us  to  tell  at  this  moment. 

I  have  ever  hoped  that  the  results  would  be  greater  than 
that  wliich  may  be  seen  at  the  moment,  in  fact,  that  in  the 
future  they  may  prove  all  that  we  could  anticipate  and  hope 
for.  If  it  is  in  your  thoughts  that  the  Pliiladelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum  and  the  city  of  Philadelphia  have  received 
you  pleasantly,  and  tried  to  make  the  time  that  you  have 
passed  here  a  pleasant  remembrance  for  the  future.  I  can  only 
say,  for  the  city  and  for  the  ]\Iuscum,  that  we  have  not  done 
all  that  we  had  hoped  to  do;  but  we  have  done  what  we  could 


at  the  time.  I  have  hoped  while  we  were  discussing  papers 
of  various  kinds  and  divers  interests,  that  at  least  a  few 
broad  ideas  might  be  in  the  future  developed  from  this  work. 
We  have  passed  resolutions,  and  may  pass  others,  which  are 
a  portion  of  this  work.  The  strongest  hope  which  I  have 
in  mind  is  the  development  in  all  of  your  respective  coun- 
tries of  some  form  of  International  Bureaus  of  Commerce 
which  may,  in  their  harmonious  work,  bring  us  frequently 
together,  and  in  which,  in  a  general,  systematic,  \miform  way, 
we  may  take  up  and  push  and  carry  out  for  the  world  at 
large,  the  ideas  which  have  been  embodied  in  our  various 
resolutions. 

You  have  come  from  far-off  countries,  and  before  you 
came  to  the  United  States  we  seemed  remote  to  you  and  you 
to  us.  We  have  come  together,  and  the  great  distances  have 
been  practically  annihilated.  Our  friendship'  has  been  pro- 
moted and  strengthened  by  the  intercourse  whidh  we  have 
had  here,  and  it  seems  as  if  we  were  all  near  together,  filled 
with  a  spirit  of  harmony  in  which  we  can  work  together,  so 
that,  in  the  future,  when  we  say  we  desire  closer  trade  rela- 
tions and  peace  and  friendship  between  all  nations,  we  shall 
mean  what  we  say,  for  we  have  looked  at  each  other  face 
to  face  and  have  become  friends. 

I  believe  that  friendship  and  social  intercourse  is  the  first 
and  greatest  basis  for  all  future  relations,  and  for  closer 
commercial  and  international  relations  (cries  of  'liear,  hear," 
and  applause),  and  for  me  and  for  this  institution,  if  we 
had  only  come  together  and  looked  each  other  in  the  face 
and  shaken  hands  and  formed  these  friendly  relations,  ex- 
tending now  all  over  the  globe,  it  would  have  been  one  of 
the  greatest  of  all  the  results.     ("Hear,  hear,"  and  applause.) 

I  can  only  say  that  this  beautiful  gift  with  which  you  have 
presented  me,  will  be  a  constant  reminder  and  ever-present 
source  of  remembrance  of  this  Congress,  as  well  as  the 
results  which  have  been  accomplished  here,  the  talisman 
for  me,  so  to  speak,  as  this  is  the  first  great  International 
Congress  of  the  many  others  which  will  be  held  in  other 
countries  and  possibly  here  in  the  future.     (Applause.) 

I  tliank  you  all  for  this  gift  and  more  than  this — for  the 
friendship  and  the  thought  which  I  know  it  is  based  upon. 
(Applause.)  The  thing  itself  is  material  and  will  be  present. 
Because  I  can  see  it,  I  shall  always  feel  the  strong  bond  of 
friendship  and  good  feeling  which  has  prompted  this  gift. 
(Applause.) 

I  have  just  a  word  to  say  with  reference  to  the  institution 
which  has  called  you  together.  It  is  simply  this:  Some  of 
you  may  have  thought  that  "The  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum"  is  a  peculiar  name.  I  want  to  state  that  this 
name  is  hardly  in  harmony  with  the  work  which  this 
institution  is  doing,  and  that  this  name  was  given  to  it  by 
the  Councils  of  this  city,  in  an  ordinance  passed  before  the  ac- 
tual establishment,  or  before  the  real  organization,  of  the 
work  which  is  now  in  hand. 

I  simply  wish  to  add  that  we  have  a  proposition  which  we 
are  going  to  present  to  City  Councils  to  have  the  name 
changed  to  "An  International  Bureau  of  Commerce."  (Ap- 
plause.) We  have  thought  the  matter  over  carefully,  and 
believe  that  to  be  the  most  expressive  name  representing  the 
actual  work  which  we  are  trying  to  do  here.  With  that 
thought  we  have  tried  to  select  a  name  which  could  be 
equally  chosen  by  other  countries,  so  that  the  work  every- 
where, if  (his  should  be  done,  could  be  harmonious  and  not 
only  on  the  same  lines,  but  under  the  same  name.  A  reso- 
lution was  passed  here  yesterday  which  recommended  the 
establishment  of  similar  institutions  in  foreign  countries. 
The  work  of  such  institutions  would  naturally  fall  in  the 
very  lines  which  our  resolutions  have  outlined  during  this 
Congress.  For  instance,  it  would  take  up  bureau  work  in 
statistics  and  plan  for  other  similar  institutions  a  harmonious 


SEVENTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  NOVEMBER  1,  1899 


343 


and  systematic  and  unified  way  of  presenting  these  statistics, 
so  that  every  nation  could  formulate  them  in  the  same 
manner.  The  work  of  such  institutions  would  also  include 
weights  and  measures  and  unify  those  for  all  countries 
over  the  whole  globe.  (Applause.)  Unless  you  have 
studied  the  question,  and  I  know  you  all  have,  you  would 
not  have  the  slightest  idea  of  the  millions  upon  millions 
of  dollaxs  wasted  every  year  in  the  transfer  of  weights  from 
the  tables  of  one  countrj'  into  that  of  others,  and  of 
money  from  one  country  into  the  money  of  others.  Again, 
another  valuable  line  of  work  for  these  corresponding  insti- 
tutions would  be  the  unity  in  monetary  and  banking  sys- 
tems, for  banking  systems  are  most  closely  related  to  com- 
merce (applause),  and  as  commerce  is  that  which  produces  the 
underlying  prosperity  of  all  nations,  why  not  labor — it  is 
ideal,  of  course — toward  a  uniform  system  of  money  and  of 
banking?  The  very  intercourse  which  we  must  carry  on 
between  all  nations  is  immediately  related  for  its  convenience 
and  its  foundation  upon  the  banking  systems  of  the  world. 

Again,  we  have  passed  resolutions  here  in  favor  of  uni- 
formity in  trade-marks  and  patent  laws.  We  have  all  that 
before  us  to  accomplish  in  one  way  or  another.  We  need  a 
uniform  sy.stem  of  postal  laws  and  of  parcels  post.  No  doubt, 
if  the  general  interests  of  the  whole  world  were  studied,  you 
might  come  to  a  unit  in  our  action  on  the  establishment  of 
certain  waterways  for  the  united  advantage  of  the  world,  as 
well  as  the  establishment  of  certain  cable  lines  for  the  normal 
business  of  the  whole  world.  There  is  something  at  least 
to  be  developed  in  this  way. 

Again,  and  perhaps  grander  and  greater  than  all,  is  the  pos- 
sibility of  a  uniform  system  of  arbitrating  all  difliculties  and 
ditferences  in  commerce,  and  also  for  arbitrating  all  distur- 
bances which  might  disrupt  the  peace  between  nations. 
(Applause.) 

These  are  some  of  the  points  or  lines  which  International 
Bureaus  of  Commerce,  established  in  all  countries,  might 
normally  and  naturally  work  upon. 

Now,  so  far  as  this  institution  is  concerned,  I  want  sim- 
ply to  say,  that  we  have  been  for  several  years  developing 
the  work,  and  anything  which  we  have  in  our  system,  or  in  the 
methods  which  we  employ  here,  which  you  may  find  of  help 
to  you,  we  shall  be  most  happy  to  otl'er  to  you. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  work  which  we  are  carrying  on 
here — forms  or  methods — that  we  are  not  willing  that  you 
should  look  over,  and  if  you  can  get  any  suggestions  you 
are  welcome  to  them.  (Applause.)  Again,  you  are  business 
men  from  all  parts  of  the  world.  It  is  our  aim  here  to  bring 
people  who  want  to  become  active  in  business  together.  We 
do  no  business  in  this  institution  itself,  we  handle  no  money, 
we  transfer  no  deeds,  bills  of  lading  or  anything  of  that  kind. 
It  is  our  sole  business  to  put  people  who  want  to  enlarge 
the  world's  commerce  into  communication  with  each  other. 
Therefore,  I  want  to  say  that  you  are  at  liberty  to  call  upon 
us  for  statistics,  for  an  outline  of  the  leading  business  interests 
of  this  country,  or  for  communications  with  any  of  its  manu- 
facturers, its  merchants  or  its  tradesmen,  and  we  shall  be  most 
happy  to  furnish  you  this,  as  well  as  any  other  information. 
One  further  thought  with  reference  to  the  organization 
of  this  institution:  In  order  that  we  might  touch  all  the 
various  interests  in  the  United  States,  in  the  very  early  stages 
of  this  work,  we  communicated  with  chambers  of  commerce, 
boards  of  trade,  and  other  commercial  organizations  in  this 
country,  and  invited  each  of  the  permanent  trades  bodies  to 
become  members  of  an  Advisory  Board,  and  then  we  invited 
the  chambers  of  commerce  and  boards  of  trade  to  send  rep- 
resentatives to  a  Congress.  We  extended  the  same  invitation 
to  foreign  chambers  of  commerce  all  over  the  world,  and 
the  members  from  these  chambers  at  home  and  abroad  have 
eetablished  what  is  called  an  Advisory  Board,  and  that  has 


been  the  basis  of  our  Congress.  We,  also,  by  direct  invita- 
tion, have  representatives  from  all  the  foreign  governments. 
The  Advisory  Board,  itself,  in  this  country,  and  in  foreign 
countries,  is  thus  made  up,  and  it  is  customary  for  us  to 
appoint  officers.  These  officers  are  located  in  the  United 
States  and  in  foreign  countries.  They  are  to  take  more  or 
less  special  interest  in  giving  us  information,  or  in  asking 
information  from  us,  or  in  any  way  effecting  an  increase  of 
trade  between  the  countries  represented  and  our  own.  While 
we  are  waiting,  therefore,  I  believe,  for  the  action  of  the 
committee,  I  will  read  the  names  of  those  who  have  been 
appointed  to  serve  as  members  of  this  International  Advisory 
Board  for  the  ensuing  year: 

International  Advisory  Board. 

President,  William  L.  Elkins,  of  Philadelphia. 

Vice-Presidents  for  the  United  States. 
New  York— Charles  R.  Flint,  New  York  City. 
Massachusetts — Wm.   H.   Haile,   Boston. 
Ohio — Colonel  James  Kilbourne,  Columbus. 
Indiana — David  M.  Parry,  Indianapolis. 
Illinois — H.  C.  Staver,  Chicago. 
Minnesota — J.  B.  Johnston,  St.  Paul. 
California — Hugh  C^raig,  San  Francisco. 
Washington — Edmund   Seymour,   Tacoma. 
Hawaiian  Islands — J.  B.  Atherton,  Honolulu. 

Vice-Presidents  for  Other  Countries. 

Argentine  Republic — Carlos  Lix  Klett,  John  C.  Zimmer- 
man, Dr.  Emilio  Frers. 

Austria-Hungary — Dr.   Alexander  von   Dom,  Julius    von 
Szavay. 

Belgium — W.  Coward. 

Bolivia— Manuel  V.  Balli\nan. 

Brazil — Col.  Dr.  Fernando  Mendes  de  Almeida,  Capt.  J 
Cordeiro  da  Gra^a,  Dr.  Jose  C.  Rodrigues. 

Canada— Hon.  R.  R.  Dobell. 

Cape  Colony — J.  L.  M.  Brown. 

Chile — Carlos  Rogers,  Alejandro  Thompson  Rei. 

China — James  S.  Fearon. 

Colombia — Leo  S.  Kopp. 

Costa  Rica — Mauro  Fernandez. 

Cuba — Gren.  Emilio  Nuiiez. 

Ecuador — Luis  A.  Dillon. 

France— Henry  Peartree,  Georges  Masson. 

Germany — Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  Commerzienrath  Arnhold. 

Guatemala — Carlos  Irigoyen. 

Guiana — Gustav  H.  Richter. 

Honduras — Gen.  Policarpo  Bonilla. 

India — Hon.  Allan  Arthur. 

Italy — Prof.  Mario  Salvini. 

Jamaica — Simon  Soutar. 

Japan— Kahe  Otani,  W.  F.  Mitchell. 

Leeward  Islands — C.  Arthur  Shand. 

Madeira — A.  J.  Drexel  Biddle. 

Mexico — Jose  Algara,  Julio  M.  Limantour. 

Natal — F.   Shippey. 

New  South  Wales — J.  Barre  Johnston,  W.  J.  Moxham. 

New  Zealand — Peter  Barr. 

Nicaragua — Adan  Cardenas. 

Norway — Chr.  B.  Lorentzen. 

Nova  Scotia — Hon.  George  Mitchell. 

Panama — Felix  Ehrman. 

Paraguay — Carlos  R.  Santos. 

Persia — Hussein  Agha  Etimad-et-TudJar. 

Peru — Alejandro    Garland,  J.  A.  Miro    Quesada,  Manuel 
Candamo. 


344 


PliOCEKDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Portugal — Dr.  Jacintlu)  tie  Magalhaes. 

Queensland — J.  H.  Rogers. 

Roumania— B.  G.  Assan. 

Russia— M.  de  Routkowsky. 

Salvador — Federico  Mejia. 

South  Australia— A.  E.  Davey. 

Spain — Antonio  Cuyas. 

Sweden — Harald  Grebst. 

Tasmania— A.  G.  Webster. 

Trinidad — William  Howatson. 

Turkey — Arehag  Karagheusian. 

United  Kingdom— Sir  John  Lubbock,  Henry  Sell,  William 
Angus. 

Uruguay — Prudencio  de  Murguiondo. 

Venezuela — Antonio  E.  Delfino. 

Victoria — H.  Rotherham. 

Western  Australia — J.  H.  Bateman. 
Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  has  been  thought  advisable  to 
place  on  record  something  which  yon  can  carry  with  you 
when  you  go  away,  which  will  be  a  remembrance  of  this 
Congress.  For  this  purpose  I  will  call  attention  to  a  prece- 
dent^ which  has  been  already  established,  a  precedent  which 
appears  upon  the  document  I  have  before  me,  which  was, 
in  the  times  gone  past,  an  acknowledgment  from  the  foreign 
members  of  the  Advisory  Board  of  the  Philadelphia  Museum. 
Upon  this  occasion,  a  gentleman  will  now  propose  a  resolu- 
tion, the  operation  of  which  resolution  will  be  the  propaga- 
tion of  some  similar  document  such  as  I  have  now  in  my 
hand,  which  will  be  sent  to  all  the  members  of  the  Congress. 
I  will  therefore  ask  Captain  Cordeiro  da  Graga  to  propose 
the  resolution  which  will  give  effect  to  that  idea. 

Gapt.  J.  Cordeiro  da  Graga: 

Mr.  ChainTian,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  An  acknowledg- 
ment from  the  foreign  delegates  of  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress: 

Whereas,  The  foreign  delegates  to  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress  were  invited  by  the  Philadelphia  Commer- 
cial Museum  for  an  international  discussion;  and. 

Whereas,  Said  members  have  received  the  most  cordial 
welcome,  kind  and  special  attentions,  and  most  munificent 
hospitality  in  this  country;  and, 

Whereas,  The  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the 
officers  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  organized 
this  great  and  useful  in.s.titiition  for  the  promotion  and  ex- 
tension of  commercial  relations;  therefore,  be  it  hereby 

Resolved,  That  our  warm  thanks  are  due  and  are  hereby 
tendered  to  Director  William  P.  Wilson  and  the  officials  of 
the  Museum; 

Resolved,  That  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  the  City  of  Philadelphia  and  its  Mayor, 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  and  its  Governor,  state  and  city 
officials,  railway  companies,  manufacturing  and  commercial 
firms,  trade  organizations,  in.stitutions  of  learning,  societies 
and  clubs,  and  to  the  chairmen  and  committees  of  the  Con- 
gress; and 

Resolved,  That  copies  of  these  resolutions  be  transmitted 
to  the  Museum  and  to  all  those  to  whom  we  arc  indebted; 
also  to  all  the  foreign  and  domestic  delegates  to  the  Inter- 
national Commercial  Congress,  as  a  souvenir,  signed  by  all 
the  members. 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  So  that  you  may  clearly  under- 
stand tlic  kiTid  of  document  referred  to,  I  have  a  short  paper 
before  me  which  shows  what  those  who  preceded  us  have 
done,  and  it  will  give  you  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  the 


resolutions  that  it  is  essential  for  you  to  know,  of  course, 
before  you  pass  that  in  a  formal  way.  I  will  just  tell  you 
now  what  this  paper  is.  It  is  an  excellent  paper,  most  beau- 
tifully done  and  is  a  magnificent  piece  of  work: 

Whereas.  The  Foreign  members  of  the  Advisory  Board 
of  The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  were  invited  to 
the  annual  meeting  and  the  international  opening  of  said 
Museum,  and  to  make  a  tour  of  inspection  through  some  of 
the  largest  cities  of  the  United  States;  and. 

Whereas,  Said  members  have  received  the  most  cordial 
welcome,  kind  and  special  attentions  and  most  munificent 
hospitahty  in  this  country;  and. 

Whereas,  The  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the 
officers  of  The  Philadelphia  C'ommercial  Museum,  organized 
this  great  and  useful  institution  for  the  promotion  and  ex- 
tension of  commercial  relations,  and  at  whose  invitation  we 
met  here;  it  is  hereby 

Resolved,  That  our  wann  thanks  are  due  and  hereby  are 
tendered  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  William 
McKinley. 

Resolved,  That  we  are  grateful  to  the  Honorary  Diplo- 
matic Advisory  Board  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum. 

Resolved,  That  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  never  to  be 
forgotten,  to  the  cities  of  Philadelphia,  Washington,  Balti- 
more, New  York,  Brooklyn,  Jersey  City,  Newark.  Fall  River, 
Boston,  Lynn,  Providence,  Worcester,  Springfield.  Holyoke, 
Waltham,  New  Haven.  Pittsburg,  Dayton,  South  Bend,  De- 
troit, Grand  Rapids,  Jfilwaukee  and  Niagara  Falls,  and  to 
their  respective  mayors,  also  to  the  boards  of  trade,  cham- 
bers of  commerce,  trades  organizations,  and  universities,  to 
the  press,  the  societies  and  clubs,  to  the  manufacturers  and 
citizens,  to  the  Pennsylvania  and  other  railroad  companies, 
and  to  the  chairmen  and  members  of  all  reception  and  other 
committees. 

Resolved,  That  wo  express  with  indelible  words  our  deep 
gratitude  to  the  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the 
officers  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  who  so 
kindly  afforded  us  the  opportunity  of  enjoying  the  sights  of 
this  marvelous  country,  of  studying  their  boundless  resourcea 
and  at  the  same  time  of  receiving  the  most  exquisite  cour- 
tesies. 

That  was  signed  by  about  fifty  foreign  members  of  the 
Pan-American  Commercial  Congress  of  1897.  Now,  know- 
ing what  has  been  done,  you  are  asked  to  perpetuate  that  good 
work  on  this  occasion  by  giving  effect  to  the  following  reso- 
lutions which,  for  greater  accuracy,  I  will  read  to  you: 

Whereas,  The  foreign  delegates  to  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress  were  invited  by  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum  for  an  international  discussion;  and, 

Wliereas.  Said  members  have  received  the  most  cordial 
welcome,  kind  and  special  attentions,  and  most  munificent 
hospitality  in  this  country;  and, 

\\Tiereas,  The  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the 
officers  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  organized 
this  great  and  useful  institution  for  the  promotion  and  ex- 
tension of  commercial  relations;  therefore,  be  it  hereby 

Resolved,  That  our  warm  thanks  are  due  and  are  liereby 
tendered  to  Director  William  P.  Wilson  and  the  officials  of 
the  Museum; 

Resolved,  That  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  the  President 
of  the  Unitwl  States,  the  City  of  Pliiladelpliia  and  its  Mayor, 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  and  its  (iovernor,  state  and  city 
officials,  railway  companies,  manufacturing  and  commercial 
firms,  trade  organizations,  institutions  of  learning,  societies 
and  clubs,  and  to  the  chairmen  and  committees  of  the  Con- 
gress; and 

Resolved,  That  copies  of  these  resolutions  be  transmitted 
to  the  Museum,  and  to  all  those  to  whom  we  are  indebted; 


SEVENTEENTH  DAY'S  SESSION,  NOVEMBER  1,  1899 


846 


also  to  all  the  foreign  and  domestic  delegates  to  the  Interna- 
tional Commercial  Congress,  as  a  souvenir,  signed  by  all  the 
members. 

Is  there  any  person  in  this  room  who  desires  to  speak  on 
these  resolutions?  If  not,  as  they  are  so  expressive  of  them- 
selves, I  will  put  them  to  you  for  adoption. 

All  those  who  are  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  these  resolu- 
tions will  signify  in  the  usual  manner — on  the  contrary — it  is 
carried  unanimously.     (Applause.) 

On  motion  of  Mr.  Emil  S.  Fischer,  the  following  commit- 
tee was  appointed  to  take  in  charge  the  above  resolution,  and 
send  it  as  a  souvenir  to  the  members  of  the  Congress:  Sir 
Horace  Tozer,  Chainuan;  Mr.  Albert  Lucas,  Mr.  Emil  S. 
Fischer,  Mr.  Alfred  J.  Ostheimer,  Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da 
Graga,  Mr.  Prudencio  de  Murguiondo,  Mr.  Nicanor  Bolet 
Peraza,  Dr.  Vosberg-Eekow,  Mr.  S.  Uchida,  and  Mr.  Chow 
Tsz-Chi. 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

The  next  business  to  bring  forward  is  the  further  con- 
sideration of  the  resolutions  which  have  been  considered  by 
the  Sub-Committee.  I  will,  therefore,  ask  the  Chairman  of 
the  Sub-Committee  to  bring  forward  the  resolutions  which 
they  have  had  under  consideration.  Is  Mr.  Henry  Sell  in 
this  room? 

Mr.  Henry  Sell: 
I  am  here,  sir. 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

Are  you  ready  now  to  present  the  resolutions  agreed  to  by 
your  Committee?  i 

Mr.  Henry  Sell: 

I  am,  Mr.  Chairman.  I  will  ask  the  Secretary  to  read  the 
resolutions. 


Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

I  will  put  these  resolutions  separately.  Of  course  the 
Congress  is  sitting  as  a  Committee  of  the  Whole  and  the 
resolutions  are  brought  before  you  and  it  is  for  you  practi- 
cally to  affirm  them  by  your  vote. 

I  will  put  the  first  resolution  offered  by  the  committee.  It 
is  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
gathered  in  solemn  assembly  in  Philadelphia,  recommends  to 
all  governments  of  the  world  the  free  exchange  of  art  and 
artistic  works,  considering  such  an  exchange  as  a  means  of 
civilization,  instruction  and  refinement  of  the  people. 

(Tlie  question  being  on  the  resolution,  it  was  unanimously 
adopted.) 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

The  second  and  last  resolution  is  this: 

Whereas,  The  present  condition  of  freight  rates  on  inter- 
national transportation  lines  shows  in  many  places  a  press- 
ing need  for  extension  in  the  foreign  shipping  of  the  world; 
and. 

Whereas,  There  is  an  evident  willingness  on  the  part  of 
certain  nations  to  encourage  such  extensions  in  shipping  by 
favorable  legislation;  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  attention  of  capital  be  drawn  to  this 
opportunity  in  the  hope  that  by  the  formation  of  new  lines, 
such  dispositions  will  be  made  as  will  result  in  general  ad- 
vantage to  the  world's  commerce. 

(The  question  being  on  the  adoption  of  the  resolution,  it 
was  agreed  to  and  unanimously  adopted.) 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

A  letter  has  been  sent  to  the  Congress  by  mail,  which  I 
think  should  be  read  from  the  Chair.     It  is  as  follows: 

Office  of  the  Mayor, 


Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

The  Secretary  ^vill  read  the  resolutions. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Schoff: 

The  Sub-Committee  on  Resolutions  has  to  report  the 
following  action  taken  at  its  session  this  morning: 

The  resolution  offered  to  the  Congress  by  Professor  Mario 
Salvini  is  presented  to  the  Congress  with  this  recommenda- 
tion, that  it  pass  the  Congress  in  its  present  form,  as  follows: 

Resolved,  That  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
gathered  in  solemn  assembly  in  Philadelphia,  recommends  to 
all  governments  of  the  world  the  free  exchange  of  art  and 
artistic  works,  considering  such  an  exchange  as  a  means  of 
civilization,  instruction  and  refinement  of  the  people. 

The  resolution  offered  to  the  Congress  by  Captain  J.  Cor- 
deiro da  Graga,  delegate  from  Brazil,  has  had  the  considera- 
tion of  the  committee,  and  is  offered  to  the  Congress  with 
the  recommendation  that  it  pass  in  an  amended  form  as 
follows: 

Whereas,  The  present  condition  of  freight  rates  on  inter- 
national transportation  lines  shows  in  many  places  a  pressing 
need  for  extension  in  the  foreign  shipping  of  the  world;  and, 

Whereas,  There  is  an  evident  willingness  on  the  part  of 
certain  nations  to  encourage  such  extensions  in  shipping  by 
favorable  legislation:  therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  attention  of  capital  be  drawn  to  this 
opportunity  in  the  hope  that  by  the  formation  of  new  lines, 
such  dispositions  will  be  made  as  will  result  in  general  advan- 
tage to  the  world's  commerce. 

Your  committee  has  the  honor  to  present  its  report  to  the 
Congress. 


Philadelphia,  November  1st. 

Dr.  William  P.  Wilson,  Commercial  Museum,  233  South 
Fourth  Street. 
Dear  Sir: — The  Mayor  directs  me  to  say  that  he  will  be 
unable,  owing  to  other  engagements  this  morning,  to  be  pres- 
ent at  the  closing  session  of  the  International  Commercial 
Congress.  He  sends  his  compliments  to  the  delegates,  and 
hopes  their  deliberations  have  been  found  to  be  pleasant  and 
profitable.     Very  truly  yours, 

(Signed)    J.  Hampton  Moore,  Secretary. 

The  letter  wi.l  be  incorporated  in  the  proceedings.  Now 
the  only  remaining  business  is  the  closing  of  the  session  of 
the  Congress.  I  think  that  can  be  more  appropriately  done 
by  a  few  concluding  observations  from  Director  W.  P.  Wil- 
son. 

Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson: 

In  the  closing  and  summing  up  of  such  a  Congress  as  we 
have  held  here  for  the  past  two  and  a  half  weeks,  there 
might  be  much  said  in  many  directions,  but  I  have  felt  that 
only  a  brief  word  should  be  offered.  We  have  come  together, 
we  have  become  friends.  Many  of  you  may  never  have 
visited  the  United  States  before;  you  came  with  a  pleasant 
object  in  view,  not  knowing  just  what  you  might  meet. 
You  have  learned  many  things,  perhaps,  of  the  United  States; 
you  have  learned  our  peculiarities,  you  have  learned  in 
many  ways,  you  who  represent  industrial  and  manufactur- 
ing nations,  what  we  need  here,  and  what  sort  of  interests 
we  have  here,  and  you  have  no  doubt    thought,  in    many 


346 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


ways,  how  you  could  further  those  interests,  that  is,  how 
you  could  extend  your  own  trade  with  this  country.  No 
matter  what  you  may  have  thought  on  your  way  to  the 
United  States  to  attend  this  International  Commercial  Con- 
oress,  and  it  may  have  been  in  your  minds  that  this  Con- 
gress'was  called  together  to  serve  alone  the  interests  of  the 
manufacturers  and  tradesmen  and  merchants  of  the  United 
States,  although  I  do  not  believe  it;  yet  you  have  come  here, 
and  I  believe  you  have  found  everywhere,  in  the  Congress  and 
out  of  the  Congress,  a  spirit  indicating  that  substantial  and 
lasting  commerce  can  only  proceed  between  the  nations  of  the 
earth  when  there  is  true  and  proper  reciprocity  between  those 
nations.    (Applause.) 

We  do  not  expect  that  the  great  trading  ships  which  go 
between  the  nations  of  the  earth  can  carry  the  products  of 
any  one  given  country  one  way  only.  The  great  ships  which 
carry  the  trade  of  the  world  must  go  laden  both  ways  (ap- 
plause), and  it  must  be  our  study  here,  and  it  is  our  study 
in  this  institution  to-day,  not  only  to  find  out  what  we  can 
take  in  return  to  your  advantage,  but  what  we  can  take  in 
return  from  you  to  our  mutual  advantage.  (Cries  of  "Hear, 
hear,"  and  applause.) 

This  work  began  first,  as  perhaps  all  similar  ideas  have 
begun,  on  a  smaller  scale  than  it  has  now  grown  to  be.  The 
first  Congress,  held  in  1897,  embraced  only  the  Latin- 
American  countries,  although  the  idea  was  then  just  as  broad 
as  it  is  now. 

I  believe,  then,  that  in  the  sincerest  and  most  friendly 
way  and  spirit  you  will  now  part  from  us,  having  seen  what 
we  are  doing  and  what  we  are  thinking;  having  made  the 
acquaintance  of  the  United  States;  having  taken  in  our 
many  faults,  for  we  have  plenty  of  them,  and  having  found 
some  of  the  good  points — for  every  nation  possesses  more  or 
less  of  both — and  that  you  will  take  away  and  maintain  that 
spirit  of  friendship,  which,  as  has  been  said  before,  must 
be  the  basis  of  all  our  future  trade  relations.     (Applause.) 

I,  therefore,  thank  you  for  your  attendance;  and  I  know 
full  well  how  many  of  you  have  put  aside  most  important 
business  that  cliiimed  your  every  moment's  attention  and 
have  traveled  thousands  of  miles  to  attend  this  Congress. 
We,  here,  appreciate  fully  the  time  that  you  have  freely 
given.  We  only  hope  that  the  growth  of  this  spirit  and  the 
thought  which  has  been  stimulated  here  may  be  commen- 
surate in  the  future  with  the  time  and  energy  which  you 
have  spent  to  come  to  this  Congress,  and  that,  if  not  now, 
yet  in  the  future,  at  some  time  you  may  be  fully  repaid  for 
your  efforts. 

In  dismissing  this  first  great  International  Congress,  I 
only  wish  to  express  the  hope  that  in  the  future,  by  constant 
correspondence,  intercourse  and  business  relations,  the  bonds 
which  we  have  all  cemented  here  may  become  stronger  and 
stronger. 

I  do  not  wish  to  say  good-bye,  but,  as  the  Germans  say — 
and  I  think  it  is  a  very  expressive  sentence — Auf  Wieder- 
sehen!     (Applause.) 


A  Delegate: 

Before  we  adjourn  I  wish  to  offer  a  resolution  expressing 
the  thanks  of  the  Congress  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions 
for  the  careful  and  considerate  manner  in  which  they  have 
performed  their  duties. 

Mr.  Henry  Sell: 

With  your  permission,  while  you  are  entertaining  that 
resolution,  I  think  some  expression  of  our  feelings  and  a 
vote  of  thanks  should  be  tendered  to  Dr.  Wilson. 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

There  is  a  resolution  we  have  not  acted  upon  yet,  that 
takes  precedence  of  yours.    The  resolution  is: 

Resolved,  That  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  be  tendered  to 
the  gentlemen  acting  on  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

(The  question  being  on  the  adoption  of  this  resolution,  it 
was  agreed  to  and  adopted  unanimously.) 

Mr.  Henry  Sell: 

I  wish  to  add  to  the  kind  words  for  Dr.  Wilson,  expressed 
by  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  and  in  rising  I  heartily  endorse  every 
word  that  has  been  said;  but  I  think  the  various  gentlemen 
who  so  ably  assisted  him  in  the  entertainment  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Congress  should  also  be  thanked.  I  would  there- 
fore include  Mr.  William  Harper,  Mr.  E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Mr. 
Wilfred  H.  Schoff,  Dr.  Gustavo  Niederlein,  Mr.  C.  A.  Green, 
Mr.  Dudley  Bartlett,  Mr.  J.  J.  Macfarlane,  Mr.  H.  S.  Morri- 
son, Mr.  Charles  P.  King,  Mr.  William  Mill  Butler,  and 
others,  who  have  given  us  their  constant  attention,  early  and 
late,  and  have  always  been  ready  to  take  us  anj^vhere  and 
to  get  us  anything  we  wanted,  and  have  in  that  way  sup- 
ported us  most  efficiently.  I  move  that  a  vote  of  thanks  be 
placed  on  record. 

(Mr.  Henry  Sell  then  put  the  motion,  and  it  was  agreed  to 
unanimously.) 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

I  think  that  everything  is  finished — I  think  nothing  has 
been  omitted. 

Mr.  Henry  Sell: 

While  I  am  on  my  feet  I  will  say  let  us  give  three  hearty 
cheers  for  Dr.  Wilson  and  go  and  shake  hands  with  him, 
every  one  of  us. 

Sir  Horace  Tozer: 

The  business  of  this  session  having  been  concluded,  I  now 
declare  this  Congress  closed. 

(The  Congress  then  adjourned,  sine  die,  at  12  o'clock.) 


PAPERS    SUBMITTED 


TO 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


BY 


DELEGATES  AND   OTHERS. 


Canadian  Trade  with  the  United  States. 

P.  G.  Van  Vleet  (Delegate  from  the  Canadian  Manufacturers' 

Association) : 

In  connection  with  the  various  papers  presented  during 
the  opening  days  of  this  Congi-ess  by  my  worthy  colleagues 
from  Canada  representing  the  various  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce, Boards  of  Trade,  and  especially  the  able  paper  read 
by  the  Hon.  R.  R.  Dobell  (which  I  hope  each  delegate,  and 
all  others  interested  in  commerce,  may  read  carefully),  I 
wish  at  this  time  to  draw  your  attention,  and  more  particu- 
larly those  of  the  American  delegates,  to  the  fact  that  Canada 
does  not  require  special  packing  for  goods  exported  to  her 
buyers,  as  is  required  by  so  many  foreign  countries.  Also, 
that  Canada  does  not  require  especially  prepared  catalogues 
to  advance  your  interests  with  her  buyers,  and  that  the  same 
stamp  placed  on  your  letter  carries  it  to  any  part  of  our 
Dominion,  exactly  the  same  as  to  any  -of  your  States. 

Touching  upon  the  subject  of  the  volume  of  trade,  it  has 
been  shown  by  the  very  able  papers  of  both  the  delegates  of 
Costa  Rica  and  Mexico  that  the  average  amount  of  goods  pur- 
chased from  the  United  States  by  all  the  Latin-speaking  or 
South  American  countries,  including  Mexico,  is  about  $1.40 
per  capita  of  their  population;  yet  Canada,  your  only  neigh- 
bor on  the  North,  buys  of  you  over  $15.40  per  capita  of  her 
population. 

The  amount  of  her  purchases  of  manufactured  goods  from 
the  United  States  for  the  last  fiscal  year  exceeded  83  millions 
of  dollars. 

The  honorable  presiding  officer  for  Pan-AmericaJi  Day, 
Mr.  Henry  W.  Peabody  (I  believe),  termed  us  "Brothers  of 
the  United  States."  Are  we  not  more  than  that?  We  are  not 
only  brothers  but  we  are  the  best  customers  you  have  to-day 
for  your  manufactured  products;  and  in  the  future  you  cer- 
tainly will  'have  to  look  to  us  for  a  vast  amount  of  raw  ma- 
terial to  supply  the  demands  of  your  factories,  consisting  of 
copper,  nickel,  iron  and  wood  products,  of  which  we  do  not 
know  how  much  we  have,  as  only  a  small  partion  of  our  re- 
sources have  been  tabulated — and  in  this  connection,  it  may 
be  as  well  to  remark  that  this  must  ultimately  lead  to 
reciprocity. 

To  quote  from  one  of  the  best  American  authorities  on  this 
subject,  the  Hon.  Mr.  Howes,  of  Boston: 

"Canada  with  a  population  of  5,500,000  is  more  nearly  Uke 
ourselves  than  any  other  country  in  the  world.  It  is  our  best 
purchaser.  Yearly  they  buy  of  us  more  than  $80,000,000 
worth  of  goods.  It  will  be  nearer  $90,000,000  than  $80,000,- 
000  this  year.  This  represents  $15.15  per  capita.  Our  sales 
in  England  represent  $12.50  per  capita;  Germany,  $1.90; 
France,  $1.35;  Mexico,  $1,75;  Venezuela,  $1.50;  Argentine 
Republic,  $1.30;  Brazil,  80  cents,  and  for  the  whole  of  South 
America  about  $1  per  capita.     We  sold  to  Canada  last  year 


more  goods  than  to  the  sixty  odd  millions  of  people  in  all 
South  America  and  Mexico." 

But  on  the  other  hand: 

"Canadian  sales  in  the  United  States  amount  yearly  to 
about  $30,000,000,  or  about  $50,000,000  less  than  our  own 
sales  in  Canada.  Their  sales  are  mostly  of  lumber,  ores,  and 
coal,  while  ours  are  of  the  manufactured  products  of  this 
country.  There  is  nothing  more  beneficial  for  a  coimti7  to 
export  than  just  such  articles.  Their  goods  represent 
the  least  amount  of  labor,  ours  the  greatest.  While 
our  exports  to  Canada  have  increased  in  value  from  $40,000,- 
000  to  more  than  $80,000,000  in  the  past  25  years,  England's 
have  fallen  from  $70,000,000  to  $30,000,000  in  the  same 
time." 

We  purchase  $90,000,000  worth  of  manufactured  products 
from  the  United  States,  and  sell  $30,000,000  worth  of  raw 
materials  to  that  country. 

And  the  diiference  is  getting  more  marked  every  day. 

Gentlemen,  only  one  question — ^is  not  the  trade  of  Canada 
worth  your  while  to  cultivate,  investigate  and  increase,  if  pos- 
sible f 

The  Hon.  Mr.  Johnston,  in  his  remarks  to  you  regarding 
Jamaica,  said:  "From  Philadelphia  to  Jamaica  and  return  is 
only  $75.00;"  we  can  say  to  you,  "Canada  and  its  commercial 
metropolis  of  Toronto  costs  you  only  about  one-third  of  that 
amount." 

In  conclusion,  allow  me  to  state  that  I  stand  ready  at  any 
time  to  freely  and  gladly  answer  any  personal  communications 
and  furnish  any  information  possible  concerning  Canada,  her 
requirements  and  resources,  which  you  may  wish  to  address  to 
me.  I  extend  my  most  sincere  and  heartfelt  thanks  to  Dr. 
WOson  and  Iris  able  confreres  and  colleagues  who  have  made 
it  possible  for  us  to  meet  in  this  conference,  bringing  about, 
as  it  will,  such  valuable  residts  to  the  commerce  of  the  future; 
and  also  to  all  of  those — especially  the  Mayor  and  other  offi- 
cials of  the  City  of  Philadelphia — who  have  entertained  us  so 
bountifully  in  this  City  of  Brotherly  Love. 


Effect  of  Brigandage  Upon  Business  in  Southern 
China. 

Mr.  Fritz  A.  BrocJcelmann  (Delegate  from  Canton): 

Permit  me  to  offer  a  few  remarks  on  a  matter  which  is  inter- 
fering very  much  with  business  in  the  South  of  China.  I 
refer  to  the  constantly  growing  brigandage  in  the  two  prov- 
inces, Kwangtung  and  Kwangsi,  both  west  of  Hong  Kong  and 
Canton. 

During  the  early  part  of  my  sixteen  years'  stay  in  Canton, 
traveling  and  the  conveyance  of  merchandise  by  land  or  water 
through  these  two  provinces  were  comparatively  safe.  The 
instances  when  Chinese  boats  or  travelers  were  attacked  oc- 


347 


348 


PROCEKDIN(?S  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


curnMl  hut  rarely,  and  wlii'ii  il  ilid  hapjiuii,  the  Cliiuese  pro- 
vincial authorities  were  linn  and  strong  enough  to  prosecute 
and  severely  punisli  the  malefactore. 

The  change  caine  at  the  end  of  the  Chinese-Japanese  war, 
in  1895,  and,  since  then,  things  have  grown  from  bad  to  worse, 
so  that  now  hardly  a  day  passes  but  some  new  cases  of  robbery 
are  chronicled  in  the  Hong  Kong  papers. 

The  original  germ  for  this  brigandage  is  supposed  to  have 
been  planted  by  disbanded  and  dissatisfied  soldiers  from  the 
war.  It  is  difficult,  to-day,  to  ascertain  the  correctness  of  this 
accepted  view,  but  for  the  cause  of  its  continuation  and  con- 
stant growth  I  look  in  quite  anotlior  direction.  I  attribute 
the  outrages: 

First.  Chiefly  to  the  weakness,  want  of  energy  and  ill-will 
to  suppress  this  nefarious  business  on  the  part  of  the  local  and 
provincial  authorities. 

Second.  To  the  fact  that  the  latter  in  many  cases  claim  to 
have  screened,  yes,  even  for  mercenary  reasons  connived  with, 
the  robbers. 

Third.  To  the  fact  that  the  robber  and  pirate  bands  recruit 
themselves  to  a  large  extent  from  the  country  population, 
which  is  made  desperate  by  the  oppression  and  extortion  of 
the  authorities. 

Fourth.  The  fact  that  the  copper  cash,  which  is  the  only 
monetary  commodity  throughout  China,  has  in  sympathy  with 
copper  lately  risen  considerably;  that  the  advance  in  wages 
and  the  value  of  products  did  not  correspond  originally  to 
that  of  the  cash,  causing  a  great  deal  of  misery  and  dis- 
satisfaction among  the  poorer  country  people,  who  have  now 
joined  the  brigands  and  pirates  in  large  numbers,  to  earn  a 
livelihood.  This  latter  reason  I  believe  will  slowly,  but  surely 
right  itself  before  long.  But  as  for  the  other  eaiises,  I  see 
no  radical  alleviation  from  the  present  intolerable  state  of 
affairs,  until  the  large  powers  interested  in  Cliina,  lodge  most 
energetic  and  united  protest  with  the  Canton  Viceroy,  or 
amongst  themselves  undertake  a  systematic  and  strong  patrol 
of  the  Canton  river  and  its  wide  delta. 

Great  Britain,  in  its  usual  progressive  and  energetic  man- 
ner, has  sent  three  gun-boats  on  the  river  to  begin  this 
cleansing  work.  But  I  am  afraid  these  three  boats  will  be 
insufficient,  as  the  area  to  be  covered  is  very  large,  and  inter- 
sected by  innumerable  rivers,  creeks  and  canals. 

From  1896  to  1398,  attacks  were  directed  against  Chinese 
passenger  junks  and  steam  launches  only,  and  interfered  but 
little  with  the  foreigner  and  his  trade.  Of  late,  however,  the 
pirates  have  become  so  bold,  owing  doubtlessly  to  the  fact 
that  they  had  generally  evaded  the  attempts  of  the  Chinese 
police  to  catch  them,  that  this  year  they  made  quite  a  number 
of  attacks  on  launches  and  small  steamers  flying  foreign  flags. 

And  thus  not  only  the  Chinese  passenger  traffic  but  the 
transportation  of  merchandise, — both  imports  to,  and  ex- 
ports from  the  interior, — is  greatly  disturbed.  Boats  carrj'- 
ing  goods  are  held  up  continually  for  heavy  ransoms,  and 
unless  the  latter  are  paid  within  a  few  days,  the  merchandise 
is  carried  off. 

At  the  end  of  July,  the  Canton  Raw  Silk  Guild  informed 
foreign  exporters  that  they  were  unable  to  execute  pending 
contracts  on  time,  as  their  deliveries  from  the  producing  dis- 
tricts were  continually  interfered  with  by  pirates.  Other  ex- 
ports, such  as  matting,  fire-crackers,  silk  piece  goods,  spices 
and  tea,  are  suffering  in  the  same  manner.  In  import  goods, 
such  as  kerosene  oil,  cotton  piece  goods,  metals,  floair,  etc., 
the  distribution  among  the  consuming  country  population  is 
hampered  likewise,  and  in  consequence  the  warehouses  of  the 
foreign  importers  are  filled  up  to  the  roof  with  goods  imported 
on  Chinese  orders.  Our  losses  in  interest,  fire  in.surance  and 
trade  generally  are  immense.  Instead  of  seeing  the  business 
wholesomely  grow  with  the  much  ventilated  "Opening  of 
China,"  it  is  not  only  checked,  but  visibly  retrograding  in  all 


the  Southern  provinces.  The  natural  and  inevitable  result 
must  be,  that  Canton's  and  Hong-Kong's  trade  with  all  for- 
eign countries  will  seriously  suffer,  and  that  orders  for  foreign 
produce,  fabrics  and  other  industrial  products  will  consider- 
ably decrease. 

Freight  Tariffs  and  Transportation  Conveniences  on 
THE  Isthmus  of  Panama. 

Mr.  Gerardo  Lewis  (Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Panama,  Colombia): 

The  marvelous  success  achieved  by  The  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial ]\Iuseum  in  fostering  trade  between  the  United  States 
and  the  Latin-American  Republics  should  be  a  source  of 
legitimate  pride  to  the  promoters  and  associates  of  the 
Museum. 

Their  idea  has  been  carried  out  with  the  efficient  co-opera- 
tion of  skillful  officers  who  have  eaiTied  the  banner  of  the 
Museum  to  every  commercial  place  in  the  world.  North  and 
South,  East  and  West  of  the  United  States. 

The  plan  succeeded  wonderfully.  The  increase  of  expor- 
tations  during  the  last  two  years  is  a  visible  proof  of  the  good 
achievement.  I  am  quite  sure  that  through  the  efforts  of  the 
officers  of  the  Museum,  many  orders  formerly  sent  to  Europe 
found  their  way  to  the  United  States. 

Notwithstanding  this  flattering  result,  it  cannot  be  con- 
sidered that  the  work  is  complete.  There  are  yet  many 
stumbling  blocks  in  the  way  which  must  be  removed  ere  the 
United  States  can  boast  of  having  acquired  the  lion's  share  of 
trade  with  the  Latin-American  Republics. 

I  leave  other  topics  of  no  small  importance,  such  as  bank- 
ing facilities,  extension  of  credit,  etc.,  to  other  merchants 
more  conversant  with  those  matters,  and  I  will  only  allude  to 
freight  tariffs  and  transportation  conveniences,  subjects  more 
familiar  to  me  owing  to  the  nature  of  my  business. 

In  the  first  place,  I  advocate  that  new  lines  of  steamers  be- 
tween other  ports  of  the  United  States  and  Colon  should  be 
established.  The  monopoly  of  the  Panama  Railroad  Co,'s  line 
and  as  a  natural  consequence,  the  high  rates  we  have  to  pay, 
drives  out  of  our  market  articles  which  can  be  imported  from 
Europe  on  more  favorable  conditions. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  things  stand  at  present,  all  our  sup- 
plies, except  flour  and  canned  goods  from  California,  are 
necessarily  shipped  at  New  York,  and  goods  manufactured  at 
places  distant  from  said  poii  are  subject  to  railroad  and 
steamer's  freights,  which  in  some  instances  increase  prices  to 
such  an  extent  as  to  put  them  out  of  the  trade. 

There  is  yet  a  greater  evil  derived  from  the  present  state 
of  affairs,  which  gives  an  advantage  to  European  over  Ameri- 
can goods,  shipped  on  American  vessels  and  transported  over 
an  American  railroad.  As  the  steamship  line  and  the  railroad 
belong  to  the  same  company,  and  they  have  no  competition 
at  present,  although  they  make  all  kinds  of  concessions  on 
their  tariffs  wherever  they  fear  competition,  we  are  bur- 
dened with  heavy  original  tariffs.  The  result  is,  that  we  can 
obtain  lower  rates  from  Europe  than  from  New  York.  It  is 
very  remarkable  that  merchants  residing  in  ports  on  the  west 
coast  of  Central  and  South  America  have  to  pay  less  freight  on 
their  wares  received  through  the  Isthmus  than  what  we  pay, 
although  we  are  so  much  nearer  the  port  of  shipment. 

I  do  not  wish  to  throw  any  blame  upon  the  Panama  Rail- 
road Company,  or  its  officers,  for  this  state  of  things,  be- 
cause I  know  that  there  is  no  sentiment  in  business  and 
they  act  as  they  think  best  for  the  interests  of  their  company. 
I  further  understand  that  the  rates  from  Europe  are  fixed  by 
the  steamship  coni])anie.<  without  the  interference  of  the 
Panama  Railroad  Co.,  which  receives  a  percentage  of  the 
freiglit   agreed   u|i(iii  by  existing    contracts.      My    desire    is 


PAPERS  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  A.\D  OTHERS 


349 


simply  to  report  the  facts  and  seek  a  remedy  for  the  evil  if 
possible. 

Before  finishing,  I  again  wish  to  recommend  the  establish- 
ment of  a  sample  warehouse  in  Panama.  It  is  needless  to 
dwell  on  the  importance  of  such  an  exhibition  in  a  place  like 
Panama,  wMch  is  right  in  the  way  of  travelers  from  Central 
and  South  America  bound  for  Europe,  who  might  change 
their  course  if,  during  their  sojourn  on  the  Isthmus,  they  had 
a  chance  to  examine  samples  and  quotations  of  American 
goods  and  become  aware  that  they  can  do  better  by  making 
their  purchases  in  the  United  States.  I  suggested  this  plan 
to  the  Commercial  Congress  in  1897,  but  little  or  nothing  has 
been  done  in  this  respect  so  far.  Quick  and  energetic  action 
should  be  taken  in  this  connection  as  early  as  practicable. 

Tkade  Relations  Between  Panama  and  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Felix  Ehrman  (Delegate  from  Panama): 

The  invitation  extended  by  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum  to  the  merchants  of  the  Latin-American  Republics 
in  May,  1897,  is  beginning  to  show  its  favorable  results  on 
the  industries  of  North  America.  Every  one  of  the  gentle- 
men who  were  so  splendidly  entertained  by  the  hospitable 
city  of  Philadelphia  and  other  indu.-^trial  centers  they  had 
occasion  to  visit,  has  become,  out  of  gratitude  as  well  as  from 
admiration,  a  promoter  in  the  development  of  this  American 
people,  the  first  of  all  America  in  advancement  and  in  the 
contest  for  success. 

The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  gathering  under  its 
able  management  the  resources  of  an  entire  continent,  has 
offered  to  these  growing  Republics  what  they  require  most 
of  all, — a  nucleus  of  progress,  and  a  school  where  the  first 
steps  were  taken  towards  attaining  the  aims  of  civilization. 

The  relations  which  were  established  by  the  South  Ameri- 
can delegates  and  the  propaganda  they  carried  on  in  their 
intercourse  with  the  United  States  were  to  secure  for  its 
products  the  supremacy  in  the  markets  of  the  Latin-American 
Continent.  This  supremacy  is  established  upon  a  very  solid 
basis,  for  the  United  States  is  the  manufacturing  country 
which  is  nearest  to  us  and  the  place  where  we  would  naturally 
go  to  procure  all  that  is  required  in  our  territories. 

In  order  to  aid  the  good  work  of  the  delegates,  the  favor- 
able geographical  position  of  this  great  Republic  relative  to 
our  countries  will  not  be  sufficient,  and  it  is  necessary  for  the 
coimtry  which  receives  the  greatest  benefit,  to  extend  to  us 
its  co-operation  and  thus  efficiently  assist  the  efforts  of  those 
who  open  splendid  and  desirable  markets  to  its  goods.  By 
so  doing  it  will  work  in  its  own  interests. 

It  is,  therefore,  first  of  all,  necessary  for  the  United  States 
to  use  its  influence  in  securing  such  low  rates  of  transporta- 
tion for  its  products,  as  will  permit  our  merchants  to  enter 
into  competition  with  those  who  buy  their  goods  in  Europe. 
The  European  steamship  lines  offer  advantages  which  have 
the  eft'ect  of  making  English  and  German  goods,  the  original 
prices  of  which  are  much  higher  than  corresponding  Ameri- 
can articles,  much  cheaper  upon  their  arrival  at  our  ports. 

People  on  the  Pacific  coast  have  to  use  the  Panama  Rail- 
road principally,  because  this  line  is  the  only  direct  one  from 
New  York  to  Colon.  This  line,  however,  which  should  be 
a  great  means  of  communication  and  civilization  to  these  re- 
publics, and  a  source  of  considerable  profit  to  the  American 
manufacturers,  has  become  a  very  great  obstacle  to  the  trade 
of  countries  along  the  coast-line  and  an  insurmoimtable  one 
to  local  commerce,  for  its  charges  are  sn  high,  that  even  the 
greatest  admirer  of  American  products  finds  himself  obliged 
to  get  his  supplies  from  European  markets  ou  account  of  the 
circumstances  stated  above. 


We  will  not  say  anything  about  certain  peculiar  points  in 
the  manufacture  of  some  special  articles,  it  is  not  worth  while 
to  mention  them.  How  did  the  English  people  manage  to  get 
a  hold  on  our  markets  for  the  exportation  of  certain  goods? 
They  have  studied,  almost  without  any  assistance  whatever, 
the  requirements  and  tastes  of  the  different  markets  of  our 
locality.  This  study  should  be  a  very  easy  one  for  the  Ameri- 
can nianufacturer,  who  may  coimt  upon  the  valuable  co- 
Dperatinn  of  the  delegates  who  are  always  ready  to  point  out 
to  him  the  l)est  way  to  succeed. 

It  will  be  fully  demonstrated  by  one  of  the  members  of  this 
Congress,  that  the  final  supremacy  of  American  goods  in 
these  republics  depends  entirely  and  exclusively  on  ocean 
freight  rates,  for  any  difference  existing  in  the  original  prices 
will  soon  disappear. 

The  Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia,  has,  by  the  in- 
auguration of  this  Exposition,  taken  a  gigantic  step  in  the 
direction  of  making  American  products  kno^vn  and  popular, 
and  the  Ijenefits  that  will  be  derived  from  this  enterprise 
(which  might  well  be  called  the  embodiment  of  progress)  will 
not  be  long  in  making  themselves  felt.  Nevertheless,  its 
efforts  should  not  be  limited  to  the  sphere  of  the  National 
Export  Exjiosition,  but  its  resources  shoidd  extend  beyond  the 
limits  of  "home."'  This  institution,  equalled  by  very  few  in 
the  world,  has  at  its  disposal  powerful  factors  by  which  Amer- 
ican manufacturers  might  be  induced  to  establish  partial  ex- 
hibits of  their  products  in  certain  countries. 

Here  are  the  reasons  which  lead  me  to  express  my  ideas  on 
this  subject: 

The  American  manufacturers  confine  themselves  to  sending 
to  these  countries  more  or  less  showily  illustrated  catalogues, 
whereas  the  European  business  man  sends  numerous  agents, 
who  invade  our  continent  and  bring  with  them  the  most  com- 
plete collection  of  samples  imaginable  of  the  goods  in  which 
they  are  interested,  establishing  at  every  city  wliich  they  visit 
an  exhibition  of  articles  which  is  attended  by  the  merchants 
of  that  place,  who  buy  goods  that  are,  perhaps,  inferior  to 
American  goods,  but  which  they  have  been  able  to  examine 
instead  of  seeing  tliem  only  in  illustrations. 

It  is  a  difficult  matter  to  choose  the  right  place  in  which 
to  establish  these  exhibitions,  but  I  beg  to  point  to  Panama  as 
Ijeing  beyond  doubt  the  most  favorable  on  the  American  con- 
tinent for  this  purpose. 

Panama  is  the  starting  point  for  all  traffic  between  the 
Pacific  coast  and  Europe.  The  business  men  of  the  terri- 
tories situated  between  Mexico  and  Patagonia  go  to  Europe 
every  two  or  three  years  in  order  to  make  their  purchases,  and 
they  generally  stay  here  several  days  waiting  for  the  steamer 
by  which  they  can  continue  their  voj^age.  If  a  permanent 
exhibition  were  established  here,  these  merchants  would  spend 
many  hours  examining  the  products  exliibited  and  comparing 
them  with  those  which  they  receive  from  Europe,  and  with- 
out doubt,  they  would  make  the  trip  via  New  York  with  the 
view  of  obtaining  greater  advantages  there  than  in  the  Euro- 
pean markets.  Moreover,  a  merchant  who  can  afford  to  wait 
patiently  for  many  years  for  the  opportunity  of  making  a 
jirofitable  trip,  will  not  hesitate  to  come  to  Panama  twice  a 
year,  if  he  can  obtain  at  a  small  cost,  the  latest  and  best 
articles  manufactured. 

These  expositions  should  be  under  the  immediate  control  of 
the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  or  in  the  hands  of 
honest  and  capable  business  men  which  would  not  make  the 
enterprise  a  subject  for  speculation. 

As  it  may  be  of  interest  to  American  industry,  I  will  make 
here  an  observation  made  by  some  important  merchants  con- 
cerning the  small  sale  of  American  textiles  in  their  locality. 
They  say,  the  reason  is,  the  American  manufacturer  does  not 
make  them  of  the  width  required,  while  the  European  makes 
them  according  to  demands. 


350 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


I  will  forbear  from  making  tlie  slightest  allusion  to  the 
Panama  CanaJ,  as  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has 
appointed  a  commission  of  highly  competent  engineers  of 
world-wide  reputation  to  examine  the  Isthmian  Canal,  and 
these  gentlemen,  in  view  of  the  progress  made  in  this  gigantic 
work,  will  surel)'  come  to  the  decision  that  tliis  is  the  most 
advantageous  route  to  take,  and  that  it  deserves  the  moral  and 
material  support  of  all  thinking  people  in  America,  being  the 
one  which  before  all  others  appeals  to  American  interests. 
In  a  word,  the  Panama  Canal  will  be  the  highway  of  Ameri- 
can commerce. 

Notes  on  the  Commercial  Relations  of  Guatemala  with 
THE  United  States  of  America. 

A.  Lazo  Arriaga  (Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipo- 
tentiary of  Guatemala  and  its  Official  Delegate): 

To-day  it  is  a  universally  recognized  fact  that  nothing 
brings  two  peoples  together  like  the  community  of  interest 
born  of  the  interchange  of  their  products,  of  the  ease  and 
cheapness  of  their  communications,  and,  in  a  word,  of  the 
expansion  or  development  of  their  commercial  relations. 

From  this  point,  as  well  as  from  other  points  of  view,  it 
may  be  asserted  that  the  bonds  existing  between  Central 
America  and  the  United  States  of  America — already  strong 
by  reasons  of  proximity,  of  analogy  in  their  political  institu- 
tions, and  of  a  never-interrupted  good  understanding — tend 
to  become  closer  daily,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  increasing  figures 
of  their  import  and  export  trade. 

In  this  growing  exchange  of  the  fruits  accruing  from  ac- 
tivity and  labor  of  the  nations  of  the  Isthmus  with  the  elder 
sister  of  the  continent,  that  of  Guatemala  occupies  no  mean 
place. 

It  is  not  so  many  years  since  the  United  States  occupied 
the  fifth  place  among  the  countries  from  which  nearly  all  our 
importations  proceeded.  Since  then,  slowly  at  first,  with 
greater  rapidity  later,  but  with  steadiness  ever,  the  North 
American  manufacturer  and  farmer  have  been  conquering, 
inch  by  inch,  the  field  which  powerful  and  previously  estab- 
lished rivals  disputed  in  our  markets. 

In  181)-1,  the  LTnitcd  States  had  already  reached  the  first 
place  among  the  countries  that  send  us  their  manufactures 
and  products,  securing  26  per  cent,  of  the  total  imports.  Great 
Britain  had  84  per  cent.,  and  Germany  13  per  cent. 

In  1895,  the  proportions  were  as  follows:  The  United 
States  36  per  cent..  Great  Britain  21  per  cent.,  and  Germany 
23  per  cent.  It  may  be  noticed  that  in  a  single  year  the 
German  and  North  American  imports  increased  10  per  cent., 
while  those  from  England  dropped  3  per  cent. 

In  1896,  the  German  and  North  American  imports  main- 
tained almost  the  same  proportion — the  former  being  22  per 
cent.,  the  latter  34  per  cent.  Those  from  Great  Britain  were 
23  per  cent. 

In  1897,  the  relative  position  of  these  countries  in  our  im- 
ports was  as  follows:  The  United  States  33  per  cent..  Great 
Britain  21  per  cent.,  and  Germany  21  per  cent.  I  should  note 
that  in  this  year  the  German  imjiortations  reached,  for  the 
first  time  in  our  commercial  history,  the  same  volume  as  the 
English.  This  demonstrates  that  not  only  the  North  Amer- 
ican competitor,  but  also  the  German,  is  little  by  little  dis- 
lodging the  English  manufacturer  from  our  market. 

The  figures  for  last  year,  1898,  confirm  the  statement  still 
better.  Great  Britain  only  figured  with  18  per  cent,  in  our 
imports,  while  Germany  went  up  to  24  per  cent.,  and  the 
United  States  to  39  per  cent.,  the  latter  country  leaving  its 
rivals  behind. 

The  commercial  position  of  the  United  States  in  Guate- 
mala is  already,  as  is  evident,  very  enviable;  and  nevertheless 


it  could  easily  be  improved  if  the  North  American  manu- 
facturer or  exporter  were  to  give  more  importance  to  the  fol- 
lowing considerations  which,  though  already  well  knowai,  will 
bear  repetition. 

1.  The  commodity  should  be  made,  not  according  to  the 
preconceived  idea  of  the  manufacturer,  but  to  meet  the  taste 
and  necessities  of  the  consumer.  Manufacturers  would  in- 
crease their  business  and  obtain  greater  profits  if  they  would 
send  experts  to  study  the  desires,  tastes,  needs,  and  even  the 
demands  of  the  consumer,  who  is,  when  everything  has  been 
said,  the  sovereign  judge  in  the  selection  of  the  article  he 
intends  to  buy. 

2.  Packing. — The  North  American  exporter  pays  little  or 
no  attention  to  this  matter,  which  is  of  great  importance 
to  the  Central  American  merchant.  Very  often  the  latter 
has  to  pay  customs  duties  on  the  gross  weight  of  an  article, 
and  on  this  account  the  weight  of  the  packing,  etc.,  becomes 
a  vital  question.  On  the  other  hand  everyone  knows  that 
while  European  merchandise  reaches  our  markets  in  a  per- 
fect condition,  owing  to  the  careful  way  in  which  it  is  packed 
and  shipped.  North  American  commodities  are  frequently  re- 
ceived there,  wliich  by  reason  of  poor  packing,  are  in  such  a 
condition  that  they  cause  losses  to  the  dealers.  The  efforts 
made  by  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  to  teach 
the  best  methods  of  preparing  and  shipping  articles  abroad 
are  very  laudable  and  a  step  in  the  right  direction. 

3.  Credits. — The  usual  practice  in  this  country  of  selling 
on  short  time  is  entirely  inapplicable  to  the  commercial  world 
of  Guatemala,  where  the  merchant  has  to  dispose  of  the  article 
by  extending  credit  to  his  patrons.  It  is  almost  impossible, 
then,  for  him  to  be  able  to  collect  within  the  proper  time  the 
necessary  funds  to  meet  his  obligations,  and  hence  he  finds 
himself  compelled  to  fail  in  them,  or  is  forced  to  give  the 
preference  to  European  merchandise,  which  is  sold  on  longer 
time  and  on  conditions  which  make  payments  easy. 

4.  Cheapness  of  Transportation. — One  of  the  great  obsta- 
cles to  the  expansion  of  North  American  commerce  is  the 
high,  almost  prohibitive,  freight  rates  which  for  many  years 
have  been  maintained  by  certain  transportation  companies, 
enjoying  the  privilege  of  a  veritable  monopoly  in  this  service. 
To  illustrate  this  point  I  shall  cite  a  case  which,  although  it 
seems  impossible,  is  not  therefore  less  true.  A  prominent  mer- 
chant in  New  York  said  to  me  some  time  ago,  that  the  freight 
rates  from  that  port  to  Colon  (Aspinwall),  are  so  high  that 
to  reduce  the  expenses  of  his  patron,  he  shipped  some  articles 
for  San  Jose  de  Guatemala,  by  way  of  Liverpool!  In  my 
opinion,  therefore,  the  establishment  of  new  lines  of  steamers, 
which  through  judicious  competition  would  reduce  the  rates 
to  rational  standards,  ought  to  be  favored. 

5.  Banking  Facilities. — This  is  a  point  which  has  greater 
influence  than  is  ordinarily  Ijelieved,  on  the  volume  of  inter- 
national commercial  transactions.  Treating  of  the  mercantile 
business  of  Guatemala  with  the  United  States,  the  question  is 
graver  still,  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  greater  part  of  our 
coffee — our  principal  article  of  export — is  sold  in  Germany 
and  England,  and  that,  consequently,  we  find  ourselves  com- 
pelled to  pay  for  the  North  American  articles  by  drafts  on 
Hamburg  or  London,  thus  giving  the  bankers  of  those  places 
a  profit  that  ought  to  go  to  the  North  Amei'fcans,  if  the 
United  States  would  furnish  us  the  same  banking  facilities. 

Many  other  useful  suggestions  might  be  made  on  these 
premises,  but  I  will  omit  them  so  as  not  to  make  this  paper 
too  long.  I  will  only  say  that  similar  ad^nce  has  Ix-cn  re- 
corded in  detail  in  iiumertnis  juililicatiims  of  an  ofHcial  or 
private  character,  and  repeated  in  the  periodical  which  serves 
as  the  organ  to  the  Association  of  Manufacturers  of  this 
country. 

l''onr  or  five  years  ago,  tlie  price  of  coll'ee  was  so  higli  that 
it   hrcuight  about  a  state   of  general   prosperity  in  Central 


PAPERS  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHERS 


851 


America  as  well  as  in  the  other  countries  producing  this  bean. 
Our  people  enjoyed  welfare  and  comforts  rarely  obtained: 
work  abounded;  the  soil  yielded  rich  harvests;  the  farmer 
added  to  his  lands;  the  merchant  imported  from  abroad  com- 
modities in  unusual  quantities;  the  yearly  amount  of  imports 
and  exports  was  doubled  and  even  trebled;  and,  in  a  word, 
commerce,  invigorated  by  a  flourishing  agriculture,  was  devel- 
oped ^dth  a  rapidity  not  seen  before. 

But  the  high  price  of  coffee  powerfully  stimulated  produc- 
tion, increasing  it  beyond  the  consumption  of  the  precious 
bean,  and  then  the  reaction  set  in,  affecting  the  volume  of 
the  mercantile  transactions  of  all  countries  in  which  coffee 
is  the  principal  article  of  export. 

Guatemala  was  not  an  exception,  and  her  commerce  in  the 
last  three  years  has  suffered  the  effects  of  the  depression  in 
the  coffee  market.  Eortnnately,  this  is  of  a  transient  char- 
acter, and  will  at  least  serve  to  teach  us  the  necessity  of  pos- 
sessing a  varied  production,  the  desire  for  which  is  already 
impelling  our  people  along  salutary  paths.  On  our  plantations, 
new  and  promising  cultivations  are  being  initiated,  such  as 
that  of  the  rubber  tree,  vanilla,  etc.,  and  more  care  is  given 
to  others  formerly  disregarded,  such  as  tobacco,  cacao,  ))an- 
anas  and  other  tropical  fruits. 

The  equilibrium  of  our  production  and  consumption,  mo- 
mentarily disturbed,  will  thus  be  re-established;  commercial 
operations  will  soon  recover,  as  I  hope,  their  habitual  activity, 
and  our  markets  will  continue  offering  to  the  Nortli  Ameri- 
can manufacturer  the  vast  field  presented  by  new  countries, 
the  virgin  soil  of  which  only  awaits  development  at  the  hands 
of  the  energetic  European  immigrant,  whom  we  welcome  with 
aft'ection  to  our  shores,  in  the  same  degree  as  we  invite  the 
fruitful  action  of  foreign  capital,  which  vrill  surely  realize 
flattering  profits  in  advantageous  enterprises. 

Our  soil  is  rich,  and  adapted  to  numerous  and  varied  pro- 
ductions. Our  climate  is  mild  and  perfectly  suited  to  the 
white  races;  our  laws  are  clear,  liberal  and  advanced;  our  peo- 
ple are  peaceful,  industrious  and  progi'essive.  Our  political 
and  social  institutions  are  similar  to  those  of  other  cultured 
countries;  our  system  of  popidar  education,  ^^•hich  rest?  on  the 
broad  basis  of  the  lay  school,  obHgatory  and  gratuitous,  ex- 
tends its  beneficient  influence  to  the  cities  and  important 
towns  as  well  as  to  the  most  remote  hamlets  and  settlements; 
our  colleges  and  universities  employ  the  best  methods  and 
are  organized  with  an  eye  to  the  most  commendable  models. 
Our  means  of  communication  are  increased  from  year  to  year 
by  new  highways,  railroads  and  steamship  lines;  our  towns, 
several  of  them  illuminated  by  electric  light  and  enjoying  the 
advantages  of  an  ample  and  cheap  telephone  service,  are  all 
connected  by  an  extensive  network  of  telegraphs  which  places 
them  in  immediate  contact  with  the  entire  world.  In  a  word, 
the  desire  to  improve  is  innate  in  my  fellow-eitizeus.  With 
such  good  elements  in  our  people,  we  trust  in  the  future  and 
entertain  well-founded  hopes  of  permanent  welfare  and  pros- 
perity, which  will  permit  us  to  offer  ample  o])portunities  for 
the  capital  and  labor  of  the  people  with  wliom  we  live  in 
intimate  contact  and  on  friendly  lerms. 

A  System  of  Oonteol  to  Check  the  Prohibitive  Methods 
OF  Speculative  Trade. 

.1.  van  Giilpen  (Delegate  from  the  ChandDcr  of  Commerce, 

Wesel,  Germany): 

Up  to  within  a  few  years  ago  the  value  of  goods  was  regu- 
lated by  demand  and  supply.  The  seller  delivered  his  goods 
to  the  buyer  as  soon  as  the  sale  was  made.  This  method  has 
gradually  been  done  away  with,  and  replaced  by  a  speculative 
plan.  Buying  and  selling  is  going  on  without  tlie  exchange 
of   either  goods   or  money — a  mere  speculation   in   figures. 


These  circumstances  have  brought  the  adventuresome  Bull 
and  Bear  methods  into  play,  so  that  they  virtually  govern  the 
market,  replacing  the  natural  regrdation  of  prices  by  supply 
and  demand,  and  increasing  the  selling  power  to  an  enormous 
extent.  The  daily  market  price  no  longer  depends  upon  pro- 
duction and  consumption,  but  upon  the  demands  and  offers 
made  by  the  speculator.  Accordingly,  the  regulation  of  prices 
has  degenerated  to  the  ruin  of  the  producing  parties,  and  in 
favor  of  the  bankers,  as  now  ten  times  the  quantity  that 
nature  could  produce,  or  mankind  could  consume,  is  being 
dealt  in  speculatively. 

When  the  opportunity  seems  favorable,  the  Bears  depress 
the  value  of  goods  20,  30  or  40  per  cent.  If  a  small  produc- 
tion is  expected  the  Bulls  raise  the  price  as  long  in  advance 
as  possible,  causing  the  farmer  great  reverses  and  low  quota- 
tions, because  the  consumption  has  decreased  through  pre- 
mature rise  in  the  price. 

One  instance  which  especially  illustrates  this  statement  is 
the  extreme  fluctuation  in  coffee  prices,  chiefly  relating  to  the 
Brazilian  varieties.  In  1897,  from  January  to  December,  the 
price  of  good  average  Santos  colfee  was  cut  down  by  specu- 
lative methods  from  50f  pfg.  (about  12  cts.)  to  265  pfg-  (about 
()-i  cts.),  or  50  per  cent.  That  this  assumption  is  cm'rect  is 
proved  by  the  prices  of  all  the  other  coft'ees,  which  depend 
less,  or  not  at  all,  upon  the  speculator.  These  other  brands 
of  coffee  followed  the  decline  in  price  of  the  Brazilian  coffee, 
but  very  slowly. 

Whde  a  downward  movement  in  coffee  prices  was  natural, 
owing  to  large  crops  in  Brazil,  there  was  no  other  reason  for 
the  panic  of  1897  than  the  stock  operations  of  the  Bulls  and 
Bears,  and  the  influence  of  the  clearing  houses  in  assisting 
them.  The  real  merchants  and  the  producers  lost  millions  of 
money  by  the  precipitoiis  cutting  of  the  market  prices,  v>hile 
a  slow  natural  reduction  of  the  same  would  not  have  affected 
them  so  much. 

This  speculating  in  goods  after  the  manner  of  stocks  and 
bonds  has  caused  an  luihealthy  basis  for  the  quotation  of 
prices.  Such  transactions  do  not  destroy  actual  money  values, 
but  they  seriously  affect  the  value  of  the  goods.  In  order  to 
carry  out  his  "future  deals"  the  speculator  borrows  goods,  ju,«t 
as  money  is  borrowed.  Money  cannot  very  well  be  consumed; 
even  when  worked  up  into  jewelry  it  retains  its  value.  Very 
few  trades  "consume"  money.  The  goods,  on  the  contrary, 
are  entirely  consumed,  and  their  price  is  finally  based  on  the 
conditions  governing  production  and  consumption.  The  sup- 
ply of  goods  needs  for  this  reason  (since  demand  and  supply 
are  unnaturally  increased  and  decreased  by  the  above  men- 
tioned methods)  greater  protection  than  the  money  business. 
This  is  especially  necessary,  as  a  certain  standard  of  the  price 
of  used  goods  must  be  protected  against  the  pressure  of  mere 
offers,  and  because  the  short  sales  can  be  replaced  by  borrowed 
goods  or  the  liquidation  of  differences. 

The  lender  of  merchandise  is  the  product  of  modern  stock 
exchange  manipulations.  He  enables  speculators  to  carry  out 
their  deals  in  futures,  and  it  is  against  him  that  protection  is 
needed. 

Real  honest  traders  receive  their  goods  to  supply  the  con- 
sumption; the  speculative  traders,  if  they  have  to  deliver, 
bon-ow  from  the  "Reporteur."  The  latter  secures  himself 
through  a  re-purchase,  and  no  merchandise  is  removed  from 
the  market  that  would  serve  to  raise  the  price.  If  10,000  bags 
of  coffee  have  to  be  delivered  it  can  be  done  in  speculative 
trade  by  delivering  the  same  .500  bags  of  real  coffee  twenty 
times  a  month.  The  cutting  of  prices,  resulting  from  short 
sales,  is  not  counter-balanced,  aird  the  reduced  price  is  not 
raised  again  by  the  introduction  of  goods  for  consumption. 
Any  great  sale  is  no  longer  governed  by  consumption,  but  by 
tlie  lender  of  merchandise,  who  finds  his  reward  in  again  rais- 
ing his  limited  "delivery"  supply.    The  supply  of  speculative 


352 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


goods  for  such  purposes  is  in  reality  very  small,  although  it 
may  serve  as  a  basis  for  an  oft-repeated  shifting  of  ohligations. 
The  lender  of  niercliandise  receives  a  liberal  rate  of  interest 
for  liis  transactions,  which  in  reality  act  as  a  bridge  between 
the  jiioney  and  the  goods  market.  He  has  subjected  the  quota- 
tion of  market  prices  to  the  fluctuating  value  of  goods  on  the 
money  market,  whereas  the  governing  quotation  should  be 
fixed  "by  the  actual  demand  for  the  consumption  of  goods  and 
the  actual  supply  of  the  same. 

The  closing  up  of  speculative  transactions  by  clearing 
houses,  licightens  the  damaging  effect  of  speculation  still 
more.    These  should  be  done  away  with. 

The  prohibition  of  the  methods  of  the  speculative  trade 
would  not  be  effective  enough;  it  would  only  protect  against 
the  so-called  "outsiders."  Sense  of  honor,  and  the  wish  to 
observe  the  rules  of  their  association,  are  the  reasons  that  urge 
some  of  the  speculators  to  go  on  with  their  work.  The  trade 
that  deals  in  supply  must  be  limited  by  certain  restrictions, 
the  violation  of  which  should  be  punished  by  law.  Doubtless 
great  abuses  existed  in  connection  with  the  money  supply,  and 
our  strict  draft  law  was  enacted  in  consequence.  Would  it  not 
be  possible  to  exclude  the  unfair  dealings  in  futures,  the  liqui- 
dation of  differences  and  the  borrowing  of  goods,  if,  for  de- 
liveries of  goods  at  the  exchanges,  the  regular  form  of  the 
cb-aft  were  established  (instead  of  the  brokers'  receipts  now 
used)  and  subjected  to  the  draft  law?  In  order  that  the 
abuse,  after  liaving  been  legislated  against,  should  not  appear 
again,  confrolling  offices  might  be  established  at  the  different 
exchanges,  ports,  etc.,  and  the  statutes  could  be  framed  in 
such  a  manner  that  all  deliveries  and  receipts  of  goods  should 
take  place,  not  on  paper  only,  but  in  actual  shipments,  especi- 
ally since  this  is  a  vital  condition  for  successfully  maintaining 
the  standard  prices  on  which  the  producer  and  actual  dealer  or 
s))eculator  are  dependent.  It  should  be  one  of  the  principal 
duties  of  the  exchange  commissioners  to  supervise  the  com- 
pletion of  actual  transactions. 

The  seller  could  accept  bills  of  exchange  for  the  delivery 
of  goods.  The  bills  of  exchange  should  be  placed  under 
the  draft  law,  and  directed  to  the  order  of  the  controlling 
office  for  remittance  to  the  buyer,  after  the  deliveij  of  the 
goods  has  taken  place.  The  contracts  should  be  registered 
with  coi'responding  numbers  in  the  books  of  the  controlling 
office. 

If  the  speculative  trade  is  to  be  extended,  the  buyer  might 
give  a  duplicate  of  his  bill  of  exchange  for  the  delivery  of 
the  goods.  If  the  buyer  wishes  to  resell  his  goods  before 
delivery,  nothing  can  hinder  him  from  so  doing.  He  endorses 
the  duplicate  draft  on  the  new  buyer  and  advises  the  con- 
trolling office  of  it.  There  the  new  buyer  is  recorded,  and 
the  same  merchandise  may  change  hands  several  times  without 
the  price  approaching  a  bad  basis,  for  the  goods  which  have 
to  be  delivered  by  the  first  seller  are  always  supplied  and 
received. 

If  the  delivery  is  not  made  in  time  it  should  be  the  duty  of 
the  controlling  offices  to  supply  the  buyer  with  goods  in  the 
interest  of  a  punctual,  effective  delivery,  at  the  expense  of 
the  seller,  that  is  to  say,  to  collect  the  necessary  money  from 
him  according  to  law.  The  controlling  office  should  not  be 
permitted  to  accept  any  guaranty  whatever,  as  this  would 
encuinber  its  mission  witli  the  carelessness  of  the  clearing 
iiouses.  The  latter  introduce,  as  is  well  known,  the  blank 
offer  for  storage  in  the  coffee  market  against  a  small  percent- 
age per  bag,  and  guarantee  flu;  profit.  l?ut  it  is  indeed 
necessary  that  the  buyer  sluuild  verify  tlie  capability  of  his 
feller  for  delivery,  and  that  the  seller  should  verify  the  ability 
of  the  buyer  to  pay.  This  is  what  keeps  the  common  trade 
within  limits,  and  it  wmdd  serve  to  regulate  the  sp<'culaiive 
one. 

JF  tlie  first  buver  is  insolvent,  (lie  bill    of    exchange    for 


goods  to  be  delivered  goes  back  under  protest,  and  the  en- 
dorsers of  the  duplicate  can  be  made  responsible  for  the  de- 
livery. Everybocly,  therefore,  who  endorses  a  bill  of  ex- 
change would  be  obliged  to  deliver  if  his  pre-endorser  refused 
to  do  so,  and  in  this  manner  the  present  reckless  speculations 
would  be  considerably  limited. 

The  term  "delivery"  ought  to  be  fixed  more  accurately,  be- 
cause the  present  method  of  offering  the  goods  allows  the  seller 
to  repeatedly  offer  the  same  goods  during  thirty  days,  and 
thereby  to  meet  a  great  number  of  obligations  with  a  small 
quantity  of  goods,  which  are  never  actually  delivered  or  con- 
sumed. It  could  be  prescribed  by  law  that  goods  which  have 
not  been  delivered  for  consumption,  or  that  are  not  proved 
legitimate  through  bill  of  lading  or  invoice,  must  be  delivered 
on  the  last  day  of  each  month,  after  their  storage  has  been 
ascertained  and  fixed  by  a  controlling  depot. 

If  some  sort  of  a  definite  settlement  of  the  speculative  mer- 
chandise could  take  place  the  last  day  of  each  month,  this 
work  would  fall  in  with  the  regular  taking  of  stock,  which 
occurs  in  the  usual  course  of  trade  at  the  end  of  each  month. 
The  control  need  not  be  a  very  intricate  one,  especially  so 
as  it  is  only  a  question  of  deliveries  contracted  for  but  not 
expected.  Deliveries  sold  and  shipped  for  consumption  could 
be  controlled  or  shipped  at  any  time. 

To  meet  the  expenses  of  the  controlling  office,  the  first 
seller  and  buyer  ought  to  pay  so  much  per  ton  when  they 
register,  this  money  to  belong  to  the  controlling  office,  even 
in  case  the  delivery  is  not  made.  The  jtroducer  could  testify 
to  the  existence  of  the  goods  on  the  plantation  or  farm.  Sup- 
plies on  wafer  or  i-ail  could  be  controlled  on  the  basis  of  the 
bill  of  lading,  in  case  they  have  been  disposed  of  in  transit, 
as  shipments  are  bought  and  sold  when  afloat  between  Ham- 
burg and  New  York. 

The  opinion  passed  uimn  the  (pialify  of  the  goods,  would 
be  the  buyer's  own  private  affair,  and  this  could  be  accom- 
plished in  the  same  way  as  is  now  customary  in  the  ports  of 
shipping. 

Only  such  quotations  should  be  admitted  for  speculative 
business,  as  have  been  registered  three  hours  after  the  con- 
tract. In  order  to  avoid  the  registration  of  speculative  con- 
tracts entered  by  unworthy  or  incompetent  sellers  only  for 
the  purpose  of  influencing  the  price,  the  seller  should  be  re- 
quired to  make  a  deposit  at  the  controlling  office,  to  be  re- 
turned to  him  on  fulfillment  of  the  promised  delivery.  The 
deposit  should  be  forfeitfid  to  the  controlling  office  in  case 
of  non-delivery.  Experience  teaches,  that  non-delivery  should 
be  prohibited,  to  insure  the  value  of  the  goods. 

Just  as  ordinary  bills  of  exchange  are  paid  on  expiration 
by  the  acceptor,  so  anyone  accepting  a  letter  of  exchange  for 
the  delivery  of  goods  should  supply  the  actual  delivery  of  the 
goods  at  date  of  expiration.  If  A  sells  to  B,  and  B  to  C,  and 
C  to  I),  and  D  to  E,  and  E  to  E,  a  shipment  of  1,000  bags 
of  coffee  that  they  do  not  possess,  and  if  at  the  expiration  of 
the  obligations  only  the  differences  are  calculated  at  the  cur- 
rent rate,  or  on  borrowed  goods,  -without  even  a  single  bean 
of  coffee  being  consumed,  the  result  is  a  slump  in  price 
with  no  corresponding  consumption  to  raise  the  value  of 
goods.  The  1,000  bags  have  not  been  delivered,  nor  boiTowed, 
and  have  not  influenced  the  current  quotations.  But  if  A 
nuikes  himself  responsible  at  the  controlling  office,  througli 
n  bill  of  exchange,  for  tlie  delivery  of  goods  to  B,  then  B 
can  sell  to  C,  C  to  1),  and  1)  to  E  without  ruining  the  price. 
On  expiration  of  the  notes  any  drop  in  the  blank  sales  is  made 
\\]i.  because  E  actually  receives  the  merchandise. 

Bills  of  exchange  for  the  delivery  of  goods  would  re- 
move a  great  deal  of  recklessness  from  the  present  system. 
The  parties,  B,  C,  D  auij  E,  know  tliat  A  has  delivered  the 
goods,  and  if  they  do  not  find  another  buyer,  they  have  to 
take  upon  themselves  the  responsibility  of  the  dealer  and  re- 


PAPEES  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHERS 


353 


ceive  the  goods.  Under  these  proposed  amendments  a  differ- 
ent spirit  would  control  the  entire  speculative  trade,  and  its 
wholesome  effect  upon  business  in  general  could  not  fail  to  be 
noticed. 

The  business  of  the  regular,  honest  tradesman  would  again 
take  its  proper  place,  although,  through  this  superfluous  mod- 
ern exchange  manipulation,  it  has  been  displaced  in  the  sup- 
plying trade  and  made  dependent  on  the  money  market. 

When  the  fictitious  values  and  prices  go  down  by  degrees, 
the  money  market  absorbs  the  profit  that  should  revert  to  the 
producer  and  the  intermediate  trade.  Instead  of  a  careful 
assortment  of  goods,  the  accumulation  of  inferior  goods  in- 
creases in  speculative  centres.  In  this  way  a  false  basis  for 
the  price  of  the  world's  market  is  established,  and  this  is  the 
price  the  producer  receives  for  his  good  merchandise. 

The  poor  quality  of  the  goods  dealt  in  on  "futures"  ex- 
cludes the  legitimate  dealer  from  speculation,  for  he  cannot 
buy  the  needed  qualities  for  six, seven  and  even  twelvemonths, 
if  the  exchanges  enforce  the  regulation  of  price  several  months 
earlier  than  expected.  The  dealer  must  make  his  choice  of 
goods  when  "-hey  are  offered  for  sale  on  the  market.  He  is, 
therefore,  obliged  to  run  some  risk  in  larger  purchases,  which 
the  speculative  trade  inflicts  upon  him,  or  he  may  find  himself 
compelled  to  buy  second  hand,  according  to  his  needs.  It  will 
be  seen  that  sound,  legitimate  speculation,  and  its  influence 
on  the  shaping  of  prices,  is  totally  ousted  by  the  modem 
speculative  trade,  with  ruinous  influence  on  values. 

The  bill  of  exchange  for  the  delivery  of  goods  should  be 
signed  only  by  merchants,  exporters,  importers,  etc.,  who  are 
really  able  to  deliver.  A  class  of  goods  would  come  forward 
better  suited  to  the  demands  of  consumers,  and  the  buyers 
would  pay  one  seller  better  than  another,  according  to  the 
quality  of  his  goods,  as  is  now  the  case  in  the  import  business. 
The  mobility  of  the  speculative  trade,  so  necessary  to  legiti- 
mate business,  would  be  preserved.  The  original  bills  of  ex- 
change for  the  delivery  of  the  goods  would  compel  the  de- 
livery in  the  interest  of  the  value  of  the  goods,  while  the 
duplicate  bill  of  exchange  would  guarantee  ample  scope  for 
speculation. 

The  circulation  of  money  by  checks  has  worked  well  even 
to  this  day  under  the  strict  measures  of  the  law  governing 
their  issue  and  use.  The  acceptor  who  consents  to  be  drawn 
on  need  not  have  the  money  that  very  moment,  but  he  is 
aware  that  if  he  cannot  fulfill  liis  obligations  on  the  day  they 
become  due,  he  not  only  subjects  himself  to  prosecution 
under  the  draft  law,  but  risks  his  reputation  and  good  name 
apart  from  the  loss  to  which  he  will  be  subjected  by  com- 
pulsory measures.  The  feeling  that  prosecution  will  follow 
all  irresponsible  dealings  should  be  imparted  to  the  specula- 
tors, with  the  object  of  acquiring  an  enlarged  field  of  operation 
for  genuine  speculation  in  goods  and  merchandise.  Wlierever 
these  measures  have  prevailed  the  actual  delivery  of  goods 
has  always  been  insured,  and  the  depreciation  in  the  value 
of  goods  avoided,  contrary  to  the  blank  sale  system  of  to-day. 

We  must  not  confine  speculation  altogether  to  goods  on 
hand,  because  with  the  present  abundance  of  capital  still 
greater  irregularities  and  exaggerations  in  fictitious  values 
may  be  caused  than  was  formerly  the  case.  The  consequence 
of  these  fluctuations  as  affecting  the  food  supply  of  the  masses 
were  apparent  to  a  terrifying  degree  in  the  European  riots 
in  the  spring  of  1898,  when  the  Chicago  comer  raised  the 
price  of  wheat  by  purchasing  and  storing  enormous  quantities. 

The  blank  or  short  sale  without  actual  delivery  of  goods, 
ruins  the  value  of  the  merchandise.  Any  reform  in  this 
direction  .shoidd  begin  with  the  seller.  Nobody  need  care 
whether  the  seller  obtains  due  payment  from  the  buyer. 
Our  present  exchanges  put  a  premium  on  the  modern  specula- 
tion on  paper  in  place  of  the  old,  honest  speculation  in  goods. 
By  their  indirect  encouragement  the  exchanges  remove  from 


the  shoulders  of  the  paper  speculator  the  burden  of  work  and 
capital,  and,  moreover,  the  interest  and  storage  expenses  con- 
nected with  the  delivery  and  storing  of  the  goods. 

The  exchanges  of  to-day  furnish  the  dealers  in  futures  with 
better  prospects  of  gain  "by  the  fall  in  prices.  In  this  con- 
nection the  following  points  may  be  noticed: 

1.  The  instability  of  prices  adds  a  perilous  element  to  the 
intermediate  trade  in  discouraging  the  maintenance  of  large 
stores  as  well  as  contracting  for  large  crops  and  quick  ship- 
ments. The  best  proof  of  the  distrust  and  fear  which  has  de- 
veloped among  the  regular  trade  by  the  "paper  speculators" 
is  the  so-called  covering  sale,  by  which  merchants  and  im- 
porters endeavor  to  secure  themselves.  If  the  latter  want  to 
import  1,000  bags  of  coffee,  or  if  the  merchant  having  1,000 
bags  in  stock  fears  a  drop  in  price,  he  sells  1,000  bags  good 
average  Santos  on  time.  If  the  drop  really  occurs  the  im- 
porter or  merchant  hopes  to  earn  just  as  much  or  more  by  the 
cheaper  quality  of  coffee  with  which  he  has  covered  his  short, 
sale  as  his  loss  on  the  store  or  import  goods  would  have 
amounted  to,  quotations  for  goods  on  time  being  generally 
announced  in  advance  of  the  prices  for  actual  merchandise. 

By  such  methods  of  insurance  the  importers  and  regular 
dealers,  who  were  formerly  interested  in  the  rise  of  prices  as 
holders  of  the  values,  would  become  interested  in  a  decline 
of  the  value,  for  the  more  the  price  on  time  falls,  the  more 
they  gain  in  covering  short  sales.  Besides,  they  are  in  this 
way  better  equipped  to  withstand  competition,  since  they  can 
afford  to  sell  the  imported  goods  at  a  discount  because  they 
made  profit  on  the  short  sales.  The  hostile  interests  of  the 
entirely  mixed  speculative  trade  has  depressed  the  value  of 
the  merchandise  and  goods  handled  by  the  retail  and  whole- 
sale business. 

As  to  the  respective  store  or  import  merchandise  in  most 
cases  it  does  not  at  all  correspond  with  the  speculative  trade 
type,  the  former  may  be  said  to  bear  a  double  burden  caused 
by  the  covering  sales. 

(a)  The  sale  of  the  merchandise  has  been  made  mtich  more 
diffictilt. 

(b)  The  short  sales  of  the  speculators  must  be  contended 
with.  The  wholesale  business  must  secure  itself  by  cutting 
down  the  price,  and  the  retail  business  does  not  order  large 
shipments  for  fear  that  they  may  not  be  disposed  of  at  a 
profit.  This  state  of  aft'airs  alone  suffices  to  cause  a  depre- 
ciation of  the  goods,  not  to  mention  unexpectedly  arriving 
cargoes,  brought  about  by  new  means  of  transportation  or  im- 
proved methods  in  managing  crops. 

Of  the  millions  of  merchants  who  formerly  ruled  the  mar- 
ket and  were  interested  in  the  rise  of  the  value  of  goods,  90 
per  cent,  now  manage  by  buying  from  hand  to  mouth;  the  re- 
maining 10  per  cent.,  consisting  of  importers  and  wholesale 
dealers,  are  to-day  occupied  in  cutting  the  price  by  hedging 
and  short  sales  tactics. 

2.  A  depreciating  effect  results  from  the  storing  of  goods 
without  regard  to  the  fact  that  there  may  be  a  demand  for 
them.  The  speculator  is  only  interested  in  the  quotations  of 
the  fictitious  values  of  the  speculative  markets.  If  he  must 
or  desires  to  deliver  he  does  not  have  to  ask  if  there  is  a 
demand.  When  he  decides  to  deliver  he  does  it  largely  by 
cutting  prices,  and  his  deliveries  are  most  readily  placed 
in  stores  already  filled.  "\¥hen  he  finds  himself  forced  by  the 
buyer  to  deliver  he  is  not  backward  in  identifying  his  inter- 
ests with  some  "corner,"  which  adroitly  raises  the  price  by 
accumulating  great  masses  of  goods,  ordy  to  decline  later  for 
the  same  reason. 

The  defenders  of  the  speculative  trade  assert  that  short 
sales  always  finds  ready  buyers,  and  that  therefore  the  cutting 
of  prices  is  balanced  and  compensated  for.  This  assumption 
is  wi-ong,  however,  for  in  the  speculative  trade  buyer  and 
seller  confront  each  other  only  when  closing  the  transaction, 


354 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


whieli  process  squeezes  the  price,  because  the  speculator  is 
obliged  to  force  the  buyer  down  in  price.  However,  exper- 
ience teaches  us  that  in  ninety  out  of  one  hundred  cases  the 
contractors  of  one  bet  or  operation  confront  each  other  to 
settle  their  differences  or  fulfil  their  obligations  with  bor- 
rowed goods,  on  account  of  the  nature  of  other  people's  eon- 
tracts.  Regular  buying  and  selling  demand  that  the  seller 
.shall  deliver  the  goods,  and  that  the  buyer  shall  pay  for 
their  value,  but  this  procedure,  which  constitutes  commerce, 
is  not  to  be  found  in  the  closing  up  of  speculative  trade,  and 
if  we  want  to  arrive  at  a  solid  basis  for  regiilating  prices  we 
must  jn'otect  the  right  kind  of  commerce.  Only  the  actual 
consumption  of  the  merchandise  offered  on  the  market  can 
counterbalance  the  pressure  exerted  upon  tlie  price  by  short 
sales. 

The  speculative  transactions  with  borrowed  goods,  or  by 
the  liquidation  of  differences,  sometimes  amount  to  90  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  business,  and,  therefore,  are  mostly  on  a 
descending  scale,  if  no  special  factors,  such  as  a  smaller  crop, 
etc.,  urge  a  rise.  The  speculative  trade  is  like  an  inclined 
plane  for  all  values,  and  the  longer  speculation  makes  use  of 
it  the  surer  and  quicker  is  their  depreciation  brought  about. 
Just  as  water  cannot  run  up  hill,  so  it  is  impossible  for  values 
affected  by  speculative  trade  to  withstand  depression  for  any 
length  of  time.  While  the  short  sale  people  can  make  almost 
unlimited  offers  without  having  to  carry  out  a  single  delivery, 
anyone  who  wants  to  uphold  and  raise  the  value  of  goods  to- 
day must  not  only  buy  and  store  the  goods  himself,  but  he 
must  also  take  up  the  offers  for  short  sales. 

If  occasionally  some  product  varies  in  price  on  account  of 
small  crops,  speculation,  or  war,  we  may  rest  assured  that  as 
soon  as  the  crops  get  bigger  the  short  sales  will  again  reduce 
the  price  to  a  minimum. 

The  present  exchange  speculations  shift  the  stocks  about  so 
that  an  artificial  demand  and  supply  keep  them  fluctuating  up 
and  down.  What  awful  consequences  this  system  may  entail 
we  are  taught  by  the  last  American  wheat  corner,  and  the 
bloody  riots  in  Europe  following  it.  And  yet  the  lasting 
misery  in  the  productive  quarters,  which  always  is  a  result  of 
the  speculative  business,  still  outweighs  the  ravages  of  a 
comer. 

The  speculators  and  their  theorists  teach  us  that  the  regula- 
tion of  prices  is  always  brought  about  by  the  laws  of  supply 
and  demand.  Still,  there  are  under  tlie  same  conditions  of 
supply  and  demand  two  widely  different  price  bases.  The 
one  is  built  upon  the  confidence  with  which  the  intermediate 
trade  tills  its  stores,  the  other  is  based  upon  the  distrust  which 
prevents  the  putting  up  of  big  stores.  Distrust  and  fear 
almost  constantly  rule  the  actual  market  in  speculative  arti- 
cles. The  speculative  trader  himself  buys,  in  case  of  a  rise  in 
prices,  short  sale  offers  first  of  all,  which  are  subsequently 
transformed  into  borrowed  goods,  but  he  never  raises  the 
price  by  actually  taking  merchandise  in  hand. 

If  prices  manifest  an  upward  tendency,  or  a  small  crop  is 
expected,  buyers  begin  to  look  for  sellers,  and  if  actual  mer- 
chandise would  be  handled,  instead  of  the  "futures"  on  paper, 
the  prices  would  certainly  go  higher  than  the  speculators 
will  allow  at  present. 

If  in  view  of  a  larger  crop  the  short  sale  speculators  must 
attract  the  buyer  by  constantly  declining  prices,  it  is  plain 
that  these  offers  squeeze  down  the  price  considerably.  Under 
all  circumstances  the  speculative  market  shapes  the  price  to 
the  disadvantage  of  the  producer. 

The  defenders  of  the  speculative  markets  like  to  point  out 
the  decline  in  the  total  sum  of  business  in  the  last  few  years, 
in  order  to  avoid  intervention  by  law.  But  even  if  the  trans- 
actions should  melt  down  to  the  covering  sales  of  the  im- 
porters and  merchants,  they  would  still  remain  ruinous  to 
the  quotations,  for  these  sales  are  naturally  made  in  critical 


times,  when  danger  of  loss  threatens  importation  and  goods 
in  stock,  when  everybody  works  with  caution,  and  when  there 
is  a  natural  tendency  toward  a  reduction  of  prices.  The 
downward  pressure  in  prices  is  exerted  in  a  manner  so  ex- 
asperating that  instead  of  slowly  sinking  to  a  natural  basis, 
the  quotations  are  quickly  hammered  down  below  the  cost 
of  production. 

A  momentary  quiet  in  stocks  does  not  do  away  with  the 
danger  of  a  speculative  market  and  the  clearing  houses. 
The  means  and  appliances  for  continuing  the  evil  remains 
there,  and  may  at  any  time  bring  about  the  unhealthy  condi- 
tions of  the  speculative  trade.  As  far  as  coffee  is  concerned, 
the  danger  of  a  "comer"'  is  diminished  by  extending  the  de- 
livering capacity  to  several  growths  of  coffee,  and  necessarily 
this  facilitates  the  short  sales  still  more. 

The  large  enterprises  for  undennining  values  by  speculative 
transactions,  which  offer  excellent  chances  for  short  sales 
with  higher  prices,  are  impossible  as  soon  as  an  article  has 
declined  in  price  as  low  as  cost  or  even  below  it.  If  a  small 
crop  does  not  revive  good  quotations,  the  speculative  business 
must  decrease.  In  place  of  making  extensive  sales  the  specu- 
lators find  themselves  limited  to  the  very  rightly  termed 
"scalping  operations"  that  shave  off  the  small  upward  move- 
ments occurring  during  the  depressed  range  of  prices,  and 
prevent  their  rise.  It  is  quite  clear  why  all  ai-ticles  used 
for  speculation  are  cheap,  and  it  is  evident  "that  they  are  cheap 
at  the  expense  of  the  producer. 

Instead  of  affording  a  cheaper  rate  of  consumption  large 
harvests  bring  devastation  upon  trade,  demoralizing  the  entire 
market.  The  intermediate  trade  becomes  unfit  for  further 
reception  of  supplies,  and  the  good  harvests  of  the  producers 
are  ruined  by  unnaturally  low  prices,  because  regular  trade, 
instead  of  storing  up  the  products  under  a  sound  regtilation 
of  prices  for  a  future  higher  quotation,  must  insure  itself 
against  the  forced  price  quotation  of  the  speculative  trade,  a-s 
well  as  against  accidents.  The  producers  cannot  be  ruined, 
however,  without  harming  the  consumers. 

The  speculative  trade  in  grain  is  prohibited  in  Germany, 
but  against  the  outgrowths  of  the  speculative  trade  in  coffee, 
sugar,  spirits,  etc.,  nothing  has  been  done.  From  the  actual 
trade,  which  supplies  consumption  through  merchants,  the 
government  derives  a  high  industrial  tax,  but  permits  these 
men  to  bo  robbed  in  deriving  their  income  from  a  correct  spec- 
ulation in  merchandise,  and  at  prices  useful  to  the  common 
welfare,  allowing  them  to  be  subjected  to  incalculable  losses 
l)y  daring  speculative  traders,  who  neither  share  their  cares 
nor  pay  any  industrial  tax.  The  clearing  houses,  installed  by 
commerce,  are  at  present  controlling  offices  for  speculation, 
in  so  far  as  they  control  and  publish  the  prices,  sales, 
etc.  But  the  unlimited  slwrt  sales  that  occur  without  any 
handling  of  merchandise,  and  which  render  possible  these 
commercial  controlling  offices,  hurt  the  general  dealer  and 
the  producer.  It  must,  therefore,  be  in  the  interest  of  trade, 
and  the  producers  especially,  to  provide  on  their  own  accord 
controlling  offices,  which  shall  put  a  stop  to  the  smndle  of 
selling  goods  wliich  are  neither  delivered  nor  received. 

Comparison  of  the  prices  quoted  on  various  brands  of  coffee 
at  the  close  of  different  years. 

Ending  1895,  good  Java  coffee,  53  Dutch  cents;  good  Do- 
mingo, 78  rfg.;  good  Santos,  71  f  Pfg. 

Ending  189G,  good  Java  coH'cc  50i  Dutch  cents;  good  Do- 
mingo, 66  Pfg.;  good  Santos,  50f  Pfg. 

Ending  1897,  good  Java  coffee,  38  Dutch  cents;  good  Do- 
mingo, 45  Pfg.;  good  Santos,  33.V  Pfg.    (Nov.,  26$ 

Ending  1898,  good  Java  coffee,  3;i  Dulcli  cents;  good  Do- 
mingo 31.4  Pfg.;  good  Santos,  31^  Pfg. 


PAPERS  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHEES 


365 


In  the  course  of  1896,  Java  lost  4.7  jier  cent.,  Domingo  15.4 

per  cent.,  Santos  29  jjer  cent. 
In  the  course  of  1897,  Java  lost  25  per  cent.,  Domingo  32  per 

cent.,  Santos  47.3,  till  end  of  November,  1897,  then  in 

December,  25  per  cent,  rise,  and  until  the  end  of  July, 

1898,  again  a  fall  of  25  per  cent. 
In  the  course  of  1898,  Java  lost  13  per  cent.,  Domingo  30  per 

cent. 


Export  of  Brazil  coffee. 

1894-5 6,5G9,900  bags. 

1895-6 5,455,200     " 

1896-7 8,371,000     " 

1897-8 10,460,000     " 


Value  of  the  export. 
1894.  .24,000,000  pds.  sterling. 
1895.-23,000,000    " 
1896.-19,000,000    "         " 
1897.-19,000,000    "         " 
1898.-14,000,000    "         " 


The  Commercial  Resoueces  of  Kidshiu. 

Mr.  F.  Ringer,  Nagasaki,  Japan: 

Nagasaki,  the  capital  of  Kiushiu,  the  southern  island  of 
Japan,  possesses  the  distinction  of  being  the  oldest  foreign 
setrtlement  in  the  country.  As  long  ago  as  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  Dutch  traders  came  to  the  port,  and  so 
successful  were  they  in  their  negotiations  with  the  natives, 
that  they  were  granted  the  exclusive  privilege  of  residing  on 
a  small  peninsula,  known  as  Deshima,  adjoining  the  town. 
Until  forty  years  ago,  the  foreign  trade  was  contined  to  these 
narrow  limits  and  to  merchants  of  one  nationality,  but  so 
rapid  has  been  the  commercial  expansion  of  Japan,  that  to- 
day, the  trade  of  Nagasaki  extends  to  all  parts  of  the  world, 
while  the  shipping  returns  for  last  year  show  that  ocean-going 
vessels  aggregating  over  1,700,000  tons  entered  the  port  dur- 
ing the  twelve  months.  The  subject  of  Japan's  advancement 
has  been  so  frequently  commented  on  of  late,  that  it  is  un- 
necessary for  me  to  do  more  than  give  you  these  bare  histori- 
cal facts  which  are  sufficiently  eloquent  in  themselves. 

Although  gaining  a  start  of  some  years  in  its  dealings  with 
the  outside  world,  Nagasaki  is  now  much  behind  Kobe  and 
Yokohama  in  the  volume  of  its  trade,  the  reason,  I  believe, 
lying  in  the  fact  that  the  southern  province  is  not  so  thickly 
populated,  and  there  has  not  been  so  large  an  excess  of  labor 
over  and  above  the  requirements  for  agricultural  purposes, 
to  find  emplojTuent  in  those  industrial  arts  and  manufac- 
tures which  have  created  the  export  trade  of  the  northern 
ports.  Moreover,  the  moneyed  classes  have  migrated  to  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Coiirt  at  Tokyo,  and  the  capital  necessary 
for  fully  developing  the  resources  of  tliis  locality  is  not  easily 
obtained.  The  only  large  capitalists  who  have  any  extensive 
interests  in  the  south  are  the  Iwasaki  family,  the  founders  of 
the  Mitsu  Bishi  Co.,  from  which  sprang  the  Nippon  Yusen 
Kaisha,  whose  wealth  was  also  largely  derived  from  the 
Takashima  coal  mines,  the  first  to  be  worked  in  this  country 
under  European  supervision. 

Among  the  natural  productions  of  Kiushiu,  coal  is  by  far 
the  most  important,  and  it  is  of  excellent  quality  besides  being 
obtainable  iu  comparatively  inexhaustible  quantities.  Al- 
though not  comparing  favorably  with  the  best  European  and 
American  coal,  it  is  found  to  be  a  more  economical  fuel  for 
general  purposes,  and  it  is  to  secure  the  benefit  of  cheap 
bunker  that  most  of  the  regular  lines  of  steamers,  both  Euro- 
pean and  trans-Pacific,  include  Nagasaki  in  their  itineran'. 
A  very  large  export  is  also  made  from  tlie  ports  of  Moji, 
Karatsu  and  Kuchinotsu  to  the  various  coaling  stations  as  far 
west  as  Bombay.  Coal  from  the  Takashima  mines  is  vastly 
superior  to  any  other  Japanese  coal  and  the  demand  for  it  is 
much  beyond  the  supply.  Extensive  new  workings,  recently 
begun,  will  materially  increase  the  output.  According  to  re- 
cent returns,  there  are  109  mines  at  work  in  Kiushiu  with  an . 


annual  yield  of  four  and  a  half  million  tons.  Of  this  number, 
98  mines  lie  in  the  district  contiguous  to  MoJi  and  have  an 
annual  output  of  upwards  of  three  million  tons.  If  Moji  had 
equal  advantages  with  Nagasaki,  it  would  no  doubt  deprive 
that  port  of  most  of  its  shipping,  but  being  situated  at  the 
entrance  to  the  Island  Sea,  where  strong  and  dangerous  cur- 
rents are  experienced,  and  the  harbor  being  insufficiently 
sheltered,  the  mail  steamers  prefer  to  coal  at  Nagasaki,  where 
there  is  more  certainty  of  quick  despatch. 

The  operation  of  coaling  is  very  expeditiously  performed 
by  large  gangs  of  coolies,  including  men,  women  and  cliildren, 
and  as  an  instance  of  the  rapidity  with  wliich  the  work  can  be 
accomplished,  I  may  mention  that  on  one  occasion,  a  steamer 
bunkered  at  Nagasaki  at  the  rate  of  350  tons  per  hour,  a  per- 
formance which,  I  believe,  could  only  be  equalled  at  Port 
Said.  Ten  years  ago  the  average  price  of  coal  was  yen  4.00  per 
ton,  but  rates  of  labor  have  increased  so  much,  especially  since 
the  Chinese-Japanese  war,  that  to-day's  average  would  be  fully 
yen  7.50  per  ton.    Takashima  lump  coal  is  about  yen  9.50. 

While  on  the  subject  of  coal,  I  may  mention  that,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  native  production,  a  large  import  trade  has 
grown  up  in  Welsh  coal  to  supply  the  demands  of  the  numer- 
ous foreign  men-of-war  calling  at  this  port.  The  Japanese 
have  lately  imposed  a  duty  of  88  sen  per  ton  on  this  coal, 
not  as  a  protective  duty,  for  warships  could  not  use  Japanese 
coal  on  account  of  its  being  too  smoky,  but  as  a  means  of 
revenue.  This  course,  if  adhered  to,  will  ultimately  deprive 
Nagasaki  of  this  business  and  of  many  other  sources  of  income 
incidental  to  the  visits  of  war  vessels,  but  I  anticipate  that 
before  long,  Japanese  statesmen  will  see  the  error  of  such  a 
short-sighted  policy.  Last  year,  the  imports  of  Cardiff  coal 
amounted  to  35,000  tons,  but  this  total  will  be  exceeded  dur- 
ing the  current  year,  and,  with  the  increased  ficets  of  all 
nationalities  in  Eastern  waters,  the  business  is  one  well  worth 
fostering. 

Outside  of  coal,  articles  of  export  are  comparatively  trifling, 
the  most  prominent  among  them  being  Chinese  requirements, 
such  as  seaweed,  dried  fish,  and  other  marine  productions. 
Needless  to  say,  this  biTsiness  is  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the 
Chinese  themselves.  It  may,  perhaps,  interest  you  to  bear  that, 
as  a  fishing  port,  Nagasaki  holds  an  important  position,  and 
it  is  stated  on  good  authority,  that  there  is  only  one  other  port 
in  the  world,  I  believe  iu  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  which  can 
boast  of  a  larger  variety  of  fish  than  is  brought  to  the  market 
in  Nagasaki.  The  means  adopted  for  fishing  are  still  very 
primitive,  and  it  is  probable  that  with  modem  appliances  far 
better  results  could  be  shown,  fish  being  very  abundant  in  the 
surrounding  waters. 

Other  exports  are  sulphur,  antimony,  camphor,  vegetable 
wax,  tea,  rice,  ear  shells,  etc.  Tea  has  very  much  deteriorated 
in  quality  from  want  of  care  in  cultivation,  and  only  a  small 
proportion  of  that  now  produced  in  the  province  is  sufficiently 
good  to  pass  the  requirements  of  the  United  States  customs. 
A  large  quantity  of  tobacco  was  formerly  under  cultivation 
and  was  exported  to  Europe,  but  the  price  advanced  to  such 
a  point  in  sympathy  with  the  labor  market,  that  business  in 
this  item  has  now  ceased  entirely. 

Owing  to  the  more  active  demand  at  Kobe  and  Osaka,  a 
very  large  quantity  of  the  rice  gi'own  in  Kiushiu  is  shipped  to 
these  places,  a  large  portion  of  which  is  exported  from  there 
to  Europe  and  America,  so  that  the  value  of  this  important 
item  does  not  appear  among  the  foreign  exports  of  Kiiishiu. 
There  is  now  a  tendency  to  export  direct  from  Nagasaki,  and, 
with  increased  facilities  of  transportation,  from  the  interior, 
this  route  is  likely  to  be  generally  adopted,  especially  as  ship- 
ping opportunities  are  so  frequent.  The  southern  rice  is  of 
very  good  quality  all  round,  that  from  Higo  district  being 
equal  to  any  in  Japan. 

Coming  to  the  manufactures  of  the  country,  the  oldest  in- 


356 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


dustry  is  potter}',  which  has  flourished  for  many  hundreds  of 
years,,  and  the  ancient  wares  of  Satsuma  are  nowadays  the 
most  valuable  and  admired  in  Jiipan.  Old  Satsuma  is  now 
very  scarce  and  the  modern  production  is  not  much  favored, 
but  the  towns  of  Arita  and  Imari  are  well  to  the  fore  and 
export  largely  to  Europe  and  America.  The  kaolin  at  Arita 
is  of  the  finest  description  and  from  it  is  made  the  well-known 
egg-shell  china. 

Rush  matting  of  the  ordinary  Japanese  descriptions  is 
made  in  a  few  country  districts,  but  the  trade  is  a  good  deal 
hampered  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  labor  available,  the  mat- 
ting being  woven  by  the  agricultural  classes  who  are  obliged 
at  certain  times  to  quit  the  work  in  order  to  attend  to  the 
crops.  An  exception  to  this  is  found  at  the  town  of  Saga, 
where  a  contractor  avails  himself  of  the  prison  labor  in  mak- 
ing matting  and  carpets.  But  even  here  the  supply  of  work- 
men gave  out  a  few  years  ago,  when,  on  some  auspicious  event 
taking  place  in  the  royal  family,  a  general  release  of  prisoners 
was  ordered. 

Cotton  mills  are  established  at  four  of  the  large  towns,  and 
their  output  is  almost  entirely  consumed  in  Kiushiu.  There 
is  also  a  cement  facioiy  at  Moji,  and  extensive  paper  mills  at 
Kiirume. 

Railways  have  lately  been  much  extended  in  Kiushiu  and 
there  are  now  362  miles  open,  many  being  under  construction 
and  more  contemplated  when  capital  can  bo  obtained. 

I  have  mentioned  that  dock  and  engineering  works  were 
established  at  Nagasaki.  Besides  possessing  two  large  dry- 
docks  capable  of  holding  the  largest  types  of  vessels,  the 
Mitsu  Bishi  Company,  who  are  the  proprietors,  have  lately 
turned  their  attention  to  shipbuilding  and  in  the  summer  of 
last  year,  completed  a  steamer  of  over  6,000  tons.  This  was 
the  first  vessel  of  considerable  size  ever  built  in  Japan  or 
indeed  anywhere  in  the  Far  East  and  the  achievement  was 
considered  as  marking  an  epoch  in  the  annals  of  Japanese 
enterprise.  This  year,  another  vessel  of  the  same  size  has 
been  launched  and  the  company  contemplate  building  one 
of  10,000  tons  in  the  near  future.  The  cost  of  construction 
is,  I  believe,  from  30  to  50  per  cent,  higher  than  would  be 
the  ease  had  these  vessels  been  built  in  Europe,  but  patriot- 
ism in  Japan  is  paramount  even  in  commercial  affairs,  and 
so  strong  is  the  determination  to  compete  with  western 
nations  in  every  branch  of  industry,  that  the  native  bu.ilders 
are  certain  to  have  vessels  continually  on  the  stocks  even  at 
the  difference  in  price  I  have  inentioned.  As  to  the  quality 
of  the  work,  I  need  only  say  that  these  large  steamers  have 
been  built  to  Lloyds'  highest  requirements  under  special^ur- 
vey.  The  government  is  about  to  establish  a  large  iron  foundi^ 
in  the  centre  of  the  coal  districts,  and  in  course  of  time  the 
material  for  shipbuilding  will  doubtless  be  procurable  on  the 
spot,  rendering  it  unnecessary  to  send  abroad  for  it,  and  it  is 
y^robably  oidy  a  matter  of  time  before  the  Nagasaki  dock- 
yard will  bo  prepared  to  supply  the  navy  ^\-ith  iron-clads. 

I  have  endeavored  to  give  you  some  idea  of  the  present 
resources  of  this  Island,  but  it  is  my  belief  that,  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  Japan,  these  resources  are  capable  of  much 
development,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  there  is  a  gi'eat  deal 
of  latent  wealth,  particularly  in  minerals,  awaiting  discovery. 
If,  after  some  little  experience  of  Japan  under  the  new  regime 
on  which  she  has  now  entered,  foreigners  can  be  brought  to 
feel  the  necessary  amount  of  confidence,  there  is  every  reason 
to  hope  that  a  sufficiency  of  capital  may  be  attracted  to  the 
country,  and  in  that  event,  the  commercial  progress  of  Japan 
is  likely  to  receive  a  fresli  impetus,  and  to  make  even  greater 
strides  than  in  recent  years,  remarkable  though  these  have 
been. 


Japan  in  Her  New  Relations. 

A  Brief  Review  of  Her  Industrial  and  Commercial  Capacity 
and  Opportunities. 

Mr.  Henry  Satoh  (Director  of  The  Imperial  Commercial 
Museum  of  the  Imperial  Japanese  Department  of  State  for 
Agriculture  and  Conunerce,  Tokyo,  Japan): 

In  the  history  of  Japan's  foreign  relations,  no  nation  occu- 
pies so  prominent  a  position  as  her  friend  and  supporter,  the 
United  States  of  America.  I  need  not  here  recount  the  de- 
tailed particulars  relating  thereto,  but  let  me  point  out  some 
of  the  facts,  which  are  remembered  with  gratitude  on  the  part 
of  my  compatriots.  It  was  the  diplomatic  pressure  brought 
to  bear  upon  us  by  Commodore  Perry,  that  roused  Japan  out 
of  the  lethargy  of  exclusion,  and  gTadually  opened  a  way  for 
our  admission  into  the  comity  of  nations.  In  other  words, 
although  we  had  trade  relations  with  some  of  the  European 
nations,  yet  the  work  of  rousing  the  whole  of  the  Island 
Empire  ft-om  the  dream  of  exclusion  was  reserved  for  the 
United  States,  so  that  the  history  of  Japan's  foreign  relations, 
worthy  of  record,  might  be  looked  upon  as  dating  from  the 
arrival  of  Perry's  Squadron  at  Uraga,^in  184:5.  Another  fact 
remembered  with  sincere  gratitude  by  us,  is  the  solid  and  un- 
flinching friendship  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States, 
which  has  been  so  ably  and  effectively  accomplished  in  fact, 
by  the  presence,  in  the  capital  of  this  country,  of  your  first 
diplomatic  representative,  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Townsend 
Harris.  In  the  course  of  my  study  of  Japan's  foreign  rela- 
tions in  the  forties  and  fifties,  I  have  found  that  the  Minister 
Resident,  then  representing  your  Government  in  Yedo,  was 
often  an  adviser  to  our  Government — an  unpaid  adviser  of  the 
most  unflinching  friendship.  I  will  not  enter  into  a  detailed 
account  of  the  life  of  hardship  and  self-denial  that  Mr. 
Harris  was  forced  to  experience  during  his  mission  in 
Yedo,  but  would  refer  you  to  the  biography  of  Townsend 
Harris,  compiled  by  Dr.  Griflfis,  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  There 
are  some  still  living  who  had  the  pleasure  of  personal 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Harris,  and  they  say  that  his  friend- 
ship and  advice  were  not  appreciated  to  a  proper  degree, 
because  of  the  want  of  knowledge  on  the  part  of  our  officials 
and  diplomatists;  but  as  we  look  back,  we  cannot  but  admire 
and,  at  the  same  time,  remember  with  heartfelt  gratitude 
what  he  accomplished  during  his  mission  to  our  country.  Of 
all  that  he  did  for  us,  his  merit  as  a  friendly  adriser  to  our 
Government  in  those  days  will  never  be  forgotten,  because 
our  ignorance  of  foreign  nations  and  things  foreign  was 
so  dangerously  profound,  that  in  making  treaties,  it  would 
have  been  an  easy  work  for  a  diplomat  of  less  moral  character 
than  Mr.  Harris  to  take  advantage  of  the  prevailing  want  of 
knowledge  on  the  part  of  our  officials,  and  conclude  a  treaty 
with_  one-sided  advantages.  I  shall  not  mention  any  more 
facts  at  this  Juncture,  but  before  going  into  the  other  subjects 
more  closely  related  to  the  object  of  this  Congi-ess,  you  will 
permit  me  to  remark  that  the  above  is  a  brief  resume  of  tlie 
feelings  entertained  by  us  toward  the  government  and  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  and  that  you  hold  a  prominent 
position  in  the  assistance  rendered  us  in  the  progress  and  ad- 
vancement so  far  attained  in  our  new  s)iherc  of  relations. 

Much  has  been  wTitten  on  Japan  and  things  Japanese,  and 
since  the  opening  up  of  our  countiy,  we  have  attracted  the 
marked  attention  of  your  people.  My  experience,  however, 
suggests  that  in  spite  of  the  size  of  the  bibliograjjhy  of  Japan, 
much  remains  untouched  by  your  writers  and  investigators, 
especially  in  the  industrial  and  conunercial  capacity  of  our 
country.  Very  much  more  can  be  written  in  way  of  supple- 
menting what  has  already  been  described.     The  commercial 


PAPEES  StiBMl'T'TED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHEES 


35? 


and  industrial  opportunities  which  Japan  offers  for  foreign 
enterprises,  have  not  yet  been  as  fully  studied  and  investigated 
as  the  customs  and  niannei-s  of  the  people.  Japan  so  far  has 
been  a  country  of  quaint  customs  and  fine  scenery,  and  much 
energy  has  also  been  expended  in  introducing  our  arts  and 
manufactures;  but  it  seems  to  me,  that  what  has  already  been 
investigated  and  written  by  foreigners  on  all  the  branches  of 
our  industi-y  and  also  on  the  commercial  capacity  and  oppor- 
tunities, is  by  no  means  exhaustive.  It  appears  to  me,  that 
the  knowledge  so  far  obtained  by  foreigners  in  regard  to  our 
country,  is  largely  limited  on  account  of  the  restrictions 
which  existed  during  the  operation  of  the  old  treaties,  and 
this,  coupled  with  the  difficulty  attending  the  acquisition  of 
our  language,  has  caused  the  investigations  to  be  very  much 
limited.  The  treaty  restrictions  having  now  been  entirely  re- 
moved, and  the  whole  country  thrown  open  to  foreign  trade 
and  intercourse,  I  would  advise  you  to  take  advantage  of  this 
removal  of  restrictions,  and  cause  more  complete  investiga- 
tions to  be  made  into  our  trade  capacity  and  opportunities. 
Now  I  would  venture  to  avail  myself  of  the  rare  opportunity 
afforded  by  this  grand  and  useful  Congress,  and  invite  your 
attention  to  some  figures  wlaich  will  give  you  an  idea  of  the 
commercial  and  industrial  condition  of  our  country  at 
present. 

Foreign  Trade. 

First  of  all,  let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  following  table, 
which  will  show  you  the  volume  of  Japan's  foreign  trade  for 
the  ten  years  commencing  with  1889,  a  perusal  of  which,  will 


show  that  her  trade  has  nearly  doubled    during    the    years 
specified. 

Comparative  Table  showing  the  Total  Value  of  Japan's 
Foreign  Trade  for  the  ten  years  from  1889  to  1898. 


Exports. 

Iiuporls. 

Total  of 
Exports 

and 
Imports. 

Excess  of 
Imports. 

Excess  of 
Exports. 

1839 

70,000.705 
5G,B03,.infi 
79,527,272 
91,102,753 
89,7r2,8r,4 
113,240,086 
136,112,177 
117,842,760 
163  135,077 
165,758,752 

G6.103,7B6 
81,728,580 
62.927,268 
71.326,079 
88,257,171 
117,481,955 
129,260,578 
171,674,474 
219,300,771 
277,502,156 

186,164,471 
138,332,086 
142,454,540 
162,42.'<,8  .2 
177,970,035 
230,728,011 
265.372.755 
289,517,234 
382,43  ,848 
443,255,903 

3,956,939 

1890 

25,125.074 

1891 

H92 

19,776,674 

1893 

1 ,455  693 

1894 

1895 

4,235,869 

6,'85i,5'99" 

189B 

5.3.831,714 
56,165,694 
111,748,404 

1897 

1898 

(Unless  otherwise  stated,  all  values  are  expressed  in  Japan- 
ese yen.  One  yen  equals  approximately  fifty  cents  United 
States  money.) 

Japan's  Trade  with  Five  Countries. 

Of  the  total  volume  of  Japan's  foreign  trade,  the  relative 

amount  shared  by  the  five  countries  below  mentioned,  with 
wliich  we  have  the  most  important  trade  relations,  will  be 
shown  by  the  following  table.  In  perusing  it,  your  attention 
is  specially  called  to  the  growing  amount  of  export  from  the 
United  States  to  our  country,  which  was  more  than  six  times 
as  great  in  1898  as  it  was  in  1890. 


Japan's  Trade  Relations  with  the  Five  Countries  below  mentioned  during  the  ten  years  Commencing  with  1889. 


TI.  S.  of  America, 

Great  Britain 

China 

France 

Germany 


1839. 


Exports. 


35,282.873 

7,664,599 

5,442,507 

14,258,726 

1,638,383 


Imports. 


6,143,171 
6,067,934 
9,199,695 
3,334,167 
4,887,899 


1890. 


Exports. 


19,821,437 

5,638,980 

5,227,495 

8,354,393 

846,921 


Imports. 


6,874,531 
619,102 
8,849,685 
3,869,331 
6,856,955 


Exports. 


29,795,764 
6,633,136 
6,825,851 

15,120,075 
1 ,436,596 


Imports. 


6,840,047 

19,996,050 

8794,42S 

2,834,025 

5,127,475 


Exports. 


38,674,971 
3,921,752 
6,358,859 

18,093,693 
940,782 


Import*. 


6,988,053 
20,739,332 
12,509,410 
3,620,500 
6,375,048 


Exports. 


27,739,458 
4,935,974 
7,714,420 

19,531,975 
1,380,040 


Imports. 


6,090,408 

27,929,628 

17,095,974 

3,305,277 

7,318,133 


U.  S.  of  America.. 

Great  Britain 

China 

Franc* 

Germany 


Exports, 


43,323,557 
5,950,197 
3,813,987 

19,198,776 
1,517,548 


Imports. 


10,982,558 
42,189,873 
17,511,506 
4,343,047 
7,909,542 


1896 


Exports. 


54,028,950 
7,883,091 
9,135,108 

22,006,386 
3,340,012 


Imports. 


9,276,360 
45,172,110 
22,986,144 

5,180,134 
12,233,158 


1896 


Exports, 


31,532,341 

9,012,398 

13,823,843 

19,027,389 

2,972,136 


Imports. 


16,373,419 
69,251,780 
21,.344,.521 
7.682,346 
17,133,953 


Exports. 


52,436,404 
8,481,195 
21,325,065 
26,213,654 
2,207,018 


Imports. 


27,0!0,.537 
65,406,266 
29,265,845 
5,147,591 
18,143,279 


47,311,154 

7,783,643 

29,193,175 

20,496,406 

2,469,241 


Exports.      '      Imports. 
I 


40,001,097 
62,707,573 
30,523,860 
6,979,982 
25.610,961 


American  Goods. 

Of  the  principal  Commodities  which  we  buy  from  the 
United  States  those  whose  value  exceeds  one  million  yen  are 
stated  below: 

1896.  1897.  1898. 

Machines  and  machinery.  .1,104,250     4,359,536       2,983,376 

Iron   674,567     2,758,547       4,173,696 

Kerosene   5,282,909     5,975,866       5,910,774 

Gin  cotton 4.252,398     7,273,221     14,751,199 

Flour   980,203     1,152,318       1,979,359 

Tobacco 519,864        886,016       2,940,500 


Japan's  Export  to  America. 

Of  the  chief  classes  of  articles  we  sell  to  the  United  States, 
the  following  table  will  show  you  those  items,  the  value  of 
which  exceeds  one  million  yen: 

1896.  1897.  1898. 

Eaw  silk 14,080,981  32,262.900  25,341,401 

Tea   5,210,778  6,489.493  6,540,716 

Silk  goods  in  general. . .    1,913,988  1,561,519  1,997,559 

Habutai 2,240,452  3,528.804  4,015,504 

Fancy  mattings 2,683,255  2,697,249  3,707,460 


358 


PEOCEEDINGS  OP  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Home  Tkade,  Etc. 

So  far,  I  have  dwelt  upon  our  foreign  trade,  and  I  now  beg 
to  call  your  attention  to  some  of  the  figures  whicli  viiW  afford 
you  a  slight  insight,  into  our  internal  business  conditions. 

Allow  me  to  invite  your  attention  to  the  following  tables 
which  will  show  you  the  amount  of  the  principal  productions; 
agricultural,  mineral,  and  manufactured,  during  the  years 
named. 


].  Ti-incipal   Agricultural 
years  beginning  with  1894. 


Productions    during    the    four 


Rice'. 

Barley 

Kve 

W'heat 

Beans 

Millet  and  its  species 

Buckwheat 

Swet-t  Potatoes 

Potatoes 

Cotton  in  the  seeds  „ 

Fiax 

Indigo  Leaves 

Leaf  Tobacco 

Rape  Seeds 

Cocoons 

Raw  Silk 

Tea 

Sugar,  White  and  Brown. - 

Rape  Seed  Oil 

Raw  Wax 


(Koku)    41 

"  8, 

7, 

3, 

2, 

"  3, 

1 

(Kwan)  49>, 

49, 

"         12, 

3 

"  l«i 

(Koku)  1 
"  1 

(Catties)  8, 
49, 
13, 

(Koku) 

(Kwan)     3, 


,8l.'i,714 
,528,403 
,314,304 
;,9I17,M3 
,943,478 
,394,.i22 
,202,372 
,948,701 
,7.^2,907 
,572,971 
,224,094 
087,377 
,4.11.304 
,006,581 
,797,842 
,104,894 
,270,200 
,363,894 
228,.525 
,085,659 


39,9211,832 

8,536,770 

7,016,709 

3,'.i73,644 

3,163,683 

3,498,434 

1,192,377 

711,813,132 

44,273,903 

10,488,569 

3,366,784 

17,373,344 

8,873,911 

969,917 

2,258.173 

10,020,694 

53,743,000 

11,990,669 

220,976 

4,u37,958 


1896. 


.Sr,,199,771 
7,849,231 
5,925,837 
3,564,149 
2,999,490 
3,706,346 
1,090,254 
725,942,023 

44,220,605 
7,422,061 
3,285,730 

17,918,863 
8,393,507 
971,198 
1,831,373 
9,017,000 

63,127,466 

7,345,894 

219,660 

3,481,075 


33,039,293 
8,008,639 
6,165,792 
3,788,864 
3,100,973 
3,461,819 
990,196 
662,391,690 

68,528,287 
7,304,253 
3,569,159 

19,416,693 
8,871,370 
1,011,004 
2,121,944 
9,609,766 

52,949,72.1 

6,407,269 

276,S35 

3,114,663 


NOTE:— .ffbfcw=about  5  bushels;  in  liquid  n3easure=about  40  gallons. 
Ci«y=about  1%  lbs. 
^ufan=about  8'lbs. 

The  amount  of  rice  crop,  last  year  (1898),  was  exceptionally 
large  and  reached  the  rare  figures  of  47,387,666  Koku,  while 
the  forecast  for  the  present  year  is  41,000,000  Koku. 

2.  Principal  Mineral  Productions  for  the  five  years  com- 
mencing with  1892. 


Gold (Kwan) 

Silver 

Copper 

Lead 

Antimony 

Iron 

Manganese  

Coal 

Coal  oil 

Sulphur 


(Catties) 


(Kwan) 

(Catties) 

irons) 

(Koku) 

(Catties) 


186, 

16,063, 

31,644, 

I, SIS, 

2,.m5; 

5,031 

8,363, 

3,176, 

72, 

34,142, 


,805 
,42ul 
,639 
,9411 
,433 
,466 
,760 
,670 
,893 
:,610 


196, 

18,469 

30,025, 

1,854, 

2,748, 

4,535, 

26,737, 

3,319 

94 

.19,814, 


209, 

19,209, 

33.186; 

2,375, 

2,618, 

6,182 

22,240: 

4,268 

161 

31,267 


,509 

,527  19, 

,229  31, 

,9271  3, 

,651 1  2, 

,463 j  6 

,739 1  28; 

,13)  4, 
,936 

,166  25, 


239,041 
,272,544 
,856,887 
,241,032 
,806,729 
,879,306 
,620,061 
,772,6.54 
149,497 
,884,250 


2.56,519 
17,156,666 
33,464,615 
3,257,126 
2,237,616 
7,299,679 
29,893,267 
6,019,690 
208,400 
20,863,373 


NOTE.— ifuian— about  8  lbs.    £b*u=about  40  gallons.    Catty-=lbs.  IJ^. 

3.  Principal  JIanufactured  Productions  for  the  five  years 
beginning  with  1893. 


silk  fabrics 

Silk  and  cotton  fabrics 

Cotton  fabrics 

Linen 

Cotton  yarns 

Porcelains  A.  eartb-wares. 

Lacquer  wares 

Bronzes I 

Paper  (Japanese  style) i 

l>o,       (European    *'  ) 

Mats  and  Mattings 

Matches (Gross)    19,045,360 


1893 


Yen 
23,776,40: 

9,248,0i;3 
22.309,941 

2,016,816 
10,666,744 

3,931,334 


1891 

1893 

1896 

Yen 

Yen 

Yen 

32,538,470 

46,361,509 

54,018,479 

8,247,116 

10,281,272 

9,131,968 

27,167,66H 

37,053,448 

38,885,928 

3,093,166 

1,966,806 

1,637,722 

14,020,008 

18,437,011 

20,585,48.-. 

3,20:!,822 

4,816,321 

6,205,185 

2,69.'),049 

3,119,263 

3,295,947 

714,411 

738,690 

924,486 

8,001,117 

9,120,746 

10,316,950 

2,123,229 

2,417,843 

2,,507,364 

3,627,082 

5,720,490 

3,8.32,711 

18,721,452 

21,225,158 

25,133,619 

1897 


Yen 

62,663,029 

11.723,137 

42,032,907 

2,903,172 

26,1.34,120 

6,l(i3.ll7il 

4,116,077 

1,1.30,642 

12,630,188 

2,730,S;5 

6,660  271 

24,038.960 


Business  Companies. 

Along  with  the  introduction  of  new  ideas,  consequent  upon 
our  relations  with  foreign  countries,  new  methods  of  trans- 
acting business  were  introduced,  among  which  the  most  promi- 


nent is  the  organization  of  joint  stock  companies  and  partner- 
sliips.  The  appended  table  will  show  the  gradual  increase 
and  development  in  this  respect  since  1888,  by  which  you  will 
observe  that  the  number  of  such  companies  more  than 
doubled,  while  in  the  amount  of  capital,  an  increase  of  a  little 
over  600  per  cent,  is  observable. 


Year. 

No.  of 
Companies. 

Capital. 

Paid  up  Capital. 

Reserve  Fund. 

1888 

1889 

2.629 
4,039 
4,330 
4,362 
4,635 
4,349 
2,844 
.3.371 
4, .5.50 
6,077 

Yen    118,364,201 

186,428,048 

"        150,361,726 

140,436,333 

"        130,124,669 

"        223,906,113 

245,251,624 

234,802,486 

619,22.3,949 

853,172,107 

No  statistics. 

Yen      96,713,942 

75,461,043 

"          83,445.982 

86,074,654 

No  Statistics. 

Yen    397,564,632 
632,622,377 

No  statistics. 

1890 

„ 

1S91 

„ 

1892 

., 

1893 

„ 

1894 

„ 

1895 

1896 

Yen      76,123,866 
62,604,570 

1897 

Of  the  business  companies  above  stated,  the  number  pos- 
sessing a  capital  of  over  100,000  yen  is  920.  Classified  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  business,  tlie  statistics  of  1897  show 
the  followincr  results: 


Capital,  paid  up, 
Yen. 


Reserve. 
Yen. 


Nature  of  Busintsa  No.  of  Cos.  Capital. 

Yen. 

Agiicultural  . .     148  3,386,958  2,229,627  85,632 

Conunercial  ..3,630  417,279,266  260,227,479  48,285,436 

Manufactur'g   1,881  165,332,633  105,381,106  7,581,535 

Transportat'n      454  267,173,250  164,684,165  6,551,967 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  add  on  the  au- 
thority of  the  Twelfth  Annual  Statistics  issued  by  the  Im- 
perial Department  of  State  for  Agriculture  and  Commerce, 
tliat  the  number  of  factories  at  the  end  of  1895  was  7,154,  an 
increase  of  1,169  or  nearly  20  per  cent,  when  compared  with 
the  year  preceding,  of  which  those  using  steam  and  water 
power  show  an  increase  of  14  per  cent.;  while  the  aggregate 
horse  power  of  both  was  61,252,  an  increase  of  22,021,  or 
neaiiy  50  per  cent.  The  factories  where  electricity  alone  is 
used  as  the  motive  power,  were  only  10  in  number,  the  total 
horse  power  being  410. 

According  to  the  Fourteenth  Annual  Statistics  (the  latest) 
of  the  same  office,  we  find  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
factories  of  133,  making  the  total  at  the  end  of  1897,  7,287, 
while  in  horse  power,  an  increase  of  2,182  is  observable,  mak- 
ing the  aggregate  horse  power  63,434  in  1897.  The  same 
statistics  also  show  that  of  the  7,287  factories,  4,377  use  no 
motive  power  of  any  description,  and  that  in  only  2,910, 
either  steam  or  water  power  is  ;'sed.  The  number  of  hands 
employed  in  the  factories  is  as  follows: 

Male ...     182,792 

Female 254,462 

Total  437,254 

Banks. 

The  banking  business  and  its  development  will  be  shown  in 
the  following  table,  in  which  the  stati.*tics  of  every  five  years 
are  given: 


Year.  Number 

of  I?anks. 

1877 20 

1882 320 

1887   3.59 

1892   405 

1897   1,581 


Amount  of 
Capital. 
24,986,100  yen. 
64,388,100     " 
79,234,912     " 
85,681,777     " 
321,593,014     " 


MPEES  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHERS 


359 


Dividends  Declarkd. 

As  to  the  rate  of  dividends  declared  by  the  joint  stock  and 
other  companies,  I  am  not  in  possession  of  the  official  statis- 
tics in  a  brief  and  available  form,  so  that  it  is  difficult  to  find 
the  average  rate;  but  it  might  be  added  that  some  companies 
last  year  declared  a  dividend  of  15  per  cent.,  while  the  average 
rate  will  probably  range  from  8  to  9  per  cent. 

Rate  of  Interest. 

The  rate  of  interest  for  the  ten  years,  commencing  with 
1889,  is  appended  herewith,  by  which  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
lowest  rate  prevailing  in  Tokyo  diu-ing  the  ten  years  was  in 
1893,  when  the  average  rate  of  interest  on  loans  was  7.15  per 
cent.,  on  current  account,  3.03  per  cent,  and  on  fixed  deposit 
of  one  year,  4.77  per  cent.;  while  in  Osaka,  in  the  same  year, 
the  average  rate  of  interest  on  loans  was  6.92  per  cent.  The 
highest  rate  prevailing  in  Tokyo  was  in  the  last  year  (1S98), 
when  the  rate  on  loans  was  11.39  per  cent.,  wMle  in  Osaka, 
the  highest  rate  was  experienced  in  1890,  when  it  went  up  as 
high  as  12.51  per  cent,  in  March,  wliicli,  however,  gradually 
lowered  to  an  average  of  11.25  per  cent,  during  the  year. 

At  the  time  of  writing,  the  average  rate  of  interest  allowed 
in  Tokyo  on  fixed  deposit  of  one  year  is  from  5.5  to  6  per 
cent.,  while  that  on  loans  is  7  to  8  per  cent. 


The  average  rate  of  interest  per  annum  during  the  ten  years 
commencing  with  1889,  as  compiled  by  the  Associ- 
ate Banks  of  Osaka,  is  shown  below. 


Year. 


1889 


f  March 

[  September... 

,„qn/ March 

'"^"t  September.. 


.  /March 

(September.. 

March 

September.. 

arch 

ptember.. 


1892  {^Z^*^^ 

1893  {^["^^ 


-(.Q.f  March 

^**^'*  t  September.. 


^^^^{sepumber!! 


,  (March 

'(September.. 


(  March 

[  September..., 


1898 


March 

September.. 


Loans. 


12.51 
10.05 


9.90 
8.87 


8.80 
8.35 


7.66 
6.92 


9.17 
10.59 


9.97 
9.55 


9.21 
11.13 


9.50 
10.17 


11.10 
11.00 


Deposit. 


Maxim- 


6.5 
5.6 


6.0 
6.0 


6.0 
6.0 


6.0 
6.0 


8.7 
8.7 


Minim. 


0.7 
1.0 


1.8 
1.0 


1.0 
I.O 


1.0 
1.0 


2.0 


6.5 
6.5 


2.5 
2.5 


The  average  rate  of  interest  per  annum  during  the  ten.  years 
commencing  with  1889,  as  compiled  by  the  Associ- 
ate Banks  of  Tokyo,  is  hereby  shown. 


YEAR. 

LOASS. 

Current 
Account. 

Fixed  Deposit 
(one  year). 

9.4 
10.85 

11.10 
10.05 

9.9 

8.87 

8.45 
8.36 

7.39 
6.92 

8.68 
10.03 

9.91 
9.24 

9.05 
9.49 

9.67 
10.11 

11.32 
11.46 

3.6 
3.65 

3.71 
3.71 

3.72 
3.70 

3.67 
S.68 

3.49 
2.55 

2.35 
3.80 

3.81 
3.90 

4.14 
4.27 

4.16 
4.78 

6.69 
6.13 

6.5 

'8*^isept!° ::::::::;:::::::;:::::;;;:::: 

6.7 

6.0 

'88o{sep^l:.z::v::::::;::::::::::;r 
""il^"';;;;;::;;:;;.::::::::::::::::: 

6.0 

6.0 
6.9 

6.0 

I'^nsept.:::::;::::::;;:::::::::::::;::: 

6.0 

6.09 

'^^nsept...;:::::::":::::::::"":::::: 

4.45 

6.2 

'«9i{sept!z::;::::::::::::::::::::::: 

6.64 

---_  (March 

6.82 

'**H  Sept    "   ..............: 

6.02 

6.99 

'83nse^!.:::z:::::::;:::::::;;:;;:;; 

6.13 

6.21 

i^^'fsept  "':"z::::z::::.zz 

S.62 

7.27 

185^  { s«ft.  °;;:;;;.r:.z::z:.::::: 

7.44 

Railways. 

The  first  railroad  built  in  our  country  was  the  Tokyo- 
Yokohama  Line  of  eighteen  miles,  which  was  opened  to  trafiic 
in  June,  1ST3.  Since  that  time,  both  the  government  and 
private  companies  have  been  actively  engaged  in  the  extension 
of  railways.  The  returns  made  in  August  of  this  year  show 
the  following  figures: 

Government  lines 798  miles. 

Private  lines  2,763  miles. 

Total 3,561  miles. 

I  am  informed  that  the  average  daily  income  of  the  Nippon 
Railway   Company,   the  largest  private  company,   probably 


The  average  rate  of  interest  per  annum,  charged  by  the  Bank 
of  Japan  during  the  ten  years  commencing  1889. 


Year. 


"""t  September.. 


r  March.. 


(September.. 

.  /March 

( September.. 


Loans. 


Maximum.    Minimum 


6,21 
7.01 


7.01 
6  60 


7.67 
6.39 


f  March.. 


\  September.. 
J  /March.. 


(September.., 

March- 

September... 

March 

September.., 


6.21 


7  01 
6.5 


6.94 
6.39 


Current 
Account. 


5.0 


6.0 
5.0 


Fixed 

Deposit. 

(One  Year.) 


1894  {f  "'=''• 


183, 1  March 


f  March.. 


^''^{  September.., 


1897  { 


March 

September.. 


.aoj/ March 

"""t  September.. 


6.39 
6.39 

6.02 
6.48 

6.94 
8.03 

8.03 
7.30 

7.30 
7.67 

7.67 
8.76 

9.86 
9.86 

6.39 
6.39 

5.48 
4.75 

6.34 
7.S 

8.03 
7.30 

7.30 
7.30 

7.67 
6.76 

9.49 
9.»6 

5.0 
6.0 

5.0 

3.0 
3.0 


3.0 
3.0 


3.0 
3.0 


3.0 
3.0 


3.0 

3.0 


3.0 
3.0 


3.0 
5.0 


3.0 

8.0 


3.0 
3.0 


3.0 
3.0 


reached  23,000  yen  during  last  month  (August),  on  account 
of  the  increased  purchasing  power  of  th-;  Northeastern  Dis- 
tricts, owing  to  better  prospects  in  silk  cocoons  and  raw  silks. 

Shipping. 

In  the  merchant  shipping  of  our  coimtry,  a  remarkable 
increase  is  observable  since  the  late  war  with  China.  Accord- 
ing to  the  returns  made  in  December,  1898,  the  actual  ship- 
ping capacity  of  our  country  was  as  follows: 


Kind  of  Vessels. 

Steamers  (seagoing) 
Sailing  (seagoing)  . . 


No. 

674 
1,310 


Registered  Tonnage. 

287,854 
139,852 


GroBS  Tonnage, 

464,235 
149,399 


Total  (seagoing)   1,984 


427,706 


613,634 


360 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


In  addition  to  the  above  classes  of  vessels,  we  have  also  sea- 
going junks  engaged  in  the  coasting  trade,  the  number  of 
wliicTi,  according  to  the  returns  of  1896,  was  17,160,  aJl  sizes 
included  from  50  to  1,000  koku  capacity. 

Rate  of  Wages. 

The  rate  of  wages  has  risen  considerably  during  the  last 
ten  years.  The  appended  table  -will  show  the  average  daily 
rate  during  the  years  indicated: 


Vear 1887     1892     1894 

l!ate  (yen) 1.00      1.08      1.29 

Cities  and  Towns. 


1895 
1.34 


1896 
1.55 


1897 
1.79 


Of  the  cities,  towns  and  villages  having  a  population  of 
over  10,000,  there  are  208  in  the  whole  Empire,  while  the 
cities  having  a  population  of  over  30,000,  and  constituting 
respectively  important  emporiums  for  the  commerce  and 
industry  of  the  adjoining  localities,  are  39  in  number.  They 
are  distributed  throughout  the  Empire,  occupying  prominent 
jiositions  in  regard  to  the  commerce,  industry  and  commuid- 
eations  of  the  whole  country. 

Japan's  Finances. 

According  to  the  words  of  Count  Matsukate,  the  Finance 
Minister  of  State,  spoken  before  the  Economic  Society  of 
Tokyo,  the  adoption  and  consummation  of  the  gold  mono- 
metalism  in  1897  was  not  unattended  with  some  anxiety,  es- 
pecially on  the  score  of  the  silver  coins  which  had  been  issued 
by  the  treasury.  It-was  then  difficult  to  forsee  the  cjuantity  of 
the  silver  coins  that  might  be  presented  for  exchange,  thus 
attenuating  the  gold  reserves  of  the  treasury  to  a  dangerous 
degree.  Fortunately,  only  18  million  silver  yen  came  from 
abroad,  and  34  millions  were  presented  at  home,  making  a 
total  of  52  millions.     Of  the  white  metal  thus  brought  into 


the  treasury  and  of  other  stores  of  the  same  metal,  27,600,000 
yen  was  converted  into  subsidiary  coins,  while  47  million 
yen  was  sold  in  Hong  Kong,  Shanghai,  Singapore  and  else- 
where. In  these  sales,  a  loss  of  5,700,000  yen  was  incurred, 
but  when  compared  with  the  profit  realized  by  the  subsidiary 
coins  which  amounted  to  5,790,000  yen,  the  net  result  was 
a  gain  of  90,000  yen.  The  system  is  now  fairly  in  operation 
and  has  greatly  facilitated  the  trade  with  gold-using  coun- 
tries, ^\•hile  it  has  not  at  all  hampered  commerce  with  silver 
states. 

Here  let  me  call  your  attention  to  the  financial  statement 
compiled  by  Mr.  Sakatani,  the  Director-General  of  the  Bureau 
of  Account  of  the  Imperial  Financial  Department  of  State, 
and  published  in  two  of  the  leading  dailies  of  Tokyo.  The 
translation  of  the  statement  in  a  tabular  fonn  is  appended 
herewith.  Mr.  Sakatani  says  in  publishing  the  statement: 
"I  have  prepared  the  table  given  below,  with  the  view  of  enab- 
ling those  who  are  not  acquainted  with  Japanese  affairs,  to 
grasp  at  a  glance,  the  actual  position  of  Japanese  finances. 
The  table  shows  both  the  sources  from  which  the  revenue 
(ordinarj'  and  extraordinar}-)  has  been  obtained,  and  the  man- 
ner in  which  it  has  been  disbursed  during  the  ten  yeai-s,  com- 
mencing with  the  year  in  wliich  the  Imperial  Diet  was  first 
opened  and  ending  with  the  one  now  cuiTcnt.  Of  the  figures 
mentioned  in  this  table,  those  relating  to  the  eight  years  from 
1890-1  to  1897-8  have  been  taken  from  the  settled  accounts, 
which,  with  the  exception  of  that  for  1897-8  have  already 
been  reported  to  the  Imperial  Diet  after  inspection  by  the 
Board  of  Audit.  The  settled  account  for  1897-8  is  now  in 
course  of  examination  by  the  Board  of  Audit,  while  the  figures 
relating  to  1898-9,  though  not  yet  fonnally  settled,  may  prac- 
tically be  regarded  as  settled.  Those  for  1899-1900  are  taken 
from  the  Budget  for  the  cun-ent  year." 

Mr.  Sakatani  in  publishing  the  statement,  very  justly  ob- 
serves that  the  account  shows  that  the  country's  finances  are 
in  a  thoroughly  sound  condition.  Especially,  I  would  call 
your  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  ordinary  revenue  now 
largely  exceeds  the  ordinary  expenditure. 


A  Table  Showing  the  Financial  Accounts  of  the  Japanese  Empire  for  the  Last  Ten  Years. 


Okdinaey  Account. 

EXTKAORDINARY   ACCOtlNT. 

FiQancial  year. 

Ordinary 
revenue. 

Ordinary 
e.xpeuditure. 

Repayment 

of  public 

debt. 

Surplus  ot 
llic  year. 

THE   ABOVE  IS  COVEEBD   BY. 

Extraordi- 
nary e.xpeu- 
diture. 

Miscellaneous 

extraordi- 
nary revenue. 

Surplus  of 
ordinary 
revenue. 

2,594,144 
13,328,562 
11,845,689 

6,871,421 
15,032,415 

Surplus  of 

foregoing 

years. 

War 
indeiuuity. 

Productive 
public  debt. 

Unprodiictive 
public  debt 

1890-1. 

78.527,038 
76,264,850 
80,728.016 
85,883,078 
89,748,451 

""9V,'444,'(V48" 
104 ,901, .524 
124,222.879 
132,568,434 
178,558,944 

60,574,768 
59,395,309 
60.301,967 
58,662,755 
54,558,813 

'60,i2V,'835" 

90,76i,208 
98,1147,487 
lll,3-.i7,183 
134,495,192 

3,036.569 
3,.540,979 
3,516,040 
6,882,826 
5,362,533 

7,026,147" 

9,95l),6!5 
9.647,640 
7,622,717 
6,467,6119 

14,915,701 
1 3,328.562 
16.910,009 
21,337,503 
29,329,113 

28,'296yi66" 

4,185,681 
16..'i27,752 
13,618,534 
37,596,143 

9,471,462 
20,619,5.58 
12,916.686 
20.036.248 
17,707,211 

0,877,318 
2,627,107 
1,071.097 
3,164.827 
2,674,826 
4  713.418 

1891-2  

4,663,589 

18  2-3 

1893-4 

1894-.5 

War  expenditure. 
189.5-6 

78,957,164 

116,804,226 

18,165,139  1          2,956,098 
6a,l40,-56:!  ;          6,821,483 
115,983,717             7.2.53,574 
100.502,527  1          4,993.353 
105,488,905            11.9118  866 

15,209,041 
4.185,681 
16,.527,752 
13,618,5.34 
37,094,775 

1896-7  

39.7io,i2i 
15,451,722 
2,295,298 

11,7.-9,389 
411,360,796 
46,187,071 
31,818,364 

2,416.251 
17,890,866 

8.084,401 
21,273,123 

3,217.638 
18,499,007 
25,323,870 

3,393,777 

i8'J7-8 

1898-9 

1899-1900 

Note:  Under  the  head  of  "  prod  uctive  public  debt "  is  included  the  debt  incurred  for  the  purpose  of  railway  extension  and  improvement,  tobacco  leaf  monopoly,  telephone  exten- 
Bion,  and  the  establishment  of  a  state  steel  factory.  Under  the  head  of"  unproductive  public  debt"  is  included  the  debt  incurred  for  the  Japanese-Chinese  war  and  the  exten" 
siou  of  armaments. 


Commercial  Mokalitt. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  make  a  brief  remark  in  reference 
to  the  commercial  morality  of  our  merchants  and  traders. 
Mucli  has  been  written  against  our  mercantile  class,  but  to 
give  you  my  impression  as  frankly  as  possible,  I  am  prepared 
to  say  that  our  commercial  morality  is  not  such  as  sensational 
writers  and  speakers  would    have  you   believe.     The  detri- 


mental reports  are  very  much  exa.srgerated.  It  must  be 
the  work  of  prejudice  embittered  by  failure  in  business,  or 
the  result  of  a  hasty  conclusion  drawn  from  a  one-sided  repre- 
sentation of  our  commercial  standing.  I  do  not  deny  the  ex- 
istence of  facts  proving  want  of  commercial  morality  on  the 
part  of  our  merchants  and  traders,  but  Japan  is  not  the  only 
country  where  you  can  find  facts  and  examples  of  moral 
weakness.     Without  going  any  further  int«  the  subject,  you 


J.   p.  HELFENSTEIN, 
Shamokin,  Pa. 


F.  P.  HELLER, 
Reading,  Pa. 


THOMAS  B.   HENLEY. 

Newport  News,  Va. 


JOHN    M.  IVES, 
Rochester,  N.  Y. 


C.   J,  WHELLAMS, 

St.  Paul,  Minn. 


E.  W.  JONES, 

Los  Angeles,  Cal. 


N,   B    KELLY, 

Philadelphia.  Pa. 


CHARLES  J.  LONG, 
WiLKESBARRE,  Pa. 


HENRY    LORD, 
Bangor.  Maine. 


PAPERS  SUBMITT^ED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHERS 


361 


will  permit  me  to  say  that  if  Japan  has  been  as  deficient  in 
her  commercial  morality  as  the  most  of  the  writers  would 
have  you  conclude,  our  foreign  trade  would  not  have  realized 
the  yearly  advancement  and  extension  pointed  out  by  the 
statistics  already  referred  to  in  this  paper.  Let  me  add  that 
all  the  typical  merchants  and  traders  of  our  country  value 
their  honor  and  reputation  as  much  as  life  itself,  and  that 
in  your  future  relations  with  our  counti7,  commercial  or 
otherwise,  you  will  not  have  much  difficulty  in  finding  suoh 
of  my  compatriots  in  whom  you  can  repose  implicit  confi- 
dence. 

Partial  and  distorted  representations  work  immense  mis- 
chief, especially  in  a  country  like  ours,  which  is  not  fully 
known,  even  by  foreign  residents  of  long  standing.  We  close 
nothing  to  foreig-n  investigation.  We  have  now  thrown  open 
the  whole  country  for  foreign  intercourse,  and  I  would  most 
earnestly  invite  you  to  extend  your  investigations  more  fully 
into  our  country.  Viscount  Aoki,  the  Minister  of  State  for 
Foreign  Affairs,  speaking  at  a  banquet  given  by  the  Interna- 
tional Committee  of  Yokohama,  sadd:  "So  far  as  my  country- 
men are  concerned,  I  can  assure  you  that  all  classes  of  Japan- 
ese, even  in  the  remote  parts  of  the  Empire,  will  welcome  you 
with  open  hearts,  and  join  hands  with  you  in  all  the  various 
activities  of  life,  and  I  sincerely  trust  that  the  foreign  resi- 
dents will  not  regard  themselves  as  strangers  in  a  strange 
land."  This  expression  is  shared  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  whole  Empire;  and  I  would  like  to  see  many  of 
you  join  hands  with  my  compatriots  and  be  able  to  feel  a 
solid  and  substantial  interest  in  our  country.  Out  of  my 
earnest  desire  to  see  a  closer  commercial  relation  established 
between  you  and  my  country,  it  might  not  be  entirely  out  of 
place  to  say  a  few  more  words  in  reference  to  a  question  which 
has  been  agitated,  and  is  still  leaving  doubt  in  many  minds.  I 
refer  to  the  question  of  land  ownersliip  by  foreigners  residing 
in  Japan. 

SUPEHFICIES. 

It  has  been  given  out  by  many  writers  that  foreign  enter- 
prises in  Japan  will  be  seriously  crippled  by  the  impossibility 
of  foreigners  acquiring  the  full  ownership  of  land.  It  is  a 
fact,  that  the  right  of  owning  land  is  denied  the  foreigner, 
but  if  you  will  look  a  little  more  closely  into  the  fonns  of  land 
tenure  provided  in  our  civil  code,  you  will  find  that  there 
are  four  of  them,  namely,  ownership,  superficies,  emphyteusis 
and  leasing.  Of  these  forms,  the  first  and  the  third  call  for 
no  remark  calculated  to  be  of  interest  to  foreigners,  inasmuch 
as  the  ownersliip  is  forbidden  them,  and  emphyteusis  is  en- 
tirely agricultural.  Everything  centres  from  the  foreign  stand- 
point on  leasing  and  superficies.  Of  the  former,  very  little  is 
required  in  way  of  elucidation  as  the  word  is  familiar  to  every- 
body, while  the  latter  is  a  translation  of  the  Japanese  word 
chijolien,  which  being  literally  translated  is  the  "right  in 
the  surface  of  land,"  and  is  not  very  familiar  to  many  of  us. 
It  is  less  than  ownership,  but  more  than  a  building  lease. 
From  one  point  of  view,  superficies  corresponds  to  an  English 
building  lease  for  99  years  or  longer,  while  from  another 
point  of  view,  it  is  more  than  a  building  lease,  inasmuch  as 
the  right  of  tenure  may  be  purchased  by  a  single  payment  at 
the  outset,  and  thus  dispense  with  the  payment  of  monthly 
or  annual  payment  of  rent.  Again,  the  term  of  superficies  is 
not  limited.  It  can  be  fixed  at  any  length  of  time.  In  short, 
superficies  is  a  form  of  land  tenure  which  though  falling  short 
of  literal  ownersliip,  yet  answers  all  the  practical  purposes  of 
ownership.  The  truth  is,  that  superficies  supply  every  facility 
which  foreign  enterprise  can  possibly  need  for  the  safe-guard- 
ing of  its  interest.  In  the  words  of  the  civil  code,  superficies 
is  the  "right  of  persons  to  use  another  person's  land  for  the 
purposes  of  owning  their  own  structures  or  trees." 


Lastly,  let  me  tell  you,  that  both  the  government  and  the 
people  of  this  country  are  making  every  possible  effort  to 
secure  the  smooth  working  of  the  new  treaties,  and  I  would 
advise  you  to  study  our  country,  not  only  as  the  land  of  quaint 
manners  and  novel  customs,  but  also  as  a  place  where  you  can 
find  business  opportunities  of  no  small  magnitude.  Should 
any  of  you,  gentlemen,  desire  information  on  commercial 
matters,  the  Imperial  Commercial  Museum  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  State  for  Agriculture  and  Commerce,  wall  be  open  for 
the  exhibition  of  your  products  and  manufactures,  free  for  the 
time  being,  provided  you  first  obtain  permission  for  the  space 
required,  and  you  will  find  it  a  very  useful  medium  for  adver- 
tising. We  have  some  American  manufactures  on  exhibition 
and  are  prepared  to  receive  more.  It  is  my  sincere  hope  that 
you  will  utilize  the  Museum  to  the  utmost  of  its  capacity  and 
place  yourself  in  frequent  correspondence  with  that  institu- 
tion. 


Commercial  Relations  Between  Japan  and  the  United 

States. 

Tlie  Japanese  Traders'  Society: 

It  is  with  a  deep  sense  of  appreciation  that  this  Associa- 
tion acknowledges  receipt  of  your  kind  invitation  to  dispatch 
a  representative  to  be  present  at  the  opening  of  the  Inter- 
national Commercial  Congress,  to  be  held,  in  conjunction  ' 
with  the  National  Export  Exposition,  in  October  next,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum.  It  is 
with  much  pleasure  that  the  Association  finds  itself  able  to 
state  in  response  to  your  favor,  that  it  has  nominated  its 
Vice-Presidemt,  Mr.  Kailie  Otani  to  take  part,  as  its  repre- 
sentative, in  the  ceremony  in  question. 

This  Association  would  furthermore  wish  to  avail  itself 
of  this  opportunity  to  briefly  refer  to  the  condition  of  trade 
between  this  country  and  the  United  States,  which  has  of 
late  years  made  such  wonderful  strides  in  the  field  of  com- 
merce. It  would  also  wish  to  submit  to  the  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  delegates  from  the  Chambers  of  Commerce, 
a  short  statement  which  may  be  of  interest  to  them. 

(See,  pp.  113  to  114,  seventh  day's  proceedings.) 


Peoposition  for  a  Committee  to  Review  Treaties  and 

Tariffs. 

Chr.  B.  Lorenlzen  (Delegate  from  the  Handelsforening,  Dram- 
men,  Norway): 

I  hereby  take  the  liberty  of  placing  before  you  a  question 
relating  to  protection  and  free  trade,  but  seen  from  a  par- 
ticular point  of  view. 

The  peace  conferences,  held  during  the  present  year  at  the 
Hague  and  in  Christiania,  have  only  made  it  clearer,  that 
war  as  a  political  institution  forms  the  necessary  expression 
for  the  still  existing  conditions  between  nations.  As  long 
as  the  nations  do  not  feel  that  their  interests  run  parallel 
and  are  mutual,  wai-  will  continue  to  be  the  last  means  to 
which,  in  their  rivalr^^  they  will  be  forced  to  resort.  Arbi- 
tration can  only  be  used  in  such  cases  where  the  disagreement 
does  not  concern  questions  which  are  regarded  important 
enough  to  call  for  a  sacrifice  of  blood  and  treasure.  But  war 
as  an  evil  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  subject  by  itself,  separated 
from  other  conditions  and  circumstances  of  human  society. 

It  cannot  be  regarded  as  an  isolated  disease  in  the  body  of 
society,  any  more  than  eruptions  on  the  skin  can  be  classed 
as  a  special  disease  in  cases  of    smallpox    or    scarlet    fever. 


802 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS^ 


War  is  only  the  violent  outbreak  of  the  disease,  not  the  dis- 
ease itself,  and  those  who  mean  to  cure  the  evil  by  stopping 
the  outbreak  give  themselves  a  certificate  as  quacks,  who  do 
not  understand  that  a  disease  must  be  cured  by  removing  its 
cause — not  by  treating  its  more  or  less  accidental  manifesta- 
tions. I  mean  to  say,  that  all  work,  which  is  immediately 
directed  to  the  abolishment  of  war,  from  the  very  nature  of 
the  question,  will  lead  to  disappointment. 

I  believe  the  only  remedy  is  to  do  away  with  all  false  rivalry 
between  the  nations,  particularly  with  regard  to  economic 
interests,  which  in  our  day,  more  especially,  have  become  the 
all  preponderating  ones  in  interaatioual  politics.  It  is  the 
race  of  the  big  nations  for  colonies  and  trade  markets  which 
gives  the  most  numerous  and  most  dangerous  causes  for 
collision.  It  is  the  claim  of  the  '"open"  or  the  "closed"  door, 
which  figures  so  largely  in  the  diplomatic  language  of  our 
days.  In  the  modem  world  politics,  the  economic  antagonism 
between  nations  gives  rise  to  the  real  perils  of  great  warlike 
complications. 

My  opinion  is,  therefore,  that  this  question  should  be 
impressed  on  the  minds  of  commercial  men,  more  than  on 
others.  An  international  committee  should  be  appointed 
to  meet  year  after  year  with  the  object  of  making  clear 
whether  some  modifications  or  alterations  in  the  present  pro- 
tective commercial  system  of  most  countries  could  not  be 
effected  on  a  broader  basis,  without  injuring  anybody,  but  on 
the  contraiT,  benefiting  all  nations.  Now  treaties  are  often 
made  on  a  narrow-minded  basis.  A  committee,  as  suggested, 
could  work  out  a  review  of  all  commercial  treaties  and  custom 
tarifi's  and  point  out,  from  a  commercial  view,  what  could  be 
done  in  order  to  smooth  out  differences  which  should  and  can 
be  adjusted. 

I  do  not  myself  believe  in  the  early  accomplishment  of  such 
a  task,  but  the  question,  I  believe,  is  of  such  importance,  and 
will  by  and  by  come  to  the  front  in  such  a  manner,  that  some 
organization  should  be  prepared  to  begin  as  soon  as  possible 
the  difficult  work  of  solving  this  extensive  problem. 


Northern  Mexico. 

Dr.  TJwmas  S.  Butcher  (Delegate  from  the  State  of  Goahuila): 
I  occupy  a  place  on  the  floor  of  this  Congress  as  a  dele- 
gate, representing  the  Executive  of  the  State  of  Coahuila, 
as  well  as  the  miuiicipality  and  the  Camera  de  Coraercio  of 
the  City  of  Romero  Rubio,  Republic  of  Mexico. 

Mexico  is  not  unlike  the  United  States  in  her  history;  in 
fact,  there  is  in  many  respects  a  marked  similarity.  She,  like 
your  own  country,  suffered  many  years  under  the  wrongs  of 
the  Mother  Country.  But  to  her,  as  to  your  country,  liberty 
came,  and  to-day  she  has,  as  you  have,  a  just,  liberal  and 
pix>gressive  government.  There  were  to  her,  as  to  you,  raised 
up  at  the  right  time,  great  men,  men  at  whose  mention  we 
bow  in  reverence  and  respect.  For  her  was  raised  up  that 
(Jod-feariiig  patriot  and  soldier,  Hidalgo;  for  you,  sir,  the 
immortal  Washington;  for  her,  a  Juarez,  for  you,  a  Lincoln; 
for  her,  a  Zaragosa,  for  you,  a  Grant;  for  her  that  most  ex- 
cellent of  Presidents,  Porflrio  Diaz,  and  for  you,  that  grand 
Christian  statesman,  William  McKinley.  Nature  has  been 
very  generous  in  her  gifts  to  Mexico.  Tier  soil  is  perhaps 
the  most  fertile  on  the  earth.  Her  climate  is  particularly 
mild  and  uniform,  the  thermometer  seldom  exceeding  90°  in 
summer  or  falling  below  60°  in  winter,  so  much  so,  that  per- 
sons can  sleep  out  of  doors  all  the  year  round.  Her  mineral 
resources  seem  almost  inexhaustible.  The  products  of  her 
mines  are  gold,  silver,  copper,  coal,  iron,  tin,  quicksilver,  bis- 
muth, indeed,  almost  every  known  metal  lies  buried  in  her 
mountains,  only  awaiting  the  coming  of  the  intelligent,  in- 
dustrious prospector  and  the  careful  investor.     In  the  matter 


of  iron  she  could  easily  furnish  the  entire  United  States  and 
Europe  and  still  have  much  to  spare  for  other  countries. 
I  do  not  suppose  it  is  generally  known,  nevertheless  it  is  a 
fact,  that  within  75  miles  of  the  border  line  of  the  United 
States,  directly  on  the  railroad,  is  an  immense  deposit  of 
magnetic  iron,  appropriate  for  the  making  of  Bessemer  pig, 
which  could  readily  furnish  the  entire  United  States  for  years 
to  come. 

All  the  tropical  and  other  fruits  are  grown  in  more  or  less 
abundance,  the  banana  and  the  orange  being  the  most  im- 
portant and  forming  a  considerable  part  of  the  export  trade. 
Added  to  this,  is  the  important  production  of  coffee,  tobacco 
and  India  rubljcr,  which  in  the  last  few  years  have  attracted 
considerable  foreign  capital. 

The  business  men  of  Mexico  are  careful,  prudent  and  far- 
seeing,  as  a  class.  They  are  large  buyers,  and  if  the  United 
States  does  not  get  a  fair  share  of  their  trade,  it  is  her  own 
fault.  Surely  it  is  not  because  your  articles  are  not  as  good 
as  those  of  other  countries,  nor  is  it  to  be  supposed  you  can- 
not sell  as  cheaply  as  others.  It  is  a  fact  that  you  have  not,  up 
to  this  time,  done  the  business  with  Mexico  that  you  should, 
and  it  behooves  you  to  be  up  and  doing,  and  ascertain  why 
this  is  so.  Geographically  you  are  her  nearest  neighbor,  and 
the  most  convenient  point  from  which  she  can  draw  her 
supply. 

If  you  will  permit  me,  I  would  suggest  that  you  exercise 
more  care  in  the  selection  of  your  salesmen;  that  they  study 
carefully,  and  adapt  themselves  more  to  the  customs  and 
habits  of  the  Mexican  merchants.  By  all  means,  they  should 
have  a  knowledge  of  Spanish.  No  man  can  talk  for  you  as 
you  can  talk  yourself;  no  salesman  should  attempt  to  solicit 
trade  in  Mexico  who  does  not  talk  Spanish.  No  salesman  can 
expect  to  rush  down  there  and  do  things  in  a  great  hurry. 
He  must  be  patient,  polite  and  politic.  Above  all  he  should 
be  truthful.  The  Mexican  merchant  is  sharp  and  shrewd  in 
business,  and  the  Yankee  salesman  who  thinks  he  can  "fool" 
him,  will  find  himself  very  much  mistaken.  A  careful  sales- 
man need  make  no  bad  bills  in  Mexico.  A  gentleman  who 
has  in  the  past  few  years  sold  several  millions  of  dollars  of 
goods,  told  me  that,  in  that  time,  he  had  made  but  one  bad 
bill  and  that  was  for  only  forty-five  dollars. 

Mexico  wants  your  goods,  she  is  waiting  for  them.  If  you 
will  deal  with  her,  as  I  believe  it  is  characteristic  of  the 
American  merchant  and  manufacturer,  in  a  fair,  honest  and 
truthful  manner,  you  will  secure  a  fair  share  of  her  busi- 
ness, adopting  for  your  guide  that  old,  old.  Golden  Rule, 
to  "do  unto  others  as  you  would  have  them  do  to  you." 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  bring  to  the  Congress  the  greet- 
ings of  the  Executive  of  the  State  of  Coahuila,  Bfexico,  Si.-nor 
IMiguel  Cardenez,  as  well  as  the  Mayor  of  Romero  Rubio, 
Don  Luis  Perez,  whom  I  have  the  honor  and  privilege  of 
representing  in  this  Congress,  and  I  desire  to  express  my  own 
and  their  thanks  for  the  many  courtesies  I  have  received 
at  the  hands  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  and 
the  citizens  of  Philadelphia,  and  I  am  sure,  fellow-delegates, 
we  will  go  away  from  here  with  nothing  but  pleasant  memio- 
ries,  and  shall  always  haA'e  a  warm  place  in  our  hearts  for  that 
wonderful  worker,  and  remarkable  host,  Dr.  W.  P.  Wilson, 
Director  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  JIuseum. 


Commercial   Relations    Between  Asiatic  Turkey  and 
THE  United  States. 

Mr.  G.  Asthcnidhis  (Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Agriculture  and  Industry,  at  Smyrna,  Turkey): 

"The  maker  must  find  the  taker,"  said  the  President  of 

the  United  States,  Wm.  McKinley,  in  his  memorable  speech 

at  the  opening  of  the  first  Commercial  Congress,  June,  1897. 


t'APERS  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AISTD  OTHERS 


3tj3 


It  is  true  that  one  of  the  first  cares  of  a  manufacturer  must 
be  that  of  securing  markets  and  customers  for  his  products, 
for  without  these,  the  manufacturer  or  producer  would  soon 
find  himself  obliged  to  be  completely  idle,  or  he  would  have 
to  limit  his  production  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  immediate 
wants,  and  in  both  cases,  bring  liis  industry  to  the  disagree- 
able point  of  a  very  primitive  state. 

It  is  not  such  an  easy  matter  to  secure  a  market,  however, 
and  it  particularly  requires  great  watchfulness  on  the  part  of 
the  producer,  for  he  must  also  be  constantly  informed  con- 
cerning the  standing  of  his  clients,  because  in  most  cases, 
the  success  or  failure  of  his  enterprise  depends  upon  their 
financial  condition. 

As  one  cannot,  therefore,  be  inditferent  to  the  good  stand- 
ing of  one's  customers,  without  endangering  one's  own  busi- 
ness interests,  anyone  wishing  to  establish  a  stable  and  well- 
paying  industry  is  obliged  to  find  a  market  for  his  wares 
and  to  create  one  if  it  does  not  already  exist. 

Allow  me,  therefore,  to  add  to  the  words  of  your  illustrious 
President,  "the  maker  must  find  the  taker,"  another  ]>hrase, 
which  expresses  my  ideas  on  this  subject:  "the  maker  must 
create  the  taker." 

In  order  to  create  takers,  one  must  first  assure  them  the 
means  of  existence  and  well-being,  and  this  can  be  done  by 
favoring  the  industrial  products  of  the  people  with  whom 
a  market  is  to  be  established  and  who  are  to  become  our  cus- 
tomers. 

It  is  one  of  the  well-known  precepts  of  political  economy, 
which  is  based  on  the  principles  of  human  justice  and  social 
stability,  that  nations  which  have  maintained  a  high  standard 
and  proved  by  their  virtuous  actions  and  their  prosperous  and 
useful  enterprises  to  be  the  most  civilized,  were  those  which 
have  known  how  to  search  into  these  fundamental  principles 
and  follow  the  sound  maxims  emanating  therefrom,  while 
nations  which  failed  to  recognize  them,  derived  only  unde- 
served and  doubtful  profits  from  their  arbitrary  and  unjust 
actions. 

To  impose  a  high  import-tax  on  the  products  of  a  foreign 
country,  is  to  artificially  prohibit  the  entrance  of  these  arti- 
cles. On  the  other  hand,  the  attempt  to  introduce  one's 
own  goods  into  that  locality  would  mean  that  one  were  try- 
ing to  sell  to  others  -R-ithout  wanting  to  buy  from  them  also. 
Surely  this  must  be  absurd  and  by  stating  the  details  of  these 
wrong  doctrines,  their  absurdity  will  become  more  clearly 
evident. 

If,  in  reality,  every  nation  wanted  to  sell  without  buying, 
where  would  they  find  the  takers? 

If  you  facilitate  the  consumption  of  our  opium,  dried 
fruits,  figs  and  raisins,  carpets,  wools,  licorice,  licorice  paste, 
oils  and  other  articles,  you  assist  in  impro\ing  the  circum- 
stances of  our  producers,  who  in  their  turn  would  become 
consumers  of  your  manufactures  and  the  products  of  your 
industry,  in  which  latter  you  are  so  justly  interested,  as 
demonstrated  by  this  great  and  honorable  reunion,  to  which 
you  have  invited  the  representatives  and  merchants  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  in  which  I  have  the  honor  of  par- 
ticipating as  a  representative  of  the  city  of  Smyrna,  which 
is  my  native  place  and  the  principal  city  of  Asia  Minor,  not 
far  from  the  ancient  city  of  Philadelphia  from  which  yours 
has  derived  its  name. 

My  country,  Turkey,  where,  through  the  liberality  and 
solicitude  of  my  august  Sovereign,  a  splendid  opening  is  of- 
fered to  every  foreigner  engaged  in  business  or  industrial 
enterprise,  is  an  immense  country  where  American  manufac- 
tures and  industrial  products  might  without  doubt  find  a 
good  market  with  every  opportunity  for  a  gradual  develop- 
ment. 

To  further  this  development,  however,  it  is  first  necessary 
for  your  country  to  become  accessible  to  all  our  producers 


and  to  open  the  doors  of  your  custom-houses  to  our  products. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  your  products  are  also  taxed  when 
they  arrive  at  our  ports,  but  the  duties  to  which  they  are 
suljjected  are  so  slight,  that  they  do  not  on  an  average  ex- 
coed  8  per  cent.,  and  others  are  entirely  free,  while  our 
opium  pays  at  your  ports  a  tax  which  is  equivalent  to  one- 
fourth  of  the  net  cost,  and  our  carpets  and  other  products 
still  more. 

If  our  manufacturers  can  make  carpets  which  are  pleasing 
to  the  taste  of  the  American  people  and  which  satisfy  them, 
why  should  the  consumers  be  deprived  of  this  satisfaction? 
If  it  is  not  so  and  you  have  nothing  to  fear,  why  should  you 
load  down  our  products  by  hea^^  taxes? 

If,  in  admitting  our  goods  to  your  shores  free  of  taxes 
you  can  aid  the  business  of  our  people,  you  may  be  sure 
that  in  doing  so,  you  will  indirectly  be  working  in  your  own 
interest,  for  in  this  way  you  strengthen  and  develop  the  hold 
you  have  on  our  market  for  your  textiles,  hardware,  spirits, 
groceries,  chemical  products,  drugs,  glassware,  fibres,  woods, 
building  materials,  stationery,  furs,  rubber  goods  and  other 
articles. 

I  confine  myself  to  these  general  remarks,  because  I  do  not 
wish  to  take  advantage  of  your  indulgence  and  kindness,  and 
I  would  ask  those  who  would  like  to  have  some  details  as 
to  the  commerce  actually  carried  on,  or  the  possibilities  of 
such  commerce  between  the  United  States  and  Turkey,  to 
look  through  the  complete  report  I  shall  submit  to  the  hon- 
orable Director  of  the  Pliiladelphia  Commercial  Museum. 


The  Carriage  Building  I>'dustrt. 

Mr.  C.  D.  Firestone  (Delegate  from  the  Carriage  Builders' 

National  Association): 

Gentlemen  of  the  Commercial  Congress:  I  have  the  honor 
to  be  selected  by  the  Carriage  Builders'  National  Associa- 
tion to  represent  them  in  tliis  Congress,  and  I  wish  to  say 
to  you  on  their  behalf  that  we  feel  highly  honored  in  having 
such  a  goodly  number  of  delegates  representing  aboat 
forty  diflierent  countries,  and  as  many  more  commercial 
bodies,  visiting  our  country  and  attending  this  Congress. 
We  are  glad  to  meet  you,  and  very  much  appreciate  the  in- 
terest that  you  have  manifested  in  coming  here  to  discuss 
with  us  how  to  improve  the  interchange  of  trade,  and  to 
bring  before  the  business  men  of  the  United  States  what  you 
produce  in  your  cotmtry  that  you  can  furnish  us  in  exchange 
for  products  of  this  country  to  mutual  advantage  and  profit. 

As  manufacturers  of  vehicles  we  claim  that  we  can  beat 
the  world;  for  numerous  reasons.  American  second  growth 
hickory,  which  is  found  more  especially  in  Ohio,  is  the  tough- 
est timber  that  grows,  and  is  best  adapted  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  vehicles  in  their  different  parts,  such  as  wheels,  run- 
ning gears,  shafts,  etc.  The  ash  and  poplar  used  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  body  is  also  found  in  great  abimdance  and 
of  good  quality,  so  that  we  are  enabled  to  manufacture  a 
vehicle  that  is  very  much  lighter  and  yet  much  stronger  than 
vehicles  that  are  produced  in  other  countries.  There  are 
over  one  million  vehicles  manufactured  in  the  United  States 
every  year.  In  manufacturing  them  in  such  large  quan- 
tities, we  take  advantage  of  and  use  every  possible  facility 
in  the  way  of  improved  machinery  for  every  detailed  part, 
in  order  to  produce  it  more  accurately  than  it  could  be  done 
by  hand,  thereby  reducing  the  cost  of  production. 

The  axles  and  springs  are  made  by  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands by  manufacturers  who  have  special  machinery  adapted 
for  that  purpose,  so  that  the  cost  of  these  accessories  is  re- 
duced to  a  minimum. 

All  the  difficult  parts  of  tlie  iron  work  of  the  vehicle,  as 


364 


I'ROCEEDiNGS  OE  THE  MTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


well  as  all  clips,  bolts,  etc.,  are  made  out  of  solid  iron  or 
what  we  call  "drop  forging,"  so  that  they  are  made  perfectly 
solid  and  much  lighter,  while  still  retaining  the  necessary 
tensile  strength  whore  is  it  required. 

There  is  no  branch  of  American  industry  that  has  given 
more  attention  to  the  education  of  mechanics  than  that  of 
carriage  building.  Our  industry  is  the  only  one  in  the  Uuited 
States  that  supports  a  technical  school  through  popular  dona- 
tions by  the  dill'erent  eamage  manufacturers,  and  members  of 
accessory  trades.  There,  young  mechanics  are  taught  drawing 
and  the  outlines  and  details  of  a  vehicle,  as  well  as  practical 
construction  in  woodworking,  blacksmithing,  painting,  etc. 

We  are  satisfied  that  we  have  reduced  the  manufacture 
of  vehicles  to  as  near  perfection  as  it  is  possible  to  attain 
by  making  a  special  study  of  design,  proportion,  lightness, 
strength  and  durability.  We  make  our  vehicles  as  light  as 
it  is  possible  to  make  them  without  sacrificing  tensile  strength 
where  it  is  required,  so  as  to  enable  the  carnage  to  stand 
hard  usage  without  more  surplus  weight  of  material  in  it 
than  is  absolutely  necessary.  The  demand  for  vehicles  in 
the  United  States  has  been  greater  than  the  manufacturers 
have  been  able  to  supply  up  to  and  within  comparatively 
recent  years,  when  financial  difficulties  interfered  with  busi- 
ness of  all  kinds.  We  are  satisfied  that  if  other  countries 
would  lay  aside  their  prejudices  against  light  vehicles,  and 
'Commence  using  American  made  vehicles,  they  would  find 
;them  very  satisfactory,  and  a  great  convenience  in  business 
;as  well  as  adding  very  materially  to  their  pleasure. 

The  Carriage  Builders'  National  Association  will  very 
■gladly  join  hands  with  you  in  the  promotion  of  a  better  in- 
terchange of  trade  in  all  lines;  they  will  also  gladly  aid  you 
in  promoting  and  increasing  the  transportation  or  shipping 
facilities  between  this  and  other  countries.  The  Congress 
■of  the  United  States  is  now  considering  a  bill  p;roviding  for 
the  appropriation  of  about  nine  millions  of  dollars  to  be  used 
in  subsidizing  shipping  companies  for  the  improvement  of 
shipping  facilities  in  carrying  products  to  and  from  this 
country.  We  will  do  all  we  can  to  urge  legislation  tending 
to  encourage  the  governments  of  the  world  in  setting  aside 
appropriations  for  the  betterment  of  the  international  trans- 
portation facilities,  subsidizing  vessels  where  necessary,  until 
such  time  shall  have  arrived  when  the  commerce  between 
this  country  and  other  nations  increases  sufficiently  to  make 
it  profitable. 

We  will  also  join  -ndth  you  in  urging  upon  Con.gress  the 
enactment  of  necessary  legislation  for  establishing  and  in- 
creasing the  banking  facilities  between  this  nation  and  other 
nations,  so  that  collections  and  remittances  can  be  made 
direct,  which  will  very  materially  eneoiuage,  facilitate  and 
increase  trade  relations. 

We  fully  endorse  the  expression  that  "he  who  does  most 
for  commerce,  does  most  for  civilization;"  we  are  all  maJcers 
that  want  to  find  takers. 

The  American  vehicle  cannot  be  excelled  either  for  busi- 
ness or  for  pleasure,  and  in  its  superiority  it  may  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  greatest  civilizers  of  the  age.  During 
the  last  year  or  two  (he  attention  of  the  whole  world  has 
been  attracted  to  the  motor  cycle  or  automobile,  but  this  is 
a  style  of  conveyance  which  is  still  in  its  infancy,  and  we 
may  say  that  they  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  developing  a 
vehicle  of  proper  construction  and  efficient  motive  power 
that  is  entirely  satisfactory. 

The  time  may  come,  and  it  cannot  be  very  distant,  when  it 
will  come  into  general  use.  My  judgment,  however,  is  that 
the  day  of  the  pa.ssing  of  the  horse,  and  especially  our  thor- 
oughbred Kentucky  horse,  is  a  long  way  off;  and  before  the 
services  of  this  breed  are  dispensed  with  many  more  millions 
of  dollars  will  have  been  spent  in  experimenting  and  perfect- 
ing the  automobile. 


I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  American 
vehicles  are  not  all  made  of  the  same  grade  of  material  and 
workmanship.  We  have  in  the  United  States  a  great  many 
farmers  and  people  living  in  newly  developed  country,  who 
cannot  afford  to  buy  the  best  grade  of  vehicles,  and  hence 
there  are  a  great  many  cheaper  grades  of  vehicles  made  of 
cheaper  material,  and  cheaply  constructed,  in  order  to  meet 
the  demand  for  low-priced  carriages. 

Some  of  those  cheaper  goods  have  been  exported  into  for- 
eign countries,  where  they  have  created  the  impression  that 
American  made  vehicles  are  roughly  and  cheaply  made,  and 
not  durable. 

The  price  governs  the  quality.  If  you  buy  a  vehicle  at 
an  exceedingly  low  price,  the  quality  will  be  correspondingly 
low.  I  make  this  explanation  as  a  caution  against  being 
misled. 

We  would  be  very  glad  if  the  members  of  this  Congress 
could  find  time  to  make  a  trip  through  the  middle  and 
western  States  to  see  our  wonderful  country  with  its  many 
inexhaustible  resources,  and  visit  some  of  our  large  factories. 
We  would  appreciate  it,  and  you  would  be  well  repaid  for 
so  doing.  The  manufacturers  would  take  great  pleasure  in 
showing  you  the  material  they  use,  and  the  process  of  sea- 
soning the  timber  and  working  it;  they  would  like  to  have 
you  examine  every  detail  in  the  construction  of  a  vehicle, 
and  we  are  sure  that  we  could  convince  you  that  American- 
made  vehicles,  while  much  lighter  in  construction  than  for- 
eign-made vehicles,  require  much  less  draft,  and  are  better 
adapted  for  use  in  your  countries,  since  your  public  high- 
ways are  far  superior  to  the  American  country  roads. 

In  closing,  I  wish  to  say  that  we  are  very  glad  that  you 
have  taken  so  much  interest  in  this  matter  in  accepting  this 
kind  invitation  that  was  extended  to  you  through  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum,  and  in  attending  this  Congress 
to  give  us  the  benefit  of  your  views  on  a  better  inter- 
change of  trade.  I  also  want  to  thank  the  Pliiladelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum  on  behalf  of  the  Carriage  Builders'  Asso- 
ciation for  the  effort  made  in  bringing  about  this  wonderful 
gathering  of  business  men  from  all  countries.  I  am  sure  we 
all  grce  that  it  will  result  in  great  good  to  all  nations  repre- 
sented; and  I  may  say  for  the  Carriage  Builders'  Association 
that  they  will  gladly  do  all  that  they  can  in  every  way  for  a 
large  increase  of  business  with  all  the  world. 


The  Pig  Iron  Phoducing  Industry  of  the  World. 

Mr.  John  Birkinhine  (President  of  the  Franklin  Institute, 

Philadelphia,  Pa,): 

The  use  of  iron  and  steel  and  its  application  in  varied 
forms  to  industries  and  domestic  purposes  is  so  general,  that, 
other  things  being  equal,  the  nation  commanding  the  mater- 
ials for  the  production  of  iron  may  bo  considered  as  favored. 
The  distribution  of  ores  from  which  iron  can  be  made  is 
very  liberal,  and  there  are  few  territorial  or  political  divisions 
of  the  earth  where  iron  ore  does  not  exist. 

The  utilization  of  tliis  mineral  is  almost  as  varied  as  the 
character  and  number  of  the  deposits.  There  are  to-day  in 
existence  the  crude  bellows  operated  by  manual  power,  which 
smelt  the  ore  in  a  mound  or  furnace  producing  a  few  tons 
annually,  and  all  the  gradations  between  this  and  the  modern 
blast  furnace,  the  daily  output  of  which  exceeds  500  tons 
of  metal;  these  larger  furnaces  being  so  grouped  as  to  demand 
for  their  total  supply  5,000  tons  of  selected  iron  ore  daily. 

In  discussing  the  world's  pig  iron  industry  it  is  interesting 
to  determine  as  far  as  practicable  the  facilities  which  various 
nations  possess  for  the  production  of  iron,  and  tJie  use  which 
is  made  of  these  facilities,  without  entering  into  details  of 


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365 


manufacture  beyond  the  crude  material.  It  is  expected  that 
these  details  will  be  discussed  by  another. 

The  political  divisions  may  be  separated  into  four  classes 
for  the  purpose  of  this  paper. 

a.  Countries  which  produce  iron,  using  mostly  or  entirely, 
ores  obtained  within  their  boundaries. 

5.  Countries  which  produce  iron  from  ores  largely  brought 
froan  without  their  boimdaries. 

c.  Countries  which  mine  ore  liberally,  and  supply  it  to  for- 
eign furnaces,  or  use  but  little  of  the  domestic  mineral. 

d.  Countries  where  the  mining  of  iron  ore  or  the  manu- 
facture of  iron  is  neglected,  or  prosecuted  upon  a  very 
limited  scale. 

Tabulating  the  latest  recorded  production  of  iron  ore  and 
pig  iron  by  countries,  and  supplementing  this  by  estimates 
made  from  reliable  data  where  actual  reports  are  unobtain- 
able, the  following  summarizes  the  present  status  of  the  dif- 
ferent countries,  so  far  as  the  iron  industry  is  concerned. 

The  quantities  are  given  in  gross  tons  (2,240  lbs.)  for  the 
United  States,  Great  Britain,  Cuba,  Ne-ni^oundland  and  Can- 
ada, and  in  metric  tons  (2,204  lbs.)  for  other  countries.  The 
classification  refers  to  that  above  indicated  by  the  letters,  a, 
h,  c  and  d. 

Production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  by  countries: 


COI'HIEY. 


United  States 

Great  Britain 

German  Empire... 

France 

Russia 

Belgium  

Austria-Hungary.. 

Sweden 

Spain 

Algeria 

Italy 

Cuba 

Canada 

Newfoundland 

Norway 

Greece! 

India 

China 


1893 
1893 
1 898 
1897 
1897 
1897 
1897 
1898 
1897 
1897 
1897 
1898 
1898 
1897 
189.5 
1896 
1896 


Tons  of 

Iron  Ore 

Mined. 


19,433,716 

14,17i;.938 

15,893,246 

♦,f>82,-.'.5U 

4,107.468 

240,774 

3,333,005 

2,302,914 

7,418,768 

441,467 

200,709 

164,077 

51,929 

58,940 

1,2.50 

415,987 

13,776 


Year, 


1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1898 
1897 
18:l7 
1898 


1897 
1898 
1895 


Tons  of 

Pig  Iron 

Made. 


11,773,934 

8,631,151 

7,232,988 

2,534,427 

2,191,750 

979,101 

1,308,423 

531,766 

261,799 

None. 

8,333 
None. 
68,755 
.    None. 

348 
None. 


Classification, 


The  world's  pig  iron  production  in  the  year  1899  is  ex- 
pected to  reach  a  total  approximating  39,000,000  gross  tons, 
requiring  that  87,000,000  gross  tons  of  iron  ore  be  mined. 
In  the  smelting  of  this  ore  68,000,000  gross  tons  of  fuel,  coal 
and  charcoal,  and  13,000,000  gross  tons  of  limestone  are  re- 
quired. 

The  foregoing  table  suggests  the  relative  importance  of 
various  nations  as  producers  of  iron  ore  and  of  pig  iron,  but 
the  utilization  of  the  latter  is  not  necessarily  demonstrated 
by  the  figures  presented.  One  country  may  supply  pig  iron 
for  its  own  uses  and  in  addition  export  the  surplus  to  others; 
and  another  country,  while  smelting  ores  liberally,  may  draw 
upon  a  neighbor  for  a  considerable  amount  of  crude  metal. 

A  favorite  method  of  comparison  by  stati.sticians  is  to  di- 
vide the  annual  tonnage  of  iron  made  by  the  population  to 
indicate  by  the  apparent  yearly  consumption  per  capita  the 
relative  status  as  manufacturing  communities.  But  to  de- 
termine this  the  imports  should  be  added  to,  or  the  exports 
be  deducted  from,  the  domestic  output  of  metal,  and  the 
uses  to  which  the  iron  is  put  must  be  considered. 

This  paper  will  not  enter  into  the  subsequent  treatment 
of  pig  iron,  but  will  briefly  summarize  the  conditions  exist- 
ing in  the  nations  of  the  world,  which  are  prominent  con- 
tributors to  the  iron  ore  supply  or  pig  iron  production  of  the 
world,  attention  being  given  first  to  other  countries  than 
the  United  States  in  the  general  order  of  prominence.  To 
this  will  be  added  a  resume  of  the  pig  iron  production  and 


iron  ore  output  of  the  more  prominent  political  divisions  of 
the  United  States. 

Geeat  Britain. 

The  records  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  production  in  Great 
Britain  show  that  this  mineral  was  liberally  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  iron  by  the  Romans  and  Danes,  and  possibly 
still  earlier  by  the  ancient  Britons,  native  ores  being  solely 
used,  mostly  brown  and  red  hematites.  Subsequently  car- 
bonates, particularly  those  in  the  Cleveland  district,  were  used 
in  large  quantities,  and  in  order  to  enrich  tlie  mixtures  for- 
eign ores  have  in  late  years  been  liberally  imported,  but  this 
importation  did  not  amount  to  one  million  tons  in  any  one 
year  until  1876.  Since  that  date  the  quantities  imported 
have  increased,  and  during  the  last  three  years  they  aver- 
aged over  five  and  a  half  million  tons.  About  five-sixths  of 
the  foreign  ore  used  comes  from  Spain,  the  balance  from 
Greece,  Algeria,  Italy,  Sweden,  France,  Turkey,  etc. 

Mr.  Bennett  H.  Brough,  Secretary  of  the  Iron  and  Steel 
Institute,  furnished  statistics  of  the  iron  ore  and  pig  iron 
production  for  a  series  of  years,  which  indicated  that  the  lar- 
gest production  of  native  British  ores  was  in  1882,  when 
18,031,957  gross  tons  were  turned  out.  The  maximum  pig  iron 
output  was  8,796,465  gross  tons  in  1897,  the  importations 
of  foreign  ores  also  being  largest  in  that  year,  viz.,  5,968,680 
gross  tons.  The  1898  figures  are  reported  as  14,176,938  gross 
tons  of  native  iron  ore  mined,  5,478,395  tons  of  iron  ore 
imported,  and  8,631,151  gross  tons  of  pig  iron  manufactured. 

Great  Britain  has  been  a  large  exporter  of  iron  and  steel, 
amounting  in  1898  to  3,247,368  tons,  as  against  3,686,106 
gross  tons  in  1897;  of  these  amounts  pig  iron  represented  re- 
spectively 1,042,296  tons  and  1,201,104  tons,  the  balance 
being  other  manufactures  of  iron. 

German  Empire. 

In  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Luxemburg,  German  Lorraine  and 
a  small  part  of  northwestern  France,  oolitic  ores,  locally 
known  as  "minette,"  are  found,  the  maximum  developments 
being  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  district  of  Luxemburg, 
where  there  are  three  principal  beds  of  ore  each  averaging 
10  to  12  feet  in  thickness.  Over  one  half  of  the  output  of 
iron  ore  in  the  German  Empire  comes  from  this  minette 
district  of  Lorraine  and  Luxemburg.  This  ore  is  oolitic 
gi'ains  of  limonite  often  mixed  with  nodules  of  limestone; 
the  metallic  iron  contents  ranging,  according  to  the  beds 
and  localities  from  which  they  are  taken,  from  28  to  48  per 
cent.,  while  the  average  furnace  yield  is  about  38  per  cent. 

Another  iron  ore  district  of  importance  is  that  of  Siegen 
(Westphalia),  where  the  spathic  ores  predominate,  and  in 
some  places  red  hematite  occurs.  This  district  usually  pro- 
duces about  10  per  cent,  of  the  total  for  Germany. 

Red  hematites,  associated  in  some  instances  with  brown 
iron  ores  and  manganifcrous  iron  ores,  are  also  mined  in  the 
province  of  Hessen-Nassau,  the  yearly  output  being  about 
7  per  cent,  of  the  total  for  the  Empire. 

Add  to  these  the  district  of  Upper  Silesia,  which  fumithes 
about  6.3  per  cent,  of  the  entire  German  output.  The  ores 
are  brown  hematites  containing  considerable  manganese.  A 
few  clay  iron  stones  are  also  mined. 

Ores  closely  resembling  black  band  are  obtained  in  the 
Westphalia  coal  region.  Brown  iron  ores  are  mined  in  the 
district  of  Usede;  Osnabriiek  contributes  spathic  and  brown 
hematite  ores;  Oberpfalz,  brown  iron  ores,  wliile  different 
varieties  of  iron  ores  exist  in  various  other  portions  of  the 
Empire. 

Dr.  Herman  Wedding  has  furnished  statistics  of  the  annual 
production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  for  a  series  of  years. 


366 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


These  indicate  that  the  year  1898  was  the  banner  one,  as 
15,893,246  metric  tons  of  iron  ore  were  mined,  and  7,233,- 
988  metric  tons  of  pig  iron  were  manufactured,  being  an  in- 
crease of  400,000  tons  of  iron  ore,  and  350,000  tons  of  pig 
iron  over  the  former  largest  total  of  1897.  It  is,  however, 
estimated  that  the  year  1899  will  show  an  augmented  pro- 
duction over  that  of  1898. 

The  German  exports  of  iron  ore,  principally  to  Belgium 
and  France,  are  about  three-quarters  of  a  million  metric  tons 
per  annum,  beiug  slightly  greater  than  the  iron  ore  imported. 
The  imports  come  chiefly  from  Spain,  Sweden  and  Austria. 

Feaxce. 

The  iron  ore  deposits  of  France,  although  numerous,  are 
greatly  scattered,  and  except  in  the  case  of  the  oolitic  forma- 
tion, there  are  no  deposits  capable  of  supporting  any  con- 
siderable number  of  blast  furnaces.  The  French  iron  ores 
may  be  grouped  under  the  following  heads: 

Oolitic  Ores. — This  most  important  iron  ore  field  in  France 
extends  from  Lorraine  to  and  beyond  Nancy  in  the  valley  of 
the  upper  Moselle.  The  iron  ore  bed  is  sometimes  single, 
and  at  other  places  divided,  having  a  total  thickness  varying 
from  2  to  35  meters.  The  ore  consists  of  small  grains,  gen- 
erally the  size  of  a  pin's  head,  agglutinated  together.  The 
iron  contents  range  from  20  to  35  per  cent. 

Magnetic  and  Oolitic  Ores. — These  occur  in  the  Pyrenees, 
the  provinces  of  Anjou  and  Provence,  and  in  the  eastern  prov- 
inces around  Mount  Canigou.  The  ores  are  of  no  great  im- 
portance to  iron  manufacturers,  and  but  a  small  quantity 
is  mined. 

Red  Hematite. — Deposits  of  this  character  of  ore  exist  in 
the  department  of  the  Ardeche  in  the  Dauphiny  Alps,  in  the 
Aveyron  and  in  the  Pyrenees. 

Carbonate. — While  spathose  and  iron  stone  ores  are  found 
in  most  of  the  coal  districts,  the  most  important  deposits  are 
in  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees. 

Brown  Hematites. — Under  this  head  are  brown  hematites 
worked  in  the  Perigord  district,  deposits  contiguous  to  the 
Pyrenees,  and  in  the  department  of  Ariege. 

Granular  Hydrated  Iron  Ores. — These  deposits  form  the 
supply  of  the  old  charcoal  furnaces  of  Franche-Comte  and 
Berry.  Similar  ores  were  won  in  tlie  old  province  of  Cham- 
pagne; after  washing,  these  ores  yield  38  to  42  per  cent,  of 
iron. 

Various  Hydrated  Ores. — None  of  these  deposits  are  of 
any  importance. 

The  maximum  iron  ore  production  in  France  was  4,582,- 
236  metric  tons  in  the  year  1897,  but  it  is  probable  that 
this  total  will  be  exceeded  in  the  years  1898  and  1899.  The 
greatest  pig  iron  production  was  in  tJie  year  1898,  viz.: 
2,534,427  metric  tons.  It  is  probable  that  this  total  will 
also  be  surpassed  in  the  year  1899. 

The  largest  amount  of  iron  ore  exported  in  any  one  year 
was  in  1873  when  352,845  tons  were  sent  away.  The  amount 
shipped  in  the  year  1898  was  but  236,169  metric  tons. 

Probably  about  one-third  of  the  iron  ore  supply  of  the 
French  blast  furnaces  is  obtained  from  foreign  mines,  chiefly 
those  of  Germany,  Algeria,  Spain  and  Italy.  The  largest 
amount  of  ore  imported  was  in  the  year  1897  when  2,137,860 
metric  tons  were  brought  into  the  country. 

Russian  Empire. 

The  iron  industrj'  of  Russia  has  been  carried  on  for  about 
250  years,  Vmt  the  earlier  furnaces  were  located  chiefly  in 
the  Ural  Mountains  close  to  the  deposit.s  of  iron  ore,  char- 
coal being  used  as  fuel.  It  was  not  until  the  establishment 
of  the  industry  in  the  south  of  Russia  where  mineral  fuel 


and  rich  ores  abound,  tliat  the  great  development  of  this 
industry  took  place. 

Extensive  deposits  of  brown  hematites  are  found  in  the 
central  and  southern  Urals,  forming  the  chief  dependence  of 
the  blast  furnaces  of  this  district. 

In  Southern  Russia  the  ores  are  chiefly  brown  hematites 
occurring  in  the  carboniferous  strata,  but  there  are  also  other 
important  dejjusits  of  purer  and  richer  ores  of  the  magnetic, 
specular  and  red  hematite  varieties. 

The  iron  district  of  Central  Russia  depends  on  brown 
hematite  and  siderite  ores,  wliich,  while  easily  reduced,  are 
not  very  rich  in  iron. 

Olonets,  in  Northwestern  Russia,  is  rich  in  lake  and  bog 
ores,  but  they  are  highly  phosphoretie  and  low  in  iron  con- 
tents. 

In  the  south  of  Poland  are  brown  hematite  ores,  while 
there  are  also  numerous  beds  of  spherosiderite. 

In  late  years  there  has  been  practically  an  uninterrupted 
growth  in  the  production  of  both  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in  the 
Russian  Empire,  the  maximum  years-  for  the  records  as  yet 
obtainable  being  4,107,467  metric  tons  of  iron  ore  in  1897, 
and  2,193,750  metric  tons  of  pig  iron  in  1898.  It  is  probable 
that  these  figures  will  be  augmented  in  later  years,  as  quite 
a  number  of  new  blast  furnaces  are  being  established.  Prac- 
tically all  the  iron  ore  produced  in  Russia  is  utilized  by  home 
consumption,  the  country  neither  exporting  nor  importing 
iron  ores. 

Austria-Hungary. 

The  most  important  dejx)sits  of  iron  ore  in  Austria  are  in 
Styria,  where  spathic  iron  ores  occur.  In  one  large  deposit 
at  Erzberg,  ores  are  said  to  have  been  obtained  from  the  time 
of  Tacitus,  documents  being  in  existence  which  cai'iy  the 
iron  manufacture  back  to  712  A.  D. 

Brown  hematites  are  obtained  at  Vasegy;  in  Bohemia 
oolitic  ores  are  foimd  in  the  Silurian  rocks;  in  Moravia, 
brown,  red  and  clay  iron  ores  ai-e  obtained;  Southern  Hungary 
produces  magnetic  iron  ore,  and  Silesia,  bog  ore. 

The  greatest  amount  of  iron  ore  reported  was  3,335,005 
metric  tons  in  the  year  1897,  slightly  over  one-half  obtained 
in  Austria,  and  the  balance  in  Hungary.  The  largest  amount 
of  pig  iron,  also  produced  in  this  year,  was  1,308,423  long 
tons.  The  exports  of  iron  ore,  principally  to  Germany, 
amount  to  about  100,000  tons  per  annum,  a  slightly  smaller 
amount,  viz:  75,000  tons,  being  annually  imported. 

Belgium. 

Belgium  produces  a  considerable  amount  of  pig  iron,  but 
the  greater  portion  of  the  iron  ore  required  for  its  output 
of  metal  comes  from  foreign  sources,  chiefly  Germany,  Spain 
and  Algeria,  about  one-ninth  of  the  iron  ore  smelted  being 
won  from  Belgium  iron  ore  mines.  The  iron  ores  of  Bel- 
gium are  divided  into  the  following  classes: 

Violette,  oolitic  iron  ore  (red  hematite),  occurring  in  the 
Silurian  or  Devonian  formations. 

Minette  ore,  oolitic  limonite,  which  is  worked  in  the  ex- 
treme south  of  the  province  of  Luxemburg. 

Bog  ore,  in  Campine  near  Jjimliurg,  tlic  supply  of  which  is 
almost  exhausted. 

Manganiferous  iron  ore  is  mined  in  the  province  of  Tjiege. 

Yellow  Mine,  being  ma.-^sive  limonite,  none  of  which  i5  now 
wrought. 

The  greatest  production  of  iron  ore  was  in  the  year  1865 
when  1,019,231  metric  tons  were  mined,  the  total  gradually 
decreasing  with  slight  fluetmitions  until  in  1897  but  240,774 
metric  tons  were  nnned.  The  pig  iron  output  has,  however, 
advanced,  and  in  the  year  1897,  1,035,037  metric  tons  were 
produced.     .M)out  two-and-a-ciunrter  million  metric  'tons  of 


PAPERS  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHERS 


367 


iron  ore  are  annually  imported,  coining  from  Germany, 
France,  Spain  and  Algeria,  etc.,  and  about  400,000  tons  are 
exported. 

Sweden. 

Sweden  has  been  celebrated  for  centuries  on  account  of 
the  high  character  of  the  iron  and  steel  produced,  the  in- 
dustry being  chiefly  dependent  on  magnetic  ores,  although, 
some  hematite  or  specular  ore,  usually  called  "mountain  ore," 
is  also  obtained,  and  besides  a  small  amount  of  lake  and 
bog  ores  are  won  in  Smaaland  and  several  other  provinces. 
The  magnetic  ores  often  have  larger  or  smaller  quantities 
of  specular  ores  mixed  in  them.  The  iron  contents  of  the 
Swedish  ores  vary  from  30  to  70  per  cent.,  usually  about 
50;  as  a  rule  they  contain  very  little  phosphorus. 

Of  the  total  iron  ore  product  of  Sweden,  Prof.  Akerman 
says  that  between  two-thirds  and  three-fourths  is  magnetite, 
one- third  to  one-fourth  specular,  and  tlie  balance,  about 
1,000  tons,  consists  of  lake  or  bog  ore.  The  principal  iron 
ore  deposits  extend  from  the  Dannemora  region,  north  of 
Stockholm,  rimning  across  the  country  about  180  miles,  end- 
ing some  distance  from  the  Norwegian  boundary.  This  dis- 
trict is  the  basis  of  the  Swedish  pig  iron  industry. 

North  of  this  iron  ore  district,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  polar 
circle,  are  found  the  large  iron  ore  beds  of  Gellivara,  Kiru- 
navara,  and  Louossavara,  located  in  Swedish  Lapland,  and 
connected  by  a  railway  139  miles  long  with  the  harbor  of 
Lulea,  at  the  northern  coast  of  the  Baltic  Sea.  The  quality 
of  these  ores  is  very  changeable.  They  are  usually  high  in 
iron  yield,  but  they  also  contain  high  percentages  of  phos- 
phorus. In  the  Ruotivara  deposit  of  Titanium  some  good 
Bessemer  ores,  containing  67  to  G9  per  cent,  or  more  of  iron 
ore,  are  obtained,  but,  as  already  stated,  the  greater  part  of 
the  ores  are  highly  phosphorous.  These  deposits  have  be- 
come an  important  source  of  iron  ore  supply  in  late  years 
for  the  principal  iron  producing  countries  of  Europe,  and 
in  ponie  cases  the  ore  is  sent  a  distance  of  nearly  1,700  miles, 
to  English  and  German  blast  furnaces.  Transportation  from 
the  port  of  Lulea  ceases  during  the  winter  months  on  ac- 
count of  ice,  and  a  railroad  is  now  being  built  to  Victoria 
Havn,  an  open  harbor  on  the  coast  of  Norway,  so  that  ship- 
ments can  be  made  at  all  seasons  of  the  year. 

Prof.  Richard  Akennan  has  furnished  statistics  for  a  series 
of  years  which  show  that  the  production  of  iron  ore  has  grad- 
ually increased,  particularly  since  the  year  1893,  when  the 
Gellivara  deposits  were  first  exploited,  reaching  a  maximum 
output  of  3,302,914  metric  tons  in  the  year  1898,  when  1,439,- 
900  metric  tons  were  exported.  The  pig  iron  industry  of 
this  country  has  shown  but  slight  variation,  the  maximum 
output  being  538,197  gross  tons  in  1897,  falling  to  531,766 
metric  tons  in  1898. 

Spain. 

Spain  has  numerous  rich  deposits  of  iron  ore,  the  prin- 
cipal localities  being  in  the  provinces  of  Oviedo,  Santander, 
Biscaya,  Guipuzcoa,  etc.,  but  those  most  extensively  worked 
are  in  the  vicinity  of  Bilbao.  These  ores  are  red  hematite 
oarr}'ing  from  54^  to  63|  per  cent,  of  iron,  quite  free  from 
phosphorus  and  sulphur.  They  are  noted  for  their  redueta- 
bility  and  have  been  worked  for  ages  in  the  Biscayan  forges. 
These  ores  in  northern  Spain  have  been  for  many  years 
one  of  the  most  important  sources  of  supply  for  the  British 
blast  furnaces,  and  have  also  supplied  considerable  ore  to 
the  pig  iron  industries  of  France  and  Germany.  It  is,  how- 
ever, reported  that  the  available  amount  of  ore  is  rapidly 
decreasing,  and  that  in  future  years  it  will  be  necessary  to 
either  obtain  ores  from  deposits  further  inland,  or  else  secure 
them  from  Southern  Spain  where  numerous  bodies  of  ore 
occur. 


In  the  province  of  Ahneria  are  brown  hematite  and  red 
hematite  mines  yielding  annually  1,000,000  tons  of  iron  ore, 
which  it  is  expected  will  be  augmented  in  later  years. 

In  the  province  of  Murcia  near  Cartagena  are  the  well- 
known  Porman  deposits  of  iron  ore,  while  in  the  interior 
are  numerous  large  deposits,  both  red  hematites  and  mag- 
netite, as  yet  unopened.  This  province  has  been  producing 
about  300,000  tons  of  iron  ore  per  annum. 

In  the  province  of  Malaga  are  the  Marabella  mines  con- 
tributing 70,000  to  80,000  tons  per  annum,  most  of  which 
is  sent  to  the  United  States.  There  are  also  other  deposits 
of  magnetite  in  this  province,  which,  however,  are  not  as 
accessible  by  water  as  the  Marabella  mines,  and  are  but  little 
worked. 

In  the  province  of  Sevilla  and  Huelva  there  are  also  im- 
portant deposits. 

The  total  production  of  iron  ore  in  Spain  reached  its  max- 
imum, 7,419,768  metric  tons,  in  the  year  1897,  when 
6,884,588  metric  tons  were  exported.  The  balance  was  used 
in  the  production  of  397,000  metric  tons  of  pig  iron  in  native 
furnaces,  the  maximum  home  production  of  this  metal. 

Canada. 

This  country  has  numerous  deposits  of  nearly  all  the  varie- 
ties of  iron  ores,  but  until  recent  years  but  comparatively 
little  iron  ore  was  mined  or  pig  iron  produced.  In  Nova 
Scotia  red  and  brown  hematite  ores,  as  well  as  bog  and  lake 
ores,  are  obtained.  In  the  province  of  Ontario  red  hematite 
and  magnetic  ores  occur,  but  little  iron  ore  is  mined  at  pres- 
ent. In  British  Columbia  there  are  also  important  deposits 
of  magnetite,  the  ore  body  on  Texada  Island  furnishing  a 
few  years  ago  the  principal  portion  of  the  iron  ore  smelted 
at  the  Irondale  furnace  in  the  State  of  Washin.gton.  The 
maximum  production  of  iron  ore  was  reached  in  the  year 
1893,  when  125,603  short  tons  were  produced,  and  the  great- 
est pig  iron  production,  viz.,  67,268  short  tons,  was  reached 
in  the  year  1896.  In  1898,  pig  iron  was  produced  to  the 
amount  of  51,929  gross  tons.  A  portion  of  this  metal  was 
smelted  from  ores  obtained  in  the  Lake  Superior  region  of 
the  United  States. 

Other  Counteies. 

Iron  ore  occurs  in  most  of  the  remaining  countries  of  the 
world,  but  none  of  them  sustain  a  large  iron  industry,  and 
in  many  of  them  the  mineral  is  exported  to  various  foreign 
countries,  no  native  pig  iron  being  manufactured  from  it. 

Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Algeria,  which  has  some 
important  deposits  principally  magnetite,  red  and  brown 
hematites  and  siderite.  The  mines  at  present  worked  are 
those  which  occur  in  the  department  of  Constantino.  These 
red  hematite  mines  produce  annually  from  350,000  to  650,000 
metric  tons,  the  amount  exported  being  from  270,000  to 
600,000  metric  tons.  In  the  year  1897,  a  production  of 
441,467  metric  tons  was  shipped  to  England,  France,  United 
States  and  Belgium. 

In  the  extreme  Sduth-easteru  portion  of  C'uba,  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Santiago,  are  important  deposits  of  iron  ore,  principally 
of  the  red  hematite  variety,  operated  by  three  American  com- 
panies, viz:  the  Juragua  Iron  Company,  Limited;  the  Sigua 
Iron  Company,  and  the  Spanish-American  Iron  Company. 
The  Sigua  mines,  however,  have  not  been  worked  since  tlie 
year  1893.  The  maximum  production  of  the  island  took 
place  in  the  year  1897,  when  457,561  gross  tons  were  mined; 
the  war  in  1898  interfering  with  the  operation  of  the  mines, 
only  164,077  long  tons  were  produced. 

Greece  abounds  in  iron  ores,  principally  carbonates,  hema- 
tites and  magnetites,  the  greater    portion    containing    man- 


368 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


ganese.  In  the  Island  of  Seriphos  the  hematites  and  ores 
varv  from  4G  to  48  pei-  cent,  of  iron,  the  Hmonite  from  50  to 
53  per  cent.,  while  the  magnetite  in  the  interior  is  stated  to 
contain  abont  65  per  cent.  Manganiferous  iron  ore  has  also 
been  shipped  from  the  eastern  shore  of  Attica  at  Cypriano, 
and  the  Islands  of  Milo  and  Eiiboea.  The  maximum  pro- 
duction was  in  1896  when  415,987  metric  tons  were  stated 
to  have  been  produced. 

The  manufacture  of  iron  in  Italy  is  under  a  decided  dis- 
advantage owing  to  the  scarcity  of  good  fuel.  However,  con- 
siderable iron  ore  is  mined  and  exported,  the  bulk  of  it  coming 
from  the  island  of  Elba.  The  ore  obtained  here  is  generally 
of  the  specular  and  red  hematite  varieties  with  some  mag- 
netite, and. usually  carries  60  to  60^  per  cent,  of  iron,  2.7 
to  7.1  per  cent,  of  moisture,  with  .009  to  .004  of  phosphorus. 
In  Lombardy  and  Piedmont  iron  ores  are  also  mined,  while  in 
the  provinces  of  Lombardy  and  Tuscany  a  small  amount  of 
pig  iron  has  been  made  from  native  ores,  charcoal  being  used 
as  fuel.  The  production  of  iron  ore  in  1897  was  200,709 
metric  tons,  while  in  the  same  year  8,333  metric  tons  of  pig 
iron  were  produced. 

Newfoundland  has  a  large  deposit  of  red  hematite  ore  car- 
rying CO  per  cent,  of  iron,  which  is  located  near  the  shore, 
and  has  been  mined  and  exported  since  1895  to  supply  blast 
furnaces  in  Nova  Scotia,  a  few  cargoes  being  sent  to  Europe 
in  1898.  The  maximum  production  was  in  the  latter  year 
when  58,940  tons  were  mined. 

In  Asia,  Africa  and  South  America  are  many  countries 
which  have  iron  ore  deposits,  some  of  which  have  been 
worked  in  a  small  way  by  the  natives  to  supply  their  crude 
furnaces. 

United  States. 

It  is  an  axiom  in  trade  circles  that  where  the  iron  indus- 
tries are  active,  times  are  prosperous,  and  there  is  usually 
substantial  basis  for  this  statement.  The  United  States  may, 
therefore,  be  congratulated  upon  the  fact  that  it  occupies  the 
position  of  being  the  largest  iron  ore  mining  and  pig  iron 
producing  country  in  the  world.  The  figures  for  the  year 
1898  show  that  11,773,934  long  tons  of  pig  iron  were  manu- 
factured, and  19,433,716  tons  of  iron  ore  were  mined.  This 
is  the  largest  amount  of  either  pig  iron  or  iron  ore  ever  pro- 
duced by  any  country  in  one  year.  The  statistics  for  1899 
will  doubtless  sliow  a  decided  increase  over  these  figures. 

The  LTnited  States  has  until  late  years  been  practically  a 
producer  for  home  consumption  only,  for  it  was  not  until  the 
year  1893  that  the  exports  of  iron  and  steel  first  exceeded 
in  value  the  imports  of  these  materials.  Since  that  year, 
however,  exports  have  been  increasing  in  size  and  value,  until 
in  1898  the  value  of  the  iron  and  steel  exports  was  $83,771,- 
550;  while,  the  imports  were  but  $13,473,637.  So  rapid  and 
pronounced  has  been  the  growth  in  exports  that  some  tech- 
nical journals  of  other  countries  have  expressed  alarm  at  the 
way  in  which  American  manufactures  are  expanding,  and  dis- 
placing those  of  European  competitors. 

This  gi-owth  is  not  alone  due  to  wonderful  natural  resources, 
but  to  (be  lilicral  use  of  mechanical  and  labor  saving  devices 
whereby  the  handling  of  the  raw  materials  entering'into  the 
production  of  pig  iron,  and  of  the  metal  itself,  has  been 
brought  to  a  minimum.  In  the  winning  of  iron  ore  and 
coal  from  the  mines,  the  introduction  of  electric  and  com- 
pressed air  drills,  combined  with  the  advantages  of  a  reduced 
cost  of  timbering,  scientific  methods  of  mining,  of  haulinsr 
and  raising  the  minerals  obtained,  has  reduced  the  cost,  of 
placing  them  on  cars.  The  transportation  companies  have 
expended  vast  sums  in  the  erection  of  unequalled  shipping 
and  receiving  docks.  Large  steamers  and  barges  of  the  latest 
and  most  economical  type  have  been  constructed  to  transport 


the  ores  by  lake  from  the  Lake  Superior  region  to  the  eastern 
central  portion  of  the  United  States,  where  the  railroad  com- 
panies by  reason  of  large  cars,  improved  engines,  etc.,  have 
enabled  the  blast  furnace  companies  to  bring  iron  ore  for  a 
distance  of  1,500  miles  at  less  cost  than  was  paid  twenty 
years  ago  for  transportation  charges  alone.  The  American 
laborer  has  shown  himself  a  skilled  and  willing  worker  to 
such  an  extent  that  while  his  wages  may  rule  higher  than 
those  paid  in  other  countries,  by  the  aid  of  labor  saving  ma- 
chinery, the  output  j)er  man  is  not  only  larger,  but  the  labor 
cost  per  amount  produced  is  usually  less  in  the  iron  industry 
of  the  United  States  than  elsewhere. 

The  most  prominent  iron  and  steel  producing  division  of 
the  United  States  is  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  which  has 
for  a  series  of  years  contributed  one-half  of  the  total  amount 
of  pig  iron  smelted  in  the  United  States,  reaching  a  maximum 
in  1898  of  5,537,832  long  tons.  Although  the  State  has  nu- 
merous deposits  of  iron  ore,  the  bulk  of  those  smelted  come 
from  the  Lake  Superior  region,  being  transported  from  1,000 
to  1,500  miles  from  the  mines  to  the  blast  furnaces.  This 
State  in  1898  produced  more  pig  iron  than  any  foreign  coun- 
try with  the  exception  of  Great  Britain  and  the  German 
Empire. 

The  State  of  Ohio  ranks  next  to  Pennsylvania,  manufac- 
turing in  1898,  1,986,358  gross  tons,  or  about  one-sixth  of 
the  total  output  of  pig  iron  for  the  United  States,  drawing 
practically  all  of  its  iron  ore  supply  from  the  Laie  Superior 
region,  supplementing  this,  however,  with  a  small  quantity 
of  native  carbonate  ores. 

The  State  of  Illinois,  which  also  obtains  its  iron  ores  from 
the  Lake  Superior  region,  is  credited  in  1898  with  about  one- 
ninth  of  the  total  for  the  United  States,  viz.,  1,365,898  gross 
tons  of  pig  iron. 

The  State  of  Alabama  ranks  fourth,  the  1,033,676  gross 
tons  of  pig  iron  produced  in  1898  being  made  from  native 
red  and  brown  hematites,  mined  in  Alabama,  Tennessee  and 
Georgia. 

Fifteen  other  States  produced  pig  iron  in  1898,  but  none 
of  them  reached  a  total  of  300,000  tons. 

The  iron  ore  mines  of  the  United  States  have  in  late  years 
advanced  rapidly  in  their  development.  In  the  year  1880, 
7,130,362  gross  tons  were  mined;  in  the  year  1889,  14,518,041 
gross  tons,  and  in  1898,  19,433,716  gross  tons  were  produced. 

The  iron  ore  mined  in  the  United  States  is  commercially 
classed  as  four  different  varieties,  viz.,  red  hematite,  brown 
hematite,  magnetite  and  carbonate.  The  greater  portion  of 
the  ore  won  is  of  the  red  hematite  character,  followed  by  the 
brown  hematite,  magnetite  and  carbonate.  The  amounts  and 
percentages  of  each  class  won  in  the  year  1898  were  as  fol- 
lows: 

Variety  Production.     Percentage. 

Long  tons. 

Red  Hematite 16,150,684  83.1 

Brown  Hematite 1,989,681  10'2 

Magnetite 1,237,978  6.4 

Carbonate 55,373  0.3 

Total 19,433,716  100.0 

Some  iron  ore  is  impoi-ted  from  foreign  countries,  princi- 
pally from  Cuba,  Spain  and  Greece,  the  amount  for  the  year 
1898  being  187,308  gross  tons,  whirl)  was  ilie  smallest  amount 
since  the  year  1878. 

In  addition  to  the  native  and  imported  ores  wbicli  are  used 
in  the  production  of  pig  iron,  the  cinder  obtained  from  pudd- 
ling and  heating  furnaces,  "blue  billy,"  tlie  residuum  from 
burning  pyrites  in  the  production  of  sulphuric  acid,  also  a 
cinder  containing  iron   and   manganese  resulting  from   the 


PAPEES  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHEKS 


369 


treatment  of  zinc  ores,  are  among  the  by-products  employed. 

The  basis  of  the  piig  iron  industry,  abundant  and  cheap  sup- 
plies of  iron  ore  and  fuel,  with  a  good  market  for  the  product, 
are  all  found  in  the  United  States,  and  while  formerly  blast 
furnaces  depended  almost  entirely  upon  iron  ores  and  fuel 
won  close  at  hand,  increased  facilities  for  rapid  and  cheap 
transportation,  and  the  growing  demand  for  high  grade  ores, 
have  so  altered  conditions  that  at  present  the  main  source  of 
the  iron  ore  supply  for  the  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  West  Virginia 
and  Illinois  furnaces,  as  well  as  some  of  those  in  Now  York 
and  New  Jersey,  is  the  Lake  Superior  re,glon. 

The  region  borders  on  Lake  Superior,  and  at  present  con- 
sists of  five  principal  ranges,  named  in  the  order  of  their 
discovery,  viz:  the  Marquette,  Menominee,  Gogebic,  Ver- 
milion and  Mesabi  ranges. 

The  Marquette  range,  located  in  Michigan  on  the  southern 
shore  of  Lake  Superior,  made  its  first  shipment  in  the  year 
1854,  and  since  that  date  has  been  a  constant  contributor  to 
the  iron  ore  supply.  Its  ores  are  high  grade  as  a  rule,  hard, 
and  generally  of  a  Bessemer  quality,  although  non-Bessemer 
ores  are  also  largely  mined.  In  1898  the  cargo  shipments 
of  Marquette  ores  ran  from  66.8  to  39.26  per  cent,  of  iron 
in  the  natural  state,  with  moisture  from  0.43  to  16.68  per 
cent.  The  leaner  ores  have  special  value  either  because  of 
very  low  phosphorous  contents,  or  because  highly  siliceous  and 
cheaply  mined,  they  are  desirable  for  mixtures  with  low  silica 
ores.  The  total  reported  shipments  from  the  Marquette 
range  to  the  close  of  1898  are  fifty-two  and  one-third  million 
tons,  while  the  maximum  production  in  the  same  year  was 
2,987,930  gross  tons. 

The  Menominee  range  was  first  exploited  in  the  year  1877; 
the  greater  portion  of  this  range  is  also  found  in  the  north- 
em  peninsula  of  Michigan,  only  two  mines  occurring  in 
Wisconsin.  The  ores  while  of  high  class  are  not  as  hard 
as  the  Marquette  ores,  biit  find  a  ready  sale;  the  iron  in  the 
natural  state  is  from  60.62  to  39.46  per  cent.,  with  from 
2.51  to  11.00  per  cent,  of  moisture.  The  total  output  from 
the  opening  of  tlie  range  to  the  end  of  1893  was  nearly 
twenty-seven  and  a  half  million  long  tons.  The  1898  output 
was  2,275,664  gross  tons  and  the  maximum  output  2,402,195 
gross  tons,  in  1892. 

The  Gogebic  Range,  opened  in  1884,  is  further  west  than 
the  Menominee  or  Marquette  Ranges.  The  larger  and  most 
of  the  important  mines  are  in  the  State  of  Michigan,  but  like 
the  Menominee,  the  range  extends  across  the  State  line  of 
Wisconsin.  The  ores  carry  from  60.56  to  44.83  per  cent,  of 
iron  in  the  natural  state  and  8. 24  to  14.34  per  cent,  of  mois- 
ture; being  both  Bessemer  and  non-Bessemer  in  character. 
The  total  shipments  from  the  opening  to  date  have  been 
twenty-five  and  a  half  million  gross  tons,  of  which  amount 
2,552,205  gross  tons  were  mined  in  1898,  the  maximum  out- 
put being  in  1892,  when  3,058,176  tons  were  won. 

The  first  shipment  from  the  Vermilion  range  was  also  in 
1884.  The  mines  of  this  range  are  located  in  Minnesota 
about  80  miles  northwest  of  Duluth.  The  ores  range  from 
66.67  to  55.06  per  cent,  of  iron  in  the  natural  state  \\-;th 
from  1.04  to  8.38  per  cent,  of  moisture.  The  total  ship- 
ments to  the  close  of  1898  were  over  eleven  and  three-quarter 
milHons  tons,  the  amount  mined  in  1898  being  1,125,538 
gross  tons,  while  the  maximum,  1,381,278  tons,  was  reached 
in  1897. 

The  ores  are  usually  hard,  of  both  Bessemer  and  non- 
Bessemer  grades. 

The  Mesabi  range  is  also  in  Minnesota,  lying  to  the  south 
and  west  of  the  Vermilion  range.  It  is  the  youngest  of  the 
ranges  in  point  of  discovery,  but  by  no  means  the  least  im- 
portant, and  the  large  bodies  of  rich,  easily  mined  ores  have 
brought  it  rapidly  to  the  front.  The  amount  produced  in 
1898,  the  maximum  year,  was  4,837,971  gross  tons,  and  the 


total  since  its  opening  in  1892,  amounts  to  nearly  seventeen 
million  tons.  The  ores  carry  from  51.50  to  60.77  per  cent, 
of  iron  in  the  natural  state,  and  from  6.94  to  12.54  per  cent. 
moisture.  The  ores  are  both  Bessemer  and  non-Bessemer  in 
character,  they  are  mostly  soft  and  finely  comminuted,  which 
somewhat  restricts  the  proportions  of  this  ore  which  is  used 
in  the  blast  furnaces. 

While  the  Lake  Superior  region  contributes  over  71  per 
cent,  of  the  iron  ore  supply  for  the  United  States,  there  are 
other  portions  which  furnish  large  amounts.  Alabama,  Ten- 
nessee and  Virginia  mine  annually  large  quantities  of  red  and 
brown  hematites,  which  are  smelted  by  local  furnaces,  the 
juxtaposition  of  ores,  fuel  and  flux,  won  cheaply,  permit  of 
the  production  of  pig  iron  of  foundry  grades  at  prices  as  low 
as  those  reported  for  any  other  portion  of  the  world.  New 
York,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  also  have  largo  deposits 
of  magnetite  ores,  those  of  the  Lake  Champlain  region,  of 
New  York,  and  the  Cornwall  ore  hills  of  Pennsylvania  being 
prominent. 

Considering  the  iron  ore  producing  States  as  to  their  out- 
put, Michigan  ranked  first  in  1898,  closely  followed  by  Min- 
nesota, Alabama  third,  Pennsylvania  fourth,  and  the  remain- 
ing States  in  the  order  given  by  the  first  column  in  the  table, 
while  the  pig  iron  output  for  the  same  year  appears  in  a  sec- 
ond column. 

Production       Production 

States.  of  Iron  Ore.      of  Pig  L-on. 

Gross  Tons.       Gross  Tons. 

Michigan  7,346,846  147,640 

Minnesota 5,963,509  none 

Alabama  2,401,748  1,033,676 

Pennsylvania 773,082  5,537,832 

Tennessee 593,227  263  439 

"^'irginia 557,713  283^274 

Wisconsm 509,645  172,781 

Colorado  318,480  91,122 

New  Jersey  275,438  100,681 

Missouri 205,347  49  888 

New  York 179,951  228,011 

Georgia  and  North  Carolina..  160,083  13,762 
Montana,  Nevada,  New  Mexico, 

Utah  and  Wyoming 55,969  none 

^'^io 43,868  1,986,358 

Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  20,251  9,997 

Kentucky   12,913  100^724 

T«as  .    9,705  5,178 

Mainland 5,941  190  974 

ST-fr------ 1,365,898 

West  Virginia 192,699 

Total 19,433,716  11,773,934 

This  statement  will  indicate  the  relative  importance  of 
the  States  as  producers  and  consumers  of  iron  ores. 


The  Relative  Commercial  Relations  Between  the 

United  States  and  Beemuda. 

I 
il/r.  W.  T.  James  (Delegate  from  the   Government   of  Ber- 
muda) : 

Before  touching  this  subject  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  give  a 
few  moments  to  the  little  island  itseK,  which  I  have  the  honor 
of  representing. 

Bermuda  is  a  small  group  of  islands,  situated  in  the  At- 
lantic Ocean,  650  miles  due  east  from  Cape  Hatteras.  The 
islands  were  discovered  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth 


370 


PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMIIERCIAL  CONGRESS 


cenlury — probably  about  1515 — by  Juan  de  Bermiidcz  ami 
later  in  1609  by  Sir  George  Somers;  hence  their  name  "Ber- 
muda," or  "Somers  Islands." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  several  upheavals  and  subsi- 
diencies  have  taken  place  during  remote  ages,  which  have 
left  Bennuda  what  it  is  to-day,  a  scattered  group  of  islands, 
apparently  thrown  up  by  volcanic  forces.  There  are  in  fact, 
many  evidences  of  this — all  of  remote  antiquity — some  of 
which  may  be  seen  in  the  deep  road  cuttings,  the  rocks  of 
which  show  contorted  strata  and  decomposed  coral. 

From  1609  until  1615,  Bermuda  belonged  to  and  formed  a 
part  of  the  Virginia  Company,  but  in  1615  the  Bermuda  Com- 
pany was  fonned  and  granted  a  charter  by  James  I  of 
England.  This  company  existed  until  1685,  when  it  was  dis- 
solved. The  first  governor  was  appointed  by  the  Crown,  and 
sent  out  in  1687,  when  the  first  assembly  under  the  Crown 
was  convened. 

Since  that  time  Bermuda  has  remained  a  British  colony, 
and  because  of  Us  thoroughly  English  sentiment,  it  is  some- 
times called  "Little  England."  Tire  government  is  vested  in 
a  Governor,  an  Executive  and  a  Legislative  Council  appointed 
by  the  Crown,  and  a  House  of  Assembly,  the  latter  composed 
of  thirty-six  members  elected  by  the  people  for  seven  years. 

The  chain  of  islands  is  twenty-tive  miles  long,  contains 
about  12,400  acres  of  land,  and  has  a  population  of  about 
18,000,  including  the  garrison. 

The  islands,  independent  of  their  natural  fortifications, 
viz.:  reefs  and  sunken  shoals,  extending  many  miles  to  sea, 
are  strongly  guarded  by  forts  wliich  have  been  built  by  the 
British  government,  and  perhaps  it  may  be  rightly  said  that 
Bermuda  is  a  British  fortress.  But  it  is  also  a  pleasant  winter 
resort  for  visitors  from  the  United  States  and  Canada;  its 
balmy  air  and  sunshine  always  prove  attractive  when  this 
country  is  under  ice  and  snow.  Its  situation  on  the  southern 
side  of  the  Gulf  Stream  gives  it  a  delightful  climate,  and  its 
close  proximity  to  the  American  coast  maJves  it  easy  of  access. 
Lines  of  commodious  and  well  regulated  steamsliips  run  regu- 
larly and  frequently  from  New  York  and  from  Halifax,  and 
an  Atlantic  cable  gives  instant  and  continuous  connection 
with  the  other  parts  of  the  world,  so  that  actually  we  feel 
we  are  anchored — so  to  speak — to  this  Continent. 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  subject  of  my  paper,  viz.:  ''The 
relative  commercial  relations  between  the  two  countries,  the 
United  States  and  Bermuda." 

This  must  be  largely  a  matter  of  statistics,  out  of  which  I 
will  endeavor  to  show  the  disadvantages  under  which  Bermu- 
da labors,  the  possibility  of  a  division  of  the  trade  now  exist- 
ing between  the  two  countries,  and  how  it  may  be  more  per- 
manently established. 

The  statistics  and  figures  which  I  will  quote,  are  compiled 
from  the  "Blue  Book  of  Bennuda"  for  the  year  1898.  For 
that  year  tlie  total  imports  amounted  to"  $1,757,000,  of 
which  $1,025,0(10  was  from  the  United  States,  $525,000  was 
from  Great  Britain,  $200,000  was  from  Canada,  and  $25,000 
was  from  other  ]ilaces. 

The  total  exports  for  the  same  year  amounted  to  $520,000, 
of  which  $480,000  was  to  the  United  States  and  the  remaining 
$40,000  to  Great  Britain,  Canada  and  the  West  Indian  Is- 
lands, etc. 

By  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  of  the  total  imports 
of  Bermuda,  three-fourths  come  from  the  United  States,  and 
of  the  exports,  practically  the  whole  is  shipped  to  the  United 
States. 

Of  these  imports  and  exports  I  should  be  lia])py  to  give 
detailed  particulars,  if  anyone  desires  them,  and  will  be  good 
enough  to  intimate  their  wish  to  me. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  commercial  interests  of  Ber- 
muda are  very  closely  allied  to  tkis  countrj',  and  if  we  add 


to  this  the  fact  that  large  numbers  of  visitors  come  to  us  every 
winter,  seeking  health  and  pleasure,  I  believe  all  -nill  agree 
with  me  that  a  strong  bond  of  commercial  interests  and  social 
friendship  exists  between  the  two  countries. 

Returning  to  the  matter  of  imports  and  exports  to  and  from 
the  United  States,  I  wish  to  refer  to  the  disadvantages  under 
which  we  labor,  and  which,  if  removed,  woidd,  I  believe, 
secure  the  two  countries  a  permanent  intercourse  of  trade 
relations. 

The  expense  of  the  Government  of  Bermuda  is  met  by 
duties  on  imports  levied  for  this  purpose  and  for  no  other. 
The  rate  is  fixed  yearly,  according  to  the  necessities  of  the 
government,  and  may  be  said  to  be  uniformly  5  per  cent,  ad 
valorem  (except  on  wines  and  tobacco,  which  are  specially 
taxed)  so  that  Bermuda  practically  levies  a  5  per  cent,  ad 
valorem  duty  on  all  goods  coming  from  the  United  States. 
It  has  been  shown  that  Bermuda  purchases  from  the  United 
States  over  a  million  dollars  worth  of  goods  per  annum,  and 
exports  to  the  United  States  about  half  a  million  dollars  in 
the  produce  of  the  country. 

On  this  million  of  dollars  coming  from  the  United  States 
to  Bermuda,  we  charge  a  duty  of  5  per  cent,  ad  valorem.,  and, 
as  has  been  shown,  this  is  levied  only  as  a  revenue  for  govern- 
ment expenses  and  for  no  other  purpose.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  our  products  are  shijjped  to  the  United  States,  we  pay 
at  present  a  general  duty  of  50  per  cent.,  and  frequently  75 
per  cent,  of  the  value  of  the  article.  Unfortunately  in  both 
instances,  that  is  on  imports  and  exports,  Bermuda  has  to 
pay  the  duty,  as  the  market  for  our  produce  in  the  United 
States  is  not  regulated  by  the  cost,  but  by  the  demand,  and 
the  supply  is  always  fully  up  to  the  demand.  It  is,  there- 
fore, a  foregone  conclusion  that  unless  the  United  States  can 
see  its  way  to  reduce  the  duties  on  Bennuda  produce,  Ber- 
muda cannot  continue  to  grow  the  early  vegetables,  which,  by 
the  way,  are  sent  to  New  York  and  Boston  markets  at  a  time 
when  they  do  not  come  into  competition  with  American 
grown  vegetables.  Now,  if  Bermuda  has  to  discontinue  this 
industry,  and  look  for  other  markets,  it  will  evidently  mean 
a  diversion  of  the  trade  at  present  existing— that  is,  a  diver- 
sion of  imports. 

Now,  as  I  have  just  said,  the  present  relations  of  the  two 
countries  are  most  pleasant  in  many  ways,  and  if  this  dis- 
advantage under  which  we  now  labor  could  in  any  way  be 
relieved,  the  business  is  bound  to  increase  in  volume  and 
become  permanent;  but  otherwise  the  outlined  result  must 
seem  inevitable. 

A  convention  has  lately  been  entered  into  and  certain  con- 
cessions made,  which  it  is  thought  may  partly  relieve  the 
situation.  But  the  beneficent  results  of  this  convention  are 
very  problematical,  to  say  the  least,  as  it  provides  a  reduction 
of  20  per  cent.,  or  one-fifth  of  the  duty  now  levied  on  Ber- 
muda produce  entering  the  American  markets,  while  Ber- 
muda in  turn  must  admit  free  of  duty  nearly  all  articles 
coming  from  and  being  the  product  of  the  United  States, 
thereby  losing  in  revenue  over  $10,000  per  annum  in  order  to 
be  relieved  of  one-fifth  of  the  duty  on  Bennuda  produce  en- 
tering the  United  States.  But  his  reduction  of  20  per  cent. 
still  leaves  a  very  heavy  burden,  which  renders  the  trade 
almost  prohibitive.  Thus,  the  cost  of  a  bushel  of  onions  is 
from  60  cents  to  $1.00,  average  cost  say,  80  cents.  The  duty 
is  40  cents,  or  50  per  cent,  of  the  cost,  and  even  aiicr  deduct- 
ing the  propo^d  20  per  cent.,  which  would  reduce  the  duty 
to  33  cents  per  bushel,  it  still  amounts  io  40  per  cent,  of  the 
cost,  which,  on  the  face  of  it,  renders  the  trade  prohibitive. 

It  is,  therefore,  io  be  Imped  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  will  take  this  matter  into  its  more  serious  and 
favorable  consideration,  and  it  is  suggested  that  Bermuda 
would  be  willing  to  pay  the  United  States  10  per  cent,  or  ]2-| 
per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  its  exports,  more  than  double  the 


PAPERS  SUBMITTED  BY  DELEGATES  AND  OTHEES 


371 


duties  levied  on  American  imports,  and  to  continue  to  levy  its 
five  per  cent,  on  imports,  which,  as  has  been  shown,  is  a  duty 
for  revenue  only. 

In  closing  this  paper  I  am  in  a  position  to  state  tliat  Ber- 
muda— the  oldest  colony  of  Great  Britain — entertains  for  the 
people  of  the  United  States  the  strongest  feelings  of  friend- 
ship; that  we  desire  our  trade  relations  to  continue  and  en- 
large, that  we  naturally  look  to  the  United  States  as  our 
nearest  friends  and  neighbors,  and  we,  therefore,  trust  that 
our  case  will  be  more  favorably  considered,  so  that  we  shall 
not  be  driven  to  either  seek  new  markets  for  our  produce  and 
our  purchases,  or  to  abandon  our  industries. 


Concerning  Parcels  Post. 

Messrs.  Luigi  Musso  &  Co.  (Turin,  Italy) : 

We  see  that  during  the  Commercial  Congress  will  be  dis- 
cussed the  question  of  the  parcels  post  from  America  to 
foreign  countries.  We  pray  that  you  do  all  you  possibly  can 
in  this  matter,  to  establish  a  lower  rate  of  parcels  post  from 
the  United  States  to  Italy.    To  this  end  we  would  remark: 

First.  One  must  not  think  that  little  business  only  is  pos- 
sible with  Italy. 

Besides  the  industrial  movement  which  is  rapidly  develop- 
ing, so  much  that  our  exports  are  always  increasing  (as  for 
example  in  cotton  tissues  and  other  articles),  the  agricultural 
movement  is  also  progressing,  and  wall  certainly  increase 
the  amount  of  the  exports  from  the  United  States  to  our 
country. 

Second.  It  woidd  be  desirable  to  obtain  a  low  rate  of 
transportation  for  merchandise  up  to  10  kilos  (about  23 
pounds),  and,  if  possible,  up  to  25  or  even  50  kilos.  This 
would  permit  the  collection  and  forw'arding  of  samples  of 
small  machinery  and  hardware,  for  which  transportation  rates 
are  now  high. 

For  example,  we  have  received  from  New  York  to  Genoa 
three  little  packages: 

(a)  A  package  of  wooden  boxes  (samples)  of  the  weight  of 
4  pounds,  and  have  paid  (for  transportation  only)  8  It.  lire, 
or  about  $1.60. 


(b)  A  package  of  hides  of  the  gross  weight  of  23  poimds, 
which  cost  from  New  York  to  Genoa,  18.60  It.  lire  ($3.72). 

(c)  A  package  of  engravings  of  the  gross  weight  of  15 
pounds,  costing  over  16  It.  lire  ($3.20). 

Please  observe  that  by  parcels  post,  we  can  fonvard  from 
Turin  a  package  of  about  11  pounds  for  7.45  It.  lire  to  Japan; 
for  6.00  It.  lire  to  Peru;  for  5.00  It.  lire  to  Mexico;  for  5.25  It. 
lire  to  Polynesia;  for  5.25  It.  lire  to  Chile;  for  4.50  It.  lire  to 
Colombia;  for  3.75  It.  lire  to  Antilles;  and  for  3.75  It.  lire  to 
Congo,  etc.,  without  other  transportation  charges. 

Also  we  received  from  Sydney,  Australia,  a  package  of  the 
weight  of  13  pounds,  for  which  we  paid  frs.  7.70  to  Genoa, 
as  shown  by  the  enclosed  parcel  receipt. 

It  should  also  be  made  possible  to  forward  from  the  United 
States  such  packages  without  prepayment.  We  notice  that 
some  American  firms  ask  advance  payment,  in  New  York, 
for  the  value  of  a  package  amounting  to  a  few  dollars. 

We  feel  every  confidence  in  the  American  market,  and 
could  do  a  great  deal  of  business,  but  how  shall  it  be  done  in 
the  face  of  such  transportation  charges,  and  the  mistrust 
there  is  against  our  buyers?  It  would  be  quite  possible  to 
establish  a  bureau  of  information  concerning  the  honesty  and 
reliability  of  Italian  customers. 


Suggestions  from  Campos,  Brazil. 

Letter  from  the  Axsaciacao  Commercial  (Campos,  Brazil): 

We  beg  to  inform  you  of  the  opinion  of  our  association 
regarding  some  measures  which  we  think  would  be  imme- 
diately successful  if  put  into  practice.  We  would  propose 
the  following:  1st. — The  choice  of  one  special  language  for 
the  commercial  relations  of  all  nations.  2d. — Uniformity  in 
weights,  measures  and  money,  based  upon  a  universal  stand- 
ard for  all  civilized  countries.  3rd. — A  reform  in  the  custom 
house  schedules  in  order  to  facilitate  the  interchange  of  in- 
dustrial and  natural  products.  4th. — The  establishment  of  a 
permanent  commercial  congress,  composed  of  merchants  of 
all  nations  adhering  to  this  idea,  to  discuss  all  commercial 
matters  of  interest  and  having  also  the  right  to  intervene  in 
certain  political  questions  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding  war. 


GERMAN-AMERICAN    COMMISSION 

International  Commercial  Congress 


Mr.  President:  The  Gennan-American  Commission,  con- 
sisting of  tlie  delegates  to  the  Interniitional  Commercial  Con- 
gress from  Germany  and  from  Austria,  together  ^rith  certain 
American  representatives,  begs  leave  to  submit  a  iew  words 
to  the  Congress. 

The  Commission  was  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering thoroughly  the  commercial  relations  existing  between 
the  ITnited  States,  the  German  Empire  and  Austria-Hungary. 
The  Commission,  after  earnestly  considering  the  question  and 
after  having  heard  representatives  of  American,  German  and 
Austrian  industries,  has  reached  the  conviction  that  a  more  in- 
timate relation  of  the  commercial  conditions  between  the 
aforesaid  countries  is  desirable  and  the  maintenance  and  fos- 
tering of  friendly  relations  between  them  is  to  be  sought  and 
may  be  secured.  As  the  foundation  for  these  views,  the  Com- 
mission refers  to  the  following  complete  report  of  its  sessions, 
which  it  has  the  honor  to  hand  to  the  President  of  the  Con- 
gress, and  a  copy  of  which  it  will  undertake  to  bring  to  the 
attention  of  the  respective  governments  interested. 


First  Session. 


[Conducted  in  ttie  Germau  language.] 

Philadelphia,  October  16,  1899,  10  a.  m. 

Eoom  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum. 

On  the  proposal  of  several  delegates  of  German  commer- 
cial bodies,  it  was  decided  to  form  a  Commission  consisting  of 
Germans,  Austrians  and  Americans,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering the  commercial  relations  between  Germany,  Austria 
and  the  United  States.  A  meeting  was  held  for  this  purpose 
in  the  Co7nmcrcial  I\Iuseum,  on  the  IHth  of  October.  1899,  at 
which  the  German  delegates  and  representatives  of  the  Com- 
mercial Museum  appeared. 

The  following  gentlemen  were  present: 

Counsellor  of  Commerce  L.  Vossen,  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Director-General  Goldschmidt,  of  Berlin. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Jlekow,  of  Berlin. 

Mr.  Post,  of  Hagen. 

Mr.  Wirtli.  of  Sorau. 

Mr.  van  Giilpen,  of  Wesel. 

IT.  S.  Consul.  Monao;han,  of  Chemnitz. 

E.  "W.  S.  Tingle,  of  Philadelphia,  former  U.  S.  Consul  in 
Brunswick,  Germany. 

II.  L.  Geissel,  of  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  Carpenter,  of  Philadelphia,  former  IT.  S.  Consul  in 
Piirth. 

^iTajor  Black,  of  Philadelphia,  former  U.  S.  Consul  in 
Nuremberg. 

The  following  gentlemen  were  also  present: 

G.  D.  Waetzoldt,  Eepresentative  of  the  Government  of  the 
Empire  of  Germany,  Commercial  Attach^  to  the  Imperial 
German  Consulate,  Chicago. 


Imperial  German  Consul  ilarheinecke,  of  Philadelphia. 

Besides  these  there  were  the  following  guests: 

Reichsritter  Dr.  Alex,  von  Dorn,  Representative  of  the 
Austro-Himgarian  Export  Association. 

Dr.  Pistor,  Representative  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Gratz. 

Mr.  E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  in  opening  the  session,  greeted  those 
present  and  explained,  in  a  few  preliminary  remarks,  the 
reasons  why  it  would  be  desirable  that  a  German-American 
Ciimmission  should  convene.  The  administration  of  the 
Museum  had,  with  pleasure,  acceded  to  the  wishes  of  the  sev- 
eral Gennan  delegates,  especially  of  the  representative  of  the 
"Aeltesten  der  Kaufmannsehaft"  of  Berlin,  and  would  pre- 
sent several  gentlemen  who  are  able  to  explain  American 
conditions  to  the  Commission  and  to  discuss  any  views  and 
complaints  brought  forward  in  the  United  States.  To  this 
end  it  is  especially  desirable  that  such  gentlemen  be  selected 
as  know  from  their  own  experience  Germany  and  the  com- 
plaints existing  there.  These  may  be  found  in  the  persons 
of  former  United  States  Consuls  wlio  have  held  office  for  a 
number  of  years  in  important  commercial  cities  of  Germany. 

Mr.  Tingle,  assured  of  the  consent  of  those  present  to  form 
the  Commission,  made  the  proposition  to  constitute  the  same 
and  to  begin  with  the  selection  of  two  presiding  officers.  He 
was  of  the  opinion  that  one  of  these  gentlemen  should  be 
German  and  the  other  American. 

Counsellor  of  Commerce  L.  Vossen,  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  sug- 
gested the  nomination  of  Mr.  E.  W.  S.  Tingle  as  Chairman, 
Mr.  Tingle  appearing  to  be  the  most  suitable  person,  not  only 
on  account  of  his  long  experience  in  his  former  capacity  as 
ITnited  States  Consul  in  Brunswick,  but  also  on  account  of 
his  knowledge  of  the  German  language  and  its  idioms.  Be- 
sides this,  Mr.  Tingle  had  won  for  himself  the  esteem  of  all 
the  German  delegates  through  his  amiability  and  efforts  to- 
wards supplying  wants  and  c  nnforis.  ilr.  1'ingle  was  chosen 
l)y  acclamation. 

Counsellor  of  Commerce  Vossen  then  suggested  the  nomi- 
nation of  Dr.  Vosberg-Eekow,  of  Berlin,  as  Vice-Chairman. 
It  would,  of  course,  have  been  only  just  to  nominate  as  Vice- 
Chairman  a  representative  of  the  largest  and  most  prominent 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  namely,  of  the  "Aeltesten  der  Kauf- 
mannsehaft" of  Berlin,  but  as  the  representatives  of  this 
body  had  not  intended  to  stay  in  Pliiladelphia  during  the 
whole  period  of  the  Congress,  it  was  considered  advisable  to 
select  a  person  whose  presence  could  be  counted  upon  during 
the  entire  continuance  of  the  sessions. 

A  number  of  German  delegates  having  expressed  them- 
selves as  being  of  the  same  opinion.  Dr.  Vosbcrg-Rekow.  of 
Berlin,  was  chosen.  This  gentleman  remarked  that  he  fully 
appreciated  the  honor  besiowcd  upon  him,  and  that  this 
distinction  above  other  important  and  older  representatives 
of  large  corporations  could  only  be  justified  by  his  doing 
everything  in  his  power  to  further  the  work  of  the  Commis- 
sion, in  order  to  attain  a  desirable  result. 

After  Director-General  Goldschmidt  had  expressed  thanks 
for  the  distinction,  which  it  had  been  proposed  to  confer  upon 
the  "Aeltesten  der  Kaufmannsehaft"  of  Berlin,  Mr.  Tingle, 


372 


SESSIONS  OF  THE  GEEMAN-AMEEICAN  COMMISSION 


373 


as  well  as  Dr.  Vosberg-Eekow,  declared  that  they  accepted 
the  nominations  with  thanks. 

A  motion  was  made  to  proceed  with  the  further  organiza- 
tion of  the  Commission  and  Mr.  Geissel  was  selected  as  its 
secretary.  At  the  same  time  it  was  decided  to  send  personal 
invitations  to  paaiicipate  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Commis- 
sion to  Dr.  Alex,  ron  Dorn  of  Vienna,  Dr.  Pistor  of  Gratz, 
Dr.  Thorsch  and  Mr.  Herlitschka,  the  latter  two  being  the 
representatives  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Vienna. 
An  invitation  was  also  to  be  sent  to  the  representatives  of  the 
Imperial  German  Government  to  be  present  at  the  sessions 
of  the  Commission  whenever  possible. 

After  tliis  the  Commission  proceeded  to  business. 

Counsellor  of  Commerce  L.  Vossen,  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
suggested  an  arrangement  of  a  general  programme,  in  order 
to  give  an  idea  of  the  different  directions  in  which  the  work 
of  the  Commission  might  be  extended. 

After  due  deliberation,  and  at  the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Vos- 
berg-Rckow,  the  following  order  of  the  day  was  agreed 
upon: 

1.  Certification  of  invoices  and  consideration  of  tariff  rates. 

2.  Estimation  of  tariff  rates  on  new  articles. 

3.  Formation  of  Customs  Advisory  Boards. 

4.  Consuls  and  consular  agents. 

5.  The  question  of  market  values. 

6.  Specific  and  ad  ralurcm  tariffs. 

7.  Adoption  of  the  European  system  of  commercial  treaties 
by  the  United  States. 

8.  Goods  in  transit,  to  be  improved  or  perfected. 

9.  Patents  legislation. 

At  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  van  Giilpen  it  was  decided  to 
receive  a  paper  from  this  gentlemen  concerning  dealing  in 
futures  on  the  exchanges.  A  full  discussion  of  the  subject 
was  not  deemed  advisable,  however,  as  the  gentlemen  present 
did  not  feel  that  they  had  enough  experience  in  this  line  to 
enable  them  to  pass  profitable  resolutions. 

The  Chairman  then  remarked  that  it  would  be  desirable 
that  those  gentlemen  who  expected  to  leave  during  the  next 
few  days  should  make  known  their  views,  especially  upon 
the  tariff  question. 

Counsellor  of  Commerce  L.  Vossen,  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  de- 
clared that  he  had  received  orders  from  his  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce to  call  attention  to  the  great  losses  whic-h  the  German 
exporter  to  the  United  States  has  to  suffer  on  account  of  the 
arbitrary  method  by  which  the  appraisers  estimate  the  duty. 
He  was  convinced  that  there  exist  a  great  number  of  just 
complaints  on  this  subject;  but  at  the  same  time  he  believed 
that  with  a  little  good  will  on  both  sides,  the  matter  could 
easily  be  adjusted.  He  said  further  that  on  account  of  this 
arbitrariness  with  which  the  appraiser  estimates  the  tariff, 
large  and  well  established  business  connections  are  often  made 
impossible. 

The  Chairman  remarked  that  he  also  knew  of  many  cases 
in  which  the  appraiser's  deviation  from  the  declaration  did 
not  seem  to  be  justified.  The  appraiser,  he  said,  is  not  bound 
to  accept  the  consul's  certificate  of  the  invoice,  so  that  the 
whole  procedure  according  to  which  the  consuls  are  required 
to  act,  loses  its  value.  Inasmuch  as  this  procedure  is  also 
subject  to  considerable  latitude  as  far  as  the  respective  officers 
as  well  as  the  exporters,  are  concerned,  it  would  be  very  de- 
sirable if  a  remedy  could  be  found.  One  of  the  first  difficul- 
ties encountered,  in  case  of  the  abolishment  of  so  many  in- 
convenient rules,  would  be  the  question  of  how  to  protect 
the  honest  man  against  the  dishonest.  According  to  his 
opinion,  however,  improvements  could  easily  be  made.  The 
decision  of  the  consul  might  be  backed  up  vrith  additional 
guarantees.  Especially  should  he  have  the  power  to  say 
that  persons  whom  he  knows  from  experience  to  be  untruth- 


ful, shall  make  their  statements  under  oath  before  a  judge. 
And  in  case  this  guarantee  were  given  there  would  be  abso- 
lutely no  reason  why  the  declaration  certified  by  the  consul 
should  not  be  valid  for  the  appraiser.  Perhaps  it  would  also 
be  possible  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  Chambers  of 
Commerce  in  obtaining  the  necessary  guarantee. 

The  Chainnan,  Mr.  Tingle,  being  called  away  on  important 
business,  Director-General  Goldschmidt,  of  Berlin,  took  his 
place  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Vice-Chairman,  Dr.  Vosberg- 
Kekow. 

Counsellor  of  Commerce  L.  Vossen,  suggested  that  all  per- 
sons who  at  any  time  had  been  guilty  of  dishonesty  in  similar 
cases,  should  be  debarred  from  final  confirmation  and  cer- 
tification of  their  invoice. 

Dr.  von  Dorn,  of  Vienna,  from  his  own  experience  in 
Austria-Hungary,  confirmed  the  complaints  made  by  the  Ger- 
man gentlemen.  He  said  that  he  knew  of  cases  where  a  decla- 
ration which  had  passed  for  years  without  causing  any  ofl'ence, 
had  suddenly  been  rejected  by  the  appraiser.  The  interven- 
tion of  the  United  States  Consul  at  Vienna  had  been  re- 
quested; experts  from  the  Vienna  Chamber  of  Commerce  had 
been  consulted;  both  partieis  had  expressed  themselves  in 
favor  of  the  exporter,  but  none  of  the  proceedings  had  any 
effect  whatever. 

Mr.  Tingle  again  took  the  chair. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  called  attention  to  a  very  remarkable 
case  which  had  occurred  in  New  York.  Two  companies  which 
formerly  had  constituted  one  firm,  both  importers  of  French 
porcelain  into  America,  quarrelled,  and  as  a  consequence 
began  to  underbid  each  other.  The  appraiser,  in  this  case, 
repeatedly  arbitrarily  lowered  or  raised  the  price  ten  per 
cent. 

Director-General  Goldschmidt  feared  that  if  an  oath  before 
the  Court  were  required,  it  would  result  in  a  still  higher  cost 
of  the  whole  procedure,  which,  he  thinks,  already  high  enough 
as  it  is.  He  mentioned  as  an  example,  that,  according  to  com- 
plaints made  at  the  German  "Handelstag,"  in  many  cases  a 
fee  of  M.  50  had  been  demanded  for  a  power  of  attorney, 
which  had  to  be  procured  anew  every  time. 

Consul  Monaghan,  of  Chemnitz,  declared  these  statements 
to  be  wrong.  He  asserted  that  in  practice  he  was  pursuing 
a  far  more  lenient  course,  and  in  many  cases  he  did  not 
insist  iipon  the  presentation  of  a  power  of  attorney;  in  cases, 
however,  where  one  was  required,  the  fee  did  not  amount  to 
more  than  two  dollars.  He  agreed  that  the  treatment  of  the 
matter  by  the  different  consuls  who  were  allowed  to  act  ac- 
cording to  their  own  judgment  to  a  great  extent,  might  vary 
greatly;  but  as  far  as  the  fees  were  concerned,  there  existed 
a  fixed  schedule  of  charges. 

The  Chairman  confirmed  this  statement  and  added  that 
every  consul  was  required  to  have  a  copy  of  this  schedule  in 
his  office,  and  that  if  desired  the  same  had  to  be  placed  before 
any  person  interested.  In  cases  where  this  was  not  done, 
complaint  might  be  made  to  the  Consul  General,  which  un- 
doubtedly would  bring  about  the  desired  result,  but  in  case 
that  it  should  not,  it  would  be  advisable  to  apply  to  the  Com- 
mercial Attache  of  the  Embassy  or  to  the  Treasury  Depart- 
ment in  Washington. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  remarked  that  he  would  receive  such 
a  schedule  in  a  very  short  time,  and  that  the  same  would  be 
commented  upon  and  circulated  throughout  Germany  by  the 
Central  Bureau  for  the  Preparation  of  Commercial  Treaties. 

The  discussion  of  this  matter  was  then  postponed.  The 
Chairman  declared  that  the  next  session  would  take  place  at 
3.30  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Chairman. 

Dh.  Vosbehg-Rekow,  Vice-Chairman. 

H.  L.  Geissel,  Secretary. 


874 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Second  Session. 
Philadelphia,  October  16th,  3  p.  m. 

The  Cliainnan  opened  the  session  and  requested  those  gen- 
tlemen who  (.■ontuinijlate  leaving  in  the  near  future  to  con- 
tinue to  submit  their  views. 

Counsellor  of  Commerce  L.  Vossen,  of  Aix-la-Chapelle, 
stated  that  in  the  payment  of  duty  on  new  articles,  which  up 
to  date  have  not  been  handled,  the  greatest  difficulties  arise. 
In  the  register,  or  list  oi  goods,  such  ai'tieles  naturally  are  not 
to  be  found;  even  the  American  Consul  could  not  give  au- 
thentic inforniatiun.  Generally  a  suggestion  is  made  to  sub- 
mit, a  sample  shipment.  The  appraiser  handles  this  sample 
shipment  according  to  his  judgment,  and  the  result  is  left  to 
chance.  It  should  be  made  possible,  however,  that  those 
goods,  which  already  are  on  board  a  ship,  should  pay  such 
duty  as  the  consul  has  certified  in  his  invoice. 

Director-General  Goldschmidt  pointed  out  a  great  difficulty 
encountered  here — which  applies  also  to  Germany — namely, 
the  want  of  a  sutTiciently  extensive  register,  or  list  of  articles. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  observed  against  this  that  the  present 
case  treats  of  such  new  articles  as  are  not  contained  in  any 
register,  or  list  of  articles,  therefore  the  resulting  difficulty 
could  never  be  entirely  removed.  The  work  of  getting  out 
a  carefully  considered  and  comprehensive  register  of  articles 
ought  to  be  undertaken,  in  order  that  out  of  it  more  or  less 
information  could  be  obtained  for  the  classification  of  new 
articles. 

Dr.  von  Dorn  pointed  out  that  for  such  cases  an  arrange- 
ment should  be  made  similar  to  the  Austrian  Customs  Ad- 
visory Board.  The  information  given  by  this  Board  is  not 
speedily  rendered,  but  it  establishes  at  least  an  authority 
through  which  an  authentic  decision  can  be  finally  procured. 

The  Chairman  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  establishment 
of  a  Customs  Advisory  Board  for  the  United  States,  to  which 
all  ditficulties  relating  to  customs  could  be  referred,  would 
be  most  desirable. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Eekow  inquired  whether,  in  the  absence  of  a 
Customs  Advisory  B'oard  in  the  United  States,  or  until  the 
establishment  of  the  same,  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum  could  not  be  invested  with  such  authority.  The 
Museum  rightly  enjoys  a  great  reputation  and  possesses,  in 
a  manifestly  high  degree,  experienced  persons.  Even  now  it 
has  authority  to  request,  at  any  time,  reports  from  consuls. 
Before  fixing  the  duty  on  new  articles,  it  might  be  well  to 
obtain  the  opinion  of  the  Museum  and  consider  the  same  as 
authoritative. 

Mr.  Post,  of  Hagen,  had  doubts  as  to  this  proposition.  He 
believed  the  industrial  circles  of  the  United  States  were  in 
favor  of  a  high  tariff,  and  that  the  Museum  was  more  or  less 
dependent  upon  them,  and,  therefore,  in  questions  of  the 
tariff  not  always  to  be  considered  impartial. 

The  Chaimaan  thanked  the  previous  speaker  for  the  oppor- 
tunity given,  to  make  an  explanation  regarding  the  position 
of  American  industry,  as  well  as  that  <oi  the  Museum.  In  the 
first  place  the  Museum  is  supported  in  its  main  object  by 
appropriations  made  by  the  City  of  Philadelphia;  besides, 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  contribute  generously  whenever  their  assistance  is 
found  necessary.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  independence 
of  the  Museum  is  in  no  wise  endangered.  Neither  the  city 
ordinances  nor  the  government  statutes  are  authorized  to  in- 
terfere with  the  business  of  the  Museum.  The  Museum  has, 
through  its  work,  which  already  has  found  public  apprecia- 
tion, attained  its  position.  The  Museum  has  about  1  ()()() 
members  among  the  American  manufacturers,  whose  yearly 
contributions  amount  from  $50  to  $100  each.  These  members 
are  not  authorized  to  exercise  any  influence  on  the  manage- 


ment of  the  business  of  the  Museum.  They  are  rather  only 
subscribers  who  receive  for  their  subscription  the  verj'  valua- 
ble information  of  the  Museum.  In  reality  it  costs  the  Mu- 
seum, at  present,  for  each  member,  about  double  what  they 
pay  for  subscription.  At  the  present  moment,  there  is  no 
occasion  for  making  the  statement  that  the  American  indus- 
tries and  commercial  circles  are  all  in  favor  of  high  tariff. 
The  conviction  that  a  country,  with  more  or  less  developed 
industries,  cannot  export  if  it  locks  its  doors  against  the  im- 
ports of  other  nations  in  gaining  ground  in  ever  widening 
circles.  Many  representatives  of  the  prominent  industries 
are  of  this  opinion.  Only  a  few  days  ago  as  well-kno^Ti  a 
man  as  ]\Ir.  Atkinson,  at  a  full  meeting  of  the  Congress,  ex- 
pressed himself  as  being  of  the  same  opinion. 

Mr.  Post,  from  Hagen,  expressed  his  satisfactio-n  at  the 
statement,  that  a  change  in  the  direction  indicated  by  the 
Chairman  might  be  expected.  He  himself  was  of  the  opinion 
that  at  present  in  the  United  States,  only  the  very  great  in- 
dustries and  exporters  would  agree  to  abolish  the  high  pro- 
tective tariff.  The  smaller  manufacturers  would  be  willing 
to  remain  a  long  while  yet  on  the  present  basis.  Even  if  the 
Museum  is  independent  and  works  impartially,  one  could 
always  consider  it  only  as  representing  American  industries 
and  American  commerce.  The  speaker  wished  to  protect  the 
interests  not  only  of  the  producer,  but  also  of  the  merchant 
and  consumer,  and  these  interests  could  be  equally  looked 
after  by  a  special  Customs  Advisory  Board. 

In  regard  to  the  order  of  the  day  which  had  been  adopted, 
Director-General  Goldschmidt,  of  Berlin,  desired  to  explain 
that  he,  as  a  representative  of  the  "Aeltesten  der  Berliner 
Kaufmannschaft,"  was  requested  by  this  body  not  to  join 
in  any  discussion  relating  to  tariff  matters,  and  must  there- 
fore consider,  from  time  to  time,  whether  he  can  take  part 
in  the  proceedings. 

It  was  then  asked  in  what  direction  the  proceedings  were  to 
move,  and  in  which  way  the  result  thereof  could  be  expected. 
It  was  concluded  to  accept  the  discussions  of  the  Commission 
in  the  shape  of  a  report,  and  to  decide  upon  the  questions 
to  be  finally  submitted  to  the  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress; moreover,  a  list  of  the  resolutions  adopted,  to  be  ap- 
pended to  the  articles  for  consideration,  is  to  be  submitted 
liy  the  Commission  to  the  Director  of  the  Museum,.  The 
JIuseum  will  sulnnit  these  resolutions  for  consideration  to 
the  United  States  Government.  The  Gennan  delegates  will 
render  a  report  of  the  result  of  the  di.'^cussions  and  submit 
appropriate  recommendations  to  the  German  Government. 

The  Chairman  informed  the  Commission  that  the  Director 
of  the  Museum  has  circulated  a  letter  among  900  of  its 
members,  and  abont  1000  members  of  the  Manufacturers' 
Club,  in  which  they  are  requested  to  submit,  without  delay, 
to  the  American  members  of  the  Commission,  any  complaints 
they  may  desire  to  make.  It  was  arranged,  in  the  name  of 
the  Commission,  to  invite  particularly  prominent  persons  to 
participate.  Preparations  will  be  made  to  invite  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Reciprocity  Commission,  who  will  come  to  Phila- 
delphia shortly,  to  attend  the  session  of  the  Commission. 
Particularly  prominent  industrial  persons,  such  as  the  great 
shipbuilder  Cramp,  and  others,  will  also  he  invited.  These 
sessions  will  not  be  public,  and  the  secretary  is  requested  to 
prepare  a  short  daily  report  for  the  press. 

Regarding  a  written  request  from  a  German  visitor  to  the 
Congress,  asking  permission  for  himself  and  friends  to  attend, 
it  was  decided  that  the  discussions  of  the  Commission  should 
be  kept  confidential,  because  otherwise  those  Americans  who 
are  in  State  service  might  hesitate  to  express  publicly  opin- 
ions which  might  lead  to  misunderstandings  in  the  press,  and 
to  admit  non-delegates  might  cause  unpleasantness.  The  ap- 
plicant was  advised  to  submit  in  writing  to  the  Vicc-Chair- 
man  of  the  Commission,  Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  such  wishes 


SESSIONS  OF  THE  GERMAN-AMERICAN  COMMISSION 


375 


and  views  as  he  and  his  fi-iends  have,  in  reference  to  any 
matters  under  discussion. 

Director-General  Goldschmidt,  of  Berhn,  then  presented 
his  proposition  that  patent  legislation  should  be  discussed. 
Counsellor  of  Commei'ce  Vossen  (Aix-la-Chapelle)  pointed 
out  that  in  many  cases  new  chemical  inventions  and  ways  of 
production  cannot  he  properly  patented  in  the  United  States. 

The  Chairman  approved  the  suggestion  to  invite  experts 
in  patent  law  to  the  discussion  referred  to. 

Dr.  von  Dorn  presented  a  proposition  for  the  discussion 
of  the  following  subject:  Specific  and  ad  valorem  duties,  and 
the  participation  of  the  United  States  in  the  system  of  Euro- 
pean commercial  treaties.  A  short  discussion  of  the  methods 
of  appraising  market  values  and  the  difficulties  which  arise 
therefrom,  particularly  for  fancy  and  season  articles,  and  for 
goods  shipped  to  be  improved  or  perfected,  was  entered  upon, 
and  it  was  decided  that  these  topics  should  be  discussed  more 
fully  later  on. 

E.  W.  S.  TiKGLE,  Chairman. 

Dr.  Vosbeeg-Rekow,  Vice-Chairmati. 

H.  L.  Geissel,  Secretary. 


Third  Session. 

Philadelphia,  Tuesday,  October  17,  1899,  10  a.  m. 

The  following  were  present: 

E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  Berlin. 

Mr.  Wirth,  Sorau. 

Mr.  van  Giilpen,  Wesel. 

Dr.  von  Dorn,  Vienna. 

H.  L.  Geissel,  Philadelphia. 

The  following  were  also  present : 

Mr.  G.  D.  Waetzoldt,  Imperial  German  Commercial  At- 
tache, Chicago. 

Consul  Marheinecke,  Philadelphia. 

Mr.  John  Foord,  New  York,  Secretary,  American  Asiatic 
Association. 

Before  opening  the  session,  it  was  resolved  to  invite  Mr. 
Knoller,  representative  of  the  Austrian  Government,  and  Mr. 
Kiichler,  representative  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
Industry  at  Trieste,  to  participate  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
sessions. 

The  Chairman  opened  the  session.  The  oixler  of  the  day 
was  entered  upon,  and  the  matter  of  invoices  and  tariff  regu- 
lations thoroughly  discussed. 

In  accordance  with  a  suggestion  of  the  Chairman,  it  was 
decided  tliat  those  complaints  be  investigated  first  which  are 
to  be  brought  forward  by  the  German  representatives,  and  in 
such  manner  that  single  points  be  first  discussed,  and  that 
afterwaixls  a  general  resolution  founded  on  these  delibera- 
tions be  prepared. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  remarked  that  complaints  had  been 
made  repeatedly  by  parties  interested  that  there  existed  no 
sufficient  regulations,  regarding  the  correctness  of  the  cus- 
toms declaration. 

Formerly  there  was  a  limit  of  10  per  cent.,  but  this  latitude 
had  been  reduced  and,  as  far  as  he  knew,  was  no  longer  in 
existence. 

Mr.  G.  D.  Waetzoldt  answered  that  according  to  his  recol- 
lection the  Treasury  Department  of  the  United  States  had 
issued  a  decision  to  the  eifect  that  a  limit  of  5  per  cent,  must 
be  allowed. 

The  Chainnan  confinned  this  statement.  The  suggestion 
was  then  made  to  obtain  a  copy  of  the  original  decisions  of 
the  Treasury  Department  and  to  discuss  the  regulations  con- 
tained therein  at  one  of  the  next  sessions. 


Several  other  members  of  the  Commission  expressed  the 
opinion  that  the  existing  regulations  are  entirely  adequate 
for  the  attainment  of  a  better  tariff  administration,  and  that 
it  was  solely  the  fault  of  arbitraij  practice  on  the  part  of  the 
Customs  olficials  that  so  many  difficulties  were  encountered. 

The  statistics  of  complaints  and  decisions  in  tariff  matters 
were  then  discussed. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  laws  at 
present  in  existence  do  not  suffice.  These,  he  said,  are  not 
up  to  the  present  standard  of  tariff  practice.  But  that  is  not 
in  the  least  surprising,  as  the  regiilations  as  a  whole  had  not 
been  changed  since  the  passing  of  the  McELinley  Bill  in  1890. 

Mr.  Wirth,  of  Sorau,  remarked  that  it  seemed  very  harsh 
to  impose  fines  in  cases  where,  although  a  deviation  from  the 
declaration  existed,  in  reality  it  did  not  prove  to  be  a  willful 
under  or  over  valuation. 

The  opinion  was  then  expressed  that  the  collection  of  an 
additional  fine  to  the  amount  of  1  per  cent,  of  the  total  value 
for  each  1  per  cent,  of  the  undeclared  amount  did  not  seem 
practical,  and  in  many  cases  seemed  rigorous.  The  addi- 
tional duty  should  not  be  collected  in  cases  where  the  good 
faith  and  honesty  of  the  importer  can  be  proved.  The  regu- 
lation in  force  at  present,  that  this  was  only  allowable  in 
cases  of  a  manifest  mistake  in  writing,  could  not  be  con- 
sidered sufficient. 

The  discussion  next  turned  upon  the  contradictions  result- 
ing in  practice  from  the  fact  that  after  the  invoice  has  been 
legalized  by  the  consuls  in  Germany  at  the  place  of  exporta- 
tion, and  in  many  cases  its  correctness  has  even  been  proved 
on  oath,  the  appraiser  has  the  right  to  arbitrarily  reject  this 
invoice. 

Messrs,  Waetzoldt,  Wirth,  van  Giilpen,  Post,  Dr.  Vosberg- 
Rekow,  Geissel  and  the  Chairman  took  part  in  the  debate. 

The  gentlemen  of  the  Commission  who  had  been  consuls 
in  Germany  declared  that  the  complaints  are  to  a  large  de- 
gree justified.  If  the  market  value  of  an  article  as  fixed  by 
the  consul  in  the  country  where  it  was  originally  produced 
is  to  be  considered  correct,  the  appraiser  should  not  have  the 
right  to  change  the  estimate  of  the  consul  for  the  simple 
reason  that  there  may  have  existed  at  the  same  time  a  differ- 
ent market  value  in  the  United  States.  As  already  shown 
during  the  first  session,  the  certification  of  the  consul  should 
be  backed  up  by  additional  safeguards.  The  objections 
raised,  tliat  by  this  the  procedure  is  made  more  difficult  and 
the  duties  of  the  consuls  arc  made  more  complicated,  are  dis- 
proved. It  does  not  seem  possible  simply  to  consider  as  author- 
itative the  market  value  of  a  certain  article  on  the  day  of  its 
arrival  at  the  custom  house.  The  difference  in  time  between 
the  sale  of  the  article  in  Germany  and  the  arrival  of  the  same 
at  a  custom  house  in  the  United  States  is  so  great  that  a  con- 
siderable difference  in  the  price  of  goods  may  take  place. 

If  the  appraiser  has  the  liberty  to  impose  this  difference 
according  to  his  personal  judgment,  any  profitable  transac- 
tion may  be  changed  to  the  reverse. 

Of  course,  the  simplest  method  would  be  to  consider  as 
authoritative  in  every  instance  the  value  which  a  certain 
article  possesses  at  the  moment  of  its  arrival  at  the  custom 
houses  of  a  country.  But  the  American  appraiser  would,  in 
many  cases,  not  be  able  to  estimate  the  correct  value  of  cer- 
tain articles  which  are  not  being  produced  in  America.  In 
this  case,  the  original  estimate  contained  in  the  invoice  cer- 
tified by  the  consul  would  have  to  be  considered  valid.  This 
consular  estimate  must  remain  authoritative,  without  any 
question,  for  all  those  cases  in  which  the  value  of  an  article 
during  the  time  of  shipment  has  not  been  raised  or  lowered 
to  a  considerable  degree.  In  cases,  however,  where  a  con- 
siderable change  in  price  has  taken  place,  the  duty  might 
be  estimated  according  to  the  new  rate,  but  at  the  same  time. 


37  G 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  imposition  of  a  fine  should  be  out  of  the  question  if  the 
iniioorter  is  able  to  establish  his  good  faith  regarding  the 
consular  valuation.  The  consular  certification  cannot,  there- 
fore, in  such  cases  protect  the  importer  against  the  payment 
of  additional  duty,  but  in  all  cases  against  the  payment  of 
a  fine.  According  to  the  literal  sense  of  the  legal  regula- 
tion.?, the  consular  certificates  are  alone  authoritative;  this 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  hitherto  the  shipment  of  an  article 
has  been  prohibited  until  the  consul  has  certified  the  invoice. 
This  rule,  however,  seems  utterly  worthless  under  the  present 
prac-tiee.  It  will,  therefore,  be  necessary  to  tiy  to  effect  an 
abolition  of  this  rule.  The  arbitrary  action  of  the  appraiser 
should  be  restricteil.  This  was  recognized  as  a  just  demand 
by  all  the  American  members  of  the  Commission. 

In  case  the  appraiser  rejects  the  declaration  of  the  consul, 
which  has  been  certified  according  to  law,  the  ca.-;e  shall  be 
brought  before  the  Cliief  Appraiser.  And  until  his  decision 
is  rendered,  the  consular  certification  is  valid  and  the  articles 
must  at  once  be  given  up  to  the  trade  upon  deposit  of  appro- 
priate security.  It  should  be  considered  whether  the  various 
proceedings  before  the  appraiser  should  be  public  and  in 
such  form  as  to  allow  both  sides  to  present  evidence. 

Other  complaints  were  then  considered.  It  was  pointed 
out  how  troublesome  it  is  to  be  compelled  to  furnish  specific 
information  as  to  the  cost  of  production  of  an  article.  It 
was  recognized  that  it  was  to  the  interest  of  the  United 
States  to  receive  this  information  and  that  it  was  not  likely 
to  be  changed  in  the  near  future.  Nevertheless  the  fact  re- 
mains that  to  demand  an  original  invoice  from-  those  ex- 
porters who  have  not  manufactured  the  article  themselves 
is  too  rigorous.  The  majority  of  the  members  of  the  Com- 
mission, however,  did  not  consider  this  as  a  proper  subject 
to  pass  a  resolution  upon  at  the  present  time. 

As  regards  the  complaint  which  had  been  raised  by  a  cer- 
tain party,  that  the  Customs  Textile  Association  is  officially 
interested  in  the  estimation  of  the  value  of  textile  goods  and 
that  this  corporation  is  using  its  influence  to  the  advantage 
of  the  American  manufacturer,  it  must  be  acknowledged  that 
it  would  be  useless  to  protest  against  consultation  with  such 
expert  organizations  on  the  part  of  the  customs  officers.  It 
might  even  be  asserted  that  it  would  be  better  to  procure  the 
co-operation  of  experts,  than  to  leave  the  w'hole  matter  to  the 
ignorance  of  the  customs  officers.  It  was  pointed  out  that 
the  co-operation  of  experts  in  a  like  manner  would  seem  also 
desirable  for  Germany,  and  that  this  would  be  a  correlative 
of  the  American  arrangement. 

In  further  discussion  the  fact  was  again  referred  to,  that 
the  regulation  requiring  the  production  of  the  original  in- 
voice of  the  manufacturer  is  a  burden  to  the  exporting  mer- 
chants. In  regard  to  this,  the  Chairman  remarked  that  so 
far  as  he  knew  there  was  no  such  provision  in  the  existing 
laws  and  regulations.  It  is  the  consul's  duty  to  simply  verify 
the  coiTectuess  of  the  invoice  given  out  by  him.  He  is  able 
to  do  this  in  many  cases  throiigh  personal  confidence  in  the 
shipper,  without  being  compelled  to  insist  on  the  presentation 
of  the  original  invoice.  It  was  decided  to  determine  from 
an  inspection  of  the  original  regulations,  at  a  future  session, 
what  steps  might  be  taken  to  put  a  stop  to  this  practice  on 
the  part  of  certain  consuls  in  Germany. 

The  special  and  general  discussion  of  complaints  of  delegates 
with  reference  to  the  consular  invoices  was  declared  closed. 

The  discus.sions  of  this  .session,  the  opinions  expressed  and 
approved  by  the  majority,  shall  bo  submitted  at  one  of  the 
next  sessions  in  the  form  of  short  resolutions. 

Session  closed  at  1.30  o'clock.  Next  session  to  be  on  the 
18th  of  October,  1899. 

K.  W.  S.  TiNGLK,  Chairman. 

Dit.  Vosberg-Rhkow,  V ice-Chairman. 

II.  L.  Geissel,  Secretary. 


FouETH  Session. 
Philadelphia,  Wednesday,  October  18th,  3  p.  m. 

In  the  Convention  Hall  of  the  International  Commercial 
Congress,  Exposition  Building. 

The  Chainnan  opened  the  session  and  proposed  an  ad- 
journment to  the  members,  pointing  out  that  the  session  of 
the  International  Commercial  Congress,  to  be  held  at  the 
same  time,  was  of  such  importance  that  the  members  of  the 
Commission  would  probably  desire  to  attend. 

The  Chairman  mentioned  that  to-day  was  appointed  to 
be  "Chinese  Day"  by  the  International  Commercial  Con- 
gi-ess,  and  the  deliberations  would  be  participated  in  by  the 
Chinese  Minister  at  Washington,  as  well  as  several  persons 
looked  upon  in  the  United  States  as  authorities  on  Chinese 
matters,  among  others  the  former  American  Minister  in  Siam. 

The  Chairman's  suggestion  was  accepted  and  a  resolution 
passed  asldng  the  President  of  the  International  Commercial 
Congress  to  inform  the  American  delegates  of  the  formation 
of  the  German- American  Commission  and  to  request  them 
to  attend  the  sessions  of  the  Commission  and  bring  up  any 
existing  causes  for  complaint  on  the  American  side. 

The  Chairman  was  in.<tructed  to  carry  out  this  resolution. 
The  session  was  then  adjourned.  The  next  session  will  be 
held  on  Thursday,  October  19th. 

E.  AV.  S.  TiN'GLE,  Chairman. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  Vice-Chairman. 

II.  L.  Geissel,  Secretary. 


Fifth  Session. 
Philadelphia,  Thursday,  October  19th,  10  a.  m. 

In  the  Board  of  Trustees'  Room  of  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum. 

The  Chairman,  Mr.  Tingle,  introduced  Mr.  Williams  C. 
Fox,  chief  clerk  of  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics  at 
Washington.  This  gentleman  then  explained,  in  the  most 
interesting  manner,  the  working  of  his  Bureau,  its  scope  and 
activity,  and  set  forth  in  a  general  way  the  importance  of  the 
Central  and  South  American  markets.  Mr.  Fox  signified  his 
willingness  to  send  the  publications  of  his  Bureau  free  of 
eliarge,  to  German  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  other  com- 
mercial organizations. 

Dr.  Pistor,  delegate  of  the  Gratz  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  Industry  now  took  the  floor.  He  spoke  of  the  Austrian 
Customs  Advisory  Board,  explained  its  constitution  and 
work,  and  expressed  the  opinion  that  in  the  interest  of  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  many  other  countries  importing  from 
and  exporting  to  America,  such  a  board  should  be  created  in 
Washington  by  the  Federal  Government.  A  short  discussion 
ensued,  chiefly  participated  in  by  Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  dele- 
gate of  the  "Central-Stelle  fiir  die  Vorbereitung  von  Han- 
dclsvertriigen"  (Central  Bureau  for  the  Preparation  of  Com- 
mercial Treaties),  of  Berlin,  Mr.  Edmund  Wirtli,  delegate  of 
the  Cliamljcr  of  ('ommerce  at  Sorau,  and  Mr.  G.  D.  Wactzoldt, 
German  Commercial  Attache  of  the  Imperial  Cermau  Con- 
sulate at  Chicago. 

The  Chairman  then  introduced  the  President  and  two  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Ames  Iron  Works,  Oswego,  N.  Y.,  who 
wei'c  invited  to  submit  any  questions  or  wishes  they  might 
have  to  tlie  Commission.  They  were  requested  also  to  state 
any  complaints  they  miglit  have  in  regard  to  the  -enforcement 
of  the  German  customs  tariff,  or  put  any  other  questions  re- 
lating to  Germany  and  Austria.  The  President  of  the  Com- 
pany, Mr.  Ames.  Jr.,  then  asked  whether  there  was  an  ex- 


SESSIONS  OF  THE  GERMAN-AMERICAN  COMMISSION 


37? 


tensive  market  in  Germany  for  American  boilers  and  fittings. 
Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  replied  that  it  would  have  to  be  a  special 
kind  of  boiler  with  special  appliances,  in  order  to  be  salable 
in  Germany;  for  the  German  boiler  industry  is  very  well  de- 
veloped and  not  only  meets  all  requirements  of  the  home 
market,  but  also  exports  considerably. 

In  answer  to  the  question,  whether  there  existed  any  haws 
in  Germany  by  which  the  importation  of  American  boilers 
and  engines  was  prohibited,  the  commercial  attache,  Mr. 
Waetzoldt,  stated  that  there  existed  certain  rules  as  to  the 
construction  and  equipment  of  steam  boilers,  which  had  to  be 
observed  by  the  American  manufacturer  who  wished  to  sell 
his  boilers  and  fittings  in  Germany.  Many  of  the  boilers 
and  fittings  used  in  this  country  would  not  be  accepted  by 
the  authorities  in  Germany.  To  insiu-e  the  installation  of 
xVmerican  boilers  and  apparatus,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
construct  them  in  accordance  with  the  German  requirements, 
and  in  every  single  case  the  approval  of  the  respective  authori- 
ties would  be  necessary. 

If  the  regulations  provided  l)y  the  laws  of  Geraiany  are 
observed,  there  will  be  no  objection  to  the  installation  and  im- 
portation of  American  boilers  and  fittings  into  Germany. 

The  question  was  then  put  by  the  Americans  whether  it 
was  possible  tliat  a  law  could  ever  be  passed  in  Germany 
prohibiting  or  restricting  the  importation  of  American  en- 
gines. This  question  was  answered  in  the  negative  by  the 
German  gentlemen  present. 

Mr.  Geissel  pointed  out  that  if  boilers  are  still  being  im- 
ported into  Germany,  they  were  chiefly  boilers  for  locomo- 
biles, and  mainly  imported  from  England.  If  American 
manufacturers  are  in  a  position  to  furnish  something  supe- 
rior to  the  English  product,  particularly  in  boilers  for  agi-i- 
cultural  machinery,  it  would  be  by  no  means  unlikely  that 
Germany  would  import  these  boilers  from  the  United  States 
just  as  readily  as  from  England. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  in  this  connection,  stated  that  Ameri- 
cans should  make  themselves  acquainted  -\vith  the  conditions 
of  the  countries  they  want  to  export  to,  and  above  all  things 
should  have  their  price  lists  and  catalogues  printed  in  the 
language  of  the  coimtry  which  is  to  provide  a  market  for 
their  goods.  He  also  mentioned  that  while  most  of  the 
German  and  other  European  importers  are  conversant  with 
English,  the  managers  of  their  factories  do  not  understand  it, 
and  the  German  importer  or  manufacturer  likes  to  consult 
his  chief  engineer  before  introducing  technical  innovations. 
Besides,  American  manufacturers  should  sell  their  wares 
c.  i.  f.  port  of  destination,  not  at  factory  or  f.  o.  b.,  New 
York. 

Dr.  Pistor,  of  Gratz,  took  the  flour  to  explain  that  Dr. 
Vosberg-Rekow's  remarks  applied  to  Au.stria  as  well  as  to 
Germany. 

Some" of  the  members  having  urgent  business  to  attend  to, 
the  session  was  closed  and  the  next  session  appointed  to  be 
held  on  Friday,  October  30th. 

E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Chairman. 

De.  Vosbeeg-Rekow,  Vice-Chairman. 

H.  L.  Geissel,  Secrclary. 


Iiy  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  to  all  members  of  the  In- 
ternational Commercial  Congress,  and  the  time  was  limited. 
The  Chairman  also  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  would  receive  the  members  of  the 
International  Commercial  Congress  in  Washington,  on  Satur- 
day, October  21st.  It  was  then  resolved  to  hold  the  next 
meeting  on  Monday,  October  23d,  10  a.  m. 

E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Chairman. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  V ice-Chairman. 

H.  L.  (Jeissel,  Secretary. 


Sixth  Session. 
Philadelphia,  Friday,  October  20th,  10  a.  m. 

Board  of  Trustees'  Room,  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum. 

The  Chairman,  Mr.  Tingle,  opened  the  session,  and  re- 
marked that  he  did  not  think  it  possible  to  continue  the 
deliberations,  as  invitations  for  a  reception  had  been  extended 


Seventh  Session. 
Philadelphia,  Monday,  October  23,  18r»9,  10  a.  m. 

Board  of  Trustees'  Room,  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum. 

The  Chairman,  Mr.  E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  opened  the  session. 

Mr.  G.  D.  Waetzoldt  read  the  following  declaration  in  his 
own  name  and  that  of  the  Imperial  Consul  at  Philadelphia: 

"Mr.  President,  Gentlemen: 

"You  have  had  the  courtesy  to  invite  the  Imperial  German 
Consul,  Mr.  Marheinecke,  and  myself  to  be  present  at  the 
sessions  of  your  Commission  as  representatives  of  the  Ger- 
man Government.  At  the  time  we  accepted  the  in\itation, 
we  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  explain  the  attitude  of  the 
German  Government  with  regard  to  the  work  of  this  Com- 
mission, as  the  unofficial  character  of  the  same  seemed  fully 
manifested  by  the  fact  that  the  representatives  of  the  German 
Government  were  invited  as  guests  to  all  sessions. 

"In  order  to  avoid  all  misunderstanding,  I  have  the  honor 
to  declare  that  the  representatives  of  the  German  Chambers 
of  Commerce  and  the  Central  Bureau  for  the  Preparation 
of  Commercial  Treaties  are  not  acting  by  the  authority  of 
the  German  Government  in  conducting  these  negotiations. 
This,  of  course,  does  not  detract  from  the  importance  and 
commercial  value  of  the  negotiations,  as  the  gentlemen  are 
speaking  in  the  name  of  important  commercial  organizations, 
which  represent  the  interests  of  German  commerce." 

This  declaration , was  accepted. 

Before  taking  up  the  bu.siness  of  the  day,  the  reports  of  the 
first,  second,  third,  fifth  and  sixth  sessions  were  read.  The 
reading  of  the  report  of  the  fourth  session  was  deferred. 

Mr.  Biirgermeister,  of  the  Department  of  Publicity,  Na- 
tional Export  Exposition,  who  had  been  invited  to  be  present 
at  the  meeting,  was  requested  to  submit  daily  to  the  press 
short  reports  on  the  work  of  the  Commission. 

Dr.  Thorsch,  Imperial  Counsellor  and  Delegate  of  tJie 
Chamber  of  Commerce  at  Vienna,  who  was  rmable  to  be 
present  at  the  former  meetings,  stated  that  he  had  completed 
the  compilation  of  the  material  for  the  discus.sions  relative 
to  the  regulation  of  invoices  and  tariffs,  and  he  submitted 
the  following: 

Gentlemen:  The  complaints  which  I  have  to  bring  forward, 
refer  to  tariff  rates  which  are  often  unreasonably  liigh,  but 
still  more  to  the  custom's  policy  which  is  being  exercised  in 
the  United  States,  by  which  the  intention  to  exclude  foreign 
products  is  clearly  shown.  The  history  of  the  measures  taken 
by  the  customs  authorities  against  the  still  young  industry 
of  manufacturing  electric  carbons,  shows  that  they  try  to 
put  a  stop  to  all  imports,  without  taking  notice  of  any  regu- 
lations or  rules.  The  position  they  took  was  so  hostile  that 
— whether  right  or  wrong — a  report  to  the  effect  that  a  very 
prominent  politician,  whose  name  was  on  every  Lip,  was  a 


S78 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


large  shareholder  of  the  National  Carbon  Company,  in  Cleve- 
innd,  Ohio,  was  roadil}-  believed. 

1  will  not  make  mention  of  many  smaller,  though  no  less 
unpleasant,  occurrences.  As  a  matter  of  curiosity,  however, 
I  will  state  that  the  posters  of  a  European  carbon  manufac- 
turer were  designated  as  "works  of  art,"  and  as  such  the  duty 
imposed  upon  them  was  so  high  that  the  firm  preferred  to  let 
the  printed  matter  go  to  waste,  their  real  value  being  too 
small  to  warrant  the  cost  of  return  freight  to  Europe. 

The  tarifif  of  Aug.  27th,  1894,  placed  an  ad  valorem  duty 
on  electric  carbons.  Several  months  after  this  the  appraisers 
imposed  an  additional  duty  of  20  per  cent,  ad  valurcm  (see 
Volume  102-108  of  the  Record,  April  10th,  1895,  New  York). 

In  189fi,  the  collector  charged  the  firms  of  Dinglestedt  & 
Co.  (''Union"  Electrical  Carbon  Works,  in  Kronach),  and 
Hugo  Ri'isinger  (Julius  Fuchs  in  Doos,  near  Nuremberg, 
and  C.  Couradty,  in  Nuremberg)  without  notice  30  per  cent. 
ad  valorem  (according  to  par.  8o,  Tariff  of  the  27th  of  August. 
1894.)  The  iioard  of  Appraisers  confirmed  the  collection  of 
30  per  cent.  An  appeal  was  taken  to  the  Circuit  Court, 
which  ordered  the  charge  of  a  duty  of  20  per  cent.  Appeal 
from  this  decision  was  then  taken  to  the  Supreme  Court  by 
the  United  States  on  the  one  hand,  while  the  firm  of  Dingel- 
stedt  &  Co.,  also  appealed,  demanding  free  entry  of  the  goods 
on  the  ground  of  the  provision  contained  in  paragraph  443 
of  the  Tariff.  In  this  proceeding,  the  manufacturers  were 
compelled  to  state  under  oath  their  methods  of  manufactur- 
ing, enlarging  in  this  way  the  knowledge  of  their  American 
competitors.  The  Supreme  Court  confirmed  the.  decision  of 
the  Circuit  Court,  i.  e.,  the  duty  to  be  imposed  was  20  per 
cent,  and  not  30  per  cent. 

This  struggle  against  incon-ect  classification  cost  the  im- 
porters large  sums  of  money,  and  by  holding  the  goods  in 
bond  imtil  a  decision  was  reached,  additional  losses  were  sus- 
tained. They  might  have  paid  the  amount  demanded,  in 
order  to  release  their  goods,  but  refrained  because  of  the  ditFi- 
eulty  in  recovering  money  paid  in  excess,  as  shown  by  the 
following  example: 

The  cost  of  manufacturing  electric  carbons,  and  the  price, 
varies  considerably  according  to  the  material  from  which  they 
are  made;  for  instance,  the  "A"  carbon  manufactured  by 
Siemens  Brothers  of  Charlottenburg,  which  consists  almost 
entirely  of  soot,  is  much  higher  priced  than  other  kinds. 

In  1895,  carbons  were  introduced  into  New  York  by  R.  ' 
F.  Downing  &  Co.  The  declaration  of  their  value  was  dis- 
puted by  the  appraiser,  on  the  ground  that  the  value  of  elec- 
tric carbon  was  declared  higher  by  other  firms,  and  a  fine 
of  $1,500  was  imposed  on  the  importer.  The  importing  finn 
strove  in  every  way  to  obtain  justice.  Copies  of  the  original 
invoice  were  submitted  to  the  authorities  in  New  York  and 
the  American  consul  in  Vienna  was  allowed  to  inspect  their 
invoice  book.  It  was  showm  that  the  declaration  was  in 
accordance  with  the  current  market  value.  They  had  in- 
voice copies  certified  by  the  American  consul  in  Milan,  by 
which  it  was  proved  that  the  declaration  corresponded  also 
with  the  selling  price  in  Italy.  All  efforts  were  fruitless. 
Another  carbon,  Tuanufactured  from  different  material,  had 
been  declared  hightn-  by  the  manufacturer,  on  account  of 
which  manufacturers  of  all  other  kinds  of  carbon  had  to 
suffer.  The  fine  had  been  calculated  on  the  basis  of  a  duty 
of  30  per  cent.  It  would  have  been  only  reasonable  to  ex- 
pect that  the  penalty  "estimated  on  the  basis  of  30  per  cent, 
should  be  reduced,  after  the  decision  of  th(>  Circuit  Court 
had  fixed  the  duty  at  20  per  cent.,  but  the  money  has  not 
been  refunded  up  to  the  present  date.  To  l>e  just,  however, 
it  must  be  stated  that  the  difference  of  the  duties  which  had 
been  quoted  50  per  cent,  too  high  (from  30  to  20  per  cent.), 
has  in  some  cases  been  refunded  to  the  iitiportcrs. 

The  fine  described  above  compelled  importers  to  declare 


a  higher  value  than  their  goods  actually  had;  in  other  words, 
the  duty  was  raised  from  20  to  25  per  cent,  in  this  manner. 

The  whole  proceeding  is  characterized  by  the  fact  that  no 
representative  of  the  firm  who  might  be  able  to  disprove  the 
a.ssertions  of  the  customs  officers  and  the  American  experts — 
the  latter  frequently  being  in  the  pay  of  their  competitors — 
is  allowed  to  be  present  at  the  deliberations  concerning  the 
market  value  of  the  goods  in  question. 

As  compared  with  these  unstable  customs  proceedings, 
justly  regarded  by  Europeans  as  arbitrary,  the  Dingley  Tariff, 
which  on  July  24,  1897,  did  away  with  the  ad  valorem  duty 
by  fixing  the  duty  on  electric  light  carbons  at  90  cents  per 
hundred  pieces,  was  felt  to  be  a  great  relief.  The  monstrous 
height  reached  by  this  tariff  is  shown  by  the  following 
tabulations: 


Duty  I89r, 
1000  jiieces,  }4  x  1-.',  cored  carbons  2(^<— $1.83 
1000  I  iecei,  %  x  "J^,  solid  carhons  lO-i—   1.05 
1000  pieces,  j%  x  7}^,  solid  carbons  '-'Ofc—     .95 


Duty  1897 

89.00 1.  e.  about  100;^  ad  yslorem 

9.00  i.  e.  about  17-1^  ad  Talorcm 

9.00  1.  e.  about  305<  ad  valorem 


In  view  of  these  fantastically  high  duties,  European  manu- 
facturers were  obliged  to  transfer  part  of  their  process  of  man- 
ufacture to  New  York;  they  produced  carbons  up  to  one  meter 
in  length  in  Europe  and  installed  machinery  in  New  York 
to  cut  these  long  carbons  into  smaller  sizes  and  to  point  them. 

This  action  on  the  part  of  the  European  exporters  was 
ruthlessly  avenged,  how^ever,  by  the  general  appraiser.  One 
day  the  board  of  appraisers  arrived  at  a  conclusian  which 
no  expert  had  heretofore  conceived  of,  to  wdt,  that  there  ex- 
isted such  a  thing  as  a  "commercial  length"  of  carbons,  and 
that  said  length  was  12  inches.  If  this  length  was  exceeded 
by  even  one  millimeter,  then  "commercially,"  there  would  be 
two  pieces,  and  a  duty  of  $18  per  1,000  pieces  perfectly  jus- 
tifiable. 

This  action  becomes  even  more  striking,  if  it  is  taken  into 
consideration  that  for  this  arbitrary  calculation  each  separate 
piece  was  taken  as  a  basis,  and  not  the  total  length  of  1,000 
pieces.     Then  the  following  is  the  result: 


Duty  180G. 
$1.91 


1807. 
$9.00 


1898. 
flS.'O 


1000  pieces,  J^  x  12^.  cored  carbons,  20^ 

Against  this  decision  the  importers  appealed  on  the  follow- 
ing grounds. 

1.  That  there  was  no  "commercial  length"'  of  carbons  for 
electric  lighting,  as  the  lengths  salable  and  actually  sold 
varied  between  4J  inches  and  IG  inches. 

2.  That  the  customs  tariff  did  not  contain  any  restriction 
as  to  lengths,  but  in  unmistakable  terms  spoke  of  pieces  only. 

3.  That  if  the  appraiser  assumed  that  carbons  for  elec- 
tric lighting  could  not  be  longer  than  12  inches,  those  of 
greater  length  ceased  to  be  carbons  for  electric  lighting  and, 
coming  under  the  heading  "electric  carbons,  not  otherwise 
enumerated,"  were  dutiable  at  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

This  interpretation  was  approved  by  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Appeals,  which  decided  that  carbons  more  than  12  inches  long 
were  to  pay  a  duty  of  35  per  cent,  ad  valorem  as  "electric 
carbons,  not  otherwise  enumerated." 

Against  this  decision  the  government  appealed  to  the  Su- 
preme Court  whose  verdict  is  still  pending. 

Gentlemen,  this  statement,  based  as  it  is  upon  facts,  will 
prove  to  you  that  twice  within  a  very  short  time  the  Courts 
of  the  United  States  were  asked  for  protection  against  an 
appraiser  about  to  ])aralyze  an  industry  by  an  arbitrary  meas- 
ure condemned  by  the  Courts  of  his  own  country. 

We  all  know  that  in  this  country  legal  proceedings  cost 
much  money  and  more  trouble. 

If  America  desires  to  export,  the  general  appraiser  must 
be  instructed  to  treat  importers  according  to  law,  and  spare 
them  the  necessity  of  appealing  to  the  courts. 

The  Commission  was  then  addressed  by  the  following  gen- 
tlemen:   Mr.  Charles  M.  Steffens,  chief  of  the  foreign  depart- 


SESSIONS  OF  THE  GERMAN-AMERICAN  COMMISSION 


879 


ment  of  the  firm  of  Montgomery,  Ward  &  Co.,  Chicago,  111., 
and  Mr.  Thorne,  treasurer  of  the  same  firm,  who  explained 
that  they  conducted  an  export  business  similar  to  that  of 
May  &  Edlich,  of  Leipsic.  Until  recently,  they  had  not  made 
any  exportations  to  Gemiany,  and  they  expressed  the  hope 
that  after  the  adjournment  of  the  Convention  on  Parcels 
Post,  the  establishment  of  new  connections  with  Germany 
might  be  possible.  They  further  stated  that  they  had  no 
special  complaints  to  make  against  the  German  TarifE  law 
and  its  operation.  They  intend  sending  their  catalogues  to 
the  corporations  represented  at  the  Commercial  Congress,  in. 
order  that  these  may  fully  understand  the  various  lines  of 
goods  which  are  capable  of  being  especially  pushed  by  the 
parcels  post. 

A  complaint  by  the  firm  of  M.  H.  Merriam,  of  Boston, 
was  then  considered.  On  certain  cotton  goods  a  duty  of  3.50 
marks  is  levied,  which  is  almost  as  high  as  the  selling  price, 
$1.10. 

Mr.  Plerlitzschka,  from  Vienna,  responded  that  the  Ger- 
man and  Austrian  industry  in  cotton  print  goods  was  accom- 
plishing such  great  results  that  it  was  questionable  whether 
American  competitors  would  be  able  to  carry  on  an  export  in 
this  line  to  the  respective  countries. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  agreed  to  investigate  the  matter  and 
to  confer  with  German  manufacturers  and  experts  in  ref- 
erence to  the  advisability  of  changing  present  tariff  rates. 

Reference  was  then  made  by  American  gentlemen  to  the 
prohibition  of  importations  of  American  pork  products.  The 
question  was  ruled  out  of  order,  owing  to  the  fact  that  com- 
plaints for  consideration  could  only  be  submitted  by  experts 
in  the  line  discussed. 

The  opinion  was  repeatedly  expressed  by  the  Americans 
who  took  part  in  the  discussion,  that  a  Customs  Advisory 
Board  ought  to  be  formed,  which  should  be  empowered  to 
settle  this  and  similar  questions. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  stated  that  a  considerate  and  friendly 
attitude  of  the  German  customs  house  officials  and  the  Gov- 
ernment could  only  be  expected  after  the  causes  for  com- 
plaint, on  the  part  of  German  commercial  circles,  regarding 
arbitrary  tarifi'  management  in  the  United  States  had  been 
removed.  An  investigation  of  these  complaints  would  be  of 
comparatively  little  consequence  to  the  United  States.  The 
meat  question,  on  the  other  hand,  is  of  great  importance  to 
the  American  producers.  He  suggested  the  settlement  of  the 
former  complaints,  in  order  to  establish  more  friendly  rela- 
tions and  to  insure  a  friendly  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the 
German  Government. 

Meanwhile,  by  referring  to  the  American  tariff  schedule, 
the  fact  had  been  established  that  the  American  duty  for 
cotton  print  goods  amounted  to  9c.  per  square  yard  and 
20  per  cent,  of  the  value;  but  in  no  case  less  than  47^  per 
cent,  altogether,  making  the  American  tariff  but  little  lower 
than  the  German. 

A  complaint  from  the  W.  C.  Barker  Co.,  of  New  York, 
who  are  representatives  of  a  trust  making  agricultural  im- 
plements, etc.,  was  next  submitted.  It  referred  chiefly  to 
patent  laws,  and  requested  the  consideration  of  such  modi- 
fications in  the  patent  laws  of  Germany  as  would  enable  an 
American  inventor  to  procure  a  patent  in  Germany  as  easily 
as  in  the  United  States;  the  object  of  this  suggestion  being 
to  protect  American  patented  articles,  in  Germany  at  least, 
from  the  wholesale  imitation  which  is  now  in  vogue  on  the 
European  continent. 

This  complaint  will  also  be  thoroughly  investigated. 
The  fact  was  then  confirmed  that  the  regulations  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  mentioned  at  the  third  session  by  Mr. 
G.  D.  Waetzoldt,  with,  reference  to  a  limit  of  5  per  cent.,  exist 
and  are  valid.  The  Commission  considers  all  questions  raised 
in  this  connection  as  settled. 


The  session  adjourned  at  1.15  p.  m.,  to  meet  again  on  the 
24th  of  October,  at  10  a.  m. 

E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Chairman. 

De.  Vosbeeg-Rekow,  Vice-Chairman. 

H.  L.  Geissel,  Secretary. 


Eighth  Session. 


Philadelphia,  Tuesday,  October  24,  1899. 

The  Chairman,  Mr.  Tingle,  opened  the  session. 

Before  taking  up  the  business  of  the  day,  the  Chair  sug- 
gested that  in  place  of  Mr.  H.  L.  Goissel,  Mr.  W.  C.  Betts 
act  as  secretary  of  the  Commission  during  the  coming  ses- 
sions, as  the  formers  time  is  fully  occupied  in  directing  the 
printing  of  the  minutes  of  the  preceding  sessions. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  took  the  floor  to  make  the  following 
statement:  The  meetings  of  the  International  Congress  are 
of  the  greatest  interest,  and  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the 
members  of  the  Commission  are  prevented  from  attending  the 
morning  sessions.  The  regular  program  of  the  Commission 
has  had  to  be  abandoned  continually  owing  to  the  visits  of 
interested  Americans,  which  were  most  gratifying  to  the  Com- 
mission— and,  moreover,  as  the  preparation  of  the  minutes 
consumes  much  time,  and  the  European  days  of  the  Congress 
are  rapidly  drawing  near,  it  seems  proper  to  deviate  from  the 
original  program  and  consider  only  the  most  important  sub- 
jects in  the  coming  sessions.  The  Commission  should  also 
adopt  some  resolutions  as  the  result  of  its  work.  I  have  com- 
municated with  the  President  of  the  Congress  and  Director  of 
the  Museum,  and  have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you  the  fol- 
lowing propositions: 

The  views  hitherto  set  forth  in  our  deliberations — es- 
pecially those  of  parties  interested,  which  it  is  impossible  to 
include  in  detail  in  the  minutes — have  shown  that  the  ma- 
jority of  the  members  incline  to  the  belief  that  the  gi-eater 
part  of  the  complaints  submitted  by  members  of  the  Com- 
mission could  be  settled  by  the  creation  of  a  Customs  Ad- 
visory Board.  Such  a  proposition  has  met  with  support  on 
all  sides.  As  it  is  impossible  to  trouble  the  International 
Commercial  Congress  with  the  details  of  the  deliberations  of 
the  Commission,  it  would  be  advisable  to  place  before  it 
only  a  resolution  proposing  the  creation  of  "Customs  Tarifi 
Advisory  Boards,"  which  should  have  authority  to  elimi- 
nate, or  at  least  diminish,  the  difficulties  arising  from  the 
treatment  of  matters  bearing  on  customs  duties.  I,  there- 
fore, have  the  honor  to  submit  to  you  the  following  resolu- 
tion for  presentation  to  the  International  Congress  on  one  of 
the  European  days.    It  reads  as  follows: 

Mr.  Presideid:  The  German- American  Commission,  con- 
sisting of  delegates  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress 
from  Germany  and  Austria,  together  with  certain  American 
representatives,  begs  leave  to  submit  a  few  words  to  the 
Congress. 

The  Commission  was  assembled  for  the  purpose  of  consid- 
ering thoroughly  the  commercial  relations  existing  between 
the  United  States,  the  German  Empire  and  Austria-Hungary. 
The  Commission,  after  earnestly  considering  the  question, 
having  heard  representatives  of  American,  Gennan  and  Aus- 
trian industries,  has  reached  the  conclusion  that  more  in- 
timate commercial  relations  between  the  aforesaid  countries 
is  desirable,  and  the  maintenance  and  fostering  of  friendly 
relations  between  them  is  to  be  sought  and  secured.  For  the 
discussions  leading  to  these  decisions,  the  Commission  refers 
to  the  complete  report  of  its  sessions,  which  it  has  the  honor 
to  hand  to  the  President  of  the  Congress,  and  a  copy  of  which 


S80 


PROCEEDIlSrGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


it  will  undertake  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  respective 
governments  interested. 

The  Commission  requests  the  approval  of  the  International 
(.'ongress  on  the  proposition  for  the  f annation  of  an  impartial 
Customs  Advisory  JJoard  in  each  country,  as  the  first  step 
toward  the  aoconiplishnient  of  friendly  commercial  relations. 

As  delegate  and  Vice-President  of  the  Commission,  there- 
fore, I  move,  Mr.  President,  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this  Con- 
gress that  such  boards  should  be  formed. 

This  resolution  was  passed  unanimously  by  the  Commis- 
sion. After  some  discussion,  it  was  resolved  to  inform  the 
International  Congress  that  the  Commission  will  communi- 
cate its  ])rocecdings  to  the  respective  governments. 

Dr.  Vosbcrg-Rekow  was  commissioned  to  present  to  the 
Congress,  in  the  name  of  the  Commission,  the  resolution  just 
passed. 

On  his  motion  it  was  further  agreed  tliat  the  program  of 
the  next  session  include  the  questions  of  the  traffic  in  goods 
to  be  improved,  and  the  adoption  by  the  United  States  of 
the  system  of  European  Commercial  Treaties.  All  other 
matters  will  be  laid  aside,  as  the  sessions  of  the  Commission 
are  to  close  Wednesday,  October  25th.  The  printing  of  the  re- 
ports in  German  and  English  will  be  commenced  immediately. 

It  is  regretted  that  owing  to  lack  of  time,  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  consider  otlier  important  questions. 

The  Chairman  then  opened  the  discussion  concerning  the 
creation  of  Customs  Ad\asory- Boards. 

Dr.  Pistor,  of  Graz,  reported  as  follows  concerning  the 
organization  of  the  Austrian  Customs  Advisory  Board: 

The  speaker  stated  that  he  would  be  able  to  treat  only  in 
a  general  way  of  the  Customs  Advisory  Board,  one  reason 
being  that  he  had  no  prepared  data  to  aid  his  memory. 
The  Austrian  Customs  Ad^isoi7  Board  was  founded  in  the 
beginning  of  the  nineties,  and  its  members  and  their  sub- 
stitutes were  appointed  pai'tly  by  the  Government  and  partly 
by  the  twenty-nine  chambers  of  commerce  of  Austria.  The 
former  are  naturally  mostly  taken  from  the  ranks  of  the 
financial  officials,  while  the  latter  usually  are  merchants  with 
a  general  business  training. 

This  organization  of  the  Customs  Advisory  Board  was 
chosen  in  the  interest  of  the  State  as  well  as  of  the  general 
public,  to  insure  the  impartiality  of  the  board  and  invest 
its  decisions  with  the  necessary  authority.  In  the  United 
States  a  great  obstacle  to  the  appointment  of  the  members 
would  probably  result  from  the  fact  that  chambers  of  com- 
merce are  private  institutions,  not  public  corporations  as  in 
Austria  and,  therefore,  only  represent  a  circle  of  limited  in- 
terests. The  Board  is  di\ddcd  into  several  committees,  and 
holds  frequent  sessions,  for  which  the  Ministry  of  Commerce 
sends  out  a  special  invitation  whenever  enougli  material 
has  accumulated  for  the  sessions,  which  may  last  several 
days.  In  special  instances,  experts  outside  of  the  Advisory 
Board  are  invited  to  the  sessions.  The  two  principal  object^ 
of  discussion  are,  on  the  one  hand,  those  matters  which  re- 
quire an  impartial  and  competent  treatment  when  the  ar- 
ticles in  question  are  not  enumerated  in  the  Customs  Tariff, 
and,  on  account  of  their  novelty,  have  to  be  brought  under 
one  of  its  headings;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  Cus- 
toms Advisory  Board  is  asked  for  its  opinion  on  a  customs 
case,  which  has  been  submitted  to  tlie  third  and  final  author- 
ity in  customs  disputes.  The  Customs  Advisory  Board  is 
solely  an  advisory  body,  and  while  the  Ministry  may  or  may 
not  abide  by  its  decisions,  as  far  as  the  speaker  knows,  the 
former  is  llio  rule.  As  in  Austria,  the  deliberations  of  such 
a  board  in  the  United  States  would  have  to  be  behind  closed 
doors,  so  as  to  relieve  the  members  of  any  parly  obligations 
and  enable  them  to  speak  freely  and  solely  as  experts. 

The  report  was  received  with  thanks.  The  discussion  was 
then  entered  into. 


As  the  creation  of  a  Customs  Advisory  Board  is  to  be  re- 
commended, not  only  for  the  LTnited  States  but  also  for 
other  countries,  the  Commission  refrained  from  going  into 
details,  and  only  a  few  points  were  mentioned. 

The  Chairman  explained  that,  in  the  first  place,  all  possi- 
ble efilorts  should  be  made  to  attain  a  certain  stability  in  the 
regulations  and  membership  of  the  Customs  Administration, 
and  as  experience  had  sho\\Ti  that  every  political  change 
brings  with  it  also  a  change  in  this  membership,  it  would  be 
advisalile  that  the  Customs  Advisory  Board  contain  a  counter- 
poise against  this  instability.  For  this  reason  the  Qustoms 
Advisory  Board  should  be  free  from  political  influence,  and 
to  this  end  the  members  should  be  appointed  by  the  President 
of  the  Rcpuljlic  either  for  life,  or  at  least  for  a  period  of  ten 
years. 

Tliis  opinion  was  unanimously  adopted. 

In  the  deliberations,  the  following  decisions  were  also 
reached:  The  work  of  the  Customs  Advisory  Board  should 
be  extended  to: 

1.  The  settlement  of  all  contentions  that  may  occur  in  the 
application  of  the  tariff. 

2.  Authoritative  decision  in  the  classification  and  valuation 
of  new  articles. 

3.  Co-operation  in  especially  difficult  cases  of  estimating 
the  value  of  goods. 

4.  Consideration  of  the  commercial  conditions  and  presen- 
tation of  necessary  changes  in  tariff  regulations. 

The  question  also  came  up  as  to  whether  it  would  not  be 
advisable  to  demand  publicity  and  a  certain  regularity  in  the 
sessions  of  the  Customs  Advisory  Board. 

Referring  to  the  membership  of  the  Customs  Advisory 
Board,  there  should  be  included  in  this: 

1.  Customs  Officers. 

2.  Commercial  and  Technical  Experts. 

3.  Representatives  of  the  Government. 

4.  Representatives  of  Consumers. 

As  regards  the  last,  to  the  Chief  of  the  State  would  have 
to  ])e  entrusted  the  finding  of  siTitable  and  impartial  members. 

The  session  closed  at  12.30  a.  m.  Next  session,  Wednes- 
day, October  25th,  10  a.  m. 

E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Chairman. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  Vice-Chairman. 

W.  C.  Betts,  Secretary. 


Ninth  Session. 
Philadelphia,  Wednesday,  October  25th,  10  a.  m. 

Board  of  Trustees'  Room,  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum. 

The  Chairman  opened  the  session. 

Before  taking  up  the  business  of  the  day,  Dr.  Alexander 
von  Dorn  from  Vienna  made  the  following  statement: 

Not  having  been  present  when  the  minutes  of  the  second 
session  were  read,  I  beg  to  state  the  following  in  addition 
thereto:  The  deliberations  on  questions  concerning  the  con- 
tested estimation  of  duties  should  be  publicly  discussed  before 
the  Board  of  General  Appraisers. 

The  business  of  the  day  was  then  taken  uj). 

In  reference  to  goods  in  transit  to  be  improved  or  pei'i'ertcd, 
Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow  stated  that  the  interpretation  of  market 
values  as  given  by  the  appraisers  affects  most  seriously  this 
class  of  goods.  The  following  serves  as  an  example  to  what 
degree  this  is  really  the  case: 


SESSIONS  OF  THE  GEEMAN-AMEEICAN  COMMISSION 


381 


Section  19  of  the  Customs  Administrative  Act,  which  treats 
of  market  values,  reads  as  follows: 

"Whenever  imported  merchandise  is  subject  to  an  ad 
valorem  rate  of  diity,  or  to  a  duty  based  upon  or  regulated  in 
any  manner  by  the  value  thereof,  the  duty  shall  be  assessed 
upon  the  actual  market  value  or  wholesale  price  of  such  mer- 
chandise as  bought  and  sold  in  usual  wholesale  quantities,  at 
the  time  of  exportation  to  the  United  States,  in  the  principal 
markets  of  the  country  from  whence  imported,  and  in  the 
condition  in  which  such  merchandise  is  there  bought  and 
sold  for  exportation  to  the  United  States,  or  consigned  to 
the  United  States  for  sale,  including  the  value  of  all  cartons, 
cases,  crates,  boxes,  sacks,  and  coverings  of  any  kind,  and 
all  other  costs,  charges,  and  expenses  incident  to  placing  the 
merchandise  in  condition,  packed  ready  for  shipment  to  the 
United  States,  and  if  there  be  used  for  covering  or  holding 
imported  merchandise,  whether  dutiable  or  free,  any  un- 
usual article  or  form  designed  for  use  otherwise  than  in  the 
hona  fide  transportation  of  such  merchandise  to  the  United 
States,  additional  duty  shall  be  levied  and  collected  upon  such 
material  or  article  at  the  rate  to  which  the  same  would  be 
siibject  if  separately  imported."' 

The  designations,  "value"  or  "real  market  value,"  when- 
ever they  occur  in  this  or  any  other  law  in  connection  with 
the  valuation  of  imported  articles,  refer  to  the  actual  market 
value  or  wholesale  price,  as  it  is  further  explained  in  this 
article.  The  wording  of  these  regulations  has  given  rise  to 
lively  discussions  about  the  exportation  of  such  articles  as  are 
manufactured  in  Germany  under  favorable  export  bounties. 
Among  these  regulations  belong,  in  the  first  place,  all  whose 
purpose  it  is  to  free  the  goods  to  be  exported  from  the  duty 
wMch  was  originally  placed  upon  the  raw  materials  or  arti- 
cles necessary  for  the  manufacturing  of  the  respective  goods, 
i.  e.,  reimbursements  of  duties  and  taxes,  import  premiums, 
goods  manufactured  in  districts  belonging  to  free  ports,  or 
of  goods  that  are  allowed  to  pass  in  transit.  These  favior- 
able  conditions  have  been  especially  created  for  the  purpose 
of  affording  such  facilities  to  the  German  articles  as  wiU 
enable  them  to  compete  in  international  markets,  even  with  a 
high  tariff,  but  through  the  American  tariff  policy  these 
conditions  are  becoming  illusive.  It  has  been  pointed  out 
that  the  market  value  would  have  to  be  obtained  from  the 
principal  markets  of  the  country  from  which  the  export  was 
made,  and  in  fixing  the  same,  the  German  duties  for  raw 
materials,  semi-manufactures,  etc.,  are  calculated  as  costs  of 
production,  even  in  those  cases  where  they  are  not  paid  by 
the  German  manufacturer.  This  is  manifestly  an  arbitrary 
interpretation  of  the  term  "market  value,"  as,  for  interna- 
tional commerce,  the  value  on  the  international  market 
should  be  conclusive.  The  regulations  in  question  were  not 
interpreted  in  that  way  at  the  beginning;  the  American  con- 
snls  who  were  acquainted  with  the  conditions,  have  unhesi- 
tatingl}^  certified  the  invoices  in  which  the  value  had  been 
calculated  without  adding  the  tariff  rates,  and  this  value  was 
the  criterion  for  the  fixing  of  the  ad  valorem  duty  in  the 
United  States. 

At  the  suggestion  of  American  manufacturers  who  desired 
to  render  foreign  competition  still  more  difiicult,  the  tariff 
administration  declared  this  mode  of  calculation  wrong. 
Without  iuforming  the  persons  interested,  the  new  rule  was 
enforced  in  such  a  mauner  as  to  impose  additional  duties  and 
fines  on  even  those  shipments  for  which,  on  account  of  ignor- 
ance of  the  new  regulations,  the  invoice  had  been  gotten  up 
and  certified  according  to  the  old  method.  Some  of  the  Ger- 
man exporters  and  the  American  importers  protested  against 
this  arbitrary  measure,  but  without  success.  An  American 
importer  of  velveteen,  which,  under  customs  inspection,  was 
dyed  and  finished  in  Germany  with  "cotton  in  the  gray" 


imported  duty  free  from  England,  the  velveteen  being  there- 
fore free  of  all  import  duty,  took  the  matter  up  to  the  high- 
est court.  The  Supreme  Court  passed  the  follo^ving  decision, 
under  date  of  3d  of  January,  1898:  "This  market  value 
or  price  was  the  price  in  Germany,  and  not  the  price  after 
leaving  that  country,  and  the  act  does  not  contemplate  two 
prices  or  two  market  values,"  and  it  closed  with  the  remark: 
"Collectors  and  appraising  officers  should  exercise  due  vigi- 
lance in  the  examination  of  invoices  to  ascertain  the  amount 
of  any  bonus  allowed  either  as  a  remission  of  tax  or  as  a  pay- 
ment of  drawback,  so  that  said  amount  may  be  included  in 
the  dutiable  value  of  the  merchandise"  (S}Tiopsis  18805). 

The  competitive  conditions  of  the  American  market  have 
been  entirely  changed  by  this  decision.  These  changes  are 
not  of  so  much  importance  as  regards  the  American  produc- 
tion, as  with  reference  to  the  competitive  coimtries  which 
are  also  exporting  to  the  United  States,  for  the  export  con- 
ditions of  these  countries  are  changing  according  to  the  differ- 
ent internal  taxes,  etc.,  and  exceptional  chances  are  offered 
to  the  free  trade  countries,  as  England  and  Holland.  How 
great  these  differences  are,  may  be  seen  from  the  following 
con:parative  statement  of  tariff  rates  in  different  countries  for 
the  same  articles  exported  to  America. 

Raw  Cacao.  Sugar. 

In  Germany, 
In  France. 
In  Holland, 
Id  Belt:;iuni, 
In  Switzflrland, 
Id  England, 

It  is  clearly  shown  by  these  figures  that  the  new  inter- 
pretation of  tlie  wording  is  almost  a  downright  prohibition  to 
the  Gtrman  and  French  exports,  while  it  has  a  very  advan- 
tagc(  us  effect  upon  the  English  and  Swiss  exports.  In  addi- 
tion to  this,  the  article  is  classified  under  a  higher  value,  on 
account  of  the  increase  in  the  original  value  by  the  additional 
tarift'  rate,  and  in  consequence  a  correspondingly  higher  duty 
is  imposed  upon  the  same.  For  example,  the  Dingley  tariff 
placed  the  following  rates  on  chocolate  (Paragraph  281): 

On  chocolate  of  a  value  not  exceeding  15c.  per  lb.,  2^e.  per  lb. 
On  chocolate  of  a  value  of  15c.  and  not  exceeding  24:C.  per  lb., 
S|c.  per  lb.  and  10  per  cent,  ad  valorem. 

Now,  if  100  lbs.  of  a  medium  grade  of  chocolate  having 
a  value  of  12c.  per  pound  (a  total  of  $12)  were  exported  to 
America,  the  Dutch  exporter  would  pay  24c.  per  pound,  i.  e. 
$2.50  for  the  whole.  He  can,  therefore,  offer  his  article  to 
the  trade  in  New  York  at  $11.50.  For  the  German  article, 
the  German  duty  is  calculated  at  3.7c.  per  pound,  American 
money.  Its  market  value  is  now  15.7c.,  and  it  is  classified  in 
the  second  category  of  the  tariff,  which  has  to  pay  an  additi- 
onal duty  of  10  per  cent.    The  importer  therefore  has  to  pay: 

First— 2^c.  per  lb $2.50 

Second — 10  per  cent,  of  the  total  value  (inclusive  Ger- 
man duty)==100X15.7=   1.57 


35  mk.  per  double  cwt. 

20  mk.  per  double  owl. 

104  fr.  per 

62.f)0  fr.  per      "          " 

free 

27  fl.  per 

free 

60.56  fr.  per      "         " 

1  fr.  per  lb.      " 

7.5(l@!)  fr.  per  " 

Id.  per  lb. 

free 

$1.07 


He  cannot,  therefore,  offer  his  article  to  the  trade  at  a 
price  less  than  $16.07.  By  the  same  calculation  the  duty  for 
the  French  article  even  amounts  to  21c.  per  pound,  against 
12c.  for  the  Dutch  article  of  equal  value. 

For  the  same  article  exported  from  Germany,  this  regula- 
tion indicates  an  increase  of  the  import  duty — according  to 
its  value — of  42,  85  and  100  per  cent.  This  regiilation  is 
the  less  justified,  as  it  is  not  always  advisable  to  give  exact 
quotations  of  the  taxes  and  charges  to  which  the  article  is 
subject  in  its  country  of  origin.  For  instance,  in  France 
there  exists  no  tax  for  the  cognac  production,  but  muni- 
cipal octroi  taxes.    Strictly  speaking,  these  would  have  to  be 


382 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


included  in  the  calculation  of  the  tariff  value,  as  they  have 
the  same  effect  on  the  price  quotation  as  general  taxes  and 
frontier  duties,  but  this  seems  impossible,  as  they  vary  greatly 
in  the  different  municipalities.  The  international  market 
price  is,  therefore,  the  only  one  that  should  be  taken  as  a  basis 
for  calculating  the  value  of  articles,  not  so  much  because  it  is 
just,  but  mainly  because  it  is  the  most  practical  method. 

As  the  result  of  these  explanations,  the  resolutions  were 
imanimously  adopted.  It  was  especially  pointed  out  that 
through  these  regulations,  the  United  States  was  responsible 
for  this  arbitrary  change  of  market  conditions,  especially  in 
favor  of  the  free  trading  countries. 

For  instance,  the  increased  collections  which  the  American 
appraiser  endeavors  to  derive  in  thus  levying  duty,  is  ren- 
dered illusive.  Velveteen  which  has  been  refined  in  GeiTnany 
is  being  transferred  to  England,  as  no  duty  is  imposed  there, 
and  from  England  reexported  to  the  United  States,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  direct  commercial  relations  between 
Germany  and  America  are  being  ruined  and  discord  caused. 

An  interesting  discussion  was  hold  on  the  subject,  "Adop- 
tion of  the  System  of  European  Commercial  Treaties  by  the 
United  States."'  The  outcome  of  this  discussion  was  as 
follows: 

It  was  unanimously  agreed  that  in  such  a  vast  and  pro- 
gressive country  as  the  United  States  the  only  possible  way 
to  carry  on  an  export  trade  for  any  length  of  time,  is  to  de- 
velop the  import  trade  simultaneously.  A  check  on  the  im- 
ports from  other  countries  would  naturally  have  a  similar 
effect  on  the  exports  from  the  United  States.  The  industries 
of  this  country  have  been  progressing  so  rapidly,  that  to-day 
a  number  of  valuable  articles  could  be  exported  to  the  most 
advanced  nations.  And  the  more  rapidly  this  development 
takes  place,  the  more  urgent  becomes  the  necessity  of  adopt- 
ing the  system  of  European  commercial  treaties.  A  partici- 
pation in  the  world's  commerce  can  only  be  possible  and 
successful  for  any  length  of  time  if  the  basis  for  commer- 
cial relations  are  the  same  in  all  progressive  industrial 
countries. 

Some  of  the  German  members  furnished  valuable  material, 
which  illustrated  the  heavy  losses  the  manufacturers  have 
to  sustain  on  account  of  the  fluctuations  in  American  tariffs. 
Mr.  Wirth,  of  Sorau,  and  Dr.  von  Dorn,  of  Vienna,  took  es- 
pecially active  parts  in  this  discussion.  The  American  mem- 
bers acknowledged  that  reciprocity  should  be  practiced  in 
order  to  preserve  and  further  develop  the  position  which  the 
United  States  is  taking  in  international  commerce. 

The  business  of  the  day  was  herewith  finished,  and  in  ac- 


cordance vrith.  the  resolution  adopted  at  the  last  session,  the 
work  of  the  Commission  will  be  discontinued  for  the  present. 

The  Chairman,  in  the  name  of  the  management  of  the  Mu- 
seum and  the  American  members,  extended  his  sincere  thanks 
to  the  European  meml)ers  of  the  Commission  for  the  confi- 
dence shown  in  him  while  conducting  the  work  of  the  Com- 
mission. He  also  expressed  his  satisfaction  that  this  work  had 
not  been  devoid  of  results,  and  that  a  better  understanding  of 
the  opinions  on  both  sides  had  been  effected.  He  expressed 
the  hope  that  this  mutual  enlightenment  would  ultimately  re- 
sult in  more  friendly  commercial  relations. 

The  Vice-President,  Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  thanked  the  Mu- 
seum for  its  kind  co-operation  in  promoting  the  work  of  the 
Commission,  and  especially  the  Chairman  for  his  personal 
cordiality  and  the  impartiality  which  he  had  sliown.  He  said 
that  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  general  opinion  prevails  in 
the  European  countries,  that  there  exists  in  the  United  States 
no  such  conciliatory  and  friendly  sentiment  as  was  mani- 
fested during  the  deliberations  of  the  Commission.  But  the 
work  of  the  Commission  will  show  that  there  really  is  such  a 
sentiment.  It  is  impossible  that  this  should  not  be  felt  in 
Germany.  The  promoters  of  friendly  commercial  relations 
among  the  nations  will  regard  the  existence  of  this  sentiment 
with  great  satisfaction.  He  further  said:  "We  had  not  ex- 
pected such  a  reception  as  has  been  extended  to  us;  we  had 
not  hoped  that  our  American  friends  woiild  show  such  an 
understanding  for  our  complaints,  as  has  been  the  case.  We, 
the  European  delegates,  are  especially  delighted  at  this,  and 
express  the  hope  tliat  it  will  result  in  further  co-operation." 
The  speaker  pointed  out  especially  that  the  work  of  the 
Commission  had  been  carried  on  harmoniously,  and  that  the 
resolutions  and  opinions  expressed  in  the  reports  were  ■unani- 
mously accepted  by  the  members  of  the  Commission.  Con- 
tinuing, he  said,  "of  course,  this  was  to  a  great  extent  due  to 
the  personality  of  the  Chairman,  who,  by  combining  a  charm 
of  manner  and  great  tact  with  his  impartiality,  had  won  the 
gratitude  of  all  the  members."    (Applause.) 

Dr.  Alexander  von  Dorn,  from  Vienna,  thanked  the  Ger- 
man delegates  for  their  invitation  to  the  Austrian  delegates  to 
participate  in  the  discussions.     In  view  of  the  friendly  char- 
acter of  the  work  it  afforded  him  pleasure  to  be  able  to  state 
that  there  had  been  nothing  but  harmony  between  the  Ger- 
man  and   Austrian  interests.     With   a   few  words  of  fare- 
well, the  Chainnan  then  declared  the  Sessions  at  an  end. 
E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Chairman. 
Dr.  Vosberg-Rekow,  Vice-Chairman. 
W.  C.  Betts,  Secretary. 


BIOGRAPHIES   OF    FOREIGN   DELEGATES 

TO  THE 

INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Jose  Algara,  Delegate  from  the  Confederacion  Mercantil  y 
de  la  Camara  de  Comercio,  Mexico  City,  Mexico. 

Mr.  Alo-ara  was  born  in  Mexico,  in  1849,  of  one  of  tlie  oldest 
and  most^distinguished  families  in  the  country.  He  studied 
at  a  law  school,  where  he  made  excellent  progress,  and  to- 
day occupies  a  prominent  place  in  the  Mexican  Government. 
He  has  executed  many  commissions  of  trust  for  the  Govern- 
ment, and  has  amassed  a  large  fortune  through  private  busi- 
ness transactions.  At  present,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Academy  of  Law,  a  corresponding  member  of  the  one  in 
Madrid  and  an  officer  of  tlie  Mexico  College  of  Lawyers.  Mr. 
Algara  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  professors  of  the  Mexico 
Law  School  and  has  lately  published  a  work  on  private  inter- 
national law  which  has  been  approved  by  the  best  Mexican 
and  foreign  la\\7ers.  He  has  traveled  in  Europe  and  Amer- 
ica, and  is  one  of  the  most  ardent  supporters  of  Mexico's 
intercourse  with  all  foreign  countries,  especially  with  the 
United  States. 


E.  Amengual,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Barcelona,  Spain. 

Mr.  Amengual  was  born  in  Port  Mahon,  Spain,  in  1830. 
He  has  resided  at  Barcelona  since  1845.  His  first  occupation 
was  that  of  a  seaman,  and  as  master  of  Spanish  ships  he  fre- 
quently visited  the  ports  of  the  United  States.  In  1872,  Mr. 
Amengual  ceased  following  the  sea,  and  engaged  in  business 
as  a  merchant  in  Barcelona.  He  has  held  different  positions 
in  several  commercial  and  shipping  associations,  and  has_  re- 
cently published  several  papers  on  commerce  and  navigation. 


James  D.  Allan,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  To- 
ronto, Ontario,  Canada. 

Mr.  Allan  was  bom  at  Port  Rowan,  Ontario,  August  31st, 
1850.  His  family  were  engaged  in  what  was  then  a  great 
lumbering  district,  in  a  variety  of  branches  of  business  which 
included  that  of  ship-building,  general  merchandise  and  lum- 
bering. After  receiving  a  good  high  school  education,  he  re- 
ceived the  benefit  of  a  general  business  education  by  being 
connected  with  various  commercial  branches  until  1876, 
when  he  became  engaged  in  the  hat  and  fur  trade  in  Toronto, 
with  which  he  has  ever  since  been  connected.  Being  his  duty 
each  year  to  attend  the  great  fur  sales  of  the  world  held  in 
London,  Leipsic  and  Moscow,  he  has  had  an  unusual  oppor- 
tunity of  becoming  acquainted  with  business  methods  in 
foreign  countries,  by  which  he  has  been  greatly  benefited. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Council  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of 
Toronto,  to  which  he  has  been  elected  three  times.  He  has 
given  great  attention  to  the  question  of  technical  and  com- 
mercial education  as  one  of  the  necessities  of  the  times  if 
his  people  are  to  keep  abreast  of  the  world  in  commercial 
matters. 


Enrique  Akamora,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Majorca,  Spain. 

Mr.  Alzamora  was  born  at  Palma,  Majorca  (Balearic  Isles), 
on  the  26th  of  April,  1866.  When  a  boy,  he  was  in  the 
ofQce  of  his  father  and  assisted  him  in  his  business.  He 
took  a  course  of  studies,  and  had  the  degree  of  Bachelor 
conferred  upon  him.  He  afterward  devoted  himself  to  jour- 
nalism. His  father  having  died,  in  1891,  he  and  his  brother, 
Fernando,  took  charge  of  his  business  and  conducted  it  under 
the  name '"Alzamora  Hermanos."  In  order  to  increase  their 
business,  they  established,  in  1897,  a  London  house,  "Alza- 
mora Brothers." 


George  Anderson,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  To- 
ronto, Ontario,  Canada. 

Mr.  Anderson  was  born  in  the  village  of  Fergus,  Province  of 
Ontario,  Dominion  of  Canada,  and  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  his  native  village,  which  were  noted  for  thoroughness  of 
teaching,  and  high  standard  of  discipline.  After  leaving 
school,  he  became  clerk  in  a  general  store  consisting  of  dry 
goods,  groceries,  boots  and  shoes  and  hardware,  obtaining  a 
complete  training  as  a  salesman.  Realizing  that  there  would 
be  a  greater  scope  in  a  larger  community,  he  associated  him- 
self with  John  Horsman  of  the  city  of  Guelph,  the  county 
town  of  the  Coimty  of  Wellington,  who  was  doing  the  larg- 
est business  in  hardware  in  that  section  of  the  country,  and 
during  these  years  Mr.  Anderson  received  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  hardware  business.  At  this  time  he  was  offered, 
without  soHcitation,  the  position  of  accountant  and  book- 
keeper for  the  Guelph  Lumber  Company,  which  he  accepted. 
The  company  owned  extensive  timber  limits  and  a  very  large 
saw  mill  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Pro\ince.  Returning 
to  Guelph  after  three  years'  absence,  he  became  connected 
with  the  oil  interests  of  Canada,  managing  a  petroleum  re- 
finery for  several  years.  Feeling  again  the  necessity  of  a 
wider  field,  he  removed  to  Toronto,  the  capital  of  the  Prov- 
ince, and  became  manager  of  the  Royal  Oil  Company,  which 
position  he  held  for  thirteen  years,  during  which  time  the 
business  developed  to  one  of  the  largest  in  Canada.  In  1897, 
the  Canadian  Government  appointed  Mr.  Anderson  as  Special 
Trade  Commissioner  to  visit  Japan  for  the  purpose  of  as- 
certaining the  possibilities  and  probabilities  of  increasing 
trade  between  the  Empire  of  Japan  and  the  Dominion  of 
Canada.  Mr.  Anderson  visited  the  Flowery  Kingdom  and  very 
minutely  investigated  the  opportunities  for  development  of 
trade  between  the  two  countries,  and  reported  fully  to  the 
Canadian  Government. 

Mr.  Anderson  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trade  in  Toronto  for  the  past  thirteen  years.  He  is  now 
engaged  as  an  export  and  import  agent. 


Antonio  Lazo  Arriaga,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Guatemala. 

Mr.  Arriaga  was  bom  at  Danli,  Spanish  Honduras,  Central 
America,  April  10,  1857.  His  education  began  under  the 
supervision  of  able  private  teachers.    It  was  continued  in  the 

383 


384 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


University  of  Tegiiciffalpa  (1870),  and  completed  in  that  of 
Guatemala  (1872-1S7'7),  where  he  graduated  as  a  lawyer  and 
pul)lie  notary.  Since  he  was  22  years  of  age,  he  has  con- 
tinuously taken  an  active  and  prominent  part  in  the  public 
affairs  of  his  country,  such  as  member  of  the  National  As- 
sembly or  Congress  (1882-1887);  Assistant  Secretary  of  Edu- 
cation (1880);  professor  and  member  of  the  faculties  of  vari- 
ous colleges  and  of  the  National  University;  Minister  of  For- 
eign Relations  (1885);  vice-president  of  the  Council  of  State 
(1887);  speaker  of  the  National  Assembly  or  Congress  (1891), 
and  now  in  his  present  capacity,  that  of  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Guatemala,  at  Washington. 
He  has  filled  many  other  official  posts,  has  been  an  officer 
of  several  public  corporations  and  a  member  of  committees 
which  have  prepared  important  laws  regarding  education, 
etc.  He  is  prominently  identified  with  several  scientific  so- 
cieties and  has  in  different  ways  been  honored  by  foreign 
countries. 


Edward  Atkinson,  Delegate  from  the  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Trade,  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

Mr.  Atkinson  was  born  on  February  10,  1827.  In  1842, 
he  entered  a  dry  goods  commission  house,  and  after  serving 
his  time,  became  interested  in  cotton  and  woolen  manufac- 
ture, first  as  a  clerk  and  bookkeeper,  later  as  treasurer  and 
manager  of  several  large  establishments.  He  became  an  ad- 
vocate of  free  trade  in  1866,  and  has  for  many  years  been  a 
prolific  writer  upon  economic  questions,  constantly  present- 
ing tire  theory  that  hig'h  wages  are  the  consequent  of  a  low 
cost  of  production,  and  that  there  is  nothing  so  costly  as 
what  is  commonly  called  pauper  labor.  Since  1878,  Mr.  At- 
kinson has  been  the  President  of  the  Boston  Manufacturers' 
Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Co. 


Peter  Barr,  Delegate  from  the  Chambers  of  Conunerce  of 
Dunedin,  Christchurch,  Napier  and  Auckland,  New  Zealand. 

Mr.  Barr  was  born  in  Dunedin,  New  Zealand,  in  1861,  his 
parents  belonging  to  the  band  of  early  settlers  known  as  "old 
identities"  who  arrived  from  Scotland  in  1848  and  1849.  He 
was  educated  at  private  and  public  schools  in  his  native  city, 
leaving  the  Otago  High  Schcwil.  in  1S77,  to  enter  the  oHii-c  of 
Mr.  R.  H.  Leary,  a  leading  public  accountant.  Mr.  Barr  re- 
mained in  the  service  of  Mr.  Leary  until  taken  into  partner- 
ship in  the  firm  of  R.  H.  Leary  &  Co.,  and  on  the  death  of  Mr. 
Leary,  in  1894,  witli  ^Ir.  Sidney  C.  I^eai-}',  son  of  lii.s  late 
senior  partner,  formed  the  present  firm  of  Barr,  Leary  &  Co. 
During  the  past  five  years  the  business  of  the  firm  has  largely 
extended,  and  a  branch  office  has  been  opened  in  the  City  of 
Wellington.  Mr.  Barr  has  held  the  position  of  secretary  to 
numerous  public  companies  and  associations,  and  at  present, 
besides  managing  the  head  office  of  his  firm  in  Dunedin,  is 
Secretaiy  of  the  Dunedin  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  the 
Dunedin  City  Sinking  Fund  Commissioners.  In  these  capa- 
cities he  is  well  known  in  New  Zealand,  and  when  it  became 
known  that  he  was  to  represent  the  Dunedin  Chamber  at 
Philadelphia,  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  in  Christchurch, 
Napier  and  Auckland  paid  him  the  compliment  of  a.sking  him 
to  represent  these  bodies  also.  As  local  Secretary,  Mr.  Barr 
took  an  active  part  in  the  formation  of  the  Incorporated  Insti- 
tute of  Accountants  of  New  Zealand,  and  liad  been  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  the  Institute  for  some  years. 


of  November,  1863.  For  a  time  he  studied  in  colleges  of 
Mexico  for  a  professional  career,  returning  to  Guadalajara 
later  and  devoted  three  or  four  years  to  the  cultivation  of 
cotton  in  Villa-Lerdo  (Tamaulipas).  Later,  he  entered  into 
partnership  with  the  commission  house  of  Basave  and  Co.,  of 
Guadalajara,  being  the  eldest  son  of  the  head  of  the  firm. 


Frederick  A.  Beelen,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Chile. 

Mr.  Beelen  was  born  in  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  of  which  city  his 
father  was  one  of  the  founders.  In  very  early  life,  after  being 
admitted  to  the  bar,  Mr.  Beelen  was  obliged,  owing  to  im- 
paired health,  to  travel  in  South  America.  He  obtained  from 
the  Government  of  Venezuela  an  exclusive  grant  for  the 
navigation  of  the  Orinoco  and  its  trilmtaries,  and  was  the  first 
United  States  Consul  at  Ciudad  Bolivar  on  that  river.  After 
traveling  in  Europe,  he  went  as  Secretary  of  Legation  and 
afterwards  as  Charge  d' Affaires  to  the  Central  American 
States,  and  was  commissioned  by  Secretary  Marcy  to  negotiate 
a  treaty  with  Nicaragua.  After  acting  for  some  years  as 
Secretary  of  Legation  and  Charge  d'Att'aires  in  Chile,  he  re- 
turned to  the  United  States  and  was  shortly  afterwards  ap- 
pointed by  the  Chilean  Government  Consul-General  of  that 
republic  for  the  United  States,  which  position  he  still  holds. 
Mr.  Beelen  was  author  of  a  $1200  prize  essay,  entitled,  "The 
Three  American  Railways,"  and  has  been,  for  many  years,  a 
contributor  to  American  and  Spanish-American  periodicals. 


Mamts  Berliner,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Cape  Town,  Cape  Colony,  Africa. 

Mr.  Berliner  was  born  in  Germany,  November  21st,  1827. 
After  taking  a  college  course,  he  followed  a  commercial  pur- 
suit, which  was  continued  after  his  arrival  in  New  York,  Nov. 
loth,  1848.  In  1867,  he  first  became  interested  in  foreign 
commerce,  and,  since  1872,  has  devoted  himself  entirely  to 
the  same.  For  upwards  of  20  years,  he  has  served  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  the  capacity  of  Com- 
mercial Agent,  and,  in  189:5,  -was  one  of  its  Commissioners 
at  the  Chicago  Exposition.  It  was  the  intention  of  the  Gov- 
ernment to  appoint  him  a  delegate  to  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress,  but  while  the  matter  was  considered,  the 
aspect  of  affairs  in  South  Africa  became  so  serious  that  no 
definite  action  regarding  it  was  taken.  The  Chamber  of 
Commerce  at  Cape  Town  took  the  matter  up  and  appointed 
him  its  representative. 


Prof.  Carlo  Caesar  Betocclii,  Delegate  from  the  Chambers 
of  Commerce  of  Naples,  Catania,  Bari  and  Messina  and  from 
the  Association  of  Maritime  Law,  Naples,  Italy. 

Prof.  Betocchi  was  born  in  Naples,  Italy,  December  14, 
1870.  Pic  was  graduated,  in  1891,  as  Director  of  Laws.  He 
was  ajipointed,  in  1892,  an  otlifial  of  the  Statistical  Depart- 
ment of  the  Naples  Chamber  of  Commerce.  In  1894  he  be- 
came teacher  of  commercial  law  in  tlie  "Regina  Margherita" 
High  Art  School  of  Naples.  In  1897  he  was  appointed 
Secretary  of  the  Commercial  Chamber  of  Arbitration  in 
Naples,  and  in  1898,  Professor  of  Commercial  Law  at  the 
Naples  University. 


Carhs  Basave  y  del  Castillo   Negrete,   Delegate   from  the 
Camara  de  Comercio  de  Guadalajara,  Mexico. 

Mr.  Basave  was  born  in  Guadalajara,  Mexico,  on  tie  28th 


Anthony  J.  Drexel  Biddle,  Delegate  from  the  Associagao 
Commercial,  Funchal,  Madeira. 

Mr.  Biddle  was  bom  in  Philadelpliia,  October  1,  1874,  re- 


GEORGE  T.  MEECH, 
MiDDLETOwN,  Conn. 


DR.  GEORGE  L.  PORTER, 
Bridgeport,  Conn, 


W.  L.  POWELL, 
Harrisburg.  Pa. 


FRED.  F.  SMITH, 
Bridgeton,  N.  J. 


CHARLES  E.  SQUIER, 
Worcester,  Mass, 


WILLIAM  W.  SUPPLEE, 
Philadelphia,  Pa. 


ISAAC   B.  TOMPKINS, 
New  Bedford,  Mass. 


CHARLES  E.  WHITMAN, 
St.  Louis,  Mo. 


JOHN  C.  WOODBURY, 
Rochester,  N.  Y. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  FOEEIGN  DELEGATES 


385 


ceiving  his  education  at  private  schools  in  Philadelphia,  after- 
wards in  Vevey,  Switzerland,  and  finally  at  Heidelberg,  Ger- 
many. When  he  had  finished  his  education,  he  was  for  three 
3'ears  a  member  of  the  reportorial  staff  of  the  Philadelphia 
Ledger.  Then  he  became  Vice-President  of  the  Maginn  & 
Bradley  Co.,  of  Chicago  (steam  fitters),  with  which  he  has 
since  severed  his  connection.  He  was  also  president  of  the 
Drexel  Biddle  &  Bradley  Publishing  Co.  He  is  now  a  director 
in  the  New  York  &  Penna.  Brick,  Tile  &  Terra  Cotta  Co., 
and  of  the  ChestmTt  Ridge  Railroad  of  Pennsylvania.  His 
principal  business  is  publishing.  The  main  offices  of  his 
publislring  business  are  in  Philadelphia,  with  branches  in  New 
York  and  London.  He  is  the  author  of  eight  books,  most 
prominent  among  which  is  the  two  volume  edition  of  his  work, 
"The  Madeira  Islands."  He  was,  for  a  long  time,  a  resident 
of  Madeira,  and  was  appointed  delegate  of  the  Associagao 
Commercial  of  Funchal,  Madeira,  to  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress. 


Ferdinand  Bocca,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Turin,  Italy. 

Mr.  Bocca  was  born  in  Turin,  Italy,  in  1870,  and  took  his 
law  degTee  at  the  Turin  University  when  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  After  having  practised  his  profession  as  an  advo- 
cate for  a  period  of  three  years,  he  entered,  together  with 
his  brothers,  in  liis  father's  firm,  which  was  engaged  in  the 
tanning  business.  The  tannery,  which  is  still  carried  on 
under  the  name  of  the  founder,  Angelo  Bocca,  the  grand- 
father, dates  back  as  far  as  1820. 

Mr.  Bocca  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Turin  Chamber  of 
Commerce  in  December,  1898. 


D.  W.  Boh,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  Winnipeg, 
Manitoba,  Canada. 

Mr.  Bole  was  born  in  the  Province  of  Ontario,  Canada,  in 
1856.  He  moved  to  the  Pro^^nce  of  Manitoba  in  1882,  and  is 
the  pioneer  wholesale  druggist  of  the  flourishing  City  of 
Winnipeg,  being  President  of  the  Bole  Drug  Company.  He 
was  President  of  the  Jobbers'  ITnion  for  two  years,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Winnipeg  Board  of  Trade  in  1897,  and  is  now 
chairman  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  that  citv. 


Gen.  Nicanor  Bolet  Peraza,  Delegate  from  the  Government 
of  Honduras,  Central  America. 

Gen.  Bolet  Peraza  was  bom  in  1840,  in  the  City  of  Caracas, 
capital  of  the  Republic  of  Venezuela,  and  belongs  to  a  dis- 
tinguished family  of  Spanish  descent.  He  had  not  com- 
pleted his  studies,  when,  in  1859,  the  Ijiberal  party  started 
a  revolution  for  the  establishment  of  the  federal  form  in 
the  Republic.  He  took  part  in  the  revolution,  and  at  its 
victorious  close,  after  five  years  of  fighting,  he  was  one  of 
the  generals  of  the  Liberal  Army.  Later,  he  was  a  repre- 
sentative to  the  Federal  Congress,  for  several  years  Attorney- 
General  and  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  In  1889,  he  was  ap- 
pointed j\Iinister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  United  States  and 
delegate  to  the  Pan-American  Congress.  He  is  now  Consul- 
General  of  the  Republic  of  Honduras,  having  represented 
before  the  Union  of  the  tliree  Central  American  Republics, 
Honduras,  Nicaragua  and  Salvador,  in  the  same  capacity  and 
also  as  delegate  to  the  Universal  Postal  Congress  in  Wash- 
ington. Gen.  Bolet  Peraza  has  been  in  the  United  States 
for  several  years,  devoting  most  of  his  time  to  writing  in 
favor  of  closer  commercial  relatioas  between  the  Spanish- 


American  countries  and  the  United  States.  He  has  been  the 
editor  of  tJie  two  most  popular  magazines  in  the  Spanish  lan- 
guage, the  "Revista  Ilustrada  de  New  York"  and  "Las  tres 
Americas."  Gen.  Bolet  Peraza  is  a  member  of  the  Peace 
Society  of  the  United  States,  and  belongs  to  several  other 
institutions  of  science,  literature,  art  and  industry  in  different 
countries  of  Spanish-America.  At  the  Chicago  World's  Fair, 
he  represented  the  Republic  of  Ecuador  in  the  Scientific 
Congress.  He  has  been  honored  in  one  manner  or  another 
by  almost  all  the  Spanish-American  Republics,  owing  to  his 
great  devotion  to  their  interests.  Gen.  Bolet  Peraza  married 
the  daughter  of  General  J.  Gregorio  Monagas,  ex-President 
and  liberator  of  the  slaves,  known  in  liis  own  countij  as  the 
"Lincoln  of  Venezuela." 


Fritz  A.  Brochehnann,  Delegate  from  Canton,  China. 

Mr.  Brockelmann  was  born  at  Brookljn,  New  York,  August 
15,  1857,  of  German  descent.  He  has  resided  in  China  since 
188.3,  and  is  partner  of  the  finns  of  Reuter,  Brockelman  &  Co., 
in  Hongkong,  Shanghai,  Canton,  and  Tientsin,  and  Heyn, 
Brockelmann  &  Co.,  of  Klobe,  Japan,  and  Hamburg.  Both 
firms  are  represented  in  this  country  by  Messrs.  C.  von  Pustan 
&  Co.,  100  William  street.  New  York  City.  They  are  both 
importers  and  exporters  of  almost  all  products  and  manufac- 
tures, and  also  shipping  and  insurance  agents.  Mr.  Brockel- 
mann attended  the  International  Commercial  Congress,  on 
special  invitation,  as  a  merchant  representing  the  business 
interests  of  Canton. 


Jacques  de  Bmnver,  Delegate  from  the  SjTidicat  du  Com- 
merce, Bruges,  Belgium. 

Mr.  de  Brouwer  was  bom  on  February  23,  1874,  at  Gand, 
the  ancient  historical  capital  of  Flanders,  which  to-day  is  one 
of  the  industrial  centers  of  the  North  of  Europe.  He  studied 
law  at  the  L^niversity  of  Gand.  On  receiving  his  degree  as 
Doctor  of  Laws,  however,  he  entered  into  the  cotton  industry, 
an  industry  which  is  making  Flanders  so  rich.  After  travel- 
ling extensively  through  the  countries  in  Central  Europe,  he 
went  to  Russia,  where  he  studied  the  requirements  of  the 
markets  and  the  best  means  of  satisfying  them.  Shortly  after 
his  return  to  Belgium  he  was  appointed  delegate  to  the  Inter- 
national Commercial  Congress,  in  which  capacity  he  visited 
the  United  States. 


H.  M.  Bruun,  Delegate  from  the  Commercial  Union  of 
Aalborg,  Denmark. 

Mr.  Bruun  was  born  in  the  northern  part  of  Denmark,  on 
the  23d  of  November,  1864.  Up  to  the  present  time,  his 
principal  business  has  been  the  import  of  coal  and  coke  and 
the  manufacture  of  cement-tile,  but  on  his  last  visit  to  the 
United  States  he  made  an  arrangement  to  represent  some 
American  manufacturers  and  to  introduce  their  goods  in  Den- 
mark, Sweden  and  Norway.  For  this  purpose,  besides  his 
office  in  Aalborg,  he  is  now  opening  an  office  in  Copenhagen. 


Br.  Thomas  Stockton  Butcher,  Delegate  from  the  State  of 
Coahuila,  Mexico. 

Dr.  Butcher,  son  of  William  and  Margaret  Fox  Butcher, 
ivas  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  Febraary  13,  1846. 
After  attending  the  public  schools  of  his  native  city,  he 
entered  the  Jefferson  Medical  College  of  Philadelphia,  from 


386 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


■n-luch  he  was  graduated.  March,  18G7.  For  twenty  years  he 
practiced  medicine  in  his  native  city,  during  which  time  he 
held  among  other  positions,  the  following:  Chief  of  the  Surgi- 
cal-Clinical Staff  of  Jefferson  Medical  College;  Physician  to 
the  Foster  Home;  President  of  the  Medico-Legal  Society,  and 
for  several  years.  Director  on  the  School  Board  of  the  Fif- 
teenth Section  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  About  the  year 
1887,  his  health  failing,  he  went  to  Mexico,  and  finding  that 
genial  climate  suitable  to  his  condition,  located  m  the  city 
of  Romero  Rubio.  State  of  Coahuila.  Since  then,  he  has 
served  the  city  of  Romero  Rubio  as  city  physician,  member 
of  the  Board"  of  Health  and  member  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 


was  a  representative  in  the  National  Congress  of  Colombia 
from  1888  to  1890. 


Eon.  Joaquin  B.  Calvo,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Costa  Rica. 

Mr.  Calvo  was  bom  in  San  Jose,  capital  of  the  Republic  of 
Costa  Rica,  and  bears  the  same  name  as  his  father,  who  was 
greatly  distinguished  in  Central  America  by  his  long  and 
important  services  as   a   statesman.     He   founded   the   first 
daily  paper  in  Costa  Rica,  and,  as  an  editor,  sturdily  supported 
agricultural  interests  and  encouraged  their  promotion.     In 
1885,  when  peace  was  disturbed  in  Central  America  by  the 
war  cry  of  General  J.  R.  Barrios,  of  Guatemala,  after  the  close 
of  the  revolution,  the  Government  of  Costa  Rica  established 
a  War  Claims  Commission  and  Mr.  Calvo  was  one  of  the 
members,  which  position  he  resigned  upon  his  selection  as 
Governor  of  the  Province  of  Cartago.    In  1886,  he  wrote  a 
book  on  Costa  Rica,  which  has  been  honored  by  being  trans- 
lated into  several  languages,  and  he  has  also  written  several 
other  works.    In  1887.  be  reorganized  the  police  force  of  San 
Jose,  taking  as  a  model  those  of  the  cities  of  the  United 
States.     In    1888,   he   established   what   is   known   as   the 
Registro   Ci\'il,    with   all   its   branches   throughout  the   Re- 
public.    In  1889,  he  was  the  Secretary  of  the  Costa  Rican 
delegation  to  the  International  American  Conference  held  at 
Washington.     In  1890,  he  returned  to  Central  America  and 
engaged  in  planting  and  raising  coffee.     In  1891,  he  was  a 
delegate  from  his  country  to  the  Monetary  Conference  held 
at  Washington,  being  at  the  same    time    appointed    Charge 
d'Atfaires  of  Costa  Rica  at  Washington.    In  this  capacity,  he 
negotiated  the  Reciprocity  Treaty  with  the  United  States  in 
1892,  and  later  as  Secretary  to  the  Costa  Rican  Commission 
to  the  World's  Columbian  Exposition,    he    personally    con- 
ducted almost  all  the  business  of  Costa  Rica  relating  to  the 
Fair  in  Chicago.    Wlien  the  plan  for  organizing  a  great  com- 
mercial and  economic  museum  in  Philadelphia  was  presented 
to  him  in  Washington,  and  later  in  Chicago,  he  was  quick  to 
see  the  advantage  that  Costa  Rica  would  derive  from  preserv- 
ing here,  in  a  permanent  way,  her  very  complete  and  beautiful 
exhibits  which  she  had  prepared  with  so  much  care  for  the 
World's  Columhian  Exposition.    He  has  followed  up  this  in- 
terest by  showing,  on  all  opportune  occasions,  his  disposition 
to  contribute  to  the  success  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial 
Museum.     As  a  recognition  of  Mr.  Calvo's    services    to    his 
country,  he  was  pi'Dinoled  to  the  position  of  Minister  Resident, 
in  June,  1896,  and  last  January  he  was  received  by  President 
McKinley,  in  his  capacity  as  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minis- 
ter Plenipotentiary  from  Costa  Rica. 


Francisco  Carlonell  W.,  Delegate  from  Barranquilla,  Co- 
lombia. 

Mr.  Carhonell  W.  was  bom  on  August  21,  1847,  in  Plato, 
Colombia.  He  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits  upon  attain- 
ing the  age  of  20.  In  1885  he  suffered  a  severe  loss  from  the 
fire  which  broke  out  in  Colon.  In  1895  he  started  in  the 
hardware  business,  in  which  he  is  engaged  at  present.     He 


Julio  A.  CasteUano,  Delegate  from  Barranquilla,  Colombia. 

Mr.  CasteUano  was  born  in  Maracaibo,  Venezuela,  July  10, 
1840.  On  account  of  the  continuous  revolutions  of  the 
country  and  Guzman's  bad  government,  he  came  to  the  City 
of  Barranquilla,  in  1871,  and  founded  the  firm  of  J.  Castel- 
lano  &  Co.  This  firm  still  exists  under  the  same  name  and 
has  grown  very  rapidly.  Mr.  CasteUano  was  an  alderman  in 
his  native  city,  and  has  for  several  terms  served  as  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Barranquilla  Bank.  He  is  also  president  and 
founder  of  the  Commercial  League  of  BaiTanquilla. 


Chow  Tszchi,  Delegate  from  the  Chinese  Government. 

Mr.  Chow  Tszchi  was  bom  on  the  14th  day  of  the  10th 
moon,  in  the  10th  year  of  Tung  Chi  (in  1871),  at  Swetow, 
Kwangtung,  China.  He  took  the  first  Chinese  graduate  de- 
gree in  1889,  and  the  second  Chinese  graduate  degree  in  1894. 
He  was  student  and  tutor  in  the  Imperial  University,  Peking, 
China,  and  a  member  of  the  Tsungli  Yamen  (Foreign  Office). 
He  assisted  in  the  negotiation  of  the  Treaty  of  Commerce 
and  Navigation  with  Japan  in  1896;  was  a  member  of  the 
Imperial  Bureau  of  Publication  in  1896;  attache  to  Chinese 
Legation,  Washington,  in  1897;  and  has  been  Secretary  to 
Chinese  Legation,  Washington,  D.  C,  since  1898.  He  re- 
cently accompanied  ^Minister  Wu  Ting  Fang  on  his  diplo- 
matic mission  to  Spain. 


Tf.  F.  Cocl-shutt,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade, 
Toronto,  Ontario,  Canada. 

Mr.  Coekshutt  was  bom  in  Brantford,  Canada,  in  1855. 
He  was  educated  in  the  Brantford  and  Gait  Collegiate  Insti- 
tutes. At  the  age  of  16  years,  he  entered  the  commercial  field 
and  has  been  engaged  in  the  mercantile  business  ever  since, 
with  but  slight  intermissions.  He  has  alsi3  taken  considerable 
interest  in  manufacturing,  especially  in  the  line  of  agricul- 
tural implements,  having  served  as  President  of  the  Coekshutt 
Plow  Co.  for  a  term  of  years.  For  many  years,  he  paid  an 
annual  visit  to  Great  Britain  on  business.  Also  on  several 
occasions  he  travelled  extensively  on  the  Continent,  and  has 
made  a  complete  tour  of  the  United  States,  Mexico  and  Cuba. 
He  has  taken  much  interest  in  trade  matters  for  many  years, 
and  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Brantford  Board  of 
Trade  for  about  20  years  and  the  Toronto  Board  of  Trade  for 
10  years.  He  served  as  President  of  the  Brantford  Board  in 
1889  and  was  Vice-President  for  the  two  pre\ious  years.  At 
present,  he  is  a  member  of  the  Toronto  Board  of  Trade  Coun- 
cil and  also  holds  the  same  position  in  Brantford.  In  addition 
to  having  served  in  Philadel]jhia  recently  as  a  delegate  from 
Toronto,  he  was  twice  selected  as  a  delegate  to  the  Congresses 
held  in  London,  when  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  the 
British  Empire  convened  in  the  years  1892  and  1896,  and  took 
an  active  part  in  the  latter.  At  present,  he  is  Chairman  of 
the  Toronto  Committee  on  resolutions  for  the  coming  Con- 
gress in  London  to  be  held  in  June,  1900.  He  was  also 
selected  delegate  to  the  Chicago  Congress  during  the  World's 
Fair,  but  was  unable  to  attend. 


r>r.  Tjuis  Felipe  Corea,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 


Nicaragua. 


Dr.  Corea,  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister  Plenipoten- 
tiary of  Nicaragua,  at  Washington,  was   bom   in    Grenada, 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  FOEEIGN  DELEGATES 


387 


Nicaragua,  in  the  early  sixties.  He  was  educated  at  the  Na- 
tional College  in  his  native  city.  As  he  pursued  his  studies 
he  also  taught  classes,  and  later  became  professor  in  the 
college  at  Masatepe  and  Leon.  He  removed  to  Guatemala, 
in  1887,  where  he  completed  his  legal  education  and  received 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  In  Guatemala  he  was  an  instructor 
and  filled  the  chairs  of  philosophy  and  history  in  the  National 
Institute  of  that  republic.  Soon  after  receiving  his  degree, 
he  was  appointed  Judge  for  the  District  of  Totonicapan,  and 
a  little  later  he  was  commissioned  to  preside  over  the  First 
Tribunal  of  Quezaltenango.  In  the  spring  of  1896,  he  re- 
turned to  Nicaragua.  The  Diet  at  that  time  had  under  con- 
sideration the  appointment  of  a  new  minister  and  secretary 
to  the  United  States.  Hon.  J.  D.  Rodriguez  was  chosen 
minister,  and  Dr.  Corea,  secretary.  At  the  end  of  a  few 
months,  the  Legation  in  Washington  was  closed  and  both 
minister  and  secretary  returned  to  Nicaragua.  The  Diet, 
however,  believed  that  Central  American  interests  in  the 
United  States  should  not  be  neglected  and  Dr.  Corea  was 
sent  back  to  Washington,  having  had  conferred  upon  him 
the  additional  honor  of  charge  d'affaires  ad  interim.  When 
the  Central  American  Union  was  dissolved  last  December, 
Nicaragua  proclaimed  anew  her  sovereignty  and  reappointed 
Dr.  Corea  as  Charge  d'AfFaires,  and  a  few  months  later  ele- 
vated him  to  the  office  of  Envoy  Extraordinary  and  Minister 
Plenipotentiary.  Though  educated  in  the  law  and  trained 
in  diplomacy,  he  has  not  been  without  commercial  experi- 
ence. He  has  represented  very  ably  several  very  important 
business  houses  of  the  United  States  in  Nicaragua,  and  has 
also  traveled  over  the  United  States  in  the  interests  of  the 
commerce  of  his  native  land. 


Antonio  Cuyas,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Industry  and  Navigation,  Madrid,  Spain. 

Mr.  Cuyas  was  born  in  Barcelona,  Spain,  in  1859.  As  his 
education  was  partly  received  in  Spain  and  partly  in  the 
United  States,  so  his  business  experience  has  been  acquired 
partly  in  this  country  and  partly  in  his  native  land.  In  1887, 
he  was  appointed  delegate  to  the  United  States  for  the  pur- 
pose of  promoting  the  concurrence  of  American  manufac- 
turers to  the  first  Spanish  Universal  Exposition,  held  in  Bar- 
celona, 1888.  It  was  due  to  his  efEorts,  that  not  only  a  good 
contingent  of  American  exhibits  were  sent  there,  but  that 
our  Government  and  Congress  gave  the  Barcelona  World's 
Fair  due  recognition  by  tlie  appointment  of  a  United  States 
Commissioner  and  by  making  an  appropriation  of  $50,000. 
With  the  advice  and  active  co-operation  of  Mr.  Cuyas,  the 
United  States  section  was  made  one  of  the  most  attractive 
of  that  Exposition.  Mr.  Cuyas  was  a  member  of  the  Jury 
of  Awards  at  the  same  Exposition.  He  was  also  appointed 
Judge  of  Awards  at  the  Chicago  Columbian  Exposition  in 
1893,  for  the  Department  of  Liberal  Arts,  and  his  signature 
will  be  found  in  many  of  the  awards  transcribed  on  the  Di- 
plomas tliat  American  manufacturers  prize  so  highly.  Early 
in  1898,  Mr.  Cuyas  was  appointed  one  of  the  delegates  sent 
to  Washington  to  negotiate  a  special  commercial  treaty,  as 
per  agi-eement  between  the  Governments  of  the  United  States 
and  Spain,  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  and  regulating  trade 
between  this  country  and  the  Island  of  Cuba.  The  war  in- 
terrupted and  terminated  the  labors  of  that  delegation.  The 
Queen  of  Spain  granted  to  Mr.  Cuyas  the  Cross  of  the  Order 
of  Knitrhts  of  Charles  III. 


1853.  Since  1871,  he  has  been  a  partner  cf  the  firm  of  Del- 
fin  o,  Baez  &  Co.,  dry  goods  importers,  coffee  exporters  and 
bankers.  He  was  Honorary  Belgian  Consul  for  two  years, 
and  was  at  one  time  fiscal  agent  for  the  Government  of 
Venezuela.  In  September,  1897,  he  wa  named  Consul-Gen- 
eral  of  Venezuela  in  New  York. 


Dr.  Abraham  Diaz,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Matamoros,  Mexico. 

Dr.  Diaz  is  a  native  of  Monterey,  in  the  State  of  Nuevo 
Leon,  Mexico.  His  education  was  begun  at  this  place  and 
finished  in  Mexico  City,  where  he  graduated  in  1869.  He 
returned  to  Monterey  as  a  doctor  of  medicine  and  practised 
there  ■with  great  success  until  1875,  when  he  was  elected 
a  representative  to  the  Mexican  Congress.  In  that  body, 
he  distinguished  himself  by  his  natural  firmness  and  activity, 
qualities  that  caused  him  to  be  more  and  more  esteemed  by 
his  constituents  and  his  political  party.  From  1877  till  1884, 
he  devoted  himself  to  commercial  and  agricultural  pursuits, 
residing  then  in  Linares,  Nuevo  Leon.  In  1885,  he  engaged 
in  mining  operations  and  with  characteristic  energy  suc- 
cessfully organized  the  Tamaulipas  Mining  Co.  This  is  the 
principal  concern  exploiting  argentiferous  lead  ore  in  Mexico. 
In  1895,  he  was  appointed  Mexican  Consul  at  Brownsville, 
Texas;  and  in  1898,  Consul  at  Pensaeola,  Florida,  which  is 
the  most  important  port  of  this  country  in  the  Gulf. 


John  E.  Doane,  Delegate  from  the  Commercial  Association, 
Santos,  Brazil. 

Mr.  Doane  was  born  in  Chicago,  Illinois,  February  19, 
1864,  where  he  has  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  life.  After 
graduating  at  Yale  University,  in  1886,  he  was  in  the  em- 
ployment of  the  Merchants'  Loan  and  Trust  Co.,  Chicago, 
for  one  year  and  a  half.  From  there,  he  went  into  the  Chi- 
cago office  of  J.  W.  Doane  &  Co.,  and  on  Januarj'  1,  1889, 
he  was  made  a  member  of  that  firm.  Early  in  the  year  1897, 
he  moved  to  New  York  when  they  made  the  New  York  office 
the  head  one,  as  up  to  that  time  their  headquarters  had  been 
in  Chicago.  The  volume  of  their  business  has  increased  con- 
siderably in  the  past  two  years,  and  their  present  intentions 
are  to  continue  in  the  future  to  give  their  attention  to  the 
importation  of  coffee  from  Brazil. 


Antonio  Eusebio  Delfino,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Caracas,  Venezuela. 

Mr.  Delfino  was  born  in  Caracas,  Venezuela,  August  14, 


Hon.  R.  R.  Dobell,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  Que- 
bec, Canada. 

Mr.  Dobell  is  a  son  of  the  late  George  Dobell,  and  was 
bom  in  Liverpool,  England,  in  1837.  He  w-as  educated  at 
Liverpool  College;  came  to  Canada  in  1857,  and  founded  the 
lumber  and  mercantile  firm  of  R.  R.  Dobell  &  Co.,  Quebec. 
He  was  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  is  one  of  the  Harbor 
Commissioners  for  the  City,  President  of- Quebec  Cold  Stor- 
age Co.,  Quebec,  a  Director  of  the  Quebec  Bridge  Co.,  Vice- 
President  Quebec  Bible  Society  and  Trustee  of  Bishop's 
College,  Lennoxville.  He  was  delegate  to  Chambers  of  Com- 
merce of  the  Erripire,  London,  England,  1893,  and  also  1896. 
In  1894,  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Deep  AVaterways 
Convention  at  Toronto.  Some  years  ago  he  was  interested 
in  the  proposed  new  Short  Atlantic  cable,  and  is  also  a  sup- 
porter of  tlie  new  Pacific  cable  scheme.  He  is  identified 
with  the  Imperial  Federation  movement,  and  in  1896  assisted 
Lord  Rosebery  in  founding  the  British  Empire  League 
ajid  was  elected  to  Council.    He  was  elected  to  the  House  of 


388 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMlVrEECIAL  CONGRESS 


Commons  for  West  Quebec,  as  an  independent  candidate, 
while  absent  in  Eno-land,  June,  1895,  but  lost  the  election 
on  a  recount.  Elected  for  the  same  seat  in  general  election, 
1896.  Entered  the  Laurier  administration,  July  13,  1896, 
being  sworn  of  the  Privy  Council  and  called  to  the  Cabinet, 
without  portfolio.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land.    In  politics,  he  is  a  Liberal. 


Dr.  Alexander  von  Dorn,  Delegate  from  the  Oesterreichisch- 
Ungarischer  Export  A'crein,  Vienna,  Austria;  also  from  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Olmiitz,  Bozen,  Lemberg,  Pilsen 
and  Eger. 

Dr.  von  Doni,  national  economist  and  advocate  of  free 
trade,  w^as  born  in  Wiener-Neustadt,  on  February  9,  1838. 
After  completing  his  studies,  in  1858,  he  entered  the  public 
service  of  Austria,  and  was  sent  as  an  official  reporter  to  tlie 
Turkish  Exposition  at  Constantinople,  in  1863.  His  report 
was  publi.shed  in  Leipsic  in  18G-t.  In  1868,  he  left  the  public 
service  and  became  editor  of  the  part  of  the  ''Pester  Lloyd," 
relating  to  national  economy,  and  in  1872,  became  editor  of 
the  "Triester  Zeitung"  (Trieste  Newspaper).  Living  in  Vi- 
enna since  1883,  he  founded  the  "Volkswirthschaftliche 
Wochenschrift"  (Weekly  of  National  Economy)  in  1881;  in 
1888,  the  "Esportkompass,"  a  commercial  annual  for  the  in- 
terests of  the  Austrian  export  trade.  In  1889  he  established 
a  puljlishing  house  under  the  firm  "Volkswirthschaftlicher 
Verlag  Alexander  Dorn,"  at  present  "Kommanditgcsellscbaft 
auf  Aktien"  (stock  company  with  limited  lialiility).  Fur- 
thermore, he  published  "Pflege  und  Forderung  des  gewerb- 
lichen  Fortschritts  durch  die  Regierung  in  Wiirtemberg" 
(Fostering  and  Promotion  of  Industrial  Pi'ogress  by 
the  Government  of  AYiirtemberg),  in  Vienna;  "Aufgaben 
der  Eisenbahnpolitik"  (Problems  of  Railway  Policy),  in 
Berlin,  1874;  "Kriegsmarine  und  Volkswirthschaft  in  Oes- 
terreich-Ungarn"  (The  Navj  and  National  Economy  of  Aus- 
tria-Hungary), in  Vienna,  1885,  and  edited  an  illustrated 
work  published  by  Lchnert,  Zebden  and  others  called,  "Die 
Seehiifen  des  Weltverkehrs"  (The  Sea-ports  of  the  World's 
Commerce.) 


Arfhiir  Ernest  Dowler,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Shanghai,  China. 

Mr.  Dowler  was  born  at  Liverpool,  England,  October  22, 
1867;  educated  at  Whitgift;  Joined  the  London  office  of  Arn- 
hold,  Karberg  &  Co.,  of  London  and  China,  December  9, 
1881.  In  1886,  he  went  for  them  to  Germany,  traveling  ex- 
ten.sively  on  the  Continent;  in  LS87,  he  went  for  the  iirm  to 
China,  dividing  his  time  between  their  different  offices.  At 
tlie  end  of  1890,  he  was  specially  detached  to  travel  between 
China,  America  and  Europe  with  the  purpose  of  promoting 
trade  with  America,  and  from  1890  to  1896  traveled  continu- 
ously between  China  and  the  United  States,  coming  into  con- 
tact with  the  most  important  and  representative  business  men 
of  both  countries,  imparting  and  receiving  much  information. 
His  last  visit  to  China  in  1896,  especially,  resulted  in  gath- 
ering important  information  for  the  manufacturers  of  this 
country  regarding  the  development  of  railways,  and  event- 
ually resulted  in  his  firm  being  appointed  agents  in  China 
for  the  Carnegie  Steel  Co.,  Ltd.,  Pittsburg:  Baldwin  Locomo- 
tive Works,  Philadelphia;  Union  Iron  Works,  San  Francisco, 
and  other  important  American  interests.  In  1897,  he  finally 
opened  the  office  of  Arnbold,  Karberg  &  Co.,  in  New  York, 
of  which  firm  he  is  the  manager  and  representative  in  Amer- 
ica, between  which  country  and  their  offiices  in  China  at  Hong 
Kong,  Canton,  Shanghai,  Hankow,  Tientsin  and  Tsintsau, 


they  do  a  large  business  in.  the  products  and  manufac- 
tures of  both  coimtries.  Mr.  Dowler  is  an  ardent  believer 
in  the  eventual  supremacy  of  American  trade,  and  a  supporter 
of  the  most  rigid  maintenance  of  American  commercial  rights 
the  world  over,  but  more  especially  in  the  Far  East. 


Michael  Dwycr,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  Halifa:s, 
Nova  Scotia. 

Mr.  Dwyer  was  born  in  St.  Johns,  Newfoundland,  in  1832. 
At  the  solicitation  of  his  uncle,  the  late  John  Tobin,  he 
left  there  at  the  age  of  ]4  to  take  a  position  in  his  office.  He 
was  admitted  as  partner  in  the  business  in  1856,  and  at  his 
uncle's  death  in  1869,  he  succeeded  to  and  has  since  carried 
on  the  business  under  the  original  name  of  John  Tobin  & 
Co.  He  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in  all  enterprises 
that  have  for  their  object  the  benefiting  of  the  city  in  which 
he  resides  and  the  province  at  large.  He  has  filled  the  posi- 
tion of  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  has  been 
repeatedly  solicited  to  enter  into  political  life,  but  has  stead- 
fastly refused. 


Salvador  Ecliagaray,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Mexico. 

Mr.  Echagaray  was  born  in  1865.  In  1878,  he  entered  the 
Mexican  Military  School,  which  he  left  in  1883  with  the  rank 
of  Staff  Lieutenant.  Later  he  was  a  topographer  in  the  com- 
jiiission  charged  with  the  survey  of  the  Bravo  River  on  the 
United  States  frontier.  In  1881,  he  entered  the  engineering 
school  and  finished  the  course  in  geographical  engineering, 
after  which  he  abandoned  the  military  service.  In  1895,  he 
was  a  member  of  the  committee  that  introduced  the  first  bill 
providing  for  the  formation  of  a  cadaster  in  Mexico,  and  he 
was  one  of  the  authors  of  the  law  passed  for  such  purpose. 
In  1897,  he  was  sent  to  Europe  by  the  Mexican  Government 
to  study  the  cadastral  systems  of  the  most  advanced  countries 
on  the  Continent,  and  on  his  return,  was  one  of  the  Cadaster 
Commission  and  later  was  appointed  Chief  of  the  Statistical 
Section  in  the  Treasury  Department.  In  this  last  capacity, 
he  has  been  the  author  of  important  works  on  commercial 
and  financial  statistics  and  has  considerably  increased  the 
scope  of  the  official  publications  of  his  department.  He  is 
the  author  of  a  two  volume  treatise  on  topography  and  of  a 
'"Study  on  the  Cadaster  and  the  Taxation  of  Landed  Prop- 
erty." He  is  a  member  of  the  principal  engineers'  associa- 
tions of  Europe. 


Emil  8.  Fischer,  Delegate  from  the  Wiener  Kaufmanni- 
sch.er  Verein,  Vienna,  Austria. 

Mr.  Fischer  was  bom  in  1865,  at  Vienna,  Austria;  entered 
business  life  in  1880,  after  receiving  a  high  school  and  com- 
mercial college  education.  At  that  time,  the  President  of  the 
Association  of  Merchants,  Vienna  (Wiener  Kaufmiinnischer 
Verein)  proposed  to  provide  a  scholarship  (stipeiidium)  which 
would  cna.ble  young  Austrians  to  go  abroad.  Mr.  Fischer 
went,  in  1889,  to  Paris  and  was  there  appointed  second  Secre- 
tary of  the  Austro-Hungarian  Exposition  Conunittee.  After 
the  Exposition  was  over,  he  entered  a  Parisian  export  commis- 
sion house,  but  cbuld  not  remain  long,  as  the  Association  of 
Merchants  of  Vienna  intrusted  to  him  this  purse,  which  until 
tiiat  time  bad  not  been  committed  to  anyone.  He  was  sent 
to  Buenos  Aires,  where  lie  remained  for  a  year  and  a  half, 
studying  there  the  practical  commercial  business  life  of  that 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  FOREIGN  DELEGATES 


389 


country.  He  aitenvards  went  to  Rio  de  Janeiro,  where  he 
also  remained  about  a  ye<ar  and  a  half,  being  engaged  dur- 
ing that  time  in  the  German  Bank  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  one 
of  the  most  prominent  institutions  in  Brazil.  At  the  close 
of  1892,  j\Ir.  Fischer  came  to  New  York,  where  he  was  con- 
nected with  W.  H.  Grossman  &  Bro.,  but  did  not  remain 
there  for  any  length  of  time,  as  the  Imperial  Royal  Austrian 
Commission  to  the  World's  Fair  of  1893  engaged  him  as 
secretary.  During  the  Fair,  he  was  also  a  juror  and  came 
in  contact  with  many  prominent  Americans.  After  exactly 
a  year  of  activity  in  Clxicago,  he  accomplished  his  purpose 
of  going  to  the  far  East,  visited  and  studied  in  Japan,  and 
went  into  actual  business  at  Shanghai,  where  he  held  a 
prominent  position  in  the  German-Asiatic  Bank.  This  posi- 
tion, on  account  of  poor  health,  he  had  to  resign  after  four 
years  and  a  half  of  Chinese  experience,  returning  to  Eu- 
rope. Mr.  Fischer  is  the  author  of  "Monnaies  et  Metaux 
precieux  en  Chine."  He  is  an  autliority  on  Chinese  finan- 
cial affairs  and  was  asked,  when  in  Vienna,  to  lecture  on  the 
commercial  affairs  and  the  possibilities  of  trade  expansion  in 
the  Far  East,  before  the  Imjoerial  and  Royal  Commercial 
Museum,  the  Imperial  Royal  Gajgraphical  Society  and  the 
Association  of  Merchants  of  Vienna. 


Staatsrath   Kunth,"    1888.     "Die   Deutschen    Handlungsge- 
hilfen,"  1895. 


L.  E.  Geoff rion,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Montreal,  Canada. 

Mr.  GeofErion  was  bom  in  1853,  in  the  parish  of  Varennes, 
Province  of  Quebec,  fifteen  miles  from  Montreal.  Brought 
up  on  a  farm,  he  went  to  college  in  A^arenncs  until  thirteen 
years  old,  and  later  to  a  public  school  in  New  Haven,  Conn., 
for  one  year.  At  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  started  as  a  clerk  in 
the  retail  grocery  business  in  the  city  of  Montreal.  In  1875, 
he  entered  as  a  clerk  in  the  wholesale  grocery,  liquor  and 
tea  firm  of  L.  Chaput,  Fils  &  Cie,  one  of  tlie  principal  and 
oldest  firms  in  the  city  of  Montreal,  it  having  been  established 
in  1842.  He  was  admitted  a  partner  in  1883,  and  is  still 
with  the  same  firm.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
Trade  for  the  last  fifteen  years  and  also  a  member  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  for  the  last  ten  years.  In  1894  and 
1895,  he  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the  latter  and  has  been 
First  Vice-President  for  two  years. 


Frkdvkli  Uuhhchwidt,  Delegate  from  the  Aeltesten  der 
Kaufmannschaft,  Berlin,  Germany. 

Mr.  Goldschmidt  was  born  February  20,  1837,  in  Berlin, 
Germany.  He  studied  chemistry  and  political  economy.  He 
has  been  an  officer  of  the  "Landwehr  und  Reserve"  since 
1864.  He  took  part  in  the  wars  of  1866  and  1870-71,  and  for 
the  latter  service  he  was  decorated  with  the  Iron  Cross.  In 
1871,  he  became  a  director  of  the  Patzenhofer  Brewery  at 
Berlin,  being  appointed  general-director  in  1895.  From  1881 
to  1893,  he  was  a  member  of  the  "Deutschen  Reichstag"  and 
the  "Preussischen  Abgeordnetenhaus,"  occupying  himself  al- 
most exclusively  with  questions  of  commerce  and  industry, 
being  especially  active  in  patent  legislation.  From  1890 
to  1896,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Twenty-first  Commission 
for  the  great  national  work  of  "Biirgerliches  Gesetzbuch." 
He  is  now  a  member  of  the  "Aeltesten  der  Kaufmannschaft 
von  Berlin,"  and  President  of  the  "Versuchs  und  Lehran- 
stalt  fiir  Brauerei."  He  has  written  the  following:  "'Die 
Verkehrsverhaltnisse  in  Nordamerika,"  1875.  "Die  Welt- 
ausstellung  in  Philadelphia  1876  und  was  sie  lehrt,"  1876. 
"Die    Pariser    Weltausstellung,"    1878.     "Das    Leben    des 


Captain  J.  Cordeiro  da  Graga,  Delegate  from  the  Govern- 
ment of  Brazil. 

Captain  da  Graga  is  a  native  Brazilian,  bom  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro.  After  an  academic  education  in  lois  native  city,  he 
entered  the  Naval  Academy  in  1870;  was  made  midshipman  in 
1872,  and  in  1874  advanced  to  a  non-commissioned  ofBcership. 
For  sixteen  years.  Captain  da  Graga  served  in  the  Brazilian 
Navy,  only  severing  his  connection  with  it  when  he  believed 
he  could  be  of  greater  service  to  his  country  in  other  direc- 
tions. His  experience  in  the  navy  gave  him  a  fondness  for 
engineering,  and  he  entered  the  Polytechnic  School  at  Rio, 
from  which  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor. 
To  further  his  knowledge  of  this  science,  he  joined  the  In- 
stitute of  Civil  Engineers,  London,  England,  becoming  the 
pupil  of  Prof.  Shelley.  At  the  completion  of  his  studies, 
he  returned  to  his  native  land  and  was  appointed  engineer 
in  the  Rio  de  Janeiro  Navy  Yard.  This  post  entailed  consid- 
erable traveling,  in  the  course  of  which,  he  became  acquainted 
with  all  important  centers  of  the  world.  He  was  inspector  of 
the  vessels  constructed  for  the  Brazilian  Government  by 
Humphries,  Tenant  &  Co.,  London,  England;  the  Cokerhill 
Company,  of  Belgium,  and  at  Krupps',  in  Germany.  Cap- 
tain da  Gra(;:a  also  found  time  to  look  after  important  affairs 
at  home.  He  erected  at  Rio  de  Janeiro  the  first  iron  foundry 
in  South  America;  he  was  a  director  of  the  Sao  Paulo  Navi- 
gation Co.,  and  after  severe  competition,  was  chosen  instruc- 
tor in  the  Naval  Academy,  which  position  he  still  occupies. 
He  was  Chief  Engineer  of  the  City  of  Rio  de  Janeiro  and  on 
three  distinct  occasions,  he  represented  the  Brazilian  Govern- 
ment in  the  United  States,  viz:  The  Worid's  Fair,  Chicago; 
the  Pan-American  Congress,  and  the  International  Commer- 
cial Congress.  At  the  latter,  he  was  appointed  Vice-Presi- 
dent for  Brazil,  of  the  International  Advisory  Board  of  the 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum.  Captain  da  Graga  may  be 
considered  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  development  of  com- 
mercial relations  between  the  United  States  and  Brazil.  On 
his  first  visit,  during  the  Centennial  Exposition  at  Phila- 
delphia, 1876,  he  was  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
United  States  and  saw  the  benefits  to  be  derived  through 
the  establishment  of  closer  trade  relations. 


Earald  Grehsi,  Delegate  from  Sveriges  Allmanna  Handels- 
forening,  Gothenburg,  and  Sveriges  Allmanna  Exportforen- 
ing,  Stoekliolm,  Sweden. 

Mr.  Grebst  was  born  on  November  24,  1876,  in  Gothen- 
burg, Sweden.  After  passing  the  elementary  school  in  Goth- 
enburg, he  went  to  Germany,  where  for  five  years  he  attended 
a  private  school  in  Dresden,  Saxony.  On  his  return  to  Goth- 
enburg, he  spent  two  years  in  the  Commercial  School  of  that 
city,  and  since  1896  has  been  connected  with  his  father's 
fimi,  Andersson  &  Lindberg,  of  the  same  place.  This  firm 
import.s  from  and  exports  to  Sweden  all  kinds  of  metal.  Coal, 
oil  ajid  machinery  for  ship-building  piu'poses,  as  well  as  the 
greatest  part  of  pig  iron  imported  into  Sweden,  are  carried 
by  steamers  belonging  to  them.  Timber,  which  is  sawed  at 
their  own  saw  mills  in  Gothenburg,  is  exported  by  them  to 
Great  Britain,  France  and  Belgium. 


Alexander  van  Gillpcn,  Delegate  from  the  Handelskammer, 
Wesel,  Germany. 

Mr.  van  Giilpen  was  born  in  Germany,  February  10,  1841, 
and  educated  at  the  Gymnasium  in  Emmerich.    He  served  in 


390 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


the  army  for  one  year  at  Bonn  on  the  Rhine,  and  then  took 
a  position  in  his  father's  coHee  business,  as  clerk,  going  into 
partnership  later.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce of  ^\'esel  and  of  the  Board  of  Managers  of  the  Bourse 
at  Berlin. 


recently  in  Makaweli  and  Paia.     He  is  now  one  of  the  largest 
owners  in  the  American  Sugar  Company,  on  Molokai. 


Paul  Hagemans,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of  Bel- 
gium. 

Mr.  Hagemans  was  born  at  Liege,  Belgium,  November  7, 
1853.  He  was  graduated  as  "Ingenieur  des  Mines,"  from  the 
University  of  Brussels,  on  August  8,  1878.  In  March,  1880, 
lie  entered  the  Department  of  Foreign  Alfairs,  and  organized 
with  one  of  his  colleagues,  Mr.  Fred.  Van  Bruyssel,  under 
the  supenision  of  higher  officials,  the  Commercial  Museum 
of  Brussels,  the  principle  of  which  was  shown,  on  a  small 
scale,  at  the  National  Exposition  of  Brussels  from  May  to 
November,  1880.  He  was  entrusted  with  a  special  mission 
to  the  United  Kingdom,  August-October,  1881,  in  order  to 
study  the  factor}^  system  and  export  trade.  On  April  14, 
1883,  he  was  appointed  Consul  of  Belgium  at  Titlis;  on  Sep- 
tember 30,  188.5,  promoted  Consul-General  at  Odessa;  since 
December  29,  1889,  he  has  been  Consul-General  to  the  United 
States.  He  received  the  Cross  of  "Chevalier  de  I'Ordre  de 
Leopold"  on  June  1,  1889,  and  was  promoted  "Officier  de 
I'Odre  de  Leopold"  March  24,  1899. 


Alfred  S.  Hartwell,  Delegate  from  the  Hawaiian  Govern- 
ment. 

Gen.  Hartwell  was  born  in  Massachusetts  of  old  American 
stock.  His  record  by  dates  is  as  follows:  1858,  graduated 
from  Harvard  College;  1858  to  18G1,  instructor  in  Washing- 
ton University,  St.  Louis,  Mo.;  1861,  enlisted  in  the  Third 
Missouri  Infantry,  present  at  the  taking  of  Camp  Jackson; 
1861,  enlisted  in  the  Forty-fourth  Massachusetts  as  First 
Lieutenant;  there  were  sixteen  Harvard  men  carrying  mus- 
kets in  this  company.  Later,  he  became  senior  Captain  in 
the  Fifty-fourth  Massachusetts  Colored  Infantry,  and  was 
promoted  to  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  Fifty-fifth  Massachu- 
setts Colored  Infantry  in  June,  1863;  again  promoted  to  Col- 
onel of  the  same  regiment  in  December,  1863,  and  breveted 
Brigadier-General  in  December,  1864.  During  1864  and  1865, 
was  in  command  of  the  brigade  in  South  Carolina;  1865- 
66,  was  on  sjjccial  duty  under  the  War  Department  in  in- 
vestigating alleged  frauds  in  South  Carolina;  honorably  dis- 
charged from  the  army  in  April,  1866.  After  discharge  from 
the  army,  he  engaged  in  the  cotton  planting  industry  in  the 
Sea  Islands  in  South  Carolina,  withdrawing  therefrom  when 
it  was  demonstrated  that  labor  was  unobtainable.  In  1866, 
he  returned  and  finished  his  course  in  the  Harvard  Law 
School.  Thereafter,  he  practiced  law  in  Boston  until  1868, 
at  which  time  he  was  appointed  First  Associate  Judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  llawaii,  becoming  subsequently  Attorney- 
General  in  1874  and  1876.  Gen.  Hartwell  has  three  times 
been  an  office-holder  in  Hawaii:  From  1868  to  1874  he  was 
First  Associate  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court;  he  then  became 
Attorney-General  under  Kalakaua  for  a  few  months,  again 
taking  the  same  office  in  December,  1876,  which  lie  held  until 
July,  1878.  .Since  then,  he  luis  neither  held  nor  sought  public 
office  in  that  country.  He  has  always  been  recognized  among 
the  memljcrs  of  the  bar  as  one  of  the  ablest  and  readiest, 
men  to  meet  an  emergency  and  of  an  eminently  constructive 
mind.  His  services  in  this  respect  were  invaluable  in  the 
drafting  of  the  present  Constitution  of  Hawaii.  He  early 
became  interested  in  the  sugar  industry,  having  been  one 
of  the  largest  holders  in  tlie  Koloa  Sugar  Company,  and  more 


Julius  Herlitsdika,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Industiy,  Vienna,  Austria. 

Mr.  Horlitschka  w^as  born  in  the  Province  of  Silesia,  Aus- 
tria, in  185G.  After  a  tliorough  commercial  education,  he 
hold  various  positions  in  Austria  and  Germany,  and  in  the 
early  eighties  founded  the  Vienna  branch  of  the  firm  of 
White,  Child  &  Beney,  Ltd.,  of  London.  Through  energy 
and  enterprise,  Mr.  Ilerlitschka  has  given  his  business  a  great 
extension,  and  has  established  first-class  business  connections 
witli  the  United  States. 


Henry  E.  Hodgson,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Cleckheaton,  England. 

Mr.  Hodgson  was  bom  at  Halifax,  England,  in  the  year 
]8ti3.  He  was  educated  at  Huddersfield  College,  which  has 
the  reputation  of  having  trained  many  of  the  best  business 
men  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire  and  not  a  few  legisla- 
tors. On  leaving  school,  he  entered  the  well-known  engi- 
neering estabhshment  of  Messrs.  J.  Hitson  &  Co.,  Airedale 
Foundry,  Leeds,  as  a  premium  apprentice.  After  a  short 
partnership  in  Halifax,  he  withdrew  in  1891,  to  commence 
business  on  his  own  account  under  the  style  of  H.  E.  Hodg- 
son &  Co.,  Brookhouse  Iron  Works,  Cleckheaton,  England, 
as  a  general  engineer  and  machine  tool  maker.  The  firm's 
specialties  are  milling,  planing,  shaping  and  boring  machines, 
which  have  been  supplied  to  the  British  Government  and  to 
Government  Departments  in  India,  Australia,  Japan,  Peru, 
Chile  and  the  Argentine  Republic.  Mr.  Hodgson  is  a  Vice- 
President  of  the  Cleckheaton  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers of  Great  Britain  in  1892. 


Richard  Hodgson,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Clecklieaton,  England. 

Mr.  Hodgson  was  born  at  Halifax,  England,  half  a  century 
ago.  He  was  educated  at  Making  Place  Hall,  at  a  time  when 
its  reputation  as  a  scholastic  establishment  was  of  the  high- 
est. At  the  close  of  his  school  career,  Mr.  Hodgson  embarked 
in  the  cattle  trade  and  has  risen  to  be  one  of  the  three  or 
four  leading  men  in  the  West  Riding  of  Yorkshire  in  that 
business.  He  regularly  attends  the  Liverpool,  Birkenhead, 
Manchester  and  Leeds  markets.  In  1890,  he  was  elected  to 
the  Halifax  Town  Council  for  the  Market  Ward,  securing  a 
majority  of  votes  over  five  other  candidates.  In  1895,  he 
was  promoted  to  the  Aldermanic  bench,  and  is  now  chairman 
of  the  Watch  Committee. 


J.  W.  Humphreys,    Delegate  from  Colon,  Colombia. 

Mr.  Humphreys  was  born  of  J'higlish  parents  in  Jamaica, 
West  Indies,  on  the  25th  of  July,  1846.  He  entered  com- 
mercial life,  in  1861,  with  the  firm  of  McDowell  &  Barclay, 
one  of  the  leading  firms  of  Kingston,  remaining  with  them 
eleven  years.  For  several  years  he  was  in  business  on  his 
own  account.  .Vlioiit  the  same  time  he  was  a  member  of 
of  the  Diocesan  Financial  Council  of  Jamaica.  In  1882, 
Mr.  Humphreys  went  to  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  as  Cliief 
Accountant  of    the    Panama  Canal  at  the  Section  of    Baa 


BlOGllAPHiES  OF  FOEEIGN  DELEGATES 


391 


Obispo.  When  work  on  that  enterprise  shut  down  early  in 
1889,  he  established  "The  Colon  Telegram,"  and  has  since 
been  its  Managing  Director.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Colombian  Fruit  Co.,  and  Mutual  Benefit  Life  As- 
surance Society,  being  Vice-President  of  the  latter.  In 
1894,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Institute  of  Journal- 
ists, London,  England. 


Eliudoro  Infante  Valdes,  Delegate  from  the  Chilean  Gov- 
ernment. 

Mr.  Infante  Valdes  was  born  on  August  15,  1869.  He  was 
educated  at  the  National  Institute  of  Valparaiso  and  admitted 
to  the  bar  January  7,  1S91.  He  took  part  in  the  revolution 
against  President  Balmaceda  the  same  year,  with  the  rank 
of  Captain  in  the  Congressional  Army.  At  the  end  of  1891, 
after  that  coniiict  was  settled,  he  was  appointed  Chief  of  one 
of  the  sections  in  the  Interior  Department,  which  place  he 
occupied  till  July,  1895.  Having  proven  an  intelligent  and 
assiduous  oiFicial,  he  was  appointed  First  Secretary  of  the 
Chilean  Legation  in  Germany  and  Italy.  He  held  that  place 
three  years,  being  for  some  time  Charge  d' Affaires  in  Ger- 
many. In  October,  1897,  he  was  transferred  to  the  Legation 
in  Washington.  From  March,  1898,  till  the  following  month 
of  August,  he  acted  as  provisional  Charge  d'Affaires  in  that 
city.  At  present,  he  discharges  the  same  functions  and  has 
been  doing  so  since  last  April.  Mr.  Infante  Valdes  was 
Professor  of  Commercial  Law  in  the  University  of  Santiago, 
in  1894  and  1895. 


W.  T.  James,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of  Bermuda. 

Mr.  James  was  born  in  Bermuda  in  1845.  He  has  been 
engaged  in  a  business  similar  to  his  present  occupation  since 
1862.  From  1863  to  1874,  he  was  a  clerk.  In  the  latter 
year  he  commenced  business  on  his  own  account  and  has 
continued  it  to  the  present  time.  His  business  is  connected 
with  ships  and  shipping,  principally  representing  the  Cana- 
dian and  London  lines  of  steamers  running  to  Bermuda. 
He  is  also  purveyor  to  Her  Majesty's  land  and  sea  forces 
stationed  in  Bermuda.  He  has  succeeded  in  building  up  an 
e.Ktensive  business  in  steamships  and  their  carrying  trade 
between  Canada  and  Bennuda  and  between  London  and 
Bermuda.  He  has  now  four  steamers  regularly  running  and 
two  more  will  be  added  next  July.  He  is  also  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture  of  Bernuida  arrowroot.  He  was 
one  of  the  original  promoters  of  the  Bermuda  Telephone 
Company  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Bank  of  Bermuda. 
Mr.  James  has  been  a  member  of  the  Corporation  of  Hamilton 
for  many  years,  has  held  a  commission  as  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
and  also  the  ofHce  of  Notary  Public  for  Her  Majesty's  Do- 
minion. He  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and 
is  deeply  interested  in  the  commercial  interests  of  his  country. 


Eniil  Jensen,  Delegate  from  the  Norway  and  Bergen 
Kreditbank,  Bergen,  Norway. 

Mr.  Jensen  was  bom  February  5,  1875,  in  Denmark,  and 
was  educated  in  the  University  of  that  country  as  civil  en- 
gineer, which  profession  he  is  still  following.  He  is  now  a 
resident  of  Pliiladelphia  and  connected  \^^th  the  Midvale 
Steel  Company. 


in  his  youth,  but  finding  the  home  climate  too  severe  for 
him,  left  for  South  Africa  about  twenty  years  ago,  proceed- 
ing afterwards  to  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  where  he  has 
since  been  actively  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits.  The 
firm  of  J.  Barre  Johnston  &  Co.,  of  which  he  is  the  senior 
partner,  is  one  of  the  most  active  and  go  ahead  concerns  in 
Australia,  and  is  held  in  high  estimation  not  only  in  the 
business  world  of  Australia,  but  also  in  that  of  Europe  and  the 
United  States  of  America.  They  are  large  exporters  of  Aus- 
tralian produce,  as  well  as  general  importers  and  shipping 
merchants,  being  particularly  interested  in  iron  and  steel 
and  building  materials  generally.  The  firm  is  represented 
by  branch  houses  in  the  various  colonies.  It  is  worthy  of 
note  that  this  was  the  first  firm  to  introduce  American  pig 
iron  into  the  Australian  market.  Mr.  Johnston  takes  a  lively 
interest  in  all  matters  connected  with  the  welfare  of  his 
adopted  country,  and  has  for  several  years  been  an  active 
member  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Sydney  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce.  We  quote  the  following  from  the  Sydney 
"Morning  Herald,"'  concerning  a  banquet  tendered  Mr.  John- 
ston on  his  depiu'ture  for  America:  "The  President  in  pro- 
posing the  health  of  Mr.  Johnston  said  that  in  his  opinion 
the  Chaml)er  was  very  fortunate  in  obtaining  the  services  of 
Mr.  Johnston  as  representative  of  the  Chamber  at  so  im- 
portant a  gathering  as  that  to  which  he  had  been  accredited. 
He  had  known  Mr.  Johnston  for  many  years  and  felt  certain 
that  the  characteristics  which  marked  that  gentleman,  his 
earnestness,  his  business  acumen,  and  his  probity,  by  which 
he  had  built  up  a  flourishing  business,  would  not  fail  to  make 
him  a  worthy  representative  of  the  commercial  community 
of  the  'iVIother  City  of  Australia'  as  he  so  worthily  filled  the 
title  of  Merchant." 


Dr.  James  Johnston,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Jamaica,  Kingston,  Jamaica. 

Dr.  Johnston  was  bom  in  Huntley,  Aberdeenshire,  Scot- 
land, in  1854,  and  at  the  age  of  twenty  went  to  Ja'maica, 
West  Indies,  in  search  of  health,  ultimately  settling  down, 
as  a  physician,  to  the  practice  of  medicine,  which  he  con- 
tinues to  the  present  date.  While  not  a  commercial  man, 
per  se,  the  fact  that  for  a  number  of  years  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  Parochial  Board,  and  the  fact  that  his  Parish 
elected  him  several  years  ago  as  its  representative  in  the 
Legislative  Council,  gives  ample  evidence  of  the  interest  he 
has  taken  in  the  progress  and  welfare,  commercial  and  other- 
wise, in  the  country  of  his  adoption.  He  is  familiar  with 
the  trade  and  its  varied  relationships  between  his  Island 
and  this  country',  having  been  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the 
United  States  at  least  once  in  every  tn-o  years  since  1874. 
Ha-ving  lectured  in  Jamaica  and  in  the  chief  cities  of  the 
United  State.s,  he  has  had  the  opportimity  of  familiarizing 
himself  with  the  characteristics  and  nature  of  our  manu- 
factories. Dr.  Johnston,  in  addition  to  his  frequent  voyages 
to  this  country  and  Europe,  has  traveled  extensively  over 
other  parts  of  the  world.  The  one  which,  perhaps,  of  all 
others,  has  helped  to  make  him  famous,  was  his  journey  across 
Central  Africa,  when  he  led  a  party  of  one  hundred  men, 
without  any  white  companion  or  second  in  command,  a  jour- 
ney of  4,500  miles  without  losing  or  causing  the  loss  of  a 
single  life,  and  without  having  fired  a  shot  in  anger  in  the 
course  of  that  long  pilgrimage,  lasting  about  two  years. 


J.  Barre  Johnston,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  Australia. 

Mr.  Johnston  was  born  in  the  North  of  Ireland,  and  is 
about  50  years  of  age.     He  had  a  thorough  business  training 


Rohert  B.  Jones,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Guayaquil,  Ecuador. 

Mr.  Jones  was  born  in  Hamilton,  Ontario,  Canada,  August 
29,  1856.     He  came  to  the  United  States  when  quite  young, 


392 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


aiid  in  1877  became  an  American  citizen.  In  1879,  he  went 
to  Ecuador  and  engaged  in  a  general  merchandise  business, 
principdly  importing  American  goods  and  exporting  Ecua- 
toriau  products.  He  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Hen- 
riquts  &  Jones  in  1884,  and  in  1888  established  the  house 
of  R.  B.  Jones.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Guayaquil  since  its  inception. 


Archag  Earagheusian,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Turkey. 

Mr.  Karagheusian  was  born  in  Constantinople,  Turkey,  in 
the  year  1870.  He  was  educated  in  the  American  Robert 
College,  and  commenced  business  in  1889,  as  an  importer  of 
Manchester  cotton  goods,  etc.,  subsequently  opening  a  branch 
office  in  Manchester.  Four  years  ago  his  firm  opened  a 
branch  house  in  New  York,  as  importers  of  oriental  rugs, 
carpets  and  mocha  coffee.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Constantinople. 


1895  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  year;  since  then  he 
has  been  partner  of  the  finn  Automobil-Fabrik  Goebel, 
KnoUer  &  Co.,  in  Vienna.  Up  to  the  present,  his  works  and 
publications  have  been  scientific  or  technical,  not  commercial. 


Carl  W.  Kilchler,  Delegate  from  the  Camera  di  Commcr- 
cio  ed  Industria,  Trieste,  Austria. 

Mr.  Kiichler  was  born  on  the  24th  of  May,  1875.  He  re- 
ceived his  early  education  in  Cassel,  Germany,  completing  his 
course  of  studies  at  the  commercial  college  "Scuola  Supe- 
riore  di  Conuncrcio  Fondazione  Revoltella,"  at  Trieste,  Aus- 
tria. Mr.  Kiichler  spent  several  year's  in  London,  Antwerp 
and  Hamburg,  where  he  studied  the  world's  trade.  He  is 
now  tlie  partner  of  the  firm  of  Kiichler  &  Co.,  Trieste,  which 
is  one  of  the  largest  wholesale  drug,  spice  and  dye  stuff  houses 
in  that  city. 


/.  M.  Keith,  Representing  the  commercial  interests  of 
Costa  Rica,  Central  America. 

Mr.  Keith  was  bom  in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  May  8,  18G.5. 
He  was  educated  in  the  Juvenile  High  School  and  the  Brook- 
lyn Polytechnic  Institute.  After  completing  his  education, 
he  spent  two  years  in  a  banking  house  in  that  city,  and  was 
connected  for  a  short  time  with  the  Northern  Pacific  Rail- 
way in  the  State  of  Washington.  In  1886  he  went  to  Costa 
Rica  to  join  his  uncle,  Mr.  Minor  C.  Keith,  who  shortly  after 
began  the  construction  of  the  Costa  Rica  Railway,  on  which 
Mr.  Keith  held  various  official  positions,  until  the  comple- 
tion of  the  railroad,  when  it  was  turned  over  to  an  English 
company.  He  then  became  the  financial  representative  of 
Mr.  Minor  C.  Keith  in  Costa  Rica,  whose  most  important  in- 
terests were  the  development  of  the  banana  growing  and  ex- 
port business  from  Costa  Rica,  subsequently  extended  to  Co- 
lombia. In  addition  to  this,  he  has  been  the  Costa  Rican 
agent  of  the  Atlas  Line  of  mail  steamers,  that  have  a  weekly 
service  to  and  from  New  York,  and,  naturally,  it  has  been 
his  personal  interest  to  further  the  extension  of  the  com- 
merce between  the  eastern  part  of  the  United  States  and 
Costa  Rica. 


A.  E.  Kemp,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  Toronto, 
Ontario. 

Mr.  Kemp  was  bom  on  August  11,  1858,  in  the  Province 
of  Quebec,  near  Montreal,  to  which  city  he  went  when  17 
years  old.  In  1885  he  entered  the  manufacturing  business 
in  Toronto,  manufacturing  all  Idnds  of  wares  made  from 
sheet  metals,  including  enanieled  wares,  etc.  He  started  as 
a  poor  hoy  and  built  the  business  up  until  it  is  now  the 
largest  of  its  kind  in  Canada.  He  is  head  of  the  Kemp  Manu- 
facturing Co.,  was  president  of  the  Canadian  Manufacturers' 
Association  in  1896,  and  is  now  president  of  the  Toronto 
Board  of  Trade. 


Richard  Knoller,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of  Aus- 
tria. 

Mr.  Knoller  was  born  in  Vienna,  Austria,  in  18G9.  He 
graduated  in  1893  from  the  Technical  Academy  (K.  K.  Tech- 
nische  Hochscliule);  wii?  instructor  at  the  same  academy 
(Constracteur  an  der  K.  K.  Techn.  Hoohsch.  in  Wien),  from 


Charles  A.  Latujlois,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade, 
Quebec,  Canada. 

Mr.  Langlois  was  bom  of  French-Canadian  parents  in  Que- 
bec, Canada,  April  3,  1854.  He  was  educated  at  the  Nor- 
mal Laval  Institution  in  Quebec.  In  18G8,  he  became  clerk 
in  a  grocery  shop,  which  position  he  held  for  three  years. 
In  1871,  he  entered  the  wholesale  grocery  house  of  Nazaire 
Turcotte,  Quebec,  becoming  in  1873  bookkeeper  in  the  same 
house  and  in  1877  manager.  In  1877,  he  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Mr.  Etienne  Paradis,  a  wealthy  capitalist  of  Quebec, 
and  started  the  wholesale  grocery  business  of  Langlois  & 
Paradis,  Quebec,  Canada.  He  was  for  many  years  a  councillor 
in  the  Quebec  Board  of  Trade,  and  is  now  one  of  the  oldest 
members  of  that  association.  For  the  last  35  years  he  has 
devoted  all  his  spare  moments  to  the  "Union  Commerciale  de 
Quebec,"  a  social  and  literary  association  admitting  merchants 
as  titulary  members  and  clerks  in  financial  and  commercial 
institutions  as  active  members.  The  success  of  this  society 
has  been  wonderful.  Mr.  Langlois  was  the  first  Corresponding 
Secretary,  was  afterward  elected  President,  and  for  ten  years 
has  been  the  Honorary  President. 


Lt.-Gen.  John  Winiburn  Laurie,  M.  P.,  Delegate  from  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  London,  England. 

Lt.-Gen.  Laurie  is  the  son  of  the  late  John  Laurie,  Esq.,  of 
Marshalls,  Essex,  M.  P.  for  Barnstable,  and  Eliza  Helen, 
daughter  of  Kenrick  Collett,  Esq.,  Master  in  Chancery.  He 
was  born  in  London  in  1835;  educated  at  Harrow,  Dresden, 
and  the  Royal  Military  College,  Sandhurst.  In  1863  he  mar- 
ried Frances,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Enos  Collins  (Halifax, 
N.  S.).  He  entered  the  Second  Queen's  Royals  in  1853,  Major 
(on  special  service  in  Canada)  December,  1861,  Major-Gen- 
eral,  1883,  and  Lientcnant-General,  1887.  He  was  twice 
wounded  in  the  Crimea,  1854-56;  served  in  the  Indian  Mutiny 
campaign,  in  the  expedition  to  the  Transvaal,  1881,  and  was 
the  second  in  command  in  the  Canadian  North  West  Rebellion 
campaign.  He  was  subsequently  appointed  Red  Cross  Com- 
missioner in  Scrvia,  and  made  a  K.  C.  of  the  Order  of  St. 
Sava,  etc.  He  was  inspecting  field  officer  when  in  Nova 
Scotia,  1862-81,  President  Central  Board  of  Agriculture,  N. 
S.,  Warden  Halifax  Council,  1880-81,  and  a  Canadian 
]\r('niber  of  Parlianu>nt,  1887-91.  lie  was  elected  a  vestry- 
man, Paddington,  1891;  and  is  a  governor  of  the  City  and 
Guilds  Institute,  etc. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  FOEEIGN  DELEGATES 


393 


Michael  A.  de  Leon,  Delegate  from  Colon,  Colombia. 

Mr.  de  Leon  was  born  in  Jamaica,  West  Indies,  on  the  21st 
of  June,  1869.  He  went  to  the  Isthmus  of  Colon  in  1888,  and 
is  principal  of  the  finn  of  M.  A.  de  Leon  &  Co.  of  Colon,  im- 
port and  export  merchants.  He  has  been  largely  engaged  in 
general  importing  business  from  Canada,  the  United  States 
and  Europe,  exporting  to  the  United  States  various  kinds  of 
Colombian  produce,  such  as  bananas,  cocoanuts,  ivory  nuts, 
tortoise  shell,  dyewoods,  etc. 


Isidor  Loeive,  Delegate  from  the  Aeltesten  der  Kaufmann.- 
schaft  der  Stadt  Berlin,  Berlin,  Germany. 

Mr.  Loewe  was  born  November  24,  1S48,  at  Heiligenstadt, 
Germany,  a  little  town  in  Thuringia.  In  1875,  he  became 
partner  of  the  firm  of  Ludwig  Loewe  &  Co.,  which  was 
founded  by  his  brother,  Ludwig  Loewe,  in  1870,  for  manu- 
facturing sewing  machines  after  the  American  system,  which 
he  had  studied  in  the  United  States.  It  was  the  first  time 
that  American  machine  tools  were  introduced  in  Germany. 
The  two  brothers  were  the  sole  managers  of  the  firm  and  ■i\"hen 
Ludwig  Loewe  died  (September  11,  1886),  Isidor  Loewe  un- 
dertook the  whole  management  and  developed  the  business 
of  the  firm  to  its  present  standing.  In  1871,  the  German 
government  decided  to  have  the  new  rifle  for  the  anny 
manufactured  with  machine  tools  constructed  by  Ludwig 
Loewe  &  Co.  From  this  time,  the  American  system  of  auto- 
matically working  machine  tools,  to  produce  interchangeable 
parts  in  great  quantity,  was  made  known  in  Germany  on  a 
large  scale.  The  imports  of  American  machine  tools  rapidly 
increased,  whilst  the  firm  of  Loewe  &  Co.  could  not  in  the 
least  satisfy  the  demand  created  for  machine  tools.  In  1887, 
Loewe  &  Co.  undertook  the  manufacture  of  rifles  and  am- 
munition for  the  German  army,  and  for  a  number  of  armies 
in  other  countries.  This  branch  of  the  business  was,  in  1897, 
consolidated  with  the  "Koln-Eottweiler  Pulverfabriken"  and 
the  "Deutsche  Metallpatrononfabrik"  of  Karlsruhe,  into  a 
large  trust  company  called  "Deutsche  Waffen-und  Munitions- 
fabriken,"  which  is  the  largest  enterprise  of  the  kind  in  the 
world.  In  1892,  Loewe  &  Co.  established  an  electrical  branch 
in  Berlin  in  connection  with  the  Thomson-Houston  Electric 
Co.,  of  Boston,  under  the  corporation  title  of  the  "Union 
Elektricitats-Gesellsehaft"  that  is  now  working  with  a  capital 
of  18  million  marks,  and  assisted  by  a  special  finance  com- 
pany with  50  million  marks  paid  up  capital. 


eral  times,  crossing  the  Atlantic  in  one  of  his  father's  vessels. 
In  1894:,  as  a  representative  of  the  ScandinaAian  Wood  Pulp 
Makers'  Association,  he  traveled  through  Canada  and  many 
of  the  States  to  study  the  American  wood  pulp  and  paper 
industry.  In  1898,  he  again  visited  America  and  traveled 
through  Newfoundland,  Nova  Scotia,  Canada  and  the  Eastern 
States.  The  firm,  Chr.  B.  Lorentzen,  has  an  export  busi- 
ness in  all  grades  of  wood  pulps  for  paper  making  and  is  in- 
terested in  various  wood  pulp  mills.  Mr.  Lorentzen  is  also 
interested  in  the  firm,  Lorentzen  &  Wettre,  which  carries  on 
a  commission  business  in  all  classes  of  machinery.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  a  rubber  mill,  and  is 
also  connected  with  a  company  dealing  in  plumbers'  and  san- 
itary supplies.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has  held  the  posi- 
tion of  Secretary  of  the  Norwegian  section  of  the  Scandi- 
navian Wood  Pulp  Makers'  Association,  and  has  also  been 
a  member  of  the  Board  of  that  Association.  At  present,  he 
is  a  member  of  the  Boards  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
of  the  Export  Association  of  Drammen.  He  has  written  a 
number  of  articles  in  the  principal  Norwegian  newspapers, 
and  has  also  issued  reports  especially  on  questions  relating 
to  the  wood  pulp  industries  of  the  world. 


Dr.  Ileinricli  Luckmann,  Delegate  from  the  Handels  und 
Gewerbckammer  fur  Krain,  Laibach,  Austria. 

Dr.  Luckmann  was  born  at  Jauerburg,  Ober-Krain,  Austria, 
on  the  1st  of  October,  1873.  He  studied  law  and  politics  at 
Berlin,  Munich,  Paris  and  Vienna,  and  received  the  degree  of 
Doctor  of  Law  in  1896.  Having  attended  the  Mining  Aca- 
demy at  Leoben,  Austria,  for  three  years,  he  passed  the  ex- 
amination as  engineer.  At  present  he  holds  the  position  of 
engineer  in  the  United  Konigs-Laura  Smelting  Works  in 
Prussian  Silesia. 


JosJnia  L.  Maduro,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Panama,  Colombia. 

Mr.  Maduro  was  born  on  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas,  Danish 
West  Indies,  in  February,  1862.  Between  1876  and  1879,  he 
served  his  apprenticeship  at  a  wholesale  dry  goods  store  in 
Alajuela,  Costa  Rica.  In  July,  1879,  he  joined  the  business 
of  his  father  in  Panama,  and  his  clerkship  ceased  in  January, 
1884,  when  he  was  admitted  as  an  industrial  partner  of  the 
firm  then  kno\\Ti  as  "JIaduro  e  Ilijos."  The  only  public 
position  he  ever  held  was  the  Vice-Presidency  of  the  Panama 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  1893. 


Juan  Antonio  Loredo,  Delegate  from  the  Sociedad  Nacional 
de  Mineria,  Lima,  Peru. 

Mr.  Loredo  was  born  in  Lima,  Peru,  in  1869.  He  entered 
the  Engineering  School  of  Lima  in  the  year  1885,  obtaining 
the  diploma  of  jMining  Engineer  in  1890.  Since  that  time 
he  has  followed  that  profession  in  his  countrj',  having  been 
named  Professor  of  Assays  at  the  Engineering  School  in  the 
year  1898.  He  lives  in  Lima,  and  \isited  the  United  States  for 
the  first  time  to  participate  in  the  International  Commercial 
Congress  of  1899. 


Christian  B.  Lorentzen,  Delegate  from  the  Drammens  Han- 
delsforening,  Drammen,  Norway. 

Mr.  Lorentzen  was  born  on  the  21st  of  September,  1863, 
at  Drammen,  Nonvay.  After  having  graduated  from  the 
University  in  Christiania,  where  he  studied  law,  he  entered 
the  office  of  his  father,  who  was  a  shipowner  and  interested 
in  various  industries.    When  a  boy,  he  visited  America  sev- 


Carl  Bernhard  Marheineche,  Delegate  from  the  German 
Government. 

Mr.  Marheinecke  was  born  in  Bonn,  Prussia.  He  studied  at 
the  University  of  Bonn,  and  entered  the  judicial  service. 
After  haing  passed  the  examination  as  assessor,  he  was  sent 
to  Alsace-Lorraine,  where  he  was  appointed  judge.  From 
1884  to  1887,  he  was  judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in  Metz 
with  the  title  of  Landgerichtsrath.  In  1887  he  entered  the 
service  of  the  German  Foreign  Office  at  Berlin  and  was  sent 
as  Consul  of  the  Empire  to  New  York,  from  there  he  was 
ordered  in  the  same  capacity  to  Montevideo,  Urugua}',  and  in 
1898  to  Philadelphia. 


William  Marshall,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Colombo,  Ceylon. 

Mr.  Marshall  was  born  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland,  February 
9,  1861,  his  father  being  the  late  David  Marshall,  chartered 


S94 


PROCEEDINGS  OP  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


accountaBt  in  that  city.  He  was  educated  at  the  Royal  High 
School,  Edinburgh,  aud  after  leaving  college  served  an  ap- 
prenticeship of  four  years  with  a  mercantile  firm  in  Leith, 
Scotland,  after  wliich  he  was  engaged  mth  a  firm  of  East 
India  merchants  in  Loudon.  After  a  trip  through  the  East, 
he  came  to  America  in  1890,  aud  has  since  been  engaged  in 
the  coffee  and  tea  business  in  this  country.  In  1896,  in  con- 
junction with  his  brother,  he  commenced  business  as  a  tea 
aud  coffee  importer  aud  jobber,  uuder  the  style  of  "Marshall 
Bros,"  in  the  City  of  Philadelpliia. 


John  Mason,  Delegate  from  the  Associagao  Commercial, 
Funchal,  Madeira. 

Mr.  Mason  was  born  in  183i  in  the  City  of  San  Juan,  Porto 
liico,  of  American  parents,  being  a  direct  descendant  of  Cap- 
tain Hugh  Mason,  who  settled  in  Watertown,  New  England, 
in  1631.  His  father,  John  Mason,  in  connection  with  a 
brother,  Sidney  Mason,  established  the  first  American  com- 
mercial firm  in  Porto  Rico  about  1S2-1,  uuder  the  name  of 
Mason  &  Co.,  subsequently  known  as  Mason  &  Latimer  and 
Latimer,  Eernandez  &  Co.  John  Mason,  the  father,  retired 
from  business  in  Porto  Rico  and  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1841, 
establishing  the  firm  of  Mason  &  Kirkland,  afterwards  styled 
John  Mason  &  Co.,  whose  business  extended  through  South 
America,  the  West  and  East  Indies,  being  among  the  largest 
importers  of  their  products  in  the  United  States.  The  pre- 
sent John  Mason  became  the  junior  partner  of  the  firm  in 
1860,  and  from  the  year  1856  to  1865  spent  most  of  his  time 
as  the  representative  of  the  firm  in  South  America  and  the 
West  Indies.  The  Emperor  Dom  Pedro  appointed  him  Vice 
Consul  for  Brazil  at  Pliiladelphia  in  1877,  w-hich  position  he 
filled  until  Febniary,  1899,  when  he  resigned,  being  subse- 
quently appointed  by  the  King  of  Portugal,  Vice  Consul  for 
Portugal,  which  position  he  still  holds.  Mr.  Mason  retired 
from  active  commercial  life  in  1887,  upon  the  dissolution  of 
the  firm  of  Mason,  Treant  &  Co.,  of  which  he  was  a  member. 


J.  Bafael  Mata,  Representing  the  commercial  interests  of 
Costa  Rica,  Central  America. 

Mr.  Mata  is  an  importing  and  exporting  merchant  of  San 
Jose,  Costa  Rica,  Central  America,  where  at  the  age  of  22, 
he  founded  a  commission  house  in  partnership  with  Mr.  J.  B. 
Calvo,  now  Minister  of  Costa  Rica  at  Washington.  Following 
his  natural  avocation,  he  has  been  successfully  engaged  in  his 
countiy  in  all  kinds  of  commercial  pursuits.  His  principal 
line  of  business  is  the  exportation  of  coffee,  dealing  mainly  in 
fine  kinds  prepared  with  improved  machinery  and  the  greatest 
care.  In  the  importing  business,  Mr.  Mata  has  devoted  him- 
self specially  to  the  introduction  of  furniture  and  all  kinds  of 
articles  for  house  decoration  and  home  furnishing.  His  store 
is  the  only  one  of  its  class  not  only  in  Costa  Rica,  but  in  all 
Central  America.  He  represents  several  European  houses  in 
Costa  Rica.  While  in  Philadelphia  as  a  delegate  to  the 
International  Commercial  Congress,  and  with  the  interest 
of  fulfilling  his  mission  in  a  manner  suitable  to  the  aims 
of  the  Congress,  he  undertook  the  creation  of  a  new  depart- 
ment in  his  1)usiness  in  the  form  of  a  permanent  exposi- 
tion of  American  products.  This  idea,  which  has  been 
favorably  received,  he  expects  to  put  into  effect  later  on.  Mr. 
Mata  has  filled  the  following  offices:  Representative  in  1890; 
Member  of  the  Finance  Committee  in  the  Chamber;  Council- 
man in  San  Jose  in  1885  and  1898,  and  cliarter  nienibor  and 
promoter  of  the  Mercantile  and  Agricultural  Circle  of  San 
Jose. 


George  McLagan,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  Strat- 
ford, Ontario,  Canada. 

Mr.  McLagan  was  born  in  Huron  County,  Ontario,  Canada, 
on  February  24,  1863,  learning  and  working  at  the  trade  of 
cabinet  maker  for  a  number  of  years.  For  the  past  thirteen 
years  he  has  been  engaged  in  tlie  manufacture  of  furniture 
in  Stratford.  For  two  years  previous  to  September  of  this 
year  he  was  President  of  the  Canadian  Furniture  Manufac- 
turers' Association.  Tw'O  years  ago,  a  number  of  furniture 
manuiactiu'ers  organized  the  Furniture  Manufacturers'  Ex- 
porting Company,  of  Ontario,  Canada,  and  Mr.  McLagan  was 
appointed  Vice-President.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Stratford  Board  of  Trade  for  several  years  and  is  now  Vice- 
President. 


Delegate  from 


S.  Edwin  Megargee, 
Greece. 

Mr.  Megargee  was  born  in  Philadelphia  on 
admitted  to  the  Philadelphia  Bar  in  1869;  a 
Consul  of  Greece  October,  189-1,  and  Consul 
President  of  the  Oral  Home  for  Training  in 
Children,  and  Director  of  the  Equitable 
The  degree  nf  L.L.  1).  was  conferred  upjn 
Villa  Nova  College. 


the   Government   of 


August  6,  1846; 
ppointed  Acting 

in  1899.    He  is 

Speech  of  Deaf 
Trust   Company. 

him  in  1898  by 


Henry  Miles,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  Montreal, 
Canada. 

Mr.  Miles  was  born  at  Lenuoxville,  Quebec,  Canada,  in 
1854,  and  received  his  education  at  liarly  Bishops  College 
School  at  that  place,  and  afterwards  at  the  High  School  and 
Laval  University,  Quebec.  He  is  the  son  of  the  late  Dr.  H.  H. 
Miles,  the  Canadian  Historian  and  Superintendent  of  Educa- 
tion for  the  Province  of  Quebec.  He  has  been  engaged  in  the 
drug  business  for  many  years,  and  is  now  managing  partner 
in  tlie  firm  of  Leeming,  Miles  &  Co.,  of  Montreal.  This  firm 
repi-esents  Foreign  Proprietors  in  the  Canadian  market  and 
does  an  extensive  business  also  in  drugs,  chemicals  and  drug- 
gist's sundries.  Mr.  Miles'  labors  in  the  interest  of  commerce 
have  been  especially  in  connection  with  the  Canadian  Tariff 
and  its  administration.  He  conducted  an  agitation  for  years 
for  "uniformity,"  which  has  now  resulted  satisfactorily  to 
importers.  This  effort  brought  him  to  prominence  in  his 
country  and  led  to  his  selection  as  a  member  of  the  Execiitive 
Council  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  of  which  he  was  subsequently 
elected  Treasurer.  He  is  now  Vice-I"*rcsidcnt  of  that  organi- 
zation, which  is  composed  of  1200  of  Montreal's  leading 
merchants.  l\Ir.  Miles  is  a  supporter  of  the  pre.sent  Liberal  ad- 
ministration, and  personally  favors  a  tariff  for  revenue  pur- 
poses only.  He  is  a  member  of  the  S3Tiod  (Anglican)  of  Mon- 
treal, and  warden  of  one  of  the  large  churches  of  that  city. 


James  Milne,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Brisbane,  Queensland,  Australia. 

Mr.  Milne  was  born  in  Glasgow,  Scotland,  in  December, 
1856,  of  Scotch  parentage.  He  left  for  the  Colonies  at  the 
early  age  of  7,  and  was  educated  at  the  High  School,  Brisbane, 
Australia.  He  entered  the  office  of  Messrs.  Smcllie  &  Co.,  in 
1872,  as  junior  clerk,  and  has  since  been  continuously  con- 
nected with  the  above  firm,  being  the  managing  partner  for 
the  last  sixteen  years.  The  firm  is  largely  interested  in  agri- 
cultural implements,  general  machinei-j',  raw  materials  of  all 
kinds,  in  fact  in  hardware  in  all  its  branches,  so  that  tlic  whole 
of  Mr.  ]\Iilnc's  time  has  been  spent  in  commerce.  Outside  of 
business  he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  Chamber  of  Com- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  FOREIGN  DELEGATES 


396 


merce,  filling  various  positions,  including  that  of  Chairman. 
For  some  years  past  he  has  been  one  of  the  Directors  of  the 
Queensland  National  Bank,  the  largest  bank  in  Queensland, 
acting  as  bankers  to  the  Queensland  Government. 


since  1897,  and  still  holds  the  position,  and  is  also  a  director 
of  the  Bureau  of  American  Republics  at  Wasliington,  D.  C. 


George  Mitchell,  M.  P.  P.,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of 
Trade,  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia. 

Mr.  Mitchell  was  born  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia,  on  June 
13,  1846;  was  eclucated  at  the  Halifax  Grammar  School,  and 
in  18G2  entered  the  office  of  G.  &  A.  Mitchell  &  Co.,  West 
India  and  general  conunission  merchants.  In  18G8,  the 
above  firm  having  been  dissolved,  the  business  was  continued 
by  his  father,  the  senior  partner,  and  himself  under  the  style 
of  G.  P.  Mitchell  &  Son,  and  with  the  addition  of  his  brothers 
and  his  son  at  various  times,  has  since  been  known  as  G.  P. 
Mitchell  &  Sons.  Mr.  Mitchell  has  held  the  following  posi- 
tions: Director  and  President  Merchant's  Marine  Insurance 
Company;  Director  in  Nova  Scotia  Marine  Insurance  Com- 
pany; Auditor  of  Nova  Scotia  Sugar  Refinery;  Director  Hali- 
fax Gas  Light  Company;  Director  Acadia  Fire  Insurance 
Company;  Director  Confederation  Life  Assurance  Co.,  Tor- 
onto; Director  Union  Bank  of  Halifax;  President  Board  of 
Trade,  Halifax;  the  last  four  positions  he  still  holds.  He  was 
appointed  by  the  Government  of  Nova  Scotia,  Chairman  of  a 
Commission  to  examine  into  and  report  upon  the  existing 
system  of  municipal  taxation,  and  to  formulate  a  new  system, 
if  considered  advisable.  In  1896  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Nova  Scotia  Legislature  to  represent  the  County  of  Hali- 
fax, in  the  Liberal  interest.  He  represented  the  Board  of 
Trade  of  Halifax  at  the  Cabot  Celebration  and  meeting  of  the 
British  Association,  held  at  Bristol,  England,  in  1898. 


T.  Mizutany,  Delegate  from  the  Japan  Central  Tea  Asso- 
ciation, Tokyo,  Japan. 

Mr.  Mizutany  was  born  on  September  10,  1872,  in  the  pre- 
fecture of  Chiba,  Japan.  He  is  a  representative  of  the  Chi- 
cago branch  of  the  Japan  Central  Tea  Association,  and  Man- 
ager of  the  Japanese  Tea  Garden,  Chicago,  111. 


Prudencio  de  Murguiondo,  Delegate  from  the  Government 
of  Uruguay. 

Mr.  Murguiondo  was  born  in  Buenos  Aires,  January  14, 
1831,  of  Spanish  parents.  During  the  Rosas  War  in  Argen- 
tina, in  1840,  he  was  sent  with  his  younger  brother  to  the 
United  States  to  be  educated.  In  1849,  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  an  old  Spanish  firm  in  New  York,  engaged  in  the 
Mediterranean  trade,  and  in  1853,  went  to  Baltimore  repre- 
senting that  firm.  In  18.54,  he  was  appointed  Vice-Consul  for 
Uruguay;  in  1856,  he  was  appointed  Consul  for  valuable 
services  rendered  his  Government;  and  in  1891,  was  again 
promoted  to  Consul  General  for  like  services.  He  has  been  in 
the  employ  of  the  Government  of  Uruguay  for  about  45  years. 
In  1893,  he  represented  Uruguay  as  the  President  of  Uru- 
guay's Commission  to  the  AVorld's  Columbian  Exposition.  In 
1897,  he  was  Uruguay's  delegate  to  the  Postal  Congress  held 
at  Washington,  being  at  the  same  time  delegate  to  the  Con- 
vention of  Latin-American  delegates,  held  by  the  Philadel- 
phia Commercial  Museum.  In  November,  1899,  he  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  Consular  service  of  Uruguay  in  the  Island  of 
Cuba.  He  has  been  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Foreign 
Advisory  Baard  of  the  Philadelphia   Commercial  Museum 


Dr.  John  A.  Myers,  Delegate  from  the  Asociacion  Saiitrera 
de  Propaganda,  Iquique,  Peru. 

Dr.  Myers  was  born  upon  a  farm  near  AVest  Liberty,  West 
Virginia,  in  May,  1853.  After  a  thorough  college  education 
in  this  country,  he  spent  three  and  a  half  years  in  post  gradu- 
ate work  in  the  universities  in  Germany,  notably  Berlin, 
Gottingen  and  Breslau,  devoting  his  vacations  to  extensive 
traveling  upon  the  Continent,  visiting  Egypt,  Palestine  and 
portions  of  Turkey  and  Greece.  Dr.  Mj'ers  is  a  professional 
chemist,  having  after  his  return  from  his  studies  in  Europe, 
been  elected  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Kentucky  University. 
From  that  institution,  he  was  called  to  be  Professor  of 
Chemistry  at  the  Mississippi  Agricultural  and  Mechanical 
College  and  State  Chemist.  He  built  one  of  the  largest 
chemical  laboratories  in  the  South.  He  has  done  much  to- 
wards the  development  of  the  fertilizer  industry;  also  con- 
siderable work  on  the  methods  of  refining  cotton  seed  oil, 
especially  with  a  view  to  preparing  it  as  a  substitute  for  olive 
oil,  and  to  be  employed  in  the  m;inufacture  of  soap.  In  1888 
he  was  selected  by  the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  West  Virginia 
University  to  organize  the  West  Virginia  Agricultural  Experi- 
ment Station  and  act  as  its  Director,  in  which  capacity  he 
served  until  1898.  He  was  also  connected  with  its  early  organi- 
zation, and  has  occupied  various  official  positions  in  the  As- 
sociation of  Agricultural  Colleges  and  Experiment  Stations  of 
this  country,  which  has  led  to  tlie  finest  development  of  agri- 
cultural science  and  scientific  research  in  the  world.  He  was 
one  of  the  organizers  and  has  served  as  president  of  the  Asso- 
ciation of  Oificial  Agrictiltural  Chemists  of  this  country,  an 
organization  whose  scientific  labors  are  recognized  throughout 
the  scientific  world.  In  1898,  Dr.  Myers  took  an  experi- 
mental shipment  of  horses  to  Germany,  with  a  view  to  study- 
ing the  possibilities  of  developing  the  demand  for  American 
horses  in  Germany,  and  of  accpiiring  information  in  regard  to 
the  demands  of  that  country  for  American  horses,  and  ascer- 
taining the  kinds  of  horses  that  should  be  shipped.  He  took 
with  him  letters  of  introduction  from  Secretary  of  Agrieulttire 
James  Wilson  to  American  officials  in  Gemiany,  and  liis  re- 
port was  published  by  the  L^nited  States  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. \ATiile  in  Germany,  he  received  his  appointment  as 
delegate  in  charge  of  the  Propaganda  for  Nitrate  of  Soda 
for  the  United  States  of  America,  and  has  since  had  assigned 
to  him,  besides  the  LTnited  States  and  its  colonies,  the  Pro- 
vince of  Canada;  it  being  his  business  to  look  after  an  exten- 
sion of  the  knowledge  of  the  value,  uses  and  ccmsumption 
of  nitrate  of  soda  for  agricultural  purposes  in  these  countries. 


Joseph  Nicolas,    Delegate  from  the  Government  of  Haiti. 

Mr.  Nicolas  was  born  in  the  city  of  Aux  Caves,  Haiti, 
February  17,  18G2.  He  is  connected  by  family  ties  with  the 
late  President  Salomon,  who,  next  to  Toussaint  L'Overture, 
is  universally  considered  as  the  ablest  statesman  that  Haiti 
has  produced.  Mr.  Nicolas  was  educated  in  the  National 
Lycee  (College)  of  his  native  city.  After  his  graduation  in 
1882,  he  was  selected  as  teacher  in  the  public  schools,  and  a 
few  months  later  was  promoted  to  a  professorship  in  the  High 
School  for  girls.  In  1886,  Mr.  Nicolas  was  offered  the  su- 
perintendency  of  schools  either  at  Jaemel  or  at  Jeremie. 
He  declined  the  proffered  honor,  preferring  to  accept  the 
minor  position  as  assistant  superintendent  of  the  schools  of 
Aux  Cayes.     During  his  several  years'  connection  in  this 


m 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


capacity  with  the  public  school  system  of  his  country,  he 
devoted  himself  most  seduloiisly  to  its  improvement  and 
advancement  in  every  sense.  In  1892  Jlr.  Nicolas  was  se- 
lected by  President  Ilyppolite  to  be  Secretary  of  the  Haitian 
Legation  either  at  Madrid  or  at  Berlin.  The  appointment 
came  to  Jlr.  Nicolas  altogether  unexpectedly,  but  after  hav- 
ing accepted  it,  he  was  surprised  to  receive  the  appointment 
to  become  Secretary  of  the  Haitian  Legation  at  Washington, 
and  in  this  capacity  he  served  four  years.  Mr.  Nicolas  is, 
however,  much  pleased  to  have  come  to  this  country,  and 
since  here,  he  has  had  ample  opportunity  to  obser^-e  and 
study  Anglo-Saxon  methods  and  acti\dty.  In  1896,  while 
still  serving  as  Secretary  of  the  Legation  at  Washington,  he 
was  appointed  Consul-General  of  Haiti  for  the  United  States. 
In  this  position,  he  is  devoting  himself  wholly  to  the  devel- 
opment of  the  commerce  between  Haiti  and  the  United 
States,  and  has  been  successful  in  bringing  many  Haitian 
firms  in  contact  with  American  manufacturers. 


SJiaw  T.  Nishimura,  Delegate  from  the  Japan  Central 
Tea  Association,  Tokyo,  Japan. 

Mr.  Nishimura  was  bom  at  Yokohama,  Japan,  on  the  19tli 
of  November,  1864.  In  1884,  when  he  was  through  with  his 
regular  college  education,  he  entered  into  the  tea  business  in 
which  his  father  had  been  engaged  since  the  opening  of 
the  port  of  Yokohama  to  foreigners. 


Gen.  Emilio  Nunez,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Cuba. 

Gen.  Nunez  was  bom  in  Sagua,  Island  of  Cuba,  on  the 
plantation  San  Francisco,  December  28,  1855,  of  Cuban 
parents.  At  the  age  of  17,  he  enlisted  in  the  revolutionary 
army  under  Brigadier  Jose  Miguel  Ramos.  During  the  pe- 
riod of  invasion,  he  was  promoted  from  aide-de-camp  of  Gen- 
eral Reeve  (El  Inglecito)  to  his  staff,  and  advanced  as  far 
as  Caliineto,  taking  part  in  all  engagements  of  that  column. 
After  the  death  of  General  Reeve,  Nuiiez,  who  at  that  time 
was  a  lieutenant,  was  given  the  command  of  guerrillas,  com- 
posed of  dispersed  troops  of  the  Colon  brigade,  and  operated 
in  the  Sagua  district  until  the  peace  of  Zanjon,  in  1879. 
With  his  enviable  reputation  as  a  soldier,  gained  through  Ms 
courage,  his  strategic  ability  and  his  gi'eat  disposition  to  com- 
mand, his  only  aim  was  to  fan  anew  the  flames  of  war  for 
the  independence  of  his  country.  After  long  and  difficult 
preparations,  constantly  rimning  the  risk  of  being  assassi- 
nated l)y  the  rural  guards,  and  after  suffering  imprisonment 
in  Sagua  and  in  Havana,  he  started  an  insurrection  on  the 
night  of  November  12,  1879,  in  San  Diego  de  Niguas  and 
operated  over  the  entire  district  of  Sagua,  often  defeating 
the  Spaniards,  although  thousands  of  troops  were  sent  against 
him.  When  the  war  ended  in  the  east  of  the  Island,  Nuiiez 
was  the  only  commander  in  arms,  and  on  this  account  was 
obliged  to  capitulate  and  did  so  on  the  farm  Abreu,  in  the 
Calabazar  of  Sagua  in  December,  1880,  being  at  that  time 
a  colonel  in  the  army.  In  1881,  he  returned  to  Cuba,  but 
two  hours  after  his  landing  in  Havana  he  was  expelled  from 
the  country.  In  1883,  he  again  sailed  for  the  Island,  dis- 
guised as  a  sailor,  on  board  a  small  schooner,  but  on  being 
denounced,  the  Spaniards  took  him  from  the  ship,  and  would 
have  executed  him,  this  being  the  order  given  them,  but  for 
the  intervention  of  Captain  General  Sponda,  who  was  moved 
by  the  representations  of  Colonel  Jose  Manuel  Nunez,  a 
brother  of  Emilio.  He  was  imprisoned  in  Santa  Clara,  and 
later  in   Havana's  Morro  and   Castillo   del  Principe,   until, 


through  the  efforts  of  the  American  Consul,  he  was  liberated, 
and  then  expelled  eight  months  after  his  imprisonment. 
After  amnesty  was  proclaimed,  he  engaged  in  the  wholesale 
tobacco  business,  and  succeeded  in  establishing  an  important 
firm  in  Pliiladelphia,  his  adopted  home.  He  was  also  a 
student  at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  graduated  in 
dental  surgei-y.  He  took  a  most  important  part  in  the  Gomez- 
Maceo  uprising  of  1885,  and  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Cuban  Revolutionary  Party.  At  the  beginning  of  the  War  of 
Independence,  1895,  he  at  once  offered  his  services  to  his 
country  and  was  api)ointed  Chief  of  the  Department  of  Ex- 
peditions. He  succeeded  in  bringing  thirteen  expeditions  to 
Cuba  during  the  Revolution  and  four  during  the  Spanish- 
American  war.  On  account  of  these  expeditions,  the  Ameri- 
can authorities  brought  thirty-one  different  charges  against 
him.  For  all  his  services — which  are  many  and  very  valuable 
— the  Cuban  Government  promoted  him  successively  to  a 
Brigadier  and  to  a  General  of  Division.  'Wlien  peace  was 
proclaimed  between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  he  returned 
to  Philadelphia  to  again  attend  to  his  private  business. 
During  the  sessions  of  the  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress, he  received  news  of  his  appointment  as  Civil  Governor 
of  the  Province  of  Havana,  Cuba. 


Malsuo  Ol-ada,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Kumamoto,  Japan. 

Mr.  Okada  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  for  the  pre- 
fecture of  Kumamoto  for  three  years  (for  which  reason  he 
was  asked  to  represent  the  Kumamoto  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce at  the  Commercial  Congress);  was  then  in  the  Japan- 
ese Government  service,  first  in  the  Navy  Department  and 
then  in  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce,  until 
he  was  offered  the  position  of  vice-manager  in  the  Kan  Sai 
Trading  Co.,  Kyoto,  Japan,  where  he  had  charge  of  the  im- 
port department.  He  came  to  the  city  of  New  York  in  August 
of  last  year,  to  take  charge  of  the  export  department  of  the 
firm  of  Y.  Wooyeno  &  Co.,  which  is  a  branch  house  of  the 
Kan  Sai  Trading  Co. 


Alfred  J.  Ostheimer,  Delegate  from  the  Imperial  Japanese 
Government. 

Mr.  Ostheimer  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  in  1845;  educated 
here  and  in  Europe;  and  has  been  largely  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile pursuits  as  an  importer  and  exporter,  having  succeeded 
the  old  firm  of  Ostheimer  and  Woodward  in  1872,  and  now 
being  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  export  commission 
houses  in  this  country.  The  finn  of  Ostheimer  Brothers 
imports  and  exports  wares  from  and  to  all  parts  of  the  world, 
and  has  its  own  offices  in  many  of  the  large  cities.  Mr. 
Ostheimer  was,  in  the  course  of  business,  brought  into  fre- 
Cjuent  contact  with  the  Empire  of  Japan.  He  is  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Philadelphia,  and  is  identified  with  almost  all  of 
the  enterprises  which  have  made  this  city  so  well  known  dur- 
ing the  past  twenty-five  vear.s.  He  was  connected  with  the 
Paris  Exposition  in  1889.  On  September  13,  1898,  he  re- 
ceived from  His  Imperial  JIajesty  the  Emperor  of  Austria 
the  Imperial  Order  of  the  Iron  Crown,  and  on  May  4,  1899, 
received  from  His  Imperial  Majesty  the  Emperor  of  Japan 
the  Order  of  the  Rising  Sun.  In  1876,  at  the  Centennial 
Exposition,  he  had  charge  of  the  Austrian  Department,  and 
after  that  was  a])i)oiiiled  Imperial  and  iJoyal  Austro-lTun- 
garian  Consul  at  Philadelphia,  which  position  he  still  holds. 
He  also  holds  (lie  pisition  of  Honorary  Japanese  Consul  at 
Philadelpliia,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1897. 


BIOGEAPHIES  OF  FOEEIGN  DELEGATES 


397 


Eahe  Otani,  Delegate  from  the  Japanese  Traders'  Society, 
Tokyo,  Japan,  and  the  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Tokyo  and 
Yokohama,  Japan. 

■  Mr.  Otani  -n-as  bom  December,  1843,  in  Miye  Prefecture, 
Japan.  He  has  the  title  of  Kahe  Otani,  Fifth  Degree  of 
Merit.  He  is  connected  with  the  following:  Member  of  the 
High  Council  of  Agriculture,  Commerce  and  Industry;  Presi- 
dent Chamber  of  Commerce,  Yokohama;  President  Central 
Board  of  Tea  Traders'  Guild;  President  Yokohama  Educa- 
tion Society;  Vice-Chairman  of  the  Japan  Traders^  Society; 
President  Kanagawa  headquarters  (Gonikwai)  of  Japanese 
Business  Association;  President  Yokohama  Board  of  the  Cen- 
tral Tea  Association;  Director  Tokyo  Fire  Insurance  Co.; 
President  Seventy-fourth  Bank  of  Yokohama;  President  Yo- 
kohama Savings  Bank;  President  Japan  Tea-firing  Co.,  Ltd.; 
President  Formosa  Trading  Co.,  Ltd.  He  is  among  the  per- 
sons who  pay  the  highest  income  tax  in  Japan. 


Dr.  E.  Pistor,  Delegate  from  the  Handels-und-Gewerbe- 
kammer,  Graz,  Austria. 

Dr.  Pistor  was  bom  August  24,  1873,  in  Graz,  Styria,  Aus- 
tria. In  1893,  he  entered  the  University,  where  he  studied 
philosophy  and  law.  During  his  stay  at  the  University,  he 
traveled  in  Italy  and  Switzerland  at  various  times,  in  order 
to  complete  his  studies.  On  January  1,  1898,  he  entered 
the  office  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Graz,  of  which  he 
had  the  entire  management  for  five  months,  on  account  of 
illness  of  the  Secretary.  During  this  period  and  afterwards 
he  represented  the  said  Chamber  at  various  conferences  in 
the  Ministry,  as  well  as  at  the  Congress  of  Secretaries  of 
Austrian  Chambers  of  Commerce  at  Trieste. 


John  G.  Purdon,  Delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Shanghai,  China. 

Mr.  Purdon  was  bom  in  Philadelphia  in  1834.  His  father, 
John  Purdon,  was  Counselor  at  Law,  member  of  the  State 
Legislature,  and  author  of  "Purdon's  Digest."  Before  he 
was  eighteen  years  of  age,  he  went  to  Canton,  China,  in  a 
sailing  vessel  consigned  to  his  brother,  and  from  that  time 
until  1893  (with  occasional  visits  home),  he  resided  in  Can- 
ton, Hong  Kong,  Fuchau  and  Shanghai,  as  a  merchant. 
From  1867  until  his  return  home  in  1893,  he  resided  in 
Shanghai,  engaged  in  the  export  of  tea  and  silk  to  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  and  the  import  of  cotton  goods 
from  those  countries.  He  was  several  times  Chairman  of  the 
Shanghai  General  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and  took  great  in- 
terest in  all  movements  that  would  tend  to  the  advantage  of 
the  trade  of  the  port.  He  was  also  Chairman  or  one  of  the 
Directors  of  a  number  of  the  public  commercial  companies 
of  this  place  and  was  several  times  elected  Chairman  of  the 
Shanghai  Municipal  Council. 


as  Plenipotentiary  from  his  country,  to  negotiate  and  sign 
the  commercial  and  navigation  treaty  with  the  German  Em- 
pire, which  treaty  is  still  in  force.  This  treaty  was  the  first 
for  the  re-establishment  of  diplomatic  relations  between  Mex- 
ico and  Europe.  In  1886,  he  negotiated  and  signed,  in  the 
same  capacity,  the  Commercial  and  Navigation  Treaty  be- 
tween Mexico  and  France.  The  French  Government  deco- 
eorated  him  with  the  cross  of  an  Officer  of  the  Legion  of 
Honor.  In  1890,  he  was  nominated  Financial  Agent  of 
Mexico  to  London,  remaining  there  until  1892.  In  that  city 
he  effected  the  emission  of  the  loan  of  £6,000,000  destined  for 
subventions  for  railroads.  As  an  attorney  for  the  firm  of  S. 
Pearson  &  Son,  of  London,  he  supervised  the  contracts  for 
the  great  work  of  draining  the  valley  of  Mexico;  for  the 
works  at  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz,  which  are  in  course  of  ter- 
mination; and  for  the  works  at  the  ports  of  Coatzacsalcos  and 
Salina  Cruz,  which  will  be  started  in  the  coming  months. 
On  the  completion  of  these  last  two  enterprises,  the  pass 
through  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec  will  be  a  fact  highly 
beneficial  for  the  trade  of  the  whole  world. 


Genaro  Baigosa,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of  Mexico. 

Mr.  Eaigosa  was  born  in  the  city  of  Zacatecas,  capital  of 
the  State  of  the  same  name,  Eepublic  of  Mexico,  on  Decem- 
ber 2,  1847.  He  studied  at  the  College  of  St.  Ildefonso,  in 
the  City  of  Mexico,  and  graduated  there  as  a  lawyer  on  Jan- 
uary 2,  1870.  At  the  age  of  25  years,  he  was  elected  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Legislature  from  San  Luis  Potosi,  and  from  the 
age  of  28  until  the  present  time  has  been  a  Senator  in  the 
Congress  of  the  Mexican  Union.     In  1884,  he  was  nominated 


William  Pember  Reeves,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
New  Zealand. 

Mr.  Eeeves  was  born  in  New  Zealand,  and  entered  public 
life  in  that  country  about  a  dozen  years  ago.  From  1891  to 
1896,  he  held  the  positions  of  Minister  of  Education  and 
Minister  for  Labor  in  the  New  Zealand  Cabinet,  and  had 
charge  of  w^hat  are  known  as  the  Labor  Laws,  that  is  to  say, 
the  Code  of  Enactments  treating  with  the  relations  of  em- 
ployers and  employes.  Perhaps  the  most  widely  known  of 
these  is  the  one  making  arbitration  compulsory  in  conflicts 
between  trade  unions  and  employers  of  labor.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  1896,  he  resigned  his  position  in  the  New  Zealand 
Government,  in  order  to  take  up  the  post  of  Agent  General 
for  the  Colony  in  London,  which  he  has  since  held.  He  has 
recently  been  appointe*d  to  represent  his  Colony  on  the  Im- 
perial Board  of  Delegates  set  up  by  England,  Canada  and 
Australasia,  to  provide  for  the  construction  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean  cable  from  Vancouver  to  Australia  and  New  Zealand. 
He  has  done  something  in  the  way  of  writing,  his  principal 
book  being  "The  Long'White  Cloud,"  a  descriptive  history  of 
New  Zealand.  This  has  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  hailed 
both  in  England  and  New  Zealand,  as  the  standard  work 
on  the  country. 


Miguel  Jose  Romero,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Venezuela. 

Mr.  Eomero  was  born  at  Barcelona,  a  city  of  East  Venezuela, 
in  South  America,  and  is  the  son  of  the  public  writer  and 
historian  of  the  same  name,  who  took  such  an  active  part 
in  the  industrial  and  intellectual  development  of  the  State 
of  Barcelona.  While  quite  young  Mr.  E miero  acquired  the 
habit  of  working  and  studying,  and  these  occupations  hecame 
his  rehgion  and  his  ideal.  He  is  a  bachelor  of  philosophy 
and  a  writer  on  agriculture.  Besides  his  vernacular  tongue, 
he  knows  English  and  French.  His  knowledge  in  commer- 
cial matters,  in  agriculture  and  in  literature,  has  been  ac- 
quired while  he  struggled  for  existence  in  colleges  or  uni- 
versities or  at  the  custom  houses,  the  business  firms  and  the 
industrial  establishments,  where  he  has  been  engaged.  His 
love  of  knowledge  induced  him  to  take  up  the  trade  of  a 
printer,  which  he  followed  for  some  time.  He  published  in 
Barcelona  and  later  on  in  Caracas,  the  capital  of  Venezuela, 
political,  agricultural  and  commercial  periodicals.  He  has 
been  active  in  organizing  several  societies  and  clubs  in  the 


398 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Republic,  and  is  a  member  and  one  of  the  original  founders 
of  the  Caracas  Agricultural  Club,  an  important  association 
of  Venezuelan  agriculturists.  After  having  taken  a  course 
in  agronomy  at  the  Central  University  of  Venezuela,  the 
Government"  of  this  Republic  sent  him,  in  1895,  to  the  United 
States  for  tlic  purpose  of  studying  agriculture  and  cattle 
breeding  in  this  country  and  the  system  of  teaching  agricul- 
tural science.  Mr.  Romero  occupied  liimself  at  the  same  time 
with  the  study  of  American  commerce  and  industry.  He 
represented  the  Government  of  his  country  at  the  Atlanta 
International  Exposition  and  the  Venezuelan  press  at  the 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  Exposition.  In  December,  1898,  he 
represented  the  State  of  Venezuela  at  the  Farmers  National 
Congress  which  was  held  at  Fort  Worth,  Texas.  His  works 
on  agriculture,  commerce  and  education  in  the  United  States 
have  been  published  in  various  North,  South  and  Central 
American  periodicals.  The  motto  of  Mr.  Romero  is:  "Help 
Thyself"  and  "In  Union  is  Strength."  He  is  an  enthusiastic 
supporter  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine:  "America  for  the  Ameri- 
cans." 


M.  de  h'oiilhnvsliii,  State  Counsellor,  Agent  of  the  Rus- 
sian Ministry  of  Finance,  and  Delegate  from  the  Russian 
Government. 

Mr.  de  Routkowsky,  financial  agent  of  Russia,  and  Counsel- 
lor of  State,  was  born  in  18.53,  and  graduated  from  the  Acad- 
emy of  Engineers  of  Ways  of  Communication.  He  began  his 
public  career  in  the  Ministry  of  Public  Works,  in  which,  after 
a  few  years,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  inspectors-general 
of  the  Russian  railways.  Fie  was  sent  on  a  mission  by  his 
Government  to  England,  France,  Germany,  Italy  and  Aus- 
tria to  study  the  railroad  systems  of  these  countries.  In 
1884,  he  was  sent  for  the  same  purpose  to  the  United  States, 
and  on  presenting  the  report  on  the  result  of  his  investiga- 
tions, he  was  sent  to  the  United  States  again,  as  technical 
agent  of  the  Russian  Government.  In  1891,  he  was  sent 
to  South  America  to  study  the  financial  and  economical  con- 
ditions of  various  countries,  -with  the  object  of  extending 
commercial  relations  with  Argentine,  Brazil,  Uruguay,  Peru, 
Chile,  and  Paraguay.  On  returning  to  his  country,  he  was 
appointed  in  1893,  as  financial  agent  of  his  Goveniment  to 
the  United  States. 


Ludwig  Tiuhelli,  Delegate  f mm  the  Ilandels  und  Gewerbe- 
kammer,  Zcngg,  Croatia. 

'Mt.  Rubelli  was  born  at  the  Austrian  seacoast  city  of  Senj, 
or  Zengg,  in  Croatia,  in  18-15.  In  1857,  after  finishing  the 
local  schools,  he  shipped  as  apprentice  before  the  mast  on 
an  Austrian  merchantman.  By  hard  application  to  work 
and  study  ho  was  rapidly  promoted  to  mate  in  18G1,  chief 
officer  in  ISGS  and  captain  in  18G6.  After  an  active  seafar- 
ing life  of  twenty  years,  ten  of  -which  as  captain  in  command 
of  vessels  sailing  mo.stly  on  long  voyages,  he  settled  in  Phila- 
del])liia,  in  the  shipjiing  business,  as  a  ship  broker,  in  which 
business  ho  still  continues.  In  18G4,  on  a  voyage  from  New 
York  to  Shanghai  via  Hong  Kong,  as  chief  officer,  b^it  in 
temporary  command,  during  the  captain's  illness,  of  the 
Austrian  bark  "Baron  Kclliu^r,"  while  sailing  in  the  channel 
of  Formosa,  he  successfully  battled  with  .several  piratical 
Chinese  junks,  sinking  one  and  badly  damaging  another. 
For  this  deed,  he  was  decorated  by  liis  Majesty,  the  present 
Emperor  of  Austria,  with  the  Golden  Cross  for  merit. 


in  1859.  He  received  his  entire  education  in  a  gymnasium 
in  the  Canton  of  Bern,  finishing  his  studies  in  a  Moravian 
high  school  of  languages.  In  1875,  he  entered  the  office  of 
the  chemical  establishment  of  his  parents  to  pass  his  com- 
mercial apprenticeship.  Later,  he  was  engaged  with  one  of 
the  largest  export  firms  in  Italy,  and  in  the  following  years 
twice  traveled  all  over  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  promoting 
business.  In  1882,  he  became  sub-manager  of  the  largest 
private  bank  of  South  Italy,  which  position  he  held  till  1889, 
when,  for  the  education  of  his  sons,  he  went  to  Switzerland, 
securing  the  place  of  chief  of  the  offices  and  Controller  in 
the  Cantonal  Bank  of  Berne.  He  was  engaged  ivith  the 
Credit  Lyonnais  of  Paris  and  went  to  South  America  as  gen- 
eral representative,  in  the  capacity  of  financial  agent  to  Ar- 
gentine, Uruguay,  Paraguay  and  especially  Brazil.  Since 
1894,  he  has  been  established  as  financial  agent  in  Sao  Paulo, 
promoting  business  exclusively  for  American  interests. 


Professor  Mario  Salvini,  Delegate  from  the  Chambers 
of  Commerce  and  Art,  at  Florence  and  Bologna;  and  from 
the  Association  of  Industries  and  Commerce,  Florence,  Italy. 

Prof.  Salvini  is  the  son  of  Tommaso  Salvini,  the  Italian  tra- 
gedian. He  was  born  in  Reggio  Emilia,  March  4,  18G3. 
After  having  pursued  his  mathematical  studies  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Bologna,  he  went  to  the  Fine  Arts  Royal  Institute 
in  Florence.  There  he  completed  the  course  in  art,  and 
passed  the  examination  as  an  instructor  in  sculpture.  He 
was  appointed  Professor  in  1890,  and  at  present  is  Assistant 
to  Professor  Rivalta.  the  first  teaclier  in  the  Royal  Institute. 
In  1890,  he  founded  in  Florence  the  well-known  manufac- 
tory of  Artistic  Majolica  Salvini  C,  which  received  a  medal 
at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair  in  1893,  and  gold  medals  in 
International  Expositions  in  Europe.  He  is  the  director  and 
proprietor  of  this  manufactory.  He  is  a  sculptor,  having  a 
studio  in  Florence.  He  is  a  member  of  the  following  insti- 
tutions: Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Arts  of  Florence;  Board 
of  Directors  of  the  Industrial  and  Commercial  Association 
of  Florence;  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Federation  of  Com- 
mercial Associations;  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Tuscan  Hor- 
ticulture Society;  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Syndicate  of  the 
Industrial  School  of  Art  in  Florence;  Syndicate  of  the  High 
Furnaces  and  Iron  Foundaries  of  Piom'bino;  Tuscan  Execu- 
tive Committee  for  the  Paris  Exposition,  1900;  Board  of 
Directors  of  tlie  Art  Club  in  Florence;  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  Gino  Capponi  Political  Association.  He  is  the  author 
of  many  works  of  public  interest,  well  accepted  by  the  Italian 
Government,  in  which  he  has  always  advocated  free  trade. 


Affoiisn  ArnnJdo  Tiiilis,  Delegate  from  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil, 
^fr.  Rutis  was  bom  in  the  Cily  of  St.  Gall,  Swilzcrland, 


Carlos  B.  Santos,  Oiheial  Delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Paraguay  and  the  Centre  Comercial,  Asuncion. 

Mr.  Santos  was  liorn  in  Asuncion,  Paraguay,  in  1872.  After 
receiving  an  excellent  preliminary  education  in  the  schools  of 
his  native  city  he  attended  tlie  University  in  Montevideo,  Uru- 
guay, whore  he  was  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Bachelor. 
He  entered  the  jniblic  service  of  his  government  as  secretary 
1()  the  TMinister  of  Foreign  Aft'aii-s,  and  subsequently  was  ap- 
])ointod  Cliicf  of  the  Dejiartmeut  of  Statistics  and  Immigra- 
tion, a  position  which  he  has  filled  in  the  most  creditable  nian- 
noT  and  which  he  still  holds.  When  the  Philadelphia  Com- 
mercial Museum  extended  iis  invitation  to  governments  and 
commercial  bodies  to  send  delegates  to  the  International  Com- 
mercial Congress,  Mr.  Santos  was  the  immediate  choice  of  the 
Centro  Conunercial  and  also  of  his  government. 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  FOREIGN  DELEGATES 


399 


Ernst  Schernikow,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of  Sal- 
vador, Central  America. 

Mr.  Schernikow  was  born  in  the  City  of  Berlin,  Germany, 
October  13,  1860.  He  came  to  this  country  in  1863,  and 
has  resided  in  New  York  City  ever  since.  Since  1878,  he 
has  been  connected  with  the  trade  of  Central  America  and 
some  years  ago  traveled  extensively  through  the  West  Indies 
and  Central  America  with  the  object  of  furthering  that  trade. 
He  has  represented  Salvador  in  New  York  City  for  about 
ten  years  and  is  largely  interested  in  the  trade  of  the  whole 
of  Central  America.  At  present,  he  is  Vice  Consul  in  New 
York  for  the  Republics  of  Honduras  and  Nicaragua. 


Jacques  Schuh,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
and  Industry,  Nagyvarad,  (Grosswardein)  Hungary. 

Mr.  Schuk  was  born  in  Budapest,  Hungary,  Jime  23,  1867. 
His  father  was  a  manufacturer,  having  a  large  foreign  trade, 
and  introduced  the  metric  system  of  weights  and  measures 
into  Hungary.  His  father  having  died  in  1879,  after  losing 
his  fortune,  Jacques  was  forced  at  the  age  of  thirteen  to 
earn  his  living.  He  went  to  Hamburg  and  entered  the  bank- 
ing business,  returning  home  after  two  years'  service,  to  be- 
come correspondent  of  one  of  Hungary's  first-class  flour  mills. 
At  the  age  of  twenty,  he  was  sub-manager  of  the  mill,  trav- 
eling throughout  the  world  in  order  to  establish  foreign  con- 
nections for  this  establishment.  In  1890,  in  connection 
with  the  Anglo-Austrian  Bank  at  Budapest,  he  established 
a  special  department  for  the  export  of  bran  and  other  foods 
for  animals.  He  organized  the  "Budapest  Monorer  Fabriks 
Actien  Gesellschaft,"  a  flour  mill  company  with  a  capital  of 
400,000  florins,  and  the  "Kis  Sebeser  Granite  Steinbriiche 
Actien  Gesellschaft,"  with  a  capital  of  500,000  florins,  being  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  latter.  Mr.  Schuk  is 
able  to  read  and  write  six  languages,  all  of  which  he  acquired 
through  his  own  efl^orts.  He  has  contributed,  at  various 
times  to  the  "Vossische  Zeitung,"  Berlin ;  "Hamburger  Nach- 
richten;"  "Pester  Lloyd;"  "Neue  Freie  Presse,"  and  "Buda- 
pest Hirlnp."  The  former  two  papers  pulilished  his  arti- 
cles on  the  Hungarian  Exposition  in  1885,  and  the  three  last 
named  articles  on  the  recent  International  Commercial  Con- 
gress, the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  and  the  National 
Export  Exposition. 


F.  Shippey,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Pietermaritzburg,  Natal,  Africa. 

Mr.  Shippey  was  born  at  Cambridge,  England,  in  1856. 
He  went  to  Natal,  South  Africa,  during  the  Zulu  War  in 
1879.  He  commenced  his  present  business,  in  1887,  \vith  a 
staff  of  only  three  men,  having  now  fifty  in  his  employ.  His 
business  is  considered  one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  pro- 
gressive in  Pietermaritzburg. 


Motojiro  SMraisM,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Tokyo,  Japan. 

Mr.  Shiraishi  graduated  from  the  Tokyo  Imperial  Univer- 
sity, in  1893,  and  immediately  afterward  entered  the  busi- 
ness world.  In  1896,  he  was  appointed  general  manager 
of  the  Toyo  Kisen  Kaisha  (Oriental  Steamship  Company), 
which  was  at  that  time  organizing  a  transportation  company 
for  the  purpose  of  entering  the  trans-Pacific  trade  between 
San  Francisco  and  the  ports  in  Japan  and  China,  which 
position  he  still  holds. 


B.  J.  Shoninger,  Delegate  from  the  American  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Paris,  France. 

Mr.  Shoninger  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  Decem- 
ber 19,  1854.  He  received  his  education  in  that  city,  grad- 
uating from  the  well-known  English  High  School.  On  Jan- 
uaiy  1,  1878,  together  with  his  brothers,  he  started  the 
importation  of  laces  and  embroideries  in  Boston.  This 
necessitated  frequent  and  lengthy  visits  to  Europe  to  the 
different  manufacturing  centres  of  laces.  The  business 
having  grown,  he  was  eventually  required  to  take  up  his  resi- 
dence in  Paris  in  order  to  look  after  the  various  European 
branches,  and  has  resided  there  permanently  since  1889.  In 
the  year  1888,  the  firm  opened  a  house  in  New  York  City, 
which  is  now  the  main  American  house,  wth  offices  in  Bos- 
ton, Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and  twenty  traveling  salesmen 
covering  all  the  main  points  of  the  United  States.  The  firm 
is  to-day  one  of  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  world.  Mr. 
Shoninger  has  been  identified  with  the  American  Chamber 
of  Commerce  of  Paris  since  its  organization,  and  has  been 
its  treasurer  since  the  second  year  of  its  existence. 


George  W.  Sillcox,  Delegate  from  the  Anglo-American 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Brussels,  Belgium. 

Mr.  Sillcox  was  born  at  Homer,  New  York,  in  1844.  He 
served  his  time  as  a  boy  in  one  of  New  York's  best  printing 
houses,  learning  all  its  branches.  His  last  year  in  press 
rooms  served  as  the  foundation  to  take  up  the  machinery 
business  in  Europe.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  taking 
agi'icultural  machinery  to  the  continent  of  Europe  in  1870. 
In  1873,  was  ap]iointed  by  President  Grant  as  Honorary 
Commissioner  from  the  State  of  New  York  to  the  Vienna 
Exposition.  On  his  arrival  in  Vienna,  trouble  with  the  Chief 
Commissioner  and  Assistants  caused  the  President  to  make 
changes  and  ho  served  as  Secretary  of  the  Commission,  and 
also  served  on  the  International  Jury.  He  was  United 
States  Vice-Consul  at  Bremen,  Germany,  in  1883.  He  has 
lived  in  Germany,  France  and  Belgium  for  the  past  twenty- 
five  years.  He  is  now  in  New  York,  at  the  head  of  the 
Sillcox  Syndicate  of  American  Manufacturers  and  Manager 
of  the  Export  Department  of  the  New  Home  Sewing  Ma- 
chine Company,  Orange,  Mass. 


A.  Asher  Smith,  Delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  Australia. 

Mr.  Smith  was  bom  at  Bantf,  Scotland,  September,  1865. 
He  was  educated  at  the  MacdufE  Academy  of  that  town.  His 
commercial  training  was  begun  at  Banfl",  in  1881,  in  the  busi- 
ness then  conducted  by  Messrs.  G.  W.  Murray  &  Co.,  engi- 
neers and  iron  merchants.  In  1883,  he  removed  to  Aber- 
deen, where  he  joined  Messrs.  Ben.  Reid  &  Co.,  agi-icultural 
engineers  and  merchants.  With  this  firm,  he  continued  until 
1889,  La  which  year  he  went  to  Australia,  where  he  became 
associated  with  the  eminent  finn  of  Messrs.  James  McEwan 
&  Co.,  Ltd.,  in  Melbourne,  Victoria.  In  1891,  that  firm 
bought  a  wholesale  hardware  business  in  Sydney,  New  South 
Wales,  and  he  was  appointed  manager.  In  that  capacity,  he 
continued  until  the  12th  of  September  of  this  year  (1899), 
on  which  date  he  sailed  for  America,  in  order  to  attend  the 
International  Commercial  Congress  in  Philadelphia,  as  dele- 
gate from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Sydney,  of  which  body 
he  is  a  member.  During  his  residence  in  Sydney,  he  has 
taken  an  active  interest  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  trade 
of  the  Colony  and  also  in  all  questions  concerning  inter- 
colonial and  international  commerce.  At  present,  he  is  a 
member  of  the  Sectional  Committee  of  the  Sydney  Chamber 


400 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


of  Commerce,  aj)pointed  to  deal  with  matters  affecting  the 
building  trade.  During  his  career  in  Australia,  he  has  been 
interested  in  the  growth  and  development  of  American  ex- 
ports to  that  market  and  is  therefore  conversant  with  the 
conditions  which  affect  thai  important  international  trade. 


Edirin  Holden  Smilh,  Delegate  from  the  Foreign  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Yokohama,  Japan. 

Mt.  Smith  was  born  at  Batavia,  New  York,  March  17, 
1861.  He  entered  business  in  1879,  in  the  employ  of  Messrs. 
II.  Fogg  &  Co.,  New  York  and  Shanghai,  one  of  the  pioneer 
American  firms  in  the  Far  Eastern  trade,  and  continued  in  the 
employ  of  this  firm  and  its  successor,  The  China  &  Japan 
Trading  Company,  Limited,  residing  at  different  times  in 
Shanghai  and  Yokohama,  as  well  as  New  York,  until  1893, 
when  he  joined  Mr.  George  Walworth  Middleton  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  present  firm  of  Middleton  &  Smith,  engaged 
in  the  importation  of  tea  and  raw  silk  and  the  exportation  of 
American  cotton  goods  and  American  machinery.  It  was 
one  of  the  first  firms  to  engage  exclusively  in  the  latter  busi- 
ness in  Japan,  and  now  represents,  as  agent,  many  American 
manufacturers  in  that  country  and  Siberia.  He  has  resided 
many  years  both  in  China  and  Japan  and  now  alternates, 
with  partner,  in  residence  in  Japan. 


Medaille"  and  Grand  Diploma  of  Merit  at  the  Vienna  Ex- 
position, in  1873,  and  the  Highest  Medal  and  Diploma  at 
the  Centennial  in  Philadelphia,  in  1876.  He  owns  the  only 
divi-divi  plantation  on  the  Island,  and  has  assisted  and 
encouraged  the  cultivation  of  this  product  until  it  has  be- 
come a  considerable  and  increasing  article  of  export.  For 
this,  he  received  the  Gold  Medal  and  Certificate  of  Honor 
at  the  Jamaica  Exposition  of  1891.  As  a  merchant  and  ship- 
owner, he  is  deeply  interested  in  furthering  the  interests  of 
commerce  and  shipping,  and  as  a  large  land  owner,  in  every- 
thing that  concerns  the  development  of  agriculture  and  the 
advancement  of  the  Colony.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
and  has  been  an  active  member  of  the  Royal  Jamaica  Society 
of  Agi-iculture  and  Commerce  and  Merchants'  Exchange 
since  its  formation,  and  has  for  a  long  time  been  its  treas- 
urer. He  is  the  Doyen  of  the  Consular  Corps  in  Jamaica, 
is  Consul  for  Denmark,  Swciden  and  Norway,  the  United 
States' of  Venezuela,  and  was  \'ice-Consul  f(U-  the  United 
States  during  several  successive  administrations.  He  is  a 
Justice  of  the  Peace  for  several  Parishes  and  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Board  of  Supervision  for  supervising  the  system 
of  poor  relief  since  its  inception,  as  well  as  a  member  of 
the  Kingston  Improvement  Commission,  a  government  com- 
mission which  owes  its  existence  to  his  efforts  to  provide  a 
proper  system  of  sanitation  for  Kingston. 


Hiilert  Llewelli/n  Smith,  Delegate  from  Her  British  Ma- 
jesty's Government,  London,  England. 

Mr.  Smith  was  born  at  Bristol,  England,  in  18G4.  He  was 
educated  at  Bristol  and  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford. 
From  1889  to  1893,  he  was  Secretary  of  the  "National  Asso- 
ciation for  the  Promotion  of  Technical  Education."  He  was 
appointed  in  1893,  Commissioner  of  Labor,  in  charge  of  the 
Labor  Department  of  Her  British  Majesty's  Board  of  Trade. 
In  1897,  he  was  appointed  Depiity  Controller  General  of  the 
Commercial,  Labor  and  Statistical  Departments  of  Her  Ma- 
jesty's Board  of  Trade. 


Simon  Soutar,  Delegate  from  the  Royal  S6ciety  of  Agri- 
culture and  Commerce,  Kingston,  Jamaica. 

Mr.  Soutar  was  born  on  the  Isle  of  Man,  educated  in  Scot- 
land, and  received  his  commercial  training  in  London.  In 
18.58,  he  visited  the  West  Indies,  finally  settling  in  Jamaica, 
where  in  1860,  he  became  a  partner  in  the  business  formerly 
carried  on  by  Simon  Taylor,  of  historic  renown,  and  his 
successors  Simpson,  Taylor  &  Co.  and  Porteous,  Carson  & 
Co.  Mr.  Soutar  has  since  been  identified  with  almost  every 
movement  for  the  advancement  of  trade,  commerce  and  agri- 
culture in  Jamaica.  In  the  early  days  of  .steam,  he  secured 
for  the  Island  a  coast  steam  service  which  is  still  carried  on 
along  the  same  lines  and  tlie  same  days  and  hours  of  arrival 
and  departure  as  laid  down  by  him  3.5  years  ago.  About 
the  same  time,  he  brought  Jamaica  logwood  prominently 
before  the  markets  of  the  world  by  exploiting  the  logwood 
resources  of  the  Island,  making  it  a  staple  article  of  export 
and  opening  up  new  ports  of  shipment  and  disposal.  He 
al<(>  opened  vip  a  dii-cct  trade  in  Jniniiiciin  products,  rum, 
coffee,  cacao,  pimento,  ginger,  dyevvood.s,  etc.,  with  the  Con- 
tinent and  ]\IediterranLan,  whicli  has  now  grown  to  a  large 
business.  He  inl reduced  the  cultivation  of  fine  cigar  tobacco 
into  the  Island,  and  tlie  manufacture  of  fine  cigars,  for  which 
he  not  only  secured  the  premiums  offered  by  the  local  gov- 
ernment for  the  best  quality  but  obtained  the  "Vcrdien=t 


Julius  von  Szavay,  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Industry,  Raab,  Hungary.  Also  from  eleven  other 
Cliambers  represented  at  a  meeting  called  by  the  Chamber 
at  Szegedin  Also  requested  by  the  Minister  of  Commerce 
to  study  and  report  on  the  Exposition. 

Mr.  von  Szavay  was  born  at  Szegedin,  in  1861,  and  after 
having  completed  his  education  at  the  Law  Department  of 
the  University,  he  was  elected  to  a  municipal  office  in  the 
City  of  Gycir,  and  soon  after,  he  was  made  Secretary  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Na- 
tional Board  of  Industry  and  the  National  Commission  of 
Statistics.  As  a  man  of  letters,  he  is  the  author  of  several 
works,  such  as  poems,  historical  and  politico-economic  mono- 
graphs. He  is  also  the  proprietor  and  editor  of  the  "Gyor 
Hirlap"  (Journal  of  Gycir)  a  political  daily  paper,  as  well  as 
the  proprietor  of  the  Pannonia  Printing  and  Stationery  Com- 
pany, of  the  City  of  Gyor.  He  is  Vice-President  of  the  Hun- 
garian National  Editorial  Association,  and  was  appointed  by 
the  Roya'  Hungarian  Minister  of  Commerce  and  Industry 
to  study  certain  problems  in  the  United  States. 


Pietro  Tappari,  Delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
Arts,  Florence,  Italy. 

Mr.  Tappari  was  bom  in  Salu^zo,  Italy,  in  1863.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  in  Florence,  Italy,  and  has  lived  there 
for  over  35  years.  His  business  in  Italy  is  principally  expor- 
tation of  industrial  and  fine  art  objects.  He  has  visited  all  the 
principal  Inteniational  Expositions  in  the  world.  The  last 
time  he  was  in  America,  was  in  1893.  at  the  Chicago  World's 
Fair,  where  his  exhibition  was  awarded  two  gold  medals,  first 
prizes  for  artistic  carved  silver  aiul  artistic  furniture.  He 
was  appointed  by  the  General  Royal  Commissioner  the  offi- 
cial Italian  re])resenlative  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair.  He 
was  the  special  correspondent  for  the  Florence  newspaper 
"Nazione,"  and  wrote  a  guide  book  of  the  Chicago  Fair,  en- 
titled "The  Italian  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair."  He  was 
one  of  the  International  Judges  at  the  International  Expo- 
sition at  Antwerp,  wlierc  his  exhibit  received  a  firet-class  hon- 


BIOGRAPHIES  OF  FOEEIGN  DELEGATES        ii  insri  v  ji.HSr  r. 


401 


ri^ 


-,•>!> 


orary  diploma.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the  Committee  of 
Florence  for  the  Paris  Exposition.  He  is  a  special  corres- 
pondent for  the  principal  newspaper  in  Rome,  the  "Tribune." 


Imperial  Councillor  Dr.  Otio  Tlwrsch,  Delegate  from  the 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  Vienna  and  Troppau,  Austria. 

Dr.  Thorseh  was  born  at  Prague,  Austria,  in  1859,  and 
graduated  at  Vienna  as  Doctor  of  Law.  He  served  in  1880- 
1881,  as  private  in  the  Austrian  Army  and  fought  in  1882, 
as  officer  against  the  insurgents  in  Herzego%'ina.  From 
1887  to  1891,  he  occupied  himself  at  Berlin  and  Leipsic  with 
works  on  national  economy  and  finance,  from  which  studies 
his  work  "History  of  the  Austrian  National  Debt,"  published 
in  Berlin  in  1891,  resulted.  He  gained  his  commercial 
knowledge  and  experience  at  the  Creditanstalt  at  Trieste  and 
accepted,  in  1893,  a  call  to  the  head  office  of  this  large  bank- 
ing institute  in  Vienna.  Since  1895,  he  has  acted  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  general  manager  of  the  well-known  manufacturers 
of  electric  light  carbons,  Schii?  &  Co.,  Vienna. 


A.  M.  Townsend,  Delegate  from  the  Government  and  Gen- 
eral Chamber  of  Commerce,  Hong  Kong,  China. 

Mr.  Townsend,  son  of  an  English  clergyman,  was  born  at 
Grasby  Vicarage,  in  Lincolnshire,  in  18-17.  He  was  educated 
at  Merchant  Taylor's  School  in  London.  He  joined  the 
Hong  Kong  and  Shanghai  Bank  in  London  in  18G6,  after  a 
preliminary  training  in  the  Yorkshire  Bank,  at  Bradford, 
and  in  1870,  was  transferred  to  the  eastern  staff,  filling  the 
following  appointments:  Accountant  at  the  Bombay  Branch; 
accountant  at  the  Shanghai  Branch;  agent  at  Hankow; 
agent  at  Hiogo,  Japan;  sub-manager  at  Shanghai;  manager 
at  Yokohama,  Japan;  in  1880,  he  was  sent  to  New  York  to 
take  charge  of  the  agency  of  the  Bank  at  that  city,  and  has 
during  his  nineteen  years  occupancy  of  that  post  become  well 
known  in  the  financial,  commercial  and  social  circles  of  that 
and  neighboring  cities,  and  has  done  a  great  deal  to  promote 
and  develop  the  present  large  and  increasing  trade  between 
America  and  the  Orient. 


Edgar  Tripp,  Delegate  from  the  Cliamber  of  Commerce, 
Port-of-Spain,  Trinidad,  West  Indies. 

Mr.  Tripp  was  born  at  Bexley  Heath,  Kent,  England,  on 
the  11th  of  September,  1847.  He  went  to  Trinidad  in  1871, 
and  has  been  actively  engaged  in  commerce  ever  since.  He 
was  appointed  commercial  agent  of  the  (iovernment  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada,  April,  1892.  He  has  been  the  Hon. 
Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  the  Trinidad  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Incorporated,  and  of  the  Commercial  News-room  since 
1888  (annually  elected).  He  was  appointed  by  the  Governor, 
Sir  William  Robinson,  K.  C.  M.  G.,  Commissioner  for  Trin- 
idad, to  visit  Canadian  exhibitors,  and  report  on  the  pros- 
pects of  Canadian- West  Indian  Trade.  He  was  one  of  the 
delegates  representing  the  Trinidad  Chamber  of  Commerce 
at  the  Congress  of  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  the  Empire, 
held  in  London  in  1896;  also  one  of  the  delegates  represent- 
ing the  Trinidad  Agricultural  Society  and  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce at  the  West  Indian  Sugar  Conference  held  at  Barbados 
in  1898.  He  is  Vice-President  of  the  Trinidad  Building  and 
Loan  Association:  Director  of  the  Suburban  Telephone  Com- 
pany, and  Past  Master  of  the  Royal  Prince  of  Wales  Lodge 
of  Freemasons. 


S.  Uchida,  Delegate  from  tKe  Imperial  Japanese  Govern- 
ment. 

Mr.  Uchida  was  born  in  the  city  of  Kokura,  Province  of 
Buzen,  Japan,  on  January  17,  1865.  He  graduated  from 
the  Department  of  Law,  Imperial  University  of  Tokyo,  in 
1889,  entering  the  service  of  the  Department  for  Foreign 
Affairs,  Imperial  Jajianese  Government,  in  the  same  year. 
In  1890,  he  was  sent  to  Shanghai,  China,  as  Vice-consul, 
remaining  there  imtil  June,  1893.  In  December,  1893,  he 
was  appointed  Consul  to  Seoul,  Korea,  and  served  there  in 
the  same  capacity  during  the  war  with  China,  and  in  1896 
was  ordered  to  this  country  as  the  Consul  to  New  York  and 
vicinity,  arriving  here  on  November  2d  of  the  same  year. 


Leo  Vossen,  Delegate  from  the  Handelskammer,  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  Germany. 

Mr.  Vossen  was  born  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  in  1846.  He 
studied  scientific  and  technical  chemisitrv  in  Wiirzburg  and 
Aix-la-Chapelle.  In  1870,  he  established  the  finn  of  "L. 
Vossen  &  Co,''  chemical  works  in  Neuss,  Rhine  Province  of 
Prussia,  and  in  1878,  took  charge  of  the  color  works  "Vossen 
Brothers"  (belonging  to  his  father),  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  The 
latter  he  is  now  operating,  with  branch  works  in  Paris,  on 
his  0-9,11  account.  In  1889,  he  started  the  manufacture  of 
pharmaceutical  chemicals  near  Homburg.  Having  been  a 
member  of  the  Aix-la-Chapelle  City  Council  and  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  that  place  for  a  long  time,  Mr.  Vossen 
was  delegated  to  the  International  Conmiercial  Congress. 


G.  D.  Waetznldt,    Delegate  from  the  German  Government. 

ifr.  Waetzoldt  was  born  on  May  15.  1857,  at  Reichenbach, 
Germany.  By  profession  he  is  a  naval  architect  and  mechan- 
ical engineer,  having' been  employed  at  various  times  in 
several  manufacturing  concerns  in  Germany.  Before  he  was 
appointed  by  the  Foreign  Office  to  his  present  position,  he  was 
for  seven  years  in  the  senice  of  the  Prussian  Government  as 
His  Majesty's  Inspector  of  Factories.  Since  October,  1898.  he 
has  held  the  position  of  Technical  and  Commercial  Attache  to 
the  Chicago  Consulate  for  the  United  States.  In  this  posi- 
tion, it  is  his  duty  to  promote  the  commercial  intercotirse 
between  the  United  States  and  Germany,  and  it  is  in  this  way 
that  his  labors  are  connected  with  commerce. 


Thomas  R.  Wlieehd',  Delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Shanghai.  China. 

Mr.  Wlioelock  was  born  at  Annapolis  Royal,  Nova  Scotia, 
October  11,  1843.  He  went  to  Shanghai,  leaving  New  York 
hy  sailing  vessel,  December  2,  1862,  arriving  at  Shanghai, 
April  15,  1863.  He  remained  in  Shanghai,  taking  a  trip  to 
this  countrv  about  every  four  years,  until  the  end  of  1889,  and 
has  since  then  resided  in  this  countrv.  His  business  in  Shan- 
ghai was  ship,  coal  and  oil  brokerage,  and  he  owned  the  light- 
erage plant  which  did  the  bulk  of  the  business  of  the  port. 
When  he  left  Shanghai,  this  lighterage  business  was  sold  to 
a  company,  and  his  firm  has  been  and  are  the  agents.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  French  Municipal  Council  for  several 
years,  his  office  being  in  that  settlement. 


-7.  TT'.  Gustav  Willif/er.  Delegate  from  the  Handelskammer, 
Oppeln,  Germany. 

Mr.  Williger  was  born  in  Bojanowo,  Province  of  Posen, 
Prussia,  in  1856.     He  was  formerly  a  civU  officer  (Mining 


402 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Assessor)  in  the  mining  department,  and  since  1889,  has 
been  Director-General  of  the  "Kattowitzer  Aktien-Gesell- 
fcliaft  fiir  Bergbau  und  Eisenhiittenwesen"  (Mining  and  Iron 
Smelting  Stock  Company  of  Kattowitz),  which  employs  about 
8,000  workmen  in  its  coal  mines,  furnaces,  rolling  mills,  etc. 
Ilis  place  of  residence  is  Kattowitz,  Province  of  Silesia. 
Mr.  Williger  holds  a  number  of  honorary  appointments  in 
public  life.  Among  others,  he  is  Chairman  of  the  Syndicate 
of  the  Rolling  Works  and  of  the  Association  of  Coal  Mines 
of  the  Montan  District  of  Upper  Silesia,  as  well  as  Deputy 
President  of  the  "Handelskammer  des  Bezirkes  Oppeln" 
(Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  District  of  Oppeln). 


Bnherl  J.  Winsmorc,  Representing  the  commercial  interests 
of  Nicaragua. 

Mr.  Winsmore  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  January  3,  1851. 
In  January,  1898,  he  was  appointed  Consul-General  of  the 
Greater  Republic  of  Central  America,  at  Philadelphia,  for 
the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  -and  upon  the  dissolution  of  the 
Greater  Republic,  he  was  appointed  Consul-General  by  the 
Republics  of  Nicaragua,  Honduras  and  Salvador.  Mr.  Wins- 
more  has  been  for  many  years  closely  identified  with  the  com- 
mercial interests  of  Philadelphia,  having  been  actively  en- 
gaged in  the  shipping  business  for  the  past  thirty  years. 


Enrique  Wvlff,  Delegate  from  the  Government  of  Bolivia. 

Mr.  Wulff  was  born  in  Lima,  Pern,  South  America,  August 
13,  1874,  and  received  his  education  in  Hamburg,  Germany. 
For  two  years  he  was  engaged  in  business  in  Guayaquil,  Ecua- 
dor, and  since  1893  has  resided  in  the  United  States.  In 
January,  189.5,  he  was  appointed  Chancellor  of  the  Consulate 
General;  in  May,  1896,  Consular  Agent;  in  October,  1897, 
V^ice-Consul,  and  since  September,  1898,  has  been  acting 
Consul-General.  Since  1894,  he  has  also  been  connected 
with  the  commission  house  of  Alejandro  Santos  &  Co.,  of 
New  York,  and  Sues,  of  Alejandro  Santos-Bahia  de  Cara- 
quez,  Ecuador,  South  America.- 


Carlos  Yensen,  Delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Bil- 
bao, Spain. 

Mr.  Yensen  was  born  at  Christiania,  Norway,  November 
5,  1848.  He  received  a  good  education  in  a  private  college 
where  foreign  languages — English,  German  and  French — 
were  taught.  At  the  age  of  sixteen,  he  entered  a  good  ma- 
chine shop  where  he  advanced  rapidly.  At  the  age  of  twenty, 
he  visited  the  United    States  where  he  stayed    for    fifteen 


months,  working  in  machine  shops  at  Chicago  and  Milwaukee. 
In  1871,  he  returned  to  his  owti  country  where  he  obtained 
good  employment,  studying  in  his  spare  time,  mathematics, 
mechanics  and  physics.  During  a  period  of  three  years  he 
was  sent  all  over  the  Continent,  principally  in  Germany,  to 
build  mills  and  erect  machinery  for  a  firm  at  Christiania — 
Messrs.  J.  &  A.  Yensen  and  Dahl.  In  this  way  he  came,  in 
the  beginning  of  1878,  to  Bilbao,  Spain,  where  he  afterwards 
settled,  in  the  first  twelve  years  as  manager  of  an  important 
factory  and  aftenvards  establishing  himself  as  engineer's 
merchant,  keeping  a  good  stock  of  steam  engines,  modem 
tools  for  machine  shops  and  numerous  other  ai-ticles,  Some 
years  ago,  he  opened  a  technical  department  for  the  under- 
taldng  of  contracts  and  complete  plants.  He  represents  a 
number  of  manufacturing  firms  in  Elurope,  and  came  here  to 
gain  connection  with  firet  class  Americans  doing  business  in 
his  line.  Three  years  ago  he  established  a  branch  house  with 
assorted  stock  at  Gijon.  He  was  recently  appointed  United 
States  Consul  at  Bilbao. 


Y^mg  Kwai,   Delegate  from  the  Chinese  Government. 

Mr.  Yung  Kwai  was  born  March  2,  1861,  in  Sinhui,  Kwang- 
tung,  China.  In  1873,  he  came  to  the  United  States  with 
the  Chinese  Educational  Mission  as  government  student.  In 
1884,  he  graduated  from  Yale,  and  in  1885-1886  he  took  a 
post-graduate  course  in  biology  and  chemistry  at  Yale,  and 
attended  the  Columbia  Schoolof  Mines  in  1886-1887.  From 
1890  to  1893,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Chinese  Legation  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  in  the  latter  year  being  appointed  Gov- 
ernment delegate  to  the  World's  Congresses  at  Chicago.  In 
1897,  he  again  became  a  member  of  the  Chinese  Legation  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  has  been  connected  with  that  Lega- 
tion in  an  official  capacity  ever  since. 


Dr.  Ser/undo  Zertuche,  Delegate  from  the  State  of  Coa- 
huila,  Mexico. 

Dr.  Zertuche,  son  of  Don  Andres  Zertuche  and  Dona  Per- 
petua  Gonzales  de  Zertuche,  was  born  in  Nadadores,  State 
of  Coahiiila,  Mexico,  STarch  29,  1853.  He  received  his  early 
training  in  schools  of  his  own  country  and  at  St.  Mary's 
College,  San  Antonio,  Texas.  In  March,  1877,  he  graduated 
from  the  Mobile  Medical  College,  IMobile,  Alabama,  and  later 
took  a  post  graduate  course  of  two  years  at  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania.  After  several  years  of  extensive  travel  a.nd 
study,  he  located  in  the  city  of  Candela,  now  Romero  Rubio, 
where  he  has  since  continuously  practiced  his  profession. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Ayuntamiento  or  Town  Council 
for  several  years,  and  for  three  consecutive  terms  served  the 
city  as  Municipal  President  or  Mayor. 


FOREIGN    DELEGATES 

TO  THE 

International  Commercial  Congress 


CONVENED  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE 


Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 

OCTOBER,    1899 


Names  marked  thus  («)  arc  those  of  delegates  who  were  appointed  but  unable  to  attend. 


Africa. 

*T.  W.  Beckett,  delegate   from    the    Government    of  the    South 
African  Republic. 

*John  \V.  Bell,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Queenstown, 
Cape  Colony. 

M.  Berliner,  representing  the  Cape  Town  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
R.  Lewis  Brinkworth,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Port 
Elizabeth,  Cape  Colony. 

*A.  M.  Brown,  delegate  from   Chamber  of  Commerce,  Port  Eliza- 
beth, Cape  Colony. 

*W.  E.  Burmester.  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Johannes- 
burg, South  African  Republic. 

*]ames  Henderson,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Durban, 
Natal. 

♦William  Hosken,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Johannes- 
burg, South  African  Republic. 

*James  Lawrence,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Kimberley , 
Cape  Colony. 

*J.  W.  Leuchars,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Durban, 
Natal. 

*A.   A.  Noble,  delegate  from   Chamber  of  Commerce,  Johannes- 
burg, South  African  Republic. 

F.  Shippey,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Pictermaritz- 
burg.  Natal. 

Arabia. 
E.  Somcrville   Murray,   delegate  from   Chamber  of   Commerce, 
Aden. 

Argentine  Republic. 
Dr.   Martin  Garcia   Merou,  E.  E.  and   M.  P.,  delegate  from  the 
Argentine  Government. 

Herbert  Gibson,  delegate  from  the  Government  of  the  Argentine 
Republic  and  from  the  Sociedad  Rural  Argentina,  Buenos  .\ires. 
C.  Dunlea,  delegate  from  Bolsa  de  Coniercio,  Rosario. 
♦Mariano    S.    Escalada,    delegate    from    Chamber  of   Commerce, 
Buenos  Aires. 

Alanson  S.  Hall,  delegate  from  Bolsa  de  Comercio,  Rosario. 
Coolidge  S.  Roberts,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Buenos 
Aires. 

John   C.   Zimmerman,  delegate    from    Chamber    of   Commerce, 
Buenos  Aires. 

Australasia. 
Col.  G.  W.  Bell,  official   delegate  from  the  Government   of   New 
South  Wales. 

Lieutenant-General  Sir  Andrew  Clarke,  official  delegate   of   the 
Government  of  Victoria. 

Hon.   J.  A.  Cockbum,  official   delegate  of   the    Government  of 
South  .Australia. 

Hon.  W.  P.  Reeves,  official  delegate  of  the  New  Zealand  Govern- 
ment. 

J.  H.  Rogers,  representing  the  Government  of  Queensland. 
Sir  Horace  Tozer,  official  delegate  of  the  Government  of  Queens- 
land. 


Albert  G.  Berry,  Secretary  of  the  Agents-General  from  the  Col- 
onies of  .Australia. 

*S.  N.  .\llen,  delegate   from   Chamber  of   Commerce,  Townsville, 
Queensland. 

Peter  Barr,  delegate  from  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Dunedin,  Christ- 
church,  Napier  and  Auckland,  New  Zealand. 

*J.  W.  Bateman,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Frema:;t!c, 
Western  -Australia. 

A.  Blashki,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Sydney,  New- 
South  Wales. 

Herbert  Bowden,  commission  agent  and  exporter  of  pearl  shells, 
Thursday  Island,  Queensland. 

*George   Bruce,    delegate   from  Victorian    Chamber  of   Manufac- 
tures, Melbourne,  Victoria. 

♦William   Burns,   delegate  from    Rockhampton    Harbour  Board, 
Queensland. 

Herbert   K.  Calder,  delegate  from  Chamber  of   Commerce,  Fre- 
mantle,  Western  Australia. 

W.  G.  Clark,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce   and   Mines, 
Charters  Towers,  Queensland. 

*T.  Cordingly,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Townsville, 
Queensland. 

*A.  E.  Davey,  delegate   from   Chamber  of   Commerce,  Adelaide, 
South  Australia. 

*F.  J.  Doddemeade,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, Newcastle, 
New  South  Wales. 

*G.  F.  Earp,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Newcastle,  New 
South  Wales. 

*A.  C.  Godhard,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Sydney, 
New  South  Wales. 

*H.  R.  Hogg,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Melbourne, 
Victoria. 

*T.  HoUis  Hopkins,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Towns- 
ville, Queensland. 

*Fred  Johnson,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Townsville, 
Queensland. 

J.  Barre   Johnstone,  delegate  from  Chamber  of   Commerce,  Syd- 
ney, New  South  Wales. 

♦Bowes    Kelly,   delegate    from    Chamber  of    Mines,   Melbourne, 
Victoria. 

♦J.  H.  Kitchen,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Manufactures,  Melbourne, 
Victoria. 

James   Milne,  delegate  from   Chamber  of   Commerce,  Brisbane, 
Queensland. 

W.  J.  Moxham,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Manufactures,  Sydney, 
New  South  Wales. 

♦H.  J.  D.  Munton,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Adelaide, 
South  Australia. 

♦Charles  A.  Murphy,  U.  S.  Constilar  Agent,  delegate  from  Adelaide, 
South  .Australia. 

♦Mr.  Niven,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Ballarat,  Victoria. 

♦D.  Patience,  delegate  from  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Townsville 
and  Cairns,  Queensland. 


408 


404 


PKOCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Kruest  A.  Poolnian,  delegate  from  Cliamber  of  Manufactures, 
?.I;Il)Oi;ri:c,  Victoria. 

11.  Rothcrliam,  delegate  from  Jlelbourne,  Victoria. 
*\Villiain  Saiidover,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,   Fre- 
mantle,  Western  Australia. 

■"J.  H.  Se\-nion,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Adelaide, 
South  Australia. 

E.  Shaw,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Manufactures,  Melbourne, 
Victoria. 

A.  Ashcr  vSmith,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Sydney, 
New  South  Wales. 

Fred.  William  Smith,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Charters  Towers,  Queensland. 

Sydney  Stott,  delegate  from  Royal  Victorian  Institute  of  Archi- 
tects, Melbourne,  Victoria. 

*R.  B.  Taylor,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Townsville, 
Queensland. 

*Captain  Thomas,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Newcastle, 
New  South  Wales. 

W.  T.  Todd,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Invercargill, 
New  Zealand. 

*S.  Eardley  Wilmot,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Launceston,  Tasmania. 

*Hon.  Ager  Wynn,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Mines,  Melbourne, 
Victoria. 

Austria- Hungary. 
Richard  Knoller,  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Austria. 
*Franz  Berkovitz,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Indus- 
try, Nagyvdrad  (Grosswardein),  Hungary. 

Dr.  Alexander  von  Dorn,  delegate  from  Oesterreichisch-Ungar- 
ischer  Export  Verein,  Vienna,  Austria;  also  from  the  Chambers  of 
Commerce  at  Olmiitz,  Bozen,  Lemberg,  Pilsen  and  Eger. 

Heinrich  Falter,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Krakau, 
.\ustria. 

Emil  S.  Fischer,  delegate  from  W'ieuer  Kaufmannischer  Verein, 
Vienna,  Austria. 

Julius  Herlilschka,  delegate  from  Handels-  und  Gewerbekammer, 
Vienna,  Austria. 

■■*Ignatz  Kohn,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Industry, 
Raab  (Gyor),  Hungar}'. 

Carl  W.  Kuchler,  delegate  from  Camera  di  Commercio  cd  Indus- 
tria,  Trieste,  Austria. 

Rudolf  Lang,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Prague, 
Bohemia. 

Dr.  Heinrich  Luckmann,  delegate  from  Handels-  und  Gewerbe- 
kammer fiir  Krain,  Laibach,  Austria. 

A.  J.  Ostheimer,  representing  the  Imperial  and  Royal  Commercial 
Museum  of  Vienna. 

Dr.  E.  Pistor,  delegate  from  Handels-  und  Gewerbekammer  in 
Graz,  Austria. 

Ludwig  Rubelli,  delegate  from  Handels-  und  Gewerbekammer, 
Zengg,  Croatia. 

Jacques  Schuk,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Industry, 
Nagyvdrad  (Grosswardein),  Hungary. 

*A.  I'.  Smoquina,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Fiume, 
Hungary. 

R.  Straschnow,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Silesia. 
*PeterSz.  Szakats,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Maros- 
Vasarhel}',  Hungary. 

Julius  von  Szavay,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  In- 
dustry, Raab,  Hungary,  also  from  eleven  other  chambers  represented 
at  a  meeting  called  by  the  Chamber  at  Szegedin;  also  requested  by  the 
Minister  of  Commerce  to  study  and  report  on  the  Exposition. 

*Hugo  B.  Tauszik,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  In- 
dustry, Maros-Vasarhely,  Hungary. 

Dr.  Otto  Thorsch,  Imperial  Co'uncillor,  delegate  from  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Vienna. 

*August  Trappen,  delegate  from  Handels-  und  Gewerbekammer  fiir 
Krain,  Laibach,  Austria. 

*Moriz  Weiss,  delegate  from  Handels-  und  Gewerbekammer,  Klau- 
senburg  (Kolozsvar),  Hungary. 

*Gustav  Wottitz,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  aiul  Indus- 
try, Raab  (Gyor),  Hungary. 

Belgium. 

Paul  Hagemans,  Consul-General,  delegate  from  the  Government 
of  Belgium. 

Jacques  de  Brouwer,  delegate  from  Syndicat  du  Commerce,  Bruges. 
*Ch.  Cauwe,  delegate  from  Syndicat  du  Commerce  et  de  I'lndus- 
trie,  Bruges. 

Oswald  Sanderson,  delegate  from  Anglo-American  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Brussels. 

George  W.  Sillcox,  delegate  from  Anglo-American  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Brussels. 

Henry  Vau  der  Straeten,  delegate  from  Syndicat  du  Commerce 
Bruges. 

Bolivia. 

Enrique  Wulff,  Consul-Geaeral  and  delegate  from  the  Government 
of  Bolivia. 


BraziL 

Capt.  J.  Cordeiro  da  Gra9a,  official  delegate  of  the  Brazilian  Gov- 
ernment, Rio  de  Janeiro. 

John  Arbuckle,  delegate  from  Commercial  .Association,  Santos. 
John  E.  Doane,  delegate  from  Commercial  Association,  Santos. 
A.  A.  Rutis,  delegate  from  Sao  Paulo. 

Canada. 

Hon.  R.  R.  Dobell,  representing  the  Dominion  of  Canada  and  the 
Board  of  Trade,  Quebec. 

*Sir  J.  Winter,  K.C.M.G.,  Premier  and  delegate  from  the  Colony 
of  Newfoundland. 

James  D.  Allan,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Toronto,  Ontario. 
George    Anderson,    delegate    from     Board    of    Trade,    Toronto, 
Ontario. 

*E.  K.  Barnsdale,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Stratford,  Ontario. 
D.  W.  Bole,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Winnipeg,  Manitoba. 
*George  D.  Erymner,  delegate  from   Board  of  Trade,  New  West- 
minster, B.  C. 

James  Brodie,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Quebec. 
*J.  J.  Cassidey,  delegate  from  Canadian  Manufacturers'  Association, 
Toronto,  Ontario, 

♦Allan  Chadwick,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Kingston,  Ontario. 

*Harry  Cockshutl,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Brantford,  Ontario. 

W.  F.  Cockshutt,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Toronto,  Ontario. 

*A.  Desjardins,  delegate   from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Jlontreal. 

Michael  Dvvyer,  delegate   from   Board  of   Trade,  Halifax,  Nova 

Scotia. 

*John   F.    Ellis,  delegate  from  Canadian   Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion, Toronto,  Ontario. 

*W.  J,  Ferguson,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade.  Stratford,  Ontario. 
*John  Gaskin,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Kingston,  Ontario. 

L.  E.  Geoffrion,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Montreal. 
*John  M.  Gill,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Brockville,  Ontario. 
*A.  J.  Gouin,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Three  Rivers, 
Quebec. 

*Allen   Haley,   M.   P.,   delegate  from   Board  of  Trade,  Windsor, 
Nova  Scotia. 

*Joseph   Haynes,  C.  E.,  delegate   from   Chamber  of    Commerce, 
Montreal. 

J.    M.    Johnston,  delegate   from   Chamber   of   Commerce,   Three 
Rivers,  Quebec. 

*Montefiore  Joseph,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Quebec. 

A.  E.  Kemp,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Toronto,  Ontario. 
*Francis  King,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Kingston,  Ontario. 

C.  A.  Langlois,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Quebec. 
*Jolin  Macfarlane,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Montreal. 
*John  MarLaren,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Brockville,  On- 
tario. 

George  McLagan,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Stratford,  Ontario. 
*R.  A.    McLellaud,    delegate   from    Board   of    Trade,    Brockville, 
Ontario. 

Henry  Miles,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Montreal. 
George  Mitchell,  M.P.P.,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia. 

Arthur  Olivier,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Three 
Rivers,  Quebec. 

*J.  Kerr  Osborne,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Toronto,  Ontario. 
James  Baton,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Charlottetown,  Prince 
Edward  Island. 

"E.  J.  B.  Pense,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Kingston,  Ontario. 
*T.  H.  Preston,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Brantford,  Ontario. 
*William  Preston,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Stratford,  Ontario. 
*John  Pringle,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  London,  Ontario. 
*Charles  W.  Smith,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Montreal. 
■•■Simon  Snyder,  delegate  from  Canadian  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion, Toronto,  Ontario. 

*John  Taylor,  delegate  from  Canadian  Manufacturers'  Association, 
Toronto,  Ontario. 

W,  S.  Thornton,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Stratford,  Ontario. 
P.  G.  'Van  Vleet,  delegate  from  Canadian  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion, Toronto,  Ontario. 

*J,  K.  Ward,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Montreal. 
Edgar  A,  Wills,  delegate  from  Board  of  Trade,  Toronto,  Ontario. 
J.   Edward  de  Wolfe,   delegate   from   Board  of   Trade,    Halifax, 
Nova  Scotia. 

Central  America. 

Antonio  Lazo  Arriaga,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.,  delegate  from  the  Govern- 
ment of  Guatemala. 

J.  B.  Calvo,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.,  delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Costa  Rica. 

Luis  F.  Corea,  E,  E.  and  51.  P.,  delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Nicaragua. 

Nicanor  Bolet  Peraza,  delegare  from  the  Government  of  Honduras. 

Ernest  Schernikow,  Vice-Consul  at  New  York,  delegate  from  the 
Government  of  Salvador. 

C.  A.  (irceu,  representing  the  commercial  interests  of  Nicaragua. 

J.  M.  Keith,  representing  the  commercial  interests  of  Costa  Rica. 


NAMES  OF  FOREIGN  DELEGATES  AND  ORGANIZATIONS  REPRESENTED 


405 


J.  Rafael  Mata,  representing  the  commercial  interests  of  Cosla 
Rica, 

Benj.  E.  Piza,  representing  the  commercial  interests  of  Costa  Rica. 
*Jose  Mariano  Roma,  Consul-General,  delegate  representing  the 
commercial  interests  of  Guatemala. 

Robert  J.  Winsmore,  representing  the  commercial  interests  of 
Nicaragua. 

♦Joaquin  Yela,  Jr.,  delegate  representing  the  commercial  interests 
of  Guatemala. 

Ceylon. 
William  Marshall,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Colombo. 

Chile. 

Federico  A.  Beelen,  delegate  from  the  Chilean  Government. 
Eliodoro  Infante  V.,  delegate  from  the  Chilean  Government. 
G.  L.  Duval,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Valparaiso. 
Wm.  S.  Eyre,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Valparaiso. 
John  A.  Jlyers,  delegate  from  Asociacion  Salitrera  de  Propaganda, 
Iquique. 

China. 

Chow  Tsz  Chi,  Secretary  Chinese  Legation,  delegate  from  Chinese 
Government. 

Yung  Kwai,  interpreter  Chinese  Legation,  delegate  from  Chinese 
Government. 

A.  M.  Townsend,  delegate  from  the  Government  and  General 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Hong  Kong. 

Fritz  A.  Brockelmann,  delegate  from  Canton. 

T.  B.  Cunningham,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Canton. 

Arthur  E.  Dowler,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Shanghai. 

James  S.  Fearon,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Shanghai. 

John  G.  Purdon,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Shanghai 

Thomas  R.  Wheelock,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Shanghai. 

Colombia. 

Francisco  Carbonell  W.,  delegate  from  Barranquilla. 

Julio  A.  Castellano,  delegate  from  Barranquilla. 
*Fclix  Ehrman,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Panama. 
*M.  Heurtematte,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Panama. 

J.  W.  Humphreys,  delegate  from  Colon. 

M.  A.  de  Leon,  delegate  from  Colon. 
*Gerardo  Lewis,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Panama. 
*Enianuel  Lyon,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Panama. 

Joshua  L.  Maduro,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Panama. 

J.  L-  Pearcy,  delegate  from  Colon. 
*J.  N.  Recuero,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Panama. 


H 


Denmark. 

M.  Brnun,  delegate  from  Commercial  Union  of  Aalborg. 


Ecuador. 

D.  N.  Harper,  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Ecuador. 
*  Vicente  Gonzales   Bazo,  delegate  from  Chamber  of   Commerce, 
Guayaquil. 

R.  B.  Jones,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Guayaquil. 

France. 

*M.  Becoules,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Dijon. 

*Alphonse    Bonnafons,    delegate    from    Chamber   of    Commerce, 
Mazamet. 

Henry  Cachard,  delegate  from  American  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Paris. 

*Albert  Lauth,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Castres. 

*C.  Manuel,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Toulouse. 

*Fraiiz  Roucayrol,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Mazamet. 

*Gustave  Sarrat,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Mazamet. 

B.  J.  Shouinger,  delegate  from  American  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Paris. 

"*IM.  M.  Troubat,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Dijon. 

Germany. 

G.  D.  Waetzoldt,  Attache  Imperial  German  Consulate,  Chicago, 
111.,  official  delegate  from  the  German  Government. 

C.  B.  Marheinecke,  Imperial  German  Consul,  Philadelphia,  oflScial 
delegate  from  the  German  Government. 

Cuiumerzienrath  Arnhold,  delegate  from  Aeltesten  der  Kaufmann- 
scliaft  der  Sladt  Berlin. 

Friedricli  Goldschmidt,  delegate  from  Aeltesten  der  Kaufmann- 
schaft  der  Stadt  Berlin. 

Alex.  Van  Giilpen,  delegate  from  Handelskammer,  Wesel. 

Commerzienrath  Loewe,  delegate  from  Aeltesten  der  Kaufmann- 
schaft  der  Stadt  Berlin. 

Alexander  Post,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Hagen, 
Westphalia. 

Fritz  Schroeder,  delegate  from  Handelskammer,  Aachen. 

Dr.  Vosberg-Kekow,  delegate  from  Central  Union  for  the  Prepa- 
r.ition  of  Commercial  Treaties,  Berlin. 

I,ro  Vr'ss-^n,  delegate  from  Handelskammer,  Aachen. 

General  Director  Williger,  delegate  from  Handelskammer,  Oppeln. 

Edmund  Wirth,  delegate  from  Handelskammer,  Sorau  and  Bran- 
denburg. 


Greece. 

S.  Edwin  Jlegargee,  Acting  Consul  in  Philadelphia,  delegate  from 
the  Government  of  Greece. 

Guiana. 

Gustav  11.  Richter,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  George- 
town, British  Guiana. 

Hawaiian  Islands. 

Alfred  S.  Hartwell,  delegate  from  the  Hawaiian  Government. 
J.  B.  Atherton,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Honolulu. 

India. 

Virchand  R.  Gandhi,  delegate  from  the  Bombay  Piece  Goods  Mer- 
chants' .Association  and  the  Society  for  Industrial  and  Commercial 
Education  in  India. 

Italy. 

Carlo  Eetocchi,  delegate  from  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Naples, 
Catania,  Bari  and  Messina;  and  from  the  Association  of  Maritime  Law, 
Naples. 

Ftrdinando  Bocca,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Turin. 
*M.  S.  Follina,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Arts, 
Palermo. 

Mario  Salvini,  delegate  from  Chambers  of  Commerce  and  Arts, 
Florence  and  Bologna  ;  and  from  the  Association  of  Industries  and 
Commerce,  Florence. 

Pietro  Tappari,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Arts, 
Florence. 

Japan. 

S.  Uchida,  Japanese  Consul-General,  New  York,  delegate  from  the 
Imperial  Japanese  Government. 

Alfred  J.  Ostheimer,  Japanese  Consul,  Philadelphia,  delegate  from 
the  Imperial  Japanese  Government. 

T.  Furuya,  delegate  from  Japan  Central  Tea  Association,  Tokyo. 

K.  Hamaoka,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Kyoto. 

K.  Ishikawa,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Kyoto. 

T.  Kimura,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Kobe 

T.  Mizutany,  delegate  from  Japan  Central  Tea  Association,  Tokyo. 

S.  T.  Nishimura,  delegate  from  Japan  Central  Tea  Association, 
Tokvo. 

M.  Okada,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Kumamoto. 

K.  Otani,  delegate  from  the  Japanese  Traders'  Society,  Tokyo,  and 
Chambers  of  Commerce,  Tokyo  and  Yokohama. 

Motojiro  Sbiraishi,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Tokyo. 

Edwin  Holden  Smith,  delegate  from  Foreign  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Yokohama. 

W.  H.  Stevens,  delegate  from  Foreign  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Yokohama. 

*Mitsutake  Takahaski,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Hakata. 

K.  Wani,  delegate  from  Japan  Central  Tea  Association,  Tokyo. 

K.  Yamamoto,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Kobe. 

Korea. 

*W.  G.  Bennett,  delegate  from  Chemulpo. 
^H.  Collbran,  delegate  from  Seoul. 
*C.  Walter,  delegate  from  Chemulpo. 

Liberia. 

Dr.  Edward  Wilmot  Blyden,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.,  delegate  from  the 
Government  of  Liberia. 

Madeira. 


chal. 


A.  J.  Drexel  Biddle,  delegate  from  Associajao  Commercial,  Fun- 
John  Mason,  delegate  from  Associajao  Commercial,  Funchal. 

Mexico. 

Salvador  Echagaray,  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Mexico. 
Genaro  Raigosa,  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Mexico. 
Jos^  Algara,  delegate  trom  Confederacion  Mercantil  y  de  la  Camara 
de  Comercio,  Mexico  City. 

*Jos^  A.  Arce,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Comrnerce,  Mexico  City. 
Dr.  Thomas  S.  Butcher,  delegate  from  State  of  Coahuila. 
Rudolfo  G.  Canton,  delegate  from  Merida. 

Seiior  Carlos  Basave  y  Del  Castillo  Negrete,  delegate  from  Camara 
de  Comercio  de  Guadalajara. 

*Enrique  C.  Creel,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, Chihuahua. 

A.  Diaz,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Matamoros. 
♦Santiago  Graf,  delegate  from  Lonja  Agricola  Mercantil,  Toluca. 
♦Enrique  Lelo  de  Larrea,  delegate  from  Confederacion  Slercantil, 
Mexico  City. 

♦Wenceslao  Loaiza,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Guadala- 
jara. 

Guillermo  Lozano,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Mexico 
City. 

♦Ygnacio  Torre  y  de  Mier,  delegate  from  Confederacion  Mercantil, 
Mexico  City. 


406 


PROCEEDITiiGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


*Manuel  S.  Ornelas,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Guada- 
lajara. 

J.  A.  Robertson,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Monterey. 
Dr.  S.  Zertuche,  delegate  from  the  State  of  Coahuila. 

Norway. 

E  Jensen,  delejjate  from  Norway  and  Bergens  Kreditbank,  Bergen. 
*Biill  Kiosterud,  delegate  from  Handelsforening,  Drammcn. 
Clir.  B.  Lorentzen,  delegate   from   Drammens  Handelsforening, 
Drammen. 

Paraguay. 

Carlos  R.  Santos,  official  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Para- 
guay and  the  Centre  Comercial,  Asuncion. 

*Frank  R.  Carpenter,  delegate  from  Centro  Comercial,  Asuncion. 
*Pedro  Torba,  delegate  from  Centro  Comercial,  Asuncion. 

Persia. 

*Hussein  .'\gha  Etimad-et-Tudjar,  delegate  from  the  Government 
of  Persia. 

Peru. 

Adolfo  Reyes,  delegate  from  the  Peruvian  Government. 
Jurge  Basadre  y  Forero,  delegate  from  Sociedad  Nacional  de  Jline- 
ria,  l.ima. 

Enrique  Echecopar,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Lima. 

A.  G.  Hetherington,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Lima. 
Juan  .\ntonio  Loredo,  delegate  from  Sociedad  Nacioual  de  Mine- 

ria,  Lima. 

J.  Mestern,  delegate  from  Bolsa  Comercial,  Lima. 
*Emilio  G.  Sayan  Palacios,  delegate  from  National  Society  of  -Agri- 
culture. Lima. 

Wilfred  H.  Schoff,  delegate  from  Sociedad  Geografica,  Lima,  and 
Cam  ira  de  Comercio,  MoUendo. 

■'Manuel  Palacios  Villacampa,  delegate  from  National  Society  of 
Agriculture,  Lima. 

PortugaL 

Mathieu  Lugan,  delegate  from  Commercial  Association,  Oporto. 
Dr.  Jacintho  de  Magalhaes,  delegate  from  Commercial  .\s.sociation. 
Oporto. 

Boumania. 

B.  G.  Assan,  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Rouniania  and 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Bucharest. 

"Nicolas  Alexandresco,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
Industry,  Jassy. 

^George  Ropala,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Indus- 
try, Jassy. 

Russia. 
M.  de  Routkowsky,  State  Counsellor  and  Agent  of  the  Russian 
Ministry  of  Finance,  St.  Petersburg. 

William  Stuart  Davidson,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Vladivostok,  Siberia. 

Spain. 

Enrique  Alzamora,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Majorca. 

E.  .^mengual,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Barcelona. 

Antonio  Cuyas,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Industry 
and  Navigation,  Madrid. 

■■Diego  Gomez  Quintana,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Seville. 

Carlos  Yensen,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Bilbao. 

S^weden. 

Ilarald  Grebst,  Gothenburg,  delegate  from  Sveriges  AUmiinna 
Handelsforening  and  Sveriges  Allmanna  Exportforening,  Stockholm. 

Turkey. 

.\rchag  Karagheusian,  delegate  from  the  Government  fif  Turkey. 

■'(ieorges  Astlienidhis,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Agriculture  and  Industry,  Smyrna. 

■*Avedis  S.  Avedikian,  delegate  from  Smyrna. 

■"■Logephete  Baliozian,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Agri- 
culture and  Industry,  Smyrna. 

*.\gop  A.  Veledian,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Keras- 
sundc. 

United  Kingdom. 
H.  Llewellyn  Smith,  official  delegate  from  Her  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment, London,  England. 

William  Angus,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  London, 
England. 

■''W.  II.  Brookes,  J.  P.,  delegate  from  Cliambcr  of  Cotimierce, 
Walsall,  Englai\d. 

*R.  Brown,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Macclesfield, 
England. 

*W.  H.  L.  Cameron,  J.  P.,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Macclesfield,  England. 

*John  Chadwick,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Cunimcrce,  Dewsbury, 
England. 

*D.  J.  Daly,  delegate  from  Incorporated  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Cork,  Ireland. 


*D.  H.  Da-vies,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Chesterfield, 
England. 

■*,\lgemon  F.  Firth,   J.  P.,  delegate  from  Incorporated  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Halifax,  England. 

*John  Lyall  Grant,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Aberdeen, 
Scotland. 

■^Frederick  Harrison,  delegate  from  Corn  Trade  Association,  Ltd., 
Liverpool,  England. 

Henry  E.  Hodgson,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Cleck- 
heaton.  Fingland. 

Richard  Hodgson,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Cleck- 
hcaton,  England. 

*Williara  Johnston,  delegate  from  Incorporated  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Liverpool,  England. 

■'Charles  Lanca.ster,  delegate  from  Incorporated  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Liverpool,  England. 

Lieutenant-General   J.   Wimburn   Laurie,   M.  P.,    delegate  from 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  London,  England. 

■*I)avid  Macintyre,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Dundee, 
Scotland. 

*W.  H.  Milnes,  J.  P.,  delegate  from  Incorporated  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Wakefield,  England. 

■^Harry  W.  Patrick,  delegate  from  Corn  Trade  Association,  Ltd., 
Liverpool,  England. 

■■*T.   S.    Scarbourgh,  J.  P.,  delegate   from   Incorporated   Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Halifax,  England. 

*George  Jamieson   Scott,  delegate   from   Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Aberdeen,  Scotland. 

Henry    Sell,    delegate    from    Commercial    Intelligence    Bureau, 
London,  England. 

*T.   A.   Smith,    delegate   from   Chamber   of    Commerce,    Walsall, 
England. 

■"'Charles  Stettauer,  delegate  from  Leather  Trade  Section,  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  London,  England. 

""■Thomas  Sutcliflfe,  delegate  from  Incorporated  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, Halifax,  England. 

Uruguay. 

Prudencio  de  Murguiondo,  Consul-General,  official  delegate  from 
the  Government  of  Uruguay. 

Venezuela. 

Miguel   J.    Romero,  official   delegate   from    the    Government  of 
Venezuela. 

Antonio  E.  Delfino,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Caracas. 

West  Indies. 

Dr.  Francis  A.  Holmes,  official  delegate  from  the  Government  of 
the  Bahamas. 

W.  T.  James,  official  delegate  from  the  Government  of  Dermuda. 

Hon.  Dr.  James  Johnston,  official  delegate  from  the  Government 
of  Jamaica. 

J,  Nicolas,  Consul  at  New  York,  official  delegate  from  the  Govern- 
ment of  Haiti. 

Gen.    Emilio  Nunez,  official    delegate    from  the    Govenu:ie::t  of 
Cuba. 

Hon.  C.  .Arthur  Shand,  official  Government  delegate  from  Leeward 
Islands. 

■*Elias   Mito  y  Casas,   delegate   from    Centro    General   de    Comcr- 
ciantes  e  Industriales,  Havana,  Cuba. 

*Julian  Cendoya,  delegate  from  Official  Chamber  of   Commerce, 
Industry  and  Navigation,  Santiago,  Cuba. 

J.    E.    Duerden,    delegate    from    Jamaica    Agricultural    Society, 
Kingston,  Jamaica. 

■'^■Francisco  Durruty,  delegate  from  Official  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Industry  and  Navigation,  Santiago,  Cufa. 

Hugo  Hoffman,  delegate  from  Trinidad  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Port-of-Spain.  Trinidad. 

■"■William  Howatson,  delegate  from  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Fort- 
of-Spaiu,  Trinidad. 

Simon  Soular,  delegate  from   Royal  Tociety  of  Agriculture  a:id 
Connnerpe,  Kingston,  Jamaica. 

Edgar  Tripp,  delegate  from  Trinidad  Chamber  of  Ccrnmerce,  Port- 
of-Spain,  Trinidad. 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  FOREIGN  DIPLO.MATIC  SERVICE 

AT  WASHINGTON.  NOT  ELSEWHERE  MENTIONED. 
WHO  PARTICIPATED  IN  THE  CONGRESS. 

Jose  -Vndrade,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Venezuela. 

IJuke  de  .'\rcos,  E.  E  and  M.  P.  of  Spain. 

J.  !•■.  de  .Assis-Brasil,  Iv  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Brazil. 

Manuel  de  Ay.\nvo7.,  -Aniljassailor  of  Mexico. 

Ali  I'errouh  Iky,  E.  IC.  and  M.  P.  of  Turkey. 

A.  Rustem  Bey,  Fir.st  Secretary  "f  Legation  of  Turkey. 

Constantin  Brun,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  DL-nmark. 

Climaco  Caldcron,  K.  Iv.  ar.d  M.  P.  of  Colombia. 

Jules  Cambon,  .Amlias.sador  of  I'rance. 

Luis  Felipe  Carbo,  !•;.  IC.  and  M.  P.  of  Ecuador. 

Comte  Cassini,  .Ambassador  of  Russia. 


NAiCES  OF  LADIES  ACCOMPANYING  FOREIGN  DELEGATES  AND  VISITORS  407 

Walter  Deucher,  Secretarj'  of  Legation  of  Switzerland.  Percy  Sanderson,  Consul-General  of  Great  Britain. 

Baron  de  Fava,  .'Vmbassador  of  Italy.  Isaac  T.  Smith.  Consul  of  Siam. 

Jose  F.  Godoy,  First  Secretary  of  Mexican  Embassy.  N.  Straus,  Consul-General  of  Nicaragua. 

A.  Grip,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Sweden  and  Norway.  W.  Teplow,  Consul-General  of  Russia. 

Ladislaus   Hengelmiiller  von   Heiigervdr,    E.    E.   and   M.   I',    of  Luis  Aujjusto  de  M.  P.  de  A.  Taveira,  Consul-General  of  Portugal 

Austria-Hungary.  -Juan  J.  Ulloa  G,  Consul-General  of  Costa  Rica. 

Herr  von  Holleben,  Amb.iSKador  of  Germany.  Karl  G.  M.  Woxen,  Consul-Gcncral  of  Sweden  and  Norway. 

Jutaro  Komura,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Japan.  Antonio  Fontoura  Xavier,  Consul-General  of  Brazil. 

J.  N.  Leger,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Haiti.  

Count  G.  de  Lichtervelde,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Belgium. 

Manoel  de  Oliveira  Lima,  First  Secretary  of  Legation  of  BraziL  LADIES     ACCOMPANYING     FOREIGN      DELEGATES     AND 

Gerard  A.  Lowther,  First  Secretary  of  British  Embassy.  VISITORS. 

Tsune  Jiro  Nakagawa,  First  Secretary  of  Legation  of  Japan.  

Lord  Pauncefote,  Ambassador  of  Great  Britain. 

Luis  Paz,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Bolivia.  Australasia. 

Jos6  Andrade  Penny,  Secretary  of  Legation  of  Venezuela.  Mrs.  A.  Barr,  accompanying  Mr.  Peter  Barr,  Dunedin,  New  Zca- 

J.  B.  Pioda,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Switzerland.  ja^j                          '               f     J     e> 

Luis  Cuervo  Marquez,  Secretary  of  Legation  of  Colombia.  jljss  Clarke  and  Miss  Reeve,  accompanying  Sir  Andrew  Clarke, 

Jnan  Riano,  First  Secretary  of  Legation  ot  Spam.  Melbourne    Victoria 

Viscount  de  Santo-Thyrso,' E   E.  and  M.  P   of  Portugal  Mrs    ^„^  Miss  Barre  Johnston,  with  Mr.  J.  Barre  Johnston,   of 

Freiherr    Speck    von    bteraburg.    First    Secretary    of    German       Sydney   NSW 

Embassy.                                                                     .  ^.       ,            ,  ^.  Mrs.  Reeves,  accompanying  Hon.  W.  P.  Reeves,  New  Zealand. 

S-  ^  •  ^■J^f}''''^^'^-''"^}'"'^  °^  Legation  of  Sweden  and  Norway.  ^rs.  Rogers,  accompanying  Mr.  J.  H.  Rogers,  of  Queensland. 

Eugene  Thi^baut,  First  Secretary  ot  I- rencli  Embassy.  L^,!    y^^^^  accompanying  Sir  Horace  Tozer,  of  Queensland. 

Wu  Ting-fang,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Lliiiia.  ti ;i 


Shen  Tung,  First  Secretary  of  Legation  of  China. 


Brazil. 


Carlos  Morla  Vicuna,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Chile.  Senhora  da  Graga  and  Senhorita  Alvarenga,  accompanying  Captain 

Count  Vinci,  First  Secretary  of  Italian  Embassy.  j.  Cordeiro  da  Graja,  Brazil. 

Antonio    del    Viso,    First    Secretary   of    Legation   of   Argentine  Canada 
Republic. 

Phva  Prasiddhi.  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Siam.  Mrs.  Cockshutt,  accompanying  Mr.  W.   F.  Cockshutt,   Toronto, 

G.  de  Weckherlin,  E.  E.  and  M.  P.  of  Netherlands.  Ontario. 

Mr.  dc  Wollaut,  First  Secretary  of  Russian  Embassy.  Mrs.  Dwyer  and   Miss   K.    Dwyer,    accompanying  Mr.   Michael 

Tam  E  Ye,  Secretary  of  Legation  of  Korea.  Dwy-er,  Halifax.  Nova  Scotia. 

Chin  Pom  Ye,  E.  B'.  and  M.  P.  of  Korea.  Mrs.  Mitchell,  accompanying  Hon.  George  Mitchell,  Halifax,  Nova 

Scotia. 

Mrs.    P.    G.  Van   Vleet,   accompanying   Mr.   P.    G.    Van   Vleet, 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  FOREIGN  CONSULAR  SERVICE  Toronto,  Ontario. 

IN  PHILADELPHIA,  NOT  ELSEWHERE  MENTIONED.  Central  America. 

WHO  PARTICIPATED  IN  THE  CONGRESS.  Senora  and  Senorita   Piza,   accompanying  Senor  Beuj.    E.   Piza, 

Costa  Rica. 

A.  M.  Alvarenga,  Vice-Consul  of  Br.azil.  Colombia. 
Regulo  Lopez  Baralt,  Consul  of  Venezuela. 

C.  W.  Bergner,  Consul  of  Belgium.  Mrs.  de  Leon,  accompanying  Mr.  M.  A.  de  Leon,  Colon. 
Eduardo  Fornias,  Consul  of  Uruguay.  _ 

Thomas  J.  Hunt,  Consul  of  Liberia.  Lrermany. 

Arnold  Katz,  Vice-Consul  of  Netherlands.  Mrs.  E.  Amhold  and  Miss  Arnhold,  accompanying  Mr.  E.  Arn- 

Rudolph  Koradi,  Consul  of  Switzerland.  hold,  Berlin. 

Gustavo  Niederlein,  Consul  of  Costa  Rica.  Mrs.  Arnthal,  accompanying  Mr.  Ernst  Arnthal,  Berlin. 

Edouard  Pesoli,  Consul  of  France.  Mrs.  T.  Hamspohn,  accompanying  Mr.  T.  Hamspohn,  Berlin. 

Wilfred  Powell,  Consul  of  Great  Britain.  Mrs.  O.  Junghann,  accompanying  Mr.  O.  Junghann,  Berlin. 

Dr.  G.  Scarlata,  Acting  Consul  of  Italy.  Miss  Loewe,  accompanying  Mr.  F.  Loewe,  Berlin. 

Charles  C.  Scherf,  Consul  of  Guatemala.                        '  Mrs.  G.  Williger,  accompanying  Mr.  G.  Williger,  Oppeln. 
Ernesto  Subikurski,  Consul  of  Mexico. 

William  R.  Tucker,  Vice-Consul  of  Russia.  MesiCO. 

T.  N.  Wallem,  Vice-Consul  of  Norway,  Sweden  and  Denmark.  „_         ^,                                      .,,__,,_, 

Thomas  B.  Wanamaker,  Vice-Consul  of  Dominican  Republic.  Senora   Echagaray,    accompanying  Senor  Salvador    Echagaray, 

Mexico  City. 
Mrs.  E.  V.  B.  Hoes,  accompanying  Mr.  E.  V.  B.  Hoes,  Hermo- 

MEMBERS  OF  THE  FOREIGN  CONSULAR  SERVICE  sillo,  Sonora. 

Senora    and    Senorita    Raigosa,   accompanying    Senor   Raigosa, 

IN  NEW  YORK  CITY.  NOT  ELSEWHERE  MENTIONED.  Mexico  City. 

WHO  PARTICIPATED  IN  THE  CONGRESS.  Senora  and  Senorita  Rebollar,  accompanying  Senor  R.  Rebollar, 

„   ,    .      ^                  „         ,  ^          ITT.  Mexico  Citv. 

Fedenco  Bergmann,  Consul-General  of  Peru.  Senora'S.  Zertuche,  accompanying  Senor  Zertuche,  Matamoros. 
Jacques  Bertschmann,  Consul-General  of  Switzerland. 

D.  N.  Botassi,  Consul-General  of  Greece.  Roumania. 
Giovanni  Branchi,  Consul-General  of  Italy. 

Franjois  Edniond  Bruwaert,  Consul-General  of  France.  Madame  Assan,  accompanying  Mr.  B.  G.  Assan,  Bucharest,  Rou- 

Chung  Pao-Hsi,  Consul  of  China.  mania. 

August  Feigel,  Consul-General  of  Germany.  United  Kingdom. 

Dr.  A.von  Feyersleben,  Acting  Consul-General  of  Austria.  Misses  Laurie,  accompanying  Lieutenant-General  J.  W.  Laurie, 

Mundji  Bey  Fikry,  Consul-peneral  of  Turkey.  London,  England. 

Everett  Frazar,  Consul  ot  I^orea.  Mrs.  Henry  Sell,  accompanying  Mr.  Henry  Sell,  London,  England. 

Fidel  Garcia,  Consul-General  of  Ecuador.  j         <             f     j     a 

Juan  N.  Navarro,  Consul-General  of  Mexico.  West  Indies. 

Charles  D.  Pierce,  Consul  of  Orange  Free  State. 

J.  R.  Planten,  Consul-General  of  Netherlands.  Mrs.    Duerden,   accompanying    Mr.   J.    E.    Duerden,    Kingston, 

J.  Gerardo  Polo,  .Acting  Consul  of  Colombia.  Jamaica. 

H.  R.  Pratt,  Consul  of  Persia.  Mrs.  J.  Nicolas,  accompanying  Mr.  J.  Nicolas,  Consul-General  of 

Carlos  Rohl,  Consul-General  of  the  Argentine  Republic.  Haiti. 


LIST  OF  THOSE   WHO  SENT  REGRETS 


AT  NOT  BEING  ABLE  TO  ATTEND 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Africa. 

Bloemfontein,  O.  F.  S.— His  Excellency  M.  Th.  Steyn,  Presi- 
dent Orange  Free  State. 

Bloemfontein.  Orange  Free  State— Mr.  R.  E.  Brounger  Di- 
rector-General  of  the  O.   F.   S.   Government  Railways 

Buluwayo,  Matabeleland-Capt.  the  Hon.  A.  Lawley  Adminis- 
trator. 

Buluwayo.  Matabeleland-His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Buluwayo 

Cairo      Egypt-His      E.xcellency    Moustapha    Fehmy    Pacha' 

Minister  of  the  Interior.  j'  <•, 

.  Cape  Town,  Cape  Colony-The  Right  Hon.  \V.   P.  Schreiner, 
Prime  Minister  of  Cape  Colony. 

Town^^*  ^°'''"'  '^^^^  Colony-Hon.  T.  Ball,  J.  P.,  Mayor  of  Cape 

Cape  Town,  Cape  Colony— General  Manager  of  Cape  Govern- 
ment Railways. 

Dares-Salam-His  E.xcellency  Major-General  Liebert,  Gov- 
ernor of  German  East-Africa 

Durban,  Natal-The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Henry  Binns,  Premier  and 
Colonial  Secretary  ol  Natal. 

Jamestoum,    St     Helena-His     E.xcellencv     R.     A.     Sterndale 

Governor  of  St.  Helena. 

Jamestown,  St.  Helena-Hon.  Robt.  P.  Pooley,  U.  S.  Consul 
Johannesburg,   S.    A.    R.-Director     of    the   -Ned.    Zuid-.Vfri- 

kaansche  Hypothekbank." 
(  .-^"'S,).y,'.l''am's  Town,   Cape  Colony-His   Honor  the   Mayor 

of  King  Wilham  s  Town. 

Loanda— His  Excellency  Ant.  Duarte  Ramada  Curto,  Gov- 
ernor of  Loanda. 

Louren^o  Marques,  Mozambique-His  Excellency  Captain 
Alvaro  da  Costa  Ferreira.  Governor-General  of  Mozambique 

Lourengo  Marques,  Mozambique— Director  of  the  "Caminho 
de  Ferro  Portuguez. 

Mossel  Bay  Cape  Colony-Mr.  G.  C.  Waite,  Secretary  Mossel 
iiay  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Pietermaritzburg,  Natal— His  Excellency  Sir  W  F  Helv- 
Hutchmson,  Governor  of  Natal  ' 

and   MtZZf'f^^?'  V-"'=''— Hon.  Henry  Bale,  Attorney-General 
ana  iMinister  of  Education. 

^j.^^-P'^t^niaritzburg,    Natal-His    Honor   the    Mayor     of     Pieter- 
I  ;„  P'^,'e™^"tzburg,  Natal-General  Manager  of  the  Natal  Bank 

nf  <^f.?T%^-  ■''■  ^rJ^'^  Excellency  P.  G.  W.  Grobler,  Secretary 
of  State  for  Foreign  AfTa.rs  of  the  South  African  Republic 

Pretoria  S.  A.  R.-T.  W.  Beckett,  delegate  from  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  South  African  Republic  1    m  uie  uo\ern 


H.  Wilson,  Postmaster- 
Commissioner  of  Queens- 
Norman     H.    M.    Dalston, 


Argentine   Republic. 

Agri^ulUire  ^''''~^''   Excellency  Dr.   Emilio   Frers.  Minister  of 

lmn^^!rT^'"'^~r^!'  R-^«"ency  Dr.  Juan  A.  Alsina,  Minister  of 
immigration   and   Colonization 

Santa  Cruz."'^^''  ^"""'^  Cruz-His  Excellency,    the    Governor    of 

Australasia. 

Publtc'wm-ks,^°""'    ^"^^----'''^-Ho"-   J-    G.   Jenkins,    Minister   of 
Adelaide,  South   Australia.-Hon.   Chief  Justice  Way. 
A  ehlt'  1°"!^  Australia-His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Adelaide. 

trali.r  i  iniitt:d  ^"^falia-The  Manager  of  the  Bank  of  Aus- 

Cha.^^'^tanreW^"'"'"-^'''^  ^^^"^'-^  °f  ''-  ^''^-'-^^ 
erno?^^f 'Quee^sTr/'^"'-"'^  ^•^"""'^>'  I^'^'  L^mington,  Gov- 
ment^ofM?n«.^"'^"="^'^"''-"°"-  ^°^'-   ^'"''P-  Secretary,  Depart- 


Brisbane,     Queensland— Hon.     W. 
General  of  Queensland. 

Brisbane,    Queensland— Mr.    Gray, 
land  Railways. 

Christchurch,    New    Zealand— Mr.    iNorman     H     M     L 
General  Manager  of  the  New  Zealand  Midland  Railway  Co 

New''i:-a!:;nd''Limrt:d^"''"'-^'^"^^'=^  °^  "^^  ^='''°-'  Bank  of 
Gove^;?::^:;  '^^r''^'  ^'^"^^^'  ^'-^-^^  °f  '>-  Tasmaman 
Vict^rfi.''""'""'  ^"^'°"'''-H°"-  I-  A.  Isaacs,  Attorney-General  of 
General"'""''"''  ^''''""''— """  J  G,  Duffy,  M.  L.  A.,  Postmaster- 
Nat  inl'!f'R"'T'  yif  0"V"°"-  ^'"  ^^''"■^'"  Zeal,  Chairman  of  the 
National  Bank  of  Australasia 

Commer^"''"''  ^'ctona-President  of  the  Victorian   Chamber  of 

Melbourne,     Victoria— Mr.     B.     D.     Smith      Hon      Secretarv 
Victorian  Chamber  of  Commerce.  Secretary 

Melbourne,  Victoria— Hon.  John  O.  Bray,  U.  S.  Consul 
Newcastle,  New  South  Wales-Mr.  G,   F.   Earp,  President  of 
the   Chamber  of  Commerce, 

New°Smul"'Wairs  ^"""^   '^^'""'^^6   Manager  of  the   Bank   of 

K    r^  m'^C^^C  *'™  Australia-His   Excellency   Sir  Gerard  Smith, 
JS..  L    M.  G.,  Governor  of  Western  Australia 

Perth    Western  Australia-The  Right  Hon.  Sir  John  Forrest 
Premier  of  Western  Australia.  ioiicsi, 

Genfrl"'''  ^"'*"'"  Australia-Hon.  R.  W.  Pennefather,  Attorney- 

sionfr'nf'''rr^''''r   Australia-Hon.    George  Throssell,   Commis- 
sioner  of  Crown  Lands. 

Perth,  Western  Australia-Hon.   F.   H.   Piesse,   Commissioner 
of  Railways  and  Director  of  Public  Works 

Aust^nl?.*!.'  }y"'""  Australia-General   Manager  of  the   Western 
Australian   Government   Railways. 

.Sydney     Nevv    South    Wales— Gen.    Sir     F.    M.    Darley     Chief 
Justice  of  New  South  Wales  i^ariey,    (.met 

Premf::^'^f  N^"sS  U^e^-^'-   "°"-   ''"''''  "°-'°"  ^^■'^- 
DeparC^  o^Tands"'  ^^■^'— ^on.  J.  H.  Carruthers,  Secretary, 

r.   ,.,S>'^"'^>''   New  South   Wales-Mr.   Gassard,    President,    Metro- 
politan Board  of  Water  Supply  and  Sewerage 

lownsville,  Qucensland-His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Townsville. 

Wellington.  New  Zealand-The  Right  Hon.  Earl  of  Ranfurly 
Governor  of  New  Zealand  vamuny, 

Wellington,  New  Zealand-The  General  Manager  of  New  Zea- 
land  Government   Railways 

R.nWf"M^'°5'   ^''^  Zealand-Mr.  J.   R.   Blair,  Chairman  of  the 
Bank  of  New  Zealand. 

Austria-Hungary. 

Briinn,  Austria-The  Director  nf  the  Industrial  Museum 
Fiume    Hungary— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Fiume 
Graz,  Austria— His  Honor  the  M.avor  of  Graz 
of  Koloz^s^var'"'  ^^'^''■'"'^"''"'■K^'  Hungary-His  Honor    the    Mayor 
Kosso"'''"^"^'     Hungary- Governor-General    of    the     Province    of 

Liiiz.  Austria— The  President  of  the  Muhlkreis- Railway 
Fozsony  (Prcssluiig),  Hungary-His  Honor  the  Mavor  ad  int, 
Prague,  Austria-His  Honor  the  Mavor  of  Prague     ' 
Salzburg   Austria— His  Honor  the  ^iavor  of  Salzburg 
Iricste,  Austria-The  Presi.hnt  of  the  Austrian  Lloyd! 
Minister '^•the^In'wo""  ^'^"■"""^  """""'  ^^°  Thun-Hohenstein, 
Min^:;^'l^i;::Sr"'^  ^^""--^  "— "  I^'«-  von  Wittek, 


408 


LIST  OF  THOSE  WHO  SENT  EEQEETS  AT  NOT  BEING  ABLE  TO  ATTEND 


409 


Vienna,  Austria — The  Director  of  the  Imperial-Royal  S.  S. 
Company  on  the  Donau. 

Vienna,  Austria — The  Director  o(  ^he  Government  Railways. 

Vienna,  Austria— The  Director  of  the  Local  R.  R.  Stauding- 
Strassburg. 

Azores   Islands. 

Ponta  Delgada — Hon.  Jose  Maria  Rapozo  d'AImaral,  Jr., 
Mayor  of  Ponta  Delgada. 

Belgium. 

Antwerp— His  Excellency  Baron  Ed.  Osy  de  Zegwaart,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  Province  of  Antwerp. 

Antwerp — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Antwerp. 

Bruges — His  Excellency  Baron  L.  Ruzette,  Governor  of  West 
Flanders. 

Bruges — The  Director  of  the  "Societe  Anonyme  des  Chemms 
de  Per  de  la  Flandre  Occidentale." 

Brussels— His  Excellency  J.  P.  P.  van  den  Peereboom, 
Minister  of  Railways,  Posts  and  Telegraphs. 

Brussels — His  Excellency  A.  Vergote,  Governor  of  the  Prov- 
ince of  Brabant. 

Brussels — The  Director  of  the  Congo  Railway  Co. 

Brussels — Mr.  V.  Fris,  President  of  "La  Societe  Nationale 
des  Chemins  de  Fer  Vicinaux." 

Brussels — Mr.  Justiniano  Sotomayor,  Delegate  and  Technical 
Inspector  in  Europe  for  the  Chilean  Government. 

Ghent — His  Excellency  Baron  de  Kerchove  Exaerde,  Gov- 
ernor of  East  Flanders. 

La  Louviere — The  President  of  the  ''Societe  Anonyme  des 
Chemins  de  Fer  Vicinaux  du  Centre." 

Liege — His  Excellency  L.  Pety  de  Thorzee,  Governor  of  the 
Province   of   Liege. 

Liege — The  Director-General  of  the  Liege — Maestricht  Rail- 
way Company. 

Bolivia. 

La  Paz— Manuel  V.  Ballivian,  Director  of  the  Geographical 
Society  of  La  Paz. 

Brazil. 

Natal— Senhor  Angelo   Roselli,   President  of  the   Commercial 

Association  of  Natal- 
Rio  de  Janeiro — His   Excellency  General  J.   Nepomuceno  de 

Medeiros  Mallet,  Minister  of  War. 

Rio  de  Janeiro — His  Excellency  Senhor  Severino  dos  Santos 

Vieira,   Minister  of  Industry. 

Canada. 

Charlottetown,  Prince  Edward  Island— Hon.  D.  Farquh3";on, 
Premier  of  Prince  Edward  Island. 

Dawson  City,  Yukon  Territory — Hon.  William  Ogilvie,  Com- 
missioner. 

Halifax,  Nova  Scotia — President  of  the  Intercolonial  Chamber 
of  Commerce. 

Moncton,  New  Brunswick — The  General  Manager  of  the  Inter- 
colonial Railway  of  Canada. 

Ottawa.  Ontario— His  Excellency  the  Governor-General  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada. 

Ottawa.  Ontario — Sir  Wilfred  Laurier.  Premier  and  President 
of  the  Cabinet  for  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

Ottawa,  Ontario — Hon.  Sir  Richard  Cartwright,  Minister  of 
Commerce  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

Ottawa,  Ontario — Hon.  A.  G.  Blair,  Minister  of  Railways  and 
Canals. 

Ottawa,  Ontario— Hon.  Wm.  Mulock,  Postmaster-Genera!  of 
the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

Ottawa,  Ontario — Mr.  J.  R.  Booth,  President  Canada  Atlantic 
Railway  Co. 

Port  Hope,  Ontario— Hon.  J.  Walker  Quinlan,  Mayor  of  Port 
Hope. 

Port  Talbot,  Ontario— Mr.  E.  Knox,  Secretary,  Port  Talbot 
Railway  and  Docks  Co. 

St.  Johns,  Newfoundland- His  Excellency  Sir  Henry  E-  Mc- 
Callum,  Governor  of  Newfoundland. 

Toronto,  Ontario — Sir  Oliver  Mowat,  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
Ontario- 
Toronto,  Ontario — Prof.  Goldwin  Smith. 

Victoria,  British  Columbia— Rt.  Hon.  T.  R.  Mclnnes,  Lieut.- 
Governor  of  British  Columbia. 

Walkerville,  Ontario— Mr.  F.  H-  Walker,  President  L.  E.  & 
D-  R-  Railway. 


Canary  Islands. 

Las  Palmas— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Las  Palmas. 
Central   America. 

Cojutepeque,  San  Salvador — His  Excellency  Don  Alfonzo 
Gallardo,  Governor  of  Cuscatlan. 

Guatemala,  Guatemala — His  Excellency  Don  Manuel  Estrada 
Cabrera,  President  of  the  Republic  of  Guatemala- 
Guatemala,  Guatemala — His  Excellency  Gen.  Gregorio  Con- 
treras.  Minister  of  War. 

Guatemala,  Guatemala — His  Excellency  Don  Domingo  Mor- 
ales, Minister  of  Public  Instruction. 

Guatemala,  Guatemala — Sefior  Pedro  Mille  V.  Director- 
General  Bureau  of  Statistics. 

San  Jose,  Costa  Rica — The  Manager  of  the  "Banco  Anglo- 
Costa-Ricense-" 

San  Salvador,  San  Salvador— His  Excellency  Don  Tomas 
Regalado,  President  of  San  Salvador. 

Tegucigalpa.  Honduras — His  Excellency  Don  Maximo  Ro- 
sales.  Minister  of  War. 

Tegucigalpa,  Honduras — His  Excellency  Don  Francisco  Alt- 
schul,  Minister  of  Commerce,  Industry  and  Public  Works. 

Ceylon. 

Colombo— The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Joseph  West  Ridgeway.  Governor 
of  Ceylon- 

China- 

Macao— His  Excellency  Ed.  A-  Rodriguez  Galhardo,  Governor 
of  Macao. 

Peking— The  Director  of  the  Russo-Chinese  Bank- 
Tsintau— His  Excellency  the  Governor  of  Kiautschou. 

Colombia. 

Barranquilla— The  Manager  of  the  "Banco  de  Barranquilla." 

Cartagena— His  Excellency  Luis  M.  Mejia  Alvarez,  Minister 
of  Finance. 

Panama— His  Excellency  Faciendo  Mutis  Duran,  Governor  of 
Panama. 

San  Fernando— His  Excellency  P.  N.  Pena,  Governor  of  Col- 
chagua- 

Cyprus- 

Cyprus— The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  William  F.  Haynes  Smith,  Gov- 
ernor of  Cyprus. 

Denmark. 

Aarhus— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Aarhus. 

Copenhagen— His  Excellency  Col.  C.  F.  Tuxen,  Minister  of 
War. 

Copenhagen— His   Excellency   B.   de   Bardentleth,   Minister   of 
the  Interior. 
'    Copenhagen— The  Director  of  the  Government  Railways. 

Horsens— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Horsens. 

France. 

Amiens— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Amiens. 

Angers— Hon.  J.  Joxe,  Mayor  of  .'\nger3. 

Anzin— The  Director  of  the  "Chemins  de  Fer  Economiques 
du  Nord." 

Cette — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Cette. 

Dunkerque— The  Director  of  the  "Compagnie  des  Bateaux  a 
Vapeur  du  Nord-" 

Havre — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Havre. 

Limoges — M.  Bourdeau  d'Antony,  President  of  the  Chamber 
of  Commerce- 

Lyon — Hon.  M.  Gailleton,  Mayor  of  Lyon. 

Marseille— M.  Theodore  Maute,  President  "Compagnie  de 
Navigation  Mixte." 

Marseille— The  Director  of  the  "Societe  Generate  de  Trans- 
ports Maritimes  a  Vapeur." 

Mazamet— M.  Gustave  Sarrat,  Vice-President  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

Nancy — The  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Nantes — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Nantes. 

Paris — His  Excellency  M.  Waldeck-Rousseau,  Premier. 

Paris— His  Excellency  M.  J.  Caillaux,  Minister  of  Finance- 
Paris— His  Excellency  General  Marquis  de  Galliffet,  Minister 
of  War. 

Paris— His  Excellency  M.  Millerand,  Minister  of  Commerce, 
Industry,  Posts  and  Telegraphs. 


410 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMTilRCIAL  CONGRESg 


Paris— His  Excellency  M.  Jean  Dupuy,  Minister  of  Agricul- 
ture. 

Paris — His  Excellency  M.  Pierre  Baudin,  Minister  of  Public 
Works. 

Paris — His  Excellency  M.  Decrais,  Colonial  Minister. 

Paris — His  Honor  the  Prefect  of  the  Seine  Department. 

Paris — The  Director  of  the  "Compagnie  des  Chemins  de  Fer 
du  ]\Iidi." 

Paris — The  Director  of  the  Colonial  Office. 

Paris — The  Director  of  the  Government  Railways. 

Paris — The  Director  of  the  "Compagnie  des  Chemins  de  Fer 
de  rOuest." 

Paris — M.  Lefevre  Pontalis,  President  "Compagnie  des  Mes- 
sageries  Maritimes." 

Paris — M.  Stepliane  Derville.  President  of  the  "Cie.  des 
Chemins  de  Fer  de  Paris  a  la  Mediterannee." 

Paris — The  President  of  the  "Societe  Anonyme  Ottomane." 

Roubaix — Administrator  of  the  National  School  of  Industrial 
Arts. 

Toulon — Hon.  H.  Pastoureau,  Mayor  of  Toulon. 

Germany. 

Aix-la-Chapelle — Hon.  M.  Vettman.  Mayor  of  Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Aix-la-Chapelle — Kommerzienrath   Carl   Delius. 

Altona — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Altona. 

Altona — The  President  of  the  Railway  Administration. 

Bamberg — His   Honor  the  Mayor  of  Bamberg. 

Barmen — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Barmen. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  von  Thielen,  Minister  of  Public  Works. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  von  Schonstedt,  Minister  of  Justice. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  Lieut.-General  von  Gossler,  Minister 
of  War. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  Baron  von  Hammerstein-Loxten, 
Minister  of  Agriculture,  Domains  and  Forestry. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  von  der  Recke  von  der  Horst.  Minister 
of  the  Interior. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  Brefeld,  Minister  of  Commerce  and 
Industry. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  Count  von  Posadowsky-Welmer, 
Secretary  of  State  Department  Interior. 

Berlin — His  Excellency  Baron  von  Thielman.  Imperial 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

Berlin— His  Excellency  Dr.  Schulz,  President  of  the  State 
Railways. 

Berlin — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Berlin. 

Berlin — President  Kranold,  of  Royal  Railway  Administration 
in  Berlin. 

Berlin— Hcrr  H.  A.  Buck,  of  the  "Centralverein  deutscher  In- 
dustrieller."' 

Berlin — The  Director  of  the  "Deutsche  Bank." 

Bremen — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Bremen. 

Bremen — Dr.  Schauinsland,  Director  of  the  Commercial  Mus- 
eum. 

Bremen— Herr  Louis  Ed.  Meyer.  President,  German  S.  S. 
Company  "Hansa." 

Breslau— Herr  B.  A.  Zadig,  Member  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. 

Brunswick — His  Excellency  Dr.  von  Otto.  Minister  of  State. 

Brunswick — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Brunswick. 

Biickeburg — His  Excellency  Baron  von  Feilitzsch.  Minister 
of  State  of  Schaumburg-Lippe. 

Carlsruhe — His  Excellency  Dr.  Nokk,  Minister  of  State  of 
Baden. 

Carlsruhe— His  Excellency  Herr  von  Brauer,  Minister  of 
Foreign  Afifairs  of  Baden. 

Carlsruhe^His  Excellency  Dr.  Buchenberger,  Minister  of 
Finance  of  Baden. 

Carlsruhe— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Carlsruhe. 

Charlottenburg — His  Honor  the  Mayor. 

Chemnitz— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Chemnitz. 

Cologne— The  Chairman  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Cologne. 

Cologne— Kommerzienrath  van  der  Zypen,  from  the  "Verein 
der   Industriellen  des   Regierungsbezirks   Koln." 

Danzig— His  Hotior  the  Mayor  of  Danzig. 

Darmstadt— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Darmstadt. 

Darmstadt— The  Director  of  the  Main-Ncckar  Railways. 

Detmold— His  Excellency  Dr.  Miesitscheck  von  Wischkau, 
Minister  of  Stale  of  the   Principality  of  Lippc-Detniold. 

Dortmund— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Dortmund. 

Dresden- His  Excellency  Herr  von  Metzsch,  Minister  of 
Interior  of  Saxony. 

,„    Dresden— His  Excellency   Herr  von   der  Planitz,   Minister  of 
War  of  Saxony. 

Dresden— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Dresden. 


Dresden — Herr  Hoffmann,  Director-General  of  Government 
Railways. 

Dresden — Herr  v.  Kirchbach.  Director  of  Government  Rail- 
ways. 

Dresden — The  Chairman  of  the  "Dresdner  Kaufmannschaft." 

Dresden — Dr.  R.  Ulbricht,  President,  Corporation  of  Engi- 
neers and  Architects  of  Saxony. 

Dresden — Herr  Heinrich  Vogel,  Chairman,  Exportverein  fiir 
das  Konigreich  Sachsen. 

Dresden — Prof.  Dr.  Graff.  Chairman.  School  and  Museum  of 
Art  and  Industry. 

Erfurt — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Erfurt. 

Erfurt — Herr  Goring,  Director  of  the  Royal  Railways. 

Essen — Herr  Hirsch,  Curator  of  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Essen. 

Essen — The  President  of  the  Royal  Railway  of  Essen. 

Frankfort — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Frankfort. 

Frankfort — The  Director  of  the  Commercial  Museum. 

Freiburg — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Freiburg. 

Fiirth — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Fiirth. 

Gera — His  Excellency  Herr  Engelhardt,  Minister  of  State  of 
Reuss. 

Giessen — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Giessen. 

Gotha — His  Excellency  Herr  von  Strenge,  Minister  of  State 
of  Saxe-Koburg  Gotha. 

Gottingen — His   Honor  the   Mayor  of  Gottingen. 

Hagen  i.  W. — His  Honor  the  i\'iayor  of  Hagen. 

Hamburg — Hon.  Dr.  Versmann.  Mayor  of  Hamburg. 

Hamburg — Hon.  Dr.  Schroder,  President  of  the  Senate. 

Hannover — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Hannover. 

Kiel — Hon.  Dr.  Fuss,  Mayor  of  Kiel. 

Konigshiitte — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Konigshiitte. 

Leipzig — Hon.  Dr.  Gcorgi.  Mayor  of  Leipzig. 

Lippstadt — Herr  F.  Schonfeld,  Director  of  the  Westphalian 
Railways. 

Ludwigshafen — Director  of  the  Pfalz  Railways. 

Mainz — The  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Mannheim- — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Mannheim. 

Meiningen — His  Excellency  Dr.  Baron  von  Heim,  Minister  of 
State  of  Saxe-Meiningen. 

Munich — His  Excellency  Baron  von  Riedel,  Minister  of 
Finance  of  Bavaria. 

Munich — His  Excellency  Baron  von  Feilitzsch,  Minister  of 
Interior  of  Bavaria. 

Munich — The  Director-Genera!  of  the  Government  Railways. 

Miinster — Herr   Ludicke,   President   of  the   Royal   Railways. 

Nuremberg:— His    Honor  the    Mayor   of   Nuremberg. 

Plauer* — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Plauen. 

Schleswig — The  President  of  the  Schleswig-Angler  Railways- 

Schwerin — His  Excellency  v.  Amsberg,  Minister  of  Justice  of 
Mecklenburg. 

Strassburg— His  Excellency  v.  Puttkamer,  Secretary  of  State 
of  Alsace  Lorraine. 

Strassburg— His  Honor  the  ]\Iayor  of  Strassburg. 

Strassburg— The  President  of  the  Railways  of  Alsace-Lor- 
raine. 

Stuttgart— Baron  von  Mittnacht,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs 
of  Wiirtemberg. 

Stuttgart — His  Excellency  Herr  von  Zeyer,  Minister  of 
Finance  of  Wiirtemberg. 

Stuttgart— His  Excellency  Baron  Schott  von  Schottenstein, 
Minister  of  War  of  Wiirtemberg. 

Stuttgart— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Stuttgart. 

Weitnar— His   Honor  Herr  Pabst.  Mayor  of  Weimar. 

Weimar— Herr  R.  Moritz,  Commercial  Counsellor. 

Wesel— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Wesel. 

Greece. 

Athens — The  Director-General  of  the  Piraeus-Athens-Pelopon- 
nesus Railways. 

Athens— Mr.  Pandia  Ralli,  President.  Pan-Hellenic  Steam  Na- 
vigation Company. 

Guiana    (British). 

Georgetown— The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Walter  J.  Sendall,  Governor 
British  Guiana. 

Georgetown — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Georgetown. 

Guinea    (Portuguese). 

Bissao — His  Excellency  Don  Alvaro  Hcrculano  da  Cunha, 
Governor  of  Guinea- 


LIST  OF  THOSE  WHO  SENT  REGRETS  AT  NOT  BEING  ABLE  TO  ATTEND 


411 


Holland. 

Amsterdam — The  Director  of  the  "Stoomvaart  Maatschapij, 
Nederland." 

Amsterdam — The  ''Kamer  van  Koophandel  en  Fabrieken  te 
Amsterdam." 

Geunep — The  President  of  the  "Noord  Brabantsch-Duitsche 
Spoorweg  Maatschapij." 

Rotterdam — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Rotterdam. 

The  Hague — His  Excellency  N.  G.  Pierson,  Minister  of 
Finance- 

The  Hague — His  Excellency  J.  T.  Cremer,  Colonial  Minister. 

The  Hague — His  Excellency  C.  Lely,  Minister  of  Commerce 
and  Irdr.stry. 

The  Hague — His  Excellency  K.  Eland,  Minister  of  War. 

The  Hague — The  President  of  the  "Semarang-Cheridon 
Stoomtram.  Maatschapij." 

Utrecht — Mr.  J.  L.  Cluysenaer,  Director-General  of  the  Nether- 
land  Government  Railways. 

Zwolle — The  President  of  the  South-African  Railway. 

India. 

Bangalore — Hon.  Lieut. -Colonel  Robertson,  Chief  Commis- 
sioner and  President  of  Mysore. 

Bengal — Rt.  Hon.  Sir  John  Woodburn,  Lieut. -Governor  of 
Bengal. 

Bombay — Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Sandhurst,  Governor  of  Bombay. 

Calcutta — Manager  of  the  National  Bank  of  India,  Limited. 

Goa — His  Excellency  J.  Joaquin  Machado,  Governor  of  Goa- 

Lucknow — Manager  of  the  Oudh  and  Rohilhand  Railway. 

Nagpore — His  Excellency  D.  C.  Ibbetson,  Chief  Commissioner 
of  Nagpore. 

Oudh — Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Antony  P.  Macdcnnell,  Lieut.-Governor 
of  Oudh. 

Simla — Director  of  Railway  Construction  and  Traffic  in  India. 

Simla— Secretary  to  the  Government  of  India. 

Italy. 

Ancona — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Ancona. 

Asti — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Asti. 

Bari— Comm.  Severino  Milella,  Presidente  Societa  Puglia. 

Bari — The  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Bergamo — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Bergamo. 

Bologna — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Bologna. 

Cagliari — Hon.  Ottone  Bacaredda,  Mayor  of  Cagliari. 

Catania — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Catania. 

Forli — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Forli. 

Genoa— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Genoa. 

Genoa — The  President  of  the  "Credito  Italiano." 

Grossetc> — Hon.  Cav.  Carlo  Ponticelli,  Mayor  of  Grosseto. 

Messina — Director  of  the  branch-office  of  the  "Banco  di 
Sicilia." 

Milan — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Milan. 

Milan — The  Director  of  the  "Banca  Commerciale  Italiana." 

Modena — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Modena. 

Naples^His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Naples. 

Novara — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Novara. 

Padua — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Padua. 

Palermo — Director-General  of  the  "Banca  di  Sicilia." 

Piacenza — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Piacenza. 

Pisa — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Pisa. 

Pistoia^His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Pistoia. 

Ravenna — Comm.  Dottor  Ugo  Burnazzi.  Mayor  of  Ravenna. 

Rome — His  Excellency  Giuseppe  Mirri,  Minister  of  War. 

Rome — His  Excellency  Antonio  Salandra,  Minister  of  Agricul- 
ture, Industry  and  Commerce. 

Rome — His  Excellency  A.  Bonasi,  Minister  of  Justice. 

Rome — His  Excellency  le  Marquis  Visconti  Venosta. 

Sondrio — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Sondrio. 

Treviso — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Treviso. 

Vicenza — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Vicenza. 

Vicenza — The  President  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Japan. 

Taihoku,  Formosa — Hon.  H.  Yamashita,  President,  Taihoku 
Municipality. 

Tokyo — His  Excellency  Baron  Sonbuku  Senge,  Governor  of 
Tokyo. 

Tokyo — His  Excellency  Count  Matsukata.  Minister  of  Finance. 

Tokyo — His  Excellency  Keigo  Kiyoura,  Minister  of  Justice. 

Tokoyo — Hon.  J.  Matsumoto,  Director,  Imperial  Government 
Railways. 

Yokohama — Nagatane  Soma,  President,  Yokohama  Specie 
Bank. 


Yokohama — Mr.  A.  D.  Robinson,  Chairman,  Yokohama  Gen- 
eral Foreign  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Liberia. 

Monrovia — His  Excellency  Owen  L.  N.  Smith,  M.  P.  and  C. 
General. 

Monrovia — Hon.  G.  W.  Gibson,  Chief  of  Department  of  State 
of  the  Republic  of  Liberia. 

Malta. 

Valetta — General  Sir  Francis  Grenfall,  Governor  of  Malta. 

Mauritius. 

Port  Louis — The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Charles  Bruce,  Governor  of  the 
Island  of  Mauritius. 

Mexico. 

Aguascalientes — His  E.xcellency  Rafael  Arellano,  Governor  of 
Aguascalientes- 

Chihuahua — His  Excellency  Ignacio  Enriques.  Governor  of 
the  District  of  Iturbide. 

Chihuahua — The  Manager  of  the  "Banco  Nacional  de  Mexico." 

Colima — His  Excellency  Francisco  Sta.  Cruz,  Governor  of 
Colima. 

Cuernavaca — His  Excellency  Manuel  Alarcon,  Governor  of 
Morelos. 

Durango — His  Excellency  Leandro  Fernandez,  Governor  of 
Durango. 

Guadalajara — His  Excellency  L.  C.  Curiel,  Governor  of  the 
State  of  Jalisco. 

Guanajuato — His  E.xcellency  Joaquin  Obregon  Gonzalez,  Gov- 
ernor of  Guanajuato. 

Jalapa— His  E.xcellency  Teodora  A.  Dehesa,  Governor  of  Vera 
Cruz. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  Porfirio  Diaz,  President  of  the 
Republic  of  Mexico. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  Manuel  Fernandez  Leal,  Secre- 
tary of  Commerce  and  Industry. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  R.  Rebollar,  Governor  of  the 
Federal   District. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  Ignacio  Mariscal,  Secretary  of 
Foreign  Affairs. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  M.  Gonzales  Cosio,  Minister  of 
the  Interior. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  E.  Buelna,  Magistrate  of  Chief 
Court  of  Justice. 

Mexico  City — His  E.xcellency  Francisco  Martinez  de  Arre- 
donde,  Magistrate  of  the  Chief  Court  of  Justice. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  Felipe  B.  Berriozabal,  Secretary 
of  War  and  Navy. 

Mexico  City — His  Excellency  Robert  Nunez,  Assistant  Secre- 
tary of  Finance. 

Mexico  City — Hon.  Don  Miguel  S.  Macedo,  Mayor  of  Mexico 
City. 

Mexico  City — The  Director-General  of  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment. 

Monterey — His  Excellency  General  Bernardo  Reyes,  Governor 
Nuevo  Leon. 

Pachuca — His  Excellency  P.  L.  Rodriguez,  Governor  of 
Hidalgo. 

Puebla — His  Excellency  M.  P.  Martinez,  Governor  of  Puebla. 

Queretaro — His  Excellency  Gonzalez  Cosio,  Governor  of 
Queretaro. 

Saltillo — His  Excellency  Miguel  Cardenas,  Governor  of  Coa- 
huila. 

San  Juan  Bautista — His  Excellency  Abraham  Bandala.  Gov- 
ernor of  Tabasco. 

San  Luis  Potosi — His  Excellency  Bias  Escontria,  Governor  of 
San  Luis  Potosi- 

Tuxtla-Gutierrez — His  Excellency  F.  Leon,  Governor  of 
Chiapas. 

Montenegro. 

Cettinje^His  E.xcellency  P.  Bogisic,  Ex-Minister  of  Justice. 
Cettinje — His  Excellency  Mr.  Nicolas  Matanovitch,  Minister  of 
Finance. 

Norway. 

Bergen — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Bergen. 

Christiania — His  Excellency  P.  T.  Thilesen,  Minister  of  the 
Interior. 

Christiania — His  Excellency  Col.  Peter  Hoist,  Minister  of 
National  Defence. 

Laurvig — The  Director  of  the  "Aktie-Kreditbanken  i  San- 
defjord." 


412 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS 


Persia. 

Teheran— His  Excellency  Moaven-ed  Dowleh,  Imperial  Secre- 
tary of  State  for  Commerce. 

Peru. 

Lima— His  Excellency  Don  Camilo  N.  Carillo,  Director- 
General  of  Posts  and  Telegraphs. 

Lima— E.  S.  Habich.  Director,  School  of  Engineering. 

Portugal. 

Lisbon— His  Excellency  Don  Paulo  Benj.  Cabral,  Minister  of 
Coninu-rce.  Industry  and  Public  Works. 

Lisbon— Hon.  Conde  de  Bestello,  President  of  the  Municipal 
Chamber. 

Koumania. 

Dorohoi— Hon.  Jean  Coroi,  Mayor  of  Dorohoi. 
Falticeni— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Falticeni. 

Bussla. 

Ekaterinodar— His  Excellency  Lieut.-General  T.  MaUima, 
Governor  of  Kuban. 

Moscow— His  Imperial  Highness,  Grand  Duke  Serge  Alex- 
androvitch,  Governor-General  of  Moscow. 

Odessa— Hon.  Paul  Zelieny.  Mayor  of  Odessa. 

Saratov— His  Excellency  Prince  B.  Mestchersky,  Governor  of 
Saratov.  . 

St.  Petersburg — His  Excellency  A.  Kouropatkine,  Minister  of 
War. 

St.  Petersburg— His  Excellency  Vice-Admiral  P.  P.  Tyrtoff, 
Minister  of  Marine. 

Tver — His  Excellency  Prince  Nicolas  Galitzine,  Governor  of 
Tver. 

Helsingfors,  Finland— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Helsingfors. 

San   Marino. 

San  Marino— His  Excellency  M.  Borbiconi,  Captain  Regent 
of  the   Repul)lic   San   Marino. 

San  Marino — His  Excellency  D.  Fattori,  Secretary  of  Foreign 
Affairs. 

Siam. 

Bangkok — His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Devawongse  Varo- 
prakar,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs. 

Bangkok — His  Royal  Highness  Prince  Kron  Mun  Mahitson 
Rahruethai,  Minister  of  Finance. 

Spain. 

Madrid— His  Excellency  Eduardo  Dato,  Minister  de  la  Gober- 
nacion. 

Madrid— His  Excellency  Manuel  Duran  y  Bas,  Minister  of 
Justice. 

Madrid— The  President  of  the  "Banco  Hipotecario  de  Espana." 

Madrid— Sr.  Nathan  Susa,  Director  of  the  Madrid,  Saragossa 
and  Alicante  Railway  Co. 

Salamanca — The  Director  of  the  Salamanca  Railway. 

San  Sebastian— His  Excellency  Marques  de  Pidal,  Minister  of 
Industry,  Commerce  and  Public  Works. 

Valencia — Sr.  J.  Moreno  Campo,  Director  of  the  Silla  and 
Cullcra  Railway. 

Vitoria — His    llniior   the   Mayor  of  Vitoria. 

Sweden. 

Christianstad — His  Excellency  Count  de  la  Gardie,  Governor 
of  Christianstad. 

Malniii — His  Excellency  R.  Dickson,  Governor  of  Malmo. 

Maricstad — His  Excellency  Dr.  C.  A.  de  Sjocrona,  Governor  of 
Scaraborg. 

Ostersund — His  Excellency  Count  K.  N.  Sparre,  Governor  of 
Jemtland. 

Stockholm — His  Excellency  E.  G.  Bostrcim,  Minister  of  State. 

Stockholm — His  Excellency  Count  L.  Douglas,  Minister  For- 
eign Affairs. 

Stockholm — His  Excellency  Count  H.  H.  Wachtmeister, 
Minister  of  Finance. 

Stockholm — His  Excellency  G.  Dyrssen,  Minister  of  Navy. 

Stockholm — His  Excellency  P.  G.  Isberg,  Governor  of  Stock- 
holm. 


Switzerland. 

Basle — The  Director  of  the  Central  Railway  of  Switzerland. 

Berne — His  Excellency  Ed.  Miiller,  President  of  the  Swiss 
Confederacy,  ad  interim. 

Berne — His  Excellency  A.  Lachenal,  Minister  of  the  Interior. 

Berne — His   Excellency  President  Morgenthaler. 

Berne — The  President  of  the  "Kantonalbank." 

Chur — Herr  A.  Schuian,  Director  of  the  "Rhatische  Bahn." 

Geneva — Hon.  Manumiere,  President  of  the  Administrative 
Council. 

Geneva — The  Director  of  the  "Societe  Genevoise  des  Chemins 
de  Fer  a  Voie  Etroite." 

Lausanne — His  Honor  the  ^layor  of  Lausanne. 

Lausanne — His  Excellency  M.  Viquera,  Chief,  Department  of 
Agriculture  and  Commerce. 

Luzern — The  President  of  the  Gotthard-Railway. 

Neuchatel — The  President  of  Common  Council. 

St.  Gall — His  Excellency  Herr  Anti,  Minister  of  Agriculture, 
Commerce  and  Industry. 

St.  Gall— His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  St.  Gall. 

St.  Gall — The  Director  of  the  United  Railways  of  Switzerland. 

Winterthur — The  Director  of  the  Industrial  Museum. 

Ziirich — Dr.  J.  Hoessel,  President  of  the  Council  of  the  Canton 
of  Zurich. 

Turkey-in-Asia. 

Beyrout — M.  P.  J.  Richerolles.  Director  of  the  Railways  Bey- 
rout,  Damas-Hauran  and  the  Port  of  Beyrout. 
Erzerum — Hon.  Peo  Bergholz,  U.  S.  Consul. 
Smyrna — M.  Avedikian,  Member  of  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

Turkey -in-Europe. 

.-Vdrianople — M.    Arif    Pacha,    Government    Official. 

Constantinople — His  Excellency  Ahmed  Tewfik  Pacha,  Min- 
ister of   Foreign   Affairs. 

Constantinople — Director  Charles  Cotard,  of  the  Smyrna- 
Cassaba  Railway  Co. 

United    Kingdom. 

Ashton,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Ashton. 

Bedford,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Bedford. 

Belmont,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Belmont. 

Birmingham,  England — The  Hon.  Lord  Mayor  of  Birming- 
ham. 

Blackburn,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Blackburn. 

Bristol,  England — His  Honor  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Bristol. 

Brougham.  England — Lord  Claude  Hamilton. 

Burnley,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Burnley. 

Bury,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Bury. 

Cheltenham.  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Cheltenham. 

Folkstone.  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Folkstone. 

Gisborough.  England — Hon.  Sir  Joseph  Pease,  Chairman, 
North  Eastern  Railway. 

Gloucester,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Gloucester. 

Ickleton,  England — Hon.  Sir  Robert  Herbert. 

Liverpool,  England — The  Manager  of  the  Cheshire  Lines 
Committee. 

Liverpool,  England — The  Managers  of  the  Atlas  Steamship 
Company,  Limited. 

Liverpool.  England — Messrs.  George  Warren  &  Co.,  from 
Liverpool  &  Boston  Line  of  Steamships. 

Liverpool,  England — Mr.  James  Wright,  Manager  and  Secre- 
tary, West  India  and   Pacific   S.   S.   Co.,   Limited. 

Liverpool.  England — The  Secretary  of  the  Liverpool  Provision 
Trade  Association,  Limited. 

Liverpool,  England — The  Secretary  of  the  Liverpool  Corn 
Trade  Association,  Limited. 

Liverpool,  England — The  General  Manager  of  the  Bank  of 
Liverpool,  Limited. 

London,  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Salisbury,  Prime 
Minister  and  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs. 

London,  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  /Vrlhur  J.  Balfour,  First  Lord 
of  the  Treasury. 

London,  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  Michael  Hicks-Bcach. 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 

London,  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  Lord  Chancellor,  House  of 
Lords. 

London,  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  Joseph  Chamberlain,  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  the  Colonies. 

London,  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  Viscount  Cross,  Lord,  Privy 
Seal. 

London.  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  Duke  <if  Devonshire.  I  resi- 
dent of  the  Council. 

London,  England— The  Rt.  Hon.  Lord  George  Hamilton.  Sec- 
retary of  State  for  India. 


LIST  OF  THOSE  WHO  SENT  REGRETS  AT  NOT  BEING  ABLE  TO  ATTEND 


413 


London,  England^His  Excellency  the  Siamese  Minister  to 
Great  Britain. 

London,  England — Hon.  F.  A.  Abel,  Hon.  Secretary  and  Di- 
rector of  the  Imperial  Institute. 

London,  England — Mr.  A.  W.  Williams,  Manager  London  and 
India  Docks  Joint  Committee. 

London,  England— The  Managers  of  the  China  Navigation 
Company,  Limited. 

London,  England — Mr.  Daniel  Reid,  Chairman  of  the  China 
Mutual  Steam  Navigation  Co.,  Limited. 

London,  England— Mr.  Charles  Steel,  General  Manager  of  The 
Great  Northern  Railway. 

London,  England— The  Managing  Director  of  the  South 
Indian  Railway  Co.,  Limited. 

London,  England— Mr.  J.  M.  Cooper,  Secretary,  The  Nitrate 
Railways  Co.,  Limited. 

London,  England— Mr.  Nathaniel  Cork,  Managing  Director 
of  the   Commercial   Banking   Co.   of   Sydney,    Limited. 

London,  England— Mr.  G.  Knight,  Secretary,  London  and 
South  Western  Railway. 

London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  Fumeos  Railway  Co. 

London,  England— Mr.  R.  L.  Campbell,  Secretary,  Dominion 
Atlantic  Railway  Co. 

London,  England— Mr.  De  Witt  Gray,  Secretary  of  the  khed- 
ival   Mail  Steamship  &  Graving  Dock  Co.,   Limited. 

London,  England— Hon.  Sir  Edwyn  Dawes,  Chairman  of  the 
New  Zealand  Shipping  Co.,  Limited. 

London,  England— The  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Great 
Western  Railway.  ,    ,       „  .         r~  ^r     ■ 

London,  England— The  Secretary  of  the  Orient  Steam  Navi- 
gation Co.,  Limited. 

London,  England— Mr.  S.  Eardley  Wilmot,  from  Launceston 
Chamber  of  Commerce. 

London,  England— Hon.  E.  S.  Wittenoom,  Agent-General  of 
Western  Australia- 

London,  England— The  Chairman  and  Directors  of  the  West 
Flanders  Railway  Co. 

London,  England— Mr.  J.  F.  Buckley,  Chairman  of  the  Cam- 
brian Railway  Co. 

London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  Argentine  Great 
Western  Railway. 

London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  Cordoba  &  Rosario 
Railway.  . 

London,  England— Hon.  Sir  George  Armytage,  Chairman  of 
the  Lancashire  &  Yorkshire  Railway  Co. 

London,  England— The  Secretary  of  the  Royal  Steam  Packet 

'  London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  Southern  Punjab  Rail- 
way Co.,  Limited.  „    „  .         , 
London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  Peninsular  &  Oriental 

S.  N.  Co. 

London,  England— Hon.  Edwin  Loftus,  Attache  of  the  Siam- 
ese Legation.  . 

London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  Costa  Rica  Railway 
Co.,  Limited. 

London,  England— His  Honor  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London. 

London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  Union  Steamship  Co., 
Limited. 

London,  England— Mr.  Kenric  B.  Murray,  Secretary  of  the 
London  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

London,  England— The  Chairman  of  the  London  &  North- 
western Railway  Co. 

London,  England— Hon.  W.  H.  Milton,  Administrator  of 
Mashonaland. 

Loughborough,  England— Hon.  Sir  Ernest  Paget,  Chairman  of 
the  Mexican  Southern  Railway- 
Manchester.  England— Mr.  W.  H.  Hunter,  Chief  Engineer, 
Manchester  Ship  Canal. 


Manchester,  England — The  Chairman  of  the  Wrexham,  Mold 
&  Connah's  Quay  Railway. 

Middlesborough.  England — Hon.  W.  J.  Keay,  Mayor  of  Mid- 
dlesborough. 

Newport,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Newport- 
Newport,  England- — Mr.  Albert  A.  Newman,  Town  Clerk. 

Oxford,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  O.xford. 

Plymouth,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Plymouth. 

Redditch,    England — Lord    Windsor,    Chairman    of   the    Barry 
Railway. 

Sheffield,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Sheffield. 

Southampton,    England — His    Honor   the     Mayor    of     South- 
ampton. 

Totteridge.   England — Mr.   William   Austin,   Chairman   of   the 
Rhymney  Railway  Co. 

Winslow.  England — The  Chairman  of  the  London,  Brighton  & 
South  Coast  Railway- 
West    Bromwich,    England — His    Honor  the    Mayor   of   West 
Bromwich. 

Wolverhampton,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Wolver- 
hampton. 

Worcester,  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  Worcester. 

York.  England — His  Honor  the  Mayor  of  York. 

Belfast,  Ireland — The  Rt.  Hon.  Sir  John  Young,  Chairman  of 
the  Belfast  &  Northern  Counties  Railway. 

Belfast,  Ireland — Mr.  Thomas  Andrews,  Chairman  of  the  Bel- 
fast &  County  Down  Railway. 

Blessingbourne,  Ireland — The  Chairman  of  the  Cloghan  Valley 
Railway  Co. 

Dublin,  Ireland — The  Rt.   Hon.   Earl    Lord    Cadogan,    Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland. 

Dublin,  Ireland — His  Honor  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin. 

Dublin,  Ireland — Hon.  James  Fitzgerald  Lombard. 

Dublin,   Ireland — Mr-  James   Gray,    Chairman    of    the    Great 
Northern  Railway  Co. 

Limerick,  Ireland — Hon.  John  Daly,  Mayor  of  Limerick. 

Sligo,  Ireland — Hon.  E.  I.  Tighe,  Mayor  of  Sligo- 

Sligo.  Ireland — The  Chairman  of  the  Sligo,  Leitrim  &  North- 
ern Counties  Railway. 

Waterford,    Ireland — Mr.    Arthur   Prossor,     Secretary    of    the 
Waterford  &  Tramore  Railway. 

Dornoch,  Scotland — Mr.  J.  J.  Barron,  Chairman  of  the  Man- 
dees  &  Melford  Railway  Co. 

Glasgow,  Scotland — Hon.   David  Richmond,  Lord   Provost  of 
Glasgow. 

Glasgow,  Scotland — Hon.  Sir  Kenny  Watson,  Chairman  of  the 
Glasgow  &  South  Western  Railway. 

Glasgow,  Scotland — Hon.  Sir  William  Laird,  Chairman  of  the 
North  British  Railway. 

Glasgow,    Scotland — Hon.    Sir   John    Muir,    Chairman    of   the 
Bengal  Dooars  Railway. 

Glasgow,   Scotland — The   Secretary  of  the   Callander   &  Oban 
Railway. 

Glasgow,  Scotland- — Mr.  J.   Blackburn,  Secretary  of  the  Cale- 
donian Railway  Co. 

Govan,  Scotland — Hon.   Kirkwood,   Provost  of  the  Burgh  of 
Govan. 

Inverness,  Scotland — His  Honor  the  Provost  of  Inverness. 

Mintlaw,  Scotland — The  Chairman  of  the  Great  North  of  Scot- 
land Railway  Co. 

Cardiff,   Wales— Hon.    Sir    Thomas     Morel,  J.   P.,   Mayor     of 
Cardiff. 

West   Indies. 

St.  Vincent — H.  L.  Thompson,  Administrator,  Colonial  Secre- 
tary and  Treasurer  of  St.  Vincent. 


THE 
PHILADELPHIA    COMMERCIAL    MUSEUM 


The  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  is  a  public  institu- 
tion devoted  to  the  general  extension  of  international  com- 
merce. It  is  maintained  by  the  city  of  Philadelpliia,  and  by 
private  subscriptions  from  business  firms.  It  is  not  local  in 
its  objects,  but  works  for  all  sections  of  the  country,  and  has 
received  the  sanction  and  financial  assistance  of  the  State  of 
Pennsylvania  and  the  United  States  Government.  Its  high 
standing  and  reputation  are  due  to  the  fact  that  it  does  not 
enter  into  actual  trade  of  any  kind,  and  is  in  no  way  affiliated 
with  any  political  organization.  Its  advice  is  always  abso- 
lutely impartial  and  without  private  interest.  It  has  no 
sources  of  revenue  upon  which  profits  may  accrue,  as  all 
service  rendered  to  individuals  is  recompensed  on  the  basis 
of  actual  cost.  To  its  large  and  busy  offices  and  exhibition 
halls,  over  its  threads  of  business  communication  stretching 
out  to  every  important  commercial  centre  in  the  world,  come 
constant  reports  of  trade  conditions  and  opportunities, 
changes  in  the  condition  of  business  firms,  new  developments 
offering  profit  to  idle  capital,  and  new  natural  products  of 
probable  utility  in  manufacturing  industries. 

It  is  a  centre  of  commercial  information,  in  equally  close 
connection  with  business  houses  all  over  the  world,  to  which 
reports  and  confidential  advices  are  regularly  and  systemati- 
cally issued; — a  confidential  adviser  in  opening  up  new 
markets  for  all  useful  natural  or  manufactured  products; — 
a  special  mercantile  bureau  with  connections  in  all  foreign 
countries,  reporting  not  only  the  general  standing  of  firms, 
but  their  disposition  and  fitness  to  handle  particular  agencies; 
— a  business  institution  run  by  business  men,  yet  carrying  on 
no  private  transactions. 

A  manufacturer  or  merchant  in  the  United  States,  a  pro- 
ducer or  exporter  abroad,  an  importer,  retailer  or  selling  agent 
in  some  far-off  land — all  these  apply  with  equal  confidence  for 
the  advice  of  the  institution;  and  the  advice  is  always  given 
with  the  same  impartiality  and  care,  though  to  do  so  investi- 
gations be  required  at  the  ends  of  the  earth.  No  similar  insti- 
tution or  association  in  the  world  wields  an  influence  equal 
to  that  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum. 

The  first  aim  of  the  Museum  is  to  foster  and  promote,  by 
practical  and  systematic  efforts,  and  by  new,  original  and 
effective  methods,  the  foreign  trade  of  America.  In  this  work 
it  has  the  support  of  an  Advisory  Board,  comprising  repre- 
sentatives of  the  leading  Chambers  of  Commerce,  and  similar 
organizations  in  the  United  States  as  well  as  in  foreign  coun- 
tries. It  also  has  the  benefit  of  similar  advice  from  an  honor- 
aiy  diplomatic  board,  comprising  the  ministers  of  many  of  the 
foreign  countries  resident  in  Washington.  It  is  in  constant 
communication  with  over  20,000  foreign  correspondents, 
and  in  incidental  communication  with  65,000,  thpuigh  whom 
it  keeps  in  touch  with  every  possible  phase  of  international 
commerce.  This  extensive  correspondence  is  carried  on  in 
more  than  a  dozen  different  languages. 


A  merchant  or  manufacturer  who  wishes  to  trade  in  a 
foreign  market  must  first  know,  specifically,  the  nature  and 
value  of  that  market.  Granted  that  its  trade  will  repay  the 
effort  of  securing  it,  he  must  know  exactly  what  the  market 
requires,  what  it  can  offer  in  retiu-n,  what  business  houses  to 
deal  with,  and  what  are  the  conditions  on  which  business  is 
customarily  done. 

The  activity  of  the  Museum  is  specifically  directed  to  meet 
these  various  requirements  by  exhaustive  commercial  reports 
which  are  further  illustrated  by  collections  of  trade  samples, 
both  natural  and  manufactured.  To  the  general  business 
community  the  resources  are  made  available  by  the  Bureau 
of  Information.  This  Bureau  is  actively  reporting  trade  con- 
ditions existing  in  other  countries  to  leading  manufacturers 
and  merchants  in  every  part  of  the  United  States.  Complete 
and  detailed  reports  as  to  the  demand  of  every  market  in  the 
world,  with  full  statements  concerning  the  style  of  goads  re- 
quired; photographs  of  same;  method  of  purchase  and  ship- 
ment; customs  of  receipt  and  sale,  are  furuished  to  intending 
shippers,  and  every  possible  asssistance  is  given  them, — not 
only  in  the  proper  preparation  and  forwarding  of  their  goods, 
but  in  the  most  advantageous  way  of  approaching  possible 
buyers  with  a  view  to  securing  the  orders.  Through  an  ex- 
tensive and  well  equipped  Bureau  attached  to  the  Museum, 
accurate  and  reliable  reports  are  on  file  and  readily  obtainable, 
regarding  the  standing  and  reputation  of  possible  buyers  in 
every  country  in  the  world,  thereby  rendering  trade  with 
other  nations  no  more  hazardous  than  trade  in  the  home 
market. 

The  Museum  is  promptly  informed,  through  its  agents  and 
representatives,  of  all  important  enterprises  in  other  coun- 
tries, government  contracts,  and  tenders  for  public  works, 
which  are  referred  to  probable  American  bidders  through  a 
special  news  bureau. 

The  trade  literature  of  the  world  is  gathered  into  a  special 
library.  Here  will  be  found  hundreds  nf  trade  and  technical 
journals,  in  fully  twenty  languages,  together  with  shipping 
and  market  reports,  statistical  publications  of  all  countries, 
export  and  import  manifests,  etc. 

This  information  is  indicated  by  a  card  catalogue  system, 
and  every  fact  that  has  practical  business  value  finds  its  way 
into  the  hands  of  a  body  of  experts,  who  include  it  at  once  in 
the  individual  re])07-ts. 

An  elaborate  system  of  reporting  on  tlie  specific  require- 
ments of  business  houses  in  other  countries  has  been  estab- 
lished, whereby  the  com])lete  statements  of  responsible  houses 
are  issued  on  index  cards  and  distributed  to  manufacturers 
and  exporters  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  who  hold  confi- 
dential cabinets  of  such  cards  placed  in  their  hands  by  the 
Museum.  In  this  way  there  is  furnished  a  reliable  directory 
of  foreign  buyers  specially  prepared  for  each  individual  manu- 
facturer. 


414 


THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMEECIAL  MUSEUM. 


415 


The  collections  of  trade  samples  belonging  to  the  Museum, 
which  are  used  to  illustrate  and  extend  the  work  instituted 
by  the  commercial  reporting,  are  classified  under  the  follow- 
ing heads: 

I 

Manufactured  Articles — 

(a)  Arranged  in  lines  of  manufacture. 
Raw  Products — 

(a)  Geographic  arrangement  of  collections. 

(b)  Monographic  arrangement  of  collections. 

The  Museum  shows  the  consuming  capacity  of  any  given 
country  by  collections  of  the  goods  that  are  most  saleable 
there.  These  are  actual  samples  of  what  is  in  the  market, 
selected  with  great  care  hy  experts  of  the  Museum.  Textiles, 
hardware,  clothing,  household  goods,  cutlery,  provisions, — 
everything  that  is  imported — are  represented  in  these  sample 
collections.  With  each  sample  is  found  full  information  as 
to  place  of  manufacture,  price,  terms  of  sale,  distribution,  etc. 
These  collections  are  constantly  renewed  and  extended. 

Having  shown  the  consuming  capacity,  the  Museum  then 
shows  the  producing  capacity  hy  collections  of  natural 
products. 

These  show  at  a  glance  what  is  produced  by  any  given 
country,  and  what  it  has  to  offer  in  the  way  of  a  return  trade. 
These  collections  are  made  practically  useful  by  scientific  and 
technical  laboratories  in  which  complete  tests  are  made,  with 
special  reference  to  the  industrial  value  of  any  given  product. 
The  usefulness  of  this  work  is  well  established  in  many  coun- 
tries, and  merchants  are  continually  sending  samples  of  ex- 
portable products,  in  order  that  the  Museum  may  report  on 
their  usefulness  for  the  American  market. 

The  officers  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  are 
as  follows: 

Board  of  Trustees. 

The  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  Ex-officio, 
The  Mayor  of  Philadelphia,  Ex-officio, 


The  President  of  Select  Council,  Ex-officio, 
The  President  of  Common  Council,  Ex-officio, 
The  President  of  the  Board  of  Public  Education,  Ex-officio, 
The  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools,  Ex-officio, 
The  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  Ex-officio, 
The  State  Forestry  Commissioner,  Ex-officio, 
Daniel  Baugh,  Thomas  Meehan, 

Charles  H.  Cramp,  J.  C.  Strawbridge,  ' 

Thomas  Dolan,  Charles  F.  Warwick, 

George  F.  Edmunds,  John  Wanamaker, 

William  L.  Elkins,  P.  A.  B.  Widener, 

W.  W.  Foulkrod,  Sydney  L.  Wright, 

Simon  Gratz,  Mrs.  Cornelius  Stevenson,  So.  D. 

Officers  of  the  Bo.vrd. 

1899. 

Charles  H.  Cramp,  President. 
Justus  C.  Strawbridge,  Vice-President. 
Sydney  L.  Wright,  Treasurer. 
B.  W.  Hanna,  Sec'y,  pro  tern. 

1900. 

Justus  C.  Strawbridge,  President. 
Charles  F.  Warwick,  Vice-President. 
Daniel  Baugh,  Treasurer. 
B.  W.  Hanna,  Secretary. 


Officers  of  the  Museum. 

William  P.  Wilson,  Director. 

William  Harper,  Chief,  Bureau  of  Information. 

C.  A.  Green,  Assistant  Chief,  Bureau  of  Information. 

Dudley  Bartlett,  Assistant  Chief,  Bureau  of  Information. 

Wilfred  H.  Schoff,  Chief,  Foreign  Department. 

Gustavo  Niederlein,  Chief,  Scientific  Department. 

William  B.  Marshall,  Curator  of  Natural  Products. 

Ernest  Fahrig,  Chief  of  Laboratories. 

E.  W.  S.  Tingle,  Assistant  to  the  Director. 


OPINIONS  OF  SOME  OF  THE  DELEGATES 

CONCERNING  THE  WORK 


OF   THE 


Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 


lifr.  Peter  J'urr.  delegate  from  the  Chambers  of  Commerce 
of  Dunedin,  ( 'liristchurr-h,  Napier  and  Auckland,  New  Zea- 
land, i^aid: 

'"1  have  no  hesitation  in  exjjressing  the  opinion  that  the 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Musenm  is  a  most  useful  institu- 
tion, reflecting  gi-oat  credit  upon  its  officers,  and  sure  to  be- 
come increasingly  useful  as  the  years  pass.  I  was  particu- 
larly impressed  by  the  method  displayed  in  the  working  of 
the  Bureau  of  Information,  both  as  to  the  collection  and  the 
systematic  arrangement  of  the  records.  The  pei'fectly  im- 
partial way  in  which  the  infonnation  is  placed  at  the  disposal 
of  all  who  have  a  right  to  ask  for  it,  of  wliatever  nationality, 
is  remarkahle,  and,  to  my  mind,  absolutely  clears  the  Mu- 
seum from  any  charge  of  being  interested  in,  and  of  use  lo, 
only  American  merchants  and  manufacturers.  This  is  em- 
phasized by  the  evident  and  expressed  desire  of  the  promoters 
that  similar  institutions  should  lie  started  in  other  countries." 


Mr.  A.  J.  Dre.rel  Biddle,  delegate  from  Associacao  Com- 
mercial, l''unclial,  Madeira,  said: 

"I  consider  the  I'hiladelphia  Commercial  Museum  among 
the  several  most  worthy  institutions  that  have  ever  been  es- 
tablished in  this  country.  The  benefit  that  its  undertakings 
may  accord  to  American  trade  and  enterprise  seems  to  me 
unlimited.  The  establishment  of  the  National  Kxport  Ex- 
position will  undoubtedly  center  the  eyes  of  the  world  upon 
I'hiladelphia." 


been  of  absorbing  interest,  and  my  visits  to  it  I  hope  in 
future  will  result  in  profit  to  myself  and  the  exhibitors  with 
whom  I  have  formed  connections." 


Mr.  Joshua  L.  Madnro,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Panama,  Colombia,  said: 

"The  Museum  has  commanded  my  admiration  for  its 
splendid  variety  of  samjiles  of  products  from  diU'erent  soils." 


il/r.  J.  Eafael  Maia,  representing  the  commercial  interests 
of  Costa  Rica,  Central  America,  said: 

"I  think  that  great  results  must  be  expected  from  the 
efforts  made  by  the  institiitions  interested  in  this  gi'and  com- 
mercial contest,  which  shows  the  superabundance  of  produc- 
tion brought  forth  by  the  power,  wealth  and  ability  of  this 
great  country.  In  tlie  I-Cxport  Exposition,  I  have  seen  the 
American  genius  and  application  and  what  labor  is  able  to 
accomplish  under  beneficent  institutions. 

"I  will  gratefully  preserve  the  remembrance  of  this  visit 
to  Philadelphia  and  carry  back  to  my  country  a  large  number 
of  new  ideas,  acquired,  while  here,  by  constant  observation, 
ideas  which  I  will  trj'  to  dissemirmte  among  my  countrj'men 
in  fulfillment  of  what  I  consider  a  duty  attached  to  the  office 
of  delegate." 


jl/r.  A.  Dim,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
Matamoros,  ]\rexico,  said: 

"My  opinion  of  the  Commercial  i\[useum  of  I'hilaih'li>liia 
is,  that  under  the  guidance  of  its  excellent  direction,  it  is 
called  u])on  to  be  tlie  greatest  commercial  center  of  the  world, 
for,  as  w(!  see,  in  this  Congress  are  represented  the  most  re- 
mote regions,  and  if  the  Commercial  Museum  continuies  its 
fine  tactics  in  inviting  so  courteously  the  people  and  corpora- 
tions connected  with  international  commerce,  the  relations 
of  reciprocal  commerce  are  sure  to  become  closer." 


Mr.  Henry  MUeft,  delegate  from  the  Montreal  Board  of 
Trade,  Jlontreal,  Canada,  said: 

"My  ojiinion  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  is 
that  it  constitutes  a  magnificent  effort  in  the  cause  of  inter- 
national commerce.  Although  a  great  deal  has  already  been 
done,  I  can  see  that  its  service  to  the  trade  of  the  world  is 
only  in  the  stage  of  inception.  Enough  is  in  evidence  to 
show  what  it  will  accomplisli,  ;iiid  uben  the  permanent  quar- 
ters have  been  occupied  the  idea  can  be  earned  forward  upon 
a  still  more  effective  scale." 


Mr.  John  M.  Keith,  representing  the  commercial  interests 
Costa  Rica,  Central  America,  said: 

"In  regard  to  my  opinion  of  the  Commercial  JIuseum  and 
the  Exjmsition,  \  can  only  say  that  the  scopo  and  usefulness 
of  the  Museum  far  exceeds  anything  that  I  had  anticipated, 
and  hardly  a  day  has  passed  in  which  some  Tiew  pliase  of  its 
usefulness  in  the  extension  of  American  commerce  has  not 
come  to  my  notice.     The  exhibits  in  the    Exposition  have 


Hon.  IF.  P.  Beeves,  delegate  from  the  New  Zealand  Gov- 
ernment, said: 

"As  to  my  opinion  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Mu- 
seum and  the  Infomiation  Bureau  there,  I  was  very  much 
pleased  and  impressed  Avith  what  I  saw.  I  should  think  the 
institution  as  nnfiucstionably  of  the  greatest  value,  and  I  pro- 
I)ose  to  make  it  a  subject  of  a  special  report  to  my  govern- 
ment." 


416 


OPINIONS  CONCEENING  THE  PHILADELPHIA  COMMERCIAL  MUSEUM 


417 


Mr.  Miguel  J.  Romero,  delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Venezuela,  says: 

"I  consider  the  Philadelphia  Museum  the  most  suitable 
institution  to  advance  civilization  all  over  the  American  Con- 
tinent." 


Mr.  Ernest  Schcrnihnv,  delegate  from  the  Government  of 
Salvador,  Central  America,  said: 

"In  my  opinion,  the  establishment  of  the  Philadelphia 
Commercial  Museum,  has  done,  and  will  do,  more  toward 
promoting  trade  with  foreign  countries,  tlian  any  other  in- 
stitution I  know  of." 


Mr.  Jacques  Sclnil-,  delegate  from  the  Cliamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Industry,  Nagyvarad,  Hungary,  said: 

"With  regard  to  the  Commercial  Museum,  I  can  only  re- 
peat what  everybody  who  knows  the  Museum  must  state,  viz: 
that  it  is  the  most  marvellous  institution  of  its  kind  existing 
in  the  world  and  surpassed  all  that  we  imagined,  when  we 
saw  what  an  amount  of  valuable  information  it  afforded  mer- 
chants. The  only  thing  which  astonished  me  was  that  the 
Commercial  Museum  has  not  the  same  reputation  in  your 
own  country  that  it  has  abroad,  because  if  American  manu- 
facturers were  to  understand  the  great  advantages  which  this 
Jluseum  offers  to  its  members,  it  would  have  50,(100  of  tlieni." 


Mr.  F.  Shippcy,  delegate  from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce 
of  Pietermaritzburg,  Natal,  said: 

"The  Museum  is,  I  think,  a  perfect  marvel,  especially  con- 
sidering the  short  time  it  has  been  in  existence,  and  I  am 
glad  to  hear  that  in  one  foiiu  or  other,  it  is  being  copied 
elsewhere.     Thoroughness  seems  to  be  the  watchword." 


Mr.  A.  Ashcr  Smith,  delegate  from  the  Sydney  Chamber 
of  Commerce,  Sydney,  Australia,  said: 

"I  am  confident  that  the  Commercial  Museum  is  destined 
to  exert  a  great  and  increasing  influence  on  the  export 
trade  of  this  country;  that  it  furnishes  practical  information 
which  must  prove  invaluable.     Probably  its  influence    and 


value  will  be  most  signally  demonstrated  through  imitation 
on  the  part  of  other  countries.  If  such  institutions  be  crea- 
ted, and  if  mutuality  can  be  established  and  maintained,  the 
advantage  to  commerce  will  be  immense.  But  whatever 
developments  may  be  realized,  the  honor  of  initiation  can 
never  be  withdrawn  from  the  sphere  of  Philadelphia,  nor 
from  the  management  which  has  moulded  this  institution 
into  usefulness. 

"I  shall  esteem  it  a  privilege  to  advance  the  interests  and 
usefulness  of  the  Museum  by  rendering  such  service  in  the 
Australasian  market  as  may  be  in  my  power." 


Mr.  Julius  von  Szavay,  delegate  from  the  C'hamber  of  Com- 
merce, Raab,  Hungary,  said: 

"The  Commercial  Museum  is  an  example  of  the  adminis- 
trative and  governing  institutions  developed  by  American 
individualism,  evolving  unhampered.  It  is  adapted  to  the 
business  life  of  to-daj',  and  will  constantly  adapt  itself  to 
the  development  and  change  of  its  environments,  in  such  a 
manner,  that  it  will  always  solve  its  task  in  a  practical  way. 
Its  independence,  its  autonomic  freedom,  secure  for  it  a  won- 
derful position,  1)ut  its  principal  power  lies,  aside  from  the 
competent  management,  in  the  fact  that  the  American  busi- 
ness world  regards  is  at  its  own.  Consequently,  it  has  a  staff 
furnishing  help  and  infonnation,  that  has  few  equals  in  any 
place.  There  exist  similar  institutions  in  other  countries, 
their  value  being  in  proportion  to  the  coimuercial  genius  of 
the  respective  nations.  That  of  Brussels  is  considered  the 
best.  If  any  suggestion  is  asked  for,  it  might  be  said,  tlrat 
the  Museum  itself  should  offer  also  a  picture  of  American 
industry  and  commerce." 


Mr.  J.  E.  deWolf,  Delegate  from  the  Board  of  Trade,  Hali- 
fax, Nova  Scotia,  said: 

"The  great  work  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 
is  beyond  any  conception  I  had  formed,  and  I  trust  that  the 
results  that  may  accrue  from  the  meeting  of  your  Interna  ■ 
tional  Congress  will  exceed  your  highest  expectations  and 
greatly  increase  your  export  trade,  and  at  the  same  time  de- 
velop kindlier  international  feelings  between  all  the  nations 
that  were  represented  there,  and  result  in  closer  trade  re- 
lations as  well." 


THE 

DOMESTIC  ADVISORY  BOARD 


OF   THE 


PHILADELPHIA  COMMERCIAL  MUSEUM 


One  of  the  most,  efficient  factors  in  the  development  of  the  Philadelpliia  Commercial  Museum  has  been  its  Domestic 
Advisory  Board,  which  is  a  union  of  the  leading  Chambers  of  Commerce,  Boards  of  Trade,  and  manufacturing  associa- 
tions of  the  country. 

The  Board  was  lirst  organized  early  in  1896.  and  had  its  first  reunion  at  the  iluseum  buildings,  Philadelphia,  in 
.lune,  1896.  Aliout  one  hundred  organizations  were  represented  by  special  delegates,  coming  from  all  sections  of  the 
country.  A  strong  delegation  came  from  the  Pacific  Coast,  another  from  the  Southern  States,  and  another  from  the 
.Miildle  West.  New  England,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  and  the  whole  Atlantic  seaboard,  were  fully  repre- 
sent cil.  The  sessions  of  the  Board  (-ontiiuied  three  days.  Plans  were  di'awn  up  for  the  extension  of  the  Museum's 
work  abroad  and  for  its  utilization  liy  trade  Ijodies  and  business  firms  in  the  United  States.  Eesolutions  were  adopted 
authiu-izing  the  creation  of  a  Foreign  Advisory  Board  to  co-operate  with  the  domestic  board,  and  after  election  of  ofTi- 
cers,  the  sessions  were  adjourned. 

The  Board  met  again  in  June,  1897,  with  a  50  per  cent,  increase  in  membership.  This  time  the  new  Foreign  Ad- 
visory Board,  comprising  delegates  from  the  trade  bodies  of  every  Latin-American  repuljlic,  met  also,  the  two  boards 
forming  the  Pan-American  Commercial  Congress.  The  meeting  was  made  the  occasion  of  the  formal  opening  of  the 
iluseum  and  of  the  dedication  of  its  work  by  President  McKinley,  whose  address  is  partially  reproduced  in  another 
place.  The  Manufacturers'  Club  of  Philadelphia  joined  in  the  celebration  of  this  event,  and  fitting  exercises  were 
held  in  the  Academy  of  Music  before  an  audience  of  3,500  citizens.  A  banquet  was  given  at  the  Bourse,  covering  the 
entire  ground  floor  of  that  great  building  and  seating  IfiiT  guests.  The  sessions  of  the  Advisory  Board  continued  for 
five  days,  during  which  extended  plans  were  discussed  and  apjjroved  for  the  further  development  of  the  Museum's 
activity  in  fostering  international  trade.  At  the  close  of  the  general  sessions,  the  foreign  delegates  were  taken  on  a 
special  tour  of  investigation  to  the  principal  industrial  centers,  being  received  and  entertained  by  the  trade  bodies  rep- 
resented in  the  Domestic  Advisoi^  Board.  It  is  estimated  that  new  business  amounting  to  several  millions  of  dol- 
lars resulted  from  this  I^an-Ameriean  Commercial  Congress.  , 

The  third  general  meeting  of  the  Domestic  Advisory  Board  took  place  in  October,  1S99,  in  the  International 
Commercial   Congress,   the  proceedings  of  which  are  detailed  in  this  volume. 

The  Domestic  Advisory  Board  has  been  a  most  influential  aid  in  strengthening  the  activity  for  commercial  ex- 
pansion, in  bringing  the  movement  home  to  the  American  peo])lc,  and  through  them  to  their  representatives  in  Con- 
gress. The  spectacle  of  so  united  an  organization  of  trade  bodies,  representing  widely  differing  sections  and  interests, 
yet  woi-king  intelligently  and  harmoniously  for  general  national  advancement  in  trade  and  commerce,  has  not  been 
surpassed  in  the  history  of  the  world,  and  peculiarly  typifies  the  liberality  and  foresight  of  the  American  people.  It 
gives  a  clear  indication  of  the  causes  that  underlie  the  present  irresistible  national  movement  for  commercial  expan- 
sion— causes  the  world-fitness  of  which  are  still  better  illustrated  l)y  the  harmonious  co-operation  with  the  American 
board,  of  a  foreign  board,  comprising  trade  bodies  of  all  nations,  tongues  and  interests. 

The  list  of  chambers  represented  in  Domestic  Advisory  Board  is  as  follows: 

The  Coniiiiercial  Club  of  Birminfjliarn,  Tjirniinijtiiiin,  Alabama.  Cliamber  of  C-omiucrco  of  Now  Haven,  New  Haven,  Connecticut. 

Board  of  Trade,  l^ittle  Jiocli,  Arkansa.s.  Board  of  Trade,  Wilmington.  Delaware. 

The  ClianilKT  of  (bommeree   of  San   Francisco.   San   Francisco,  Wa.sliinji^ton  Board  of  Trade,  Koonis  17  aaul  IS,  Ames  lUiildiiig', 

California.  1410-12  G   street.  N.  W.,  Washinglon,  U.  C. 

Manufacturers'     and     J'roducers'     Association     of     California,  Atlanta  Chamber  of  Commerce,  .Mlanta,  Georgia. 

Rooms  2-3,  Sixtli  Floor,  Wills'  Building-,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  (icorgia  Association  of  Manufactnrers,  Atlanta,  (ieorijia. 

liOs  Angeles  Board  of  Trade,  156  N.  Sprinsf  .street,  Los  Angeles,  Board  of  Trade  of  the  City  of  Chicago,  Chicago,   Illinois. 

California.  Indianapolis    Board    of   Trade,    Indianajjolis,    Indiana. 

The  Los  Angeles  Chamber  of  Conun<'r<;e,  Los  Angeles,  Cal.  The  Commei-cial  Clnb,  Indianapolis,  Iniliana. 

The  Denver  Chamber  of  Commerce   and   Board   of  Trade.   Box  The   Connnereial   (Tnh  of   Topeka,   Topeka,   Kansas. 

l.'iO'l,   Denver,  (Jolorado.  Louisville    Hoard   of   Trade,    liOuisville,   Kentneky. 

Bridgeport  Board  of  Trade,  Bridgejiort,  Connecticut.  Chaniber  of  Commerce  of  Liniisiana,  (iis  Common  street,  Jv'ew 

Mcriden   Board  of  Trade,  M<>riden,  Connecticut.  Orleans,  Loiiisiana. 

The  Middletown  Board  of  Ti-atie,  Middletown,  Conuecticut.  Bangor  Board  of  Trade,  Bangor,  Maine. 

418 


THE  DOMESTIC  ADVISORY  BOARD 


419 


Baltimore  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Baltimore,  Maryland. 

The  Board  of  Trade  of  the  City  of  Baltimore,  35  Eialto  Build- 
ing-, Baltimore,  Maryland. 

Merchants'   and   Manufacturers'   Association,   Corner   Hopkins 
place  and  German  street,  Baltimore,  Maryland. 

Boston   Chamber  of   Commerce,   Boston,   Massachusetts. 

Boston  Merchants'  Association,     Jordan  Building-,  77  Bedford 
street.  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

National  Association  of  Wool  Manufacturers,  70  Kilby  street, 
Boston.  Massachusetts. 

New  Eng-land  Cotton  Jlanufacturers'  Association,  Room  57,  In- 
ternational Trust  Building-,  45  Milk  street,  Boston,  Mass. 

Commercial  Club.  Brockton,  Massachusetts. 

Fall  Bi\er  Boai'd  of  Trade,  Fall  River,  Massachusetts. 

Fitchburg-  Board  of  Trade,  Fitchburg-,  Massachusetts. 

Lawrence  Board  of  Trade,  Saunders  Block,  246  Essex  street, 
Lawrence,  Massachusetts.  ' 

Lowell  Board  of  Trade,  Lowell,  Massachusetts. 

Northampton  Board  of  Trade.  Northampton,  JIassachusetts. 

Springfield  Board  of  Trade,  259-261  Main  street,  Spring^eld, 
Massachusetts. 

Worcester  Board  of  Trade,  Worcester,  Massachusetts. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  City  of  Detroit,  Detroit,  ilich. 

The  Merchants'  and  Manufacturers'  Exchange,  506  Wayne  Co. 
Savings  Bank  Building,  Detroit,  Michigan. 

Grand  Rapids  Board  of  Trade,  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. 

Grand  Rapids  Furniture  Manufactui-ers'  Association,  Grand 
Rapids,  Micliigan. 

Chamber  of  Commerce,  Duluth,  Minnesota. 

Minneapolis  Board  of  Trade,  Minneapolis,  Minnesota. 

St.  Paul  Chamber  of  Commerce,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 

Board  of  Trade,  Vicksburg-,  Mississippi. 

The  Lumbermen's  Exchange  of  St.  Louis,  Third  Floor,  Se- 
curity Building,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

The  St.  Louis  Manufacturers'  Association,  14-15  Insurance  Ex- 
change Building,  S.  E.  cor.  Broad  and  Olive  streets,  St.  Louis, 
Missouri. 

Latin-American  Club  and  Foreign  Trade  Association,  110  N. 
Fourth  street,  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

The  Manchester  Board  of  Trade,  620-621  The  Kennard,  Man- 
chester, New  Hampshire. 

The  Bridgeton  Board  of  Trade,  Bridgeton,  New  Jersey. 
Camden    Board    of    Trade,    411    Market    street,    Camden,    New 

Jersey.  ,     ^,. 

The  Newark  Board  of  Trade,  764  Broad  street,  Newark,  New 

Jersey. 

Trenton  Board  of  Trade,  Trenton,  New  Jersey. 

The  Amsterdam  Board  of  Trade,  Sanford  Homestead,  Market 
street,  Amsterdam,  New  York. 

The  Bing-hamton  Board  of  Trade,  Binghamton,  New  York. 

The  Manufacturers'  Association  of  New  York,  198  Montague 
street,  Brooklyn,  New  York. 

Buffalo  Merchants'  Exchange,  11  to  12  West  Seneca  street, 
Buffalo,  New  Y'ork. 

Business  Men's  Protective  Association,  Cortland,  New  York. 

The  Geneva  Board  of  Trade,  Geneva,  New  Y'ork. 

American  Paper  and  Pulp  Association,  30  Broad  street.  New 
York  City. 

New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation,  203  Broadway, 
New  Y'ork  City,  New  York. 

The  Maritime  Association  of  the  Port  of  New  York,  New  York 
City,  New  Y'ork. 

Merchants'  and  Manufacturers'  Board  of  Trade,  New  York 
City,  New  Y'ork. 

Rochester  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Rochester,  New  York. 

Syracuse  Chamber  of  Commerce,  The  University  Building-,  Sy- 
ractise,  New  Y'ork. 

Southern  Manufacturers'  Club,  Charlotte,  North  Carolina. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Industry,  Raleig-h,  North  Carolina. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  City  of  Wilmington,  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina. 

Winston-Salem  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Winston,  North  Caro- 
lina. 

Canton  Board  of  Trade,  Canton,  Ohio. 

Cincinnati  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Merchants'  Exchange, 
Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

The  Cleveland  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

The  Board  of  Trade,  Columbus.  Ohio. 

The  Dayton  Board  of  Trade,  Dayton,  Ohio. 

Massillon  Board  of  Trade,  Massillou,  Oliio. 


Board  of  Trade,  Springfield,  Ohio. 

The  Toledo  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Toledo,  Ohio. 

The   Board    of   Trade   of   the   Bethlehems,    South   Belhlehcm. 
Pennsylvania. 

P.radford  Board  of  Trade,  Bradford,  Pennsylvania. 

Board  of  Trade,  Carbondaie,  Pennsylvania. 

Board  of  Trade  of  the  City  of   Kaston,  iiaston,  Pennsylvania. 

Ilarrisburg  Board   of   Trade,   Harrisburg-,   Pennsylvania. 

Johnstown    Board   of   Trade,    108    Clinton    street,    Johnstown, 
Pennsylvania, 

The  Lancaster  Board  of  Trade,  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania. 

The  Lebanon  Board  of  Trade,  Lebanon.  Pennsjdvania. 

The  Trades'  League  of  Philadelpliia,  207-211  Bourse  Building, 
Philadelphia,  PennS3'lvania. 

Philadelphia  Board   of   Trade,   The  Bourse,   Philadelphia,   Pa. 

Philadelphia  Drug  Exchange,  252  and  253,  The  Bourse,  Phila- 
delphia, Pennsylvania. 

Pittsburg-  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Pittsburg-,   Pennsylvania. 

The  Reading  Board  of  Trade,  Reading,  Pennsylvania. 

The  Scranton  Board  of  Trade,  Scranton,  Pennsylvania. 

The  Shamokin  Board  of  Trade,  Shamokin,  Pennsylvania. 

Susquehanna  Board  of  Trade,  Susquehanna,   Pensylvania. 

Titusville  Board  of  Trade,  Titus-ville,  Pennsylvania. 

Towanda  Board  of  Trade,  Towanda,  Pennsylvania. 

Uniontown  Board  of  Trade,  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania. 

Wilkesbarre  Board  of  Trade,  Wilkesbarre,  Pennsylvania. 

Williamsport  Board  of  Trade,  Williamsport,  Pennsylvania. 

York  Board  of  Trade,  Y'ork,  Pennsylvania. 

Providence  Board  of  Trade,  Providence,  Rhode  Island. 

Charleston  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 

Chamber  of  Commerce,  812  Market  street,  Chattanooga,  Ten- 
nessee. 

Chamber  of  Commerce,  Knoxville,  Tennessee. 

Chamber  of  Commerce,  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

The  Galveston  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Galveston,  Texas. 

Business  Men's  Association  of  the  City  of  Newport  News, 
Nev%'port  News,  Virg'inia. 

The  Norfolk  Business  Men's  Association,  Norfolk,  Virginia. 

The  Richmond  Chamber  of  Commerce,  P.  0.  Box  51,  Rich- 
mond, Virginia. 

The  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Seattle,  Washington. 

Tacoma  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade,  Tacoma, 
Washingi:on. 

La  Crosse  Board  of  Trade,  La  Crosse,  Wisconsin. 

The  ^Nferchant's  and  Manufacturer's  Association,  Rooms  45-49, 
University  Building-,  Mason  street  and  Broadway, '  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin. 

State  Organizations. 

California  State  Board  of  Trade,  16  Post  street,  San  Fran- 
ci.sco,  California. 

The  Maine  State  Board  of  Trade,  Portland,  Maine. 

The  New  England  Shoe  and  Leather  Association,  116  Bedford 
street,  Boston,  Massachusetts. 

The  Ohio  State  Board  of  Commerce,  443,  The  Arcade,  Cleve- 
land, Ohio. 

National  Organizations. 

The  National  Association  of  Agricultural  Imiilemcut  and  Ve- 
hicle Manufactiu-ers,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

American  Boiler  Manufacturers'  Association,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

Carriage  Builders'  National  Association,  Wilmington,  Del. 

Commercial  Travellers'  National  Leag^ie,  New  York  City,  New 
York. 

The  Millers'  National  Association  of  the  U.  S.,  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin. 

National  Association  of  Knit  Goods  Manufacturers  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  Wool  Exchange  Building,  West  Broad- 
way and  Beach  street.  New  York  City,  New  Y'ork. 

National  Business  League,  Chicago  Stock  Exchange  Building, 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

The  National  Hardware  Association  of  the  LTnited  States,  Phil- 
adelphia, I'a. 

National  Paint,  Oil  and  Varnish  Association,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

National  Wliolesale  Druggists'  Association.  ^linneapolis,  Minn. 
.  United  States  Brewers'  Association,  109-111  E.  Fifteenth 
street.  New  York  City,  New  York. 


EXTRACT   FROM   PRESIDENT  McKINLEY'S   SPEECH 

DELIVERED   BEFORE   THE 

Pan-American  Commercial  Congress 

CONVENED   AT   THE    INTERNATIONAL   OPENING   OF   THE 

Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 

JUNE,     1897 


"Tlio  jHiriJose  of  the  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum  is  to  aid  in  the  development  of  commercial  and  in- 
dustrial ])rosperity.  No  worthier  cause  can  engage  our  energies.  It  is  a  most  praiseworthy  one — the  extension 
of  trade — and  to  be  followed  hy  wider  markets,  better  fields  for  employment,  and  easier  conditions  for  the  masses. 
Such  an  efFort  commands  the  instant  approval  of  all,  for  it  is  linked  ^vith  the  prosperity  of  the  humblest  toiler  and 
the  welfare  of  evers'  home  and  fireside.     Its  generous  support  will  insure  and  increase  its  usefulness. 

"A  spirit  of  friendly  and  mutually  advantageous  interchange  and  co-operation  has  been  exemplified,  which  is 
in  itself  inspiring  and  helpful,  not  only  to  trade  and  commerce,  but  to  international  comity  and  good  will,  for  good 
-nail  must  always  precede  good  trade.  The  producers  and  cou^mncr-^  of  all  nations  arc  here  brought  together  in 
close  touch  and  taught  to^  work  together  for  tlie  common  weal. 

"There  is  no  motive  to  urge  peojile  to  produce  unless  they  can  find  someone  to  take  what  they  furnish.  The 
maker  must  find  the  taker.  You  Avill  not  employ  labor  to  make  a  product  unless  you  can  find  a  buyer  for  the  pro- 
duct that  labor  has  made. 

"A  movement  of  this  kind  is  national — aye,  more  than  that,  international — in  its  character;  and  I  predict  that 
its  success  will  sui-prise  even  its  most  enthusiastic  friends  and  foiuidei-s.  Resting  upon  this  principle  of  looking 
not  solely  to  the  welfare  of  the  country  at  large,  but  benefiting  other  nations  as  well,  the  intent  and  realization  of 
this  world-industrial  object-lesson  are  in  accord  with  the  best  spirit  of  the  age  and  worthy  of  the  good  will  and 
helpfulness  of  every  pati-iotic  American.     A  patriot  makes  a  better  citizen  than  a  pessimist." 


EXTRACT    FROM    PRESIDENT   McKINLEY'S   MESSAGE 

CONCERNING   THE 

Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum 

AND 

International  Commercial  Congress 

DELIVERED   TO  THE   FIFTY-SIXTH   UNITED   STATES    CONGRESS 

DECEMBER   ^,    1899 


"In  accordance  with  an  act  of  Congi^ess,  approved  December  21,  1898,  and  under  the  auspices  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Commercial  Museum,  a  most  interesting  and  valuable  exposition  of  products  and  manufactures  especially 
adapted  to  export  trade,  was  held  in  Philadelphia  from  the  14th  of  Septend3er  to  the  2d  of  December,  1899.  The 
rcpcresentative  character  of  the  exhibits  and  the  widespread  interest  manifested  in  the  special  objects  of  the  under- 
taking, afford  renewed  encouragcuiciit  to  thos(>  who  look  confidently  to  the  steady  growth  of  our  enlarged  exporta- 
tion of  manufactured  goods,  wliich  has  been  the  most  remarkable  fact  in  the  economic  development  of  the  United 
States  in  recent  years.  A  featun;  of  this  cjcposition  which  is  likely  to  become  of  pennanent  and  increasing  utility  to 
our  industries,  is  the  collection  of  samples  of  nierchandis(^  jiroduceil  in  various  countries,  with  special  rc^fi'rcnce  to- 
particular  markets,  providing  practical  object-lessons  to  United  States  manufacturers  as  to  qualities,  styles  and  prices 
of  goods,  suc;h  as  meet  the  special  demands  of  consumers  and  may  be  exported  with  advantage. 

"Li  connectifm  with  the  Exposition,  an  International  ConinuTcial  CongiTss  was  held,  u])on  the  invitation  of 
the  I'hiladelphia  Commercial  ]\Iuseum,  transmitted  by  the  Department  of  State  to  the  vaa-ious  foreign  Go\-ernments, 
for  an  exchange  of  infonnation  and  opinions  with  the  view  to  the  promotion  of  international  trade.  This  invitation 
met  with  general  and  cordial  acceptance,  and  the  Congress,  which  began  its  sessions  at  the  Exposition  on  the  12th  of 
October,  proved  to  be  of  great  practical  importance,  from  the  fact  that  it  developed  a  general  recognition  of  the 
iuterdcjjendence  of  avationa  in  trade  and  a  most  gratifying  sjiirit  of  accoinuiodation,  with  reference  to  the  gradual 
removal  of  existing  impediments  in  reciprocal  relations  without  injury  to  the  iudu.strial  interests  of  cither  pai-ty. 
•      •     •  ■         -  ■  420  '  > 


NDEX  TO  THE   PROCEEDINGS 


OF  THE 


INTERNATIONAL  COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS 


Titles  of  papers  delivered  before  Ihe  Congress  will  be  found  enclosed  in  quotation  marks. 


Adams,  Jr.,  Robert,  United  States,  203,  208,  209,  211,  212,  213,  218, 
219,  220,  221,  332,  334,  335,  336,  337,  338,  339,  340. 

Aden,  Arabia,  climate  of,  125;  exports  of  cofifee,  hides  and  skins, 
and  salt,  from,  126;  free  port  of,  126;  government  of,  126; 
harbor  facilities  of,  126;  imports  of  coal,  oil,  piece-goods,  silk 
and  sugar,  126;  population  of,  126;  shell  industry  of,  127;  trans- 
portation facilities  of,   126. 

"Adoption  of  the  System  of  European  Commercial  Treaties  by  the 
United  States."  382. 

Ad  valorem  and  specific  duties,  225;  discussion  concerning,  375. 

Advantages  of  a  uniform  classification  of  commercial  statistics  by 
different  countries,  167. 

"Advantages  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  Route,"   198. 

Advertising,  necessity  of,  in  foreign  trade,  149;  railway.  216;  value 
of,  in  Australia,  52. 

Advertising  medium,  value  of  trade-mark  as  an,  310. 

"Advisability  of  a  Commercial  Treaty  between  the  United  States 
of  America,  Russia  and  Roumania,  Concerning  the  Grain  and 
Petroleum  Trade,"  232. 

Advisory  Board,  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  members  of, 
343;  sketch  of  domestic,  418. 

Aerated  waters,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Africa,  exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  22;  imports  into,  from 
the  United  States,  22,  24. 

Agencies,  buying,  needed  in  Peru,  276. 

Agencies,   European  and  American  compared,  133. 

Agent  and  principal,  relation  between,  52. 

Agents,  German,  represent  several  manufacturers,  290. 

Agents   in  Australian   markets.   51. 

Agents.  United  States,  needed  in  the  Balkan  States,  333;  in  South 
America,  301:  in  Central  Atnerica,  349;  in  Guatemala,  350. 

"A  Glimpse  of  New  South  Wales,"  43. 

Agricultural  companies  in  Japan,  358. 

Agricultural  experiment  stations  in  the  Unitel  States,  provision 
for,   256. 

Agricultural  implements,  trade  in,  in  India,  128:  demand  for  Ameri- 
can, in  Natal,  187:  imports  of,  into  New  South  Wales,  41;  in- 
creased exports  of,  from  the  United   States.  205. 

Agricultural   machinery,   demand   for,   in   the   Argentine   Republic. 

237- 

Agricultural  products,  of  Japan,  358;  of  New  South  Wales.  45:  of 
Nicaragua.  270. 

Agricultural  products,  exports  of,  from  New  Zealand,  56;  exports 
of,  from  the  United  States,  21 ;  imports  of,  into  Mexico,  from 
the  United  States,  260. 

Agricultural  reports  and  statistics,  need  of  an  international  bureau 
for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of,  170;  resolution  ofifered 
concerning,  170. 

Agricultural  reports,  assimilation  of.  resolution  regarding,  336,  339. 

Agricultural  schools  in   South  Australia,  71. 

Agricultural   Society  of  Jamaica.  325. 

Agricultural  zone  of  Chile,  269. 

Agriculture  in  Canada,  316;  in  Chile,  279;  in  China,  88;  in  Haiti, 
300;  in  Jamaica,  323,  325;  in  the  Leeward  Islands.  328;  in 
Mexico,  263;  in  New  South  Wales,  38,  40,  44;  in  New  Zea- 
land, 54;  in  Persia,  121;  in  Queensland,  65. 

Agriculturist  and  farmer,  close  relationship  of  the,  282. 

Alabama,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369. 

Alagoas,    Brazil,   products   of,   273. 

Alaska,  acquisition  of.  by  the  United  States,  205;  boundary  of,   10. 

Aleutian  Islands,  acquisition  of  the,  by  the  United  States,  205. 

Alfalfa,  production  of.  in   Paraguay,  251. 

Algara,  Jose,  Mexico,  343,  383. 

42 


Algeria,  iron  ore  deposits  of,  367;  exports  of  iron  ore  from,  367; 
production  of  iron  ore  in,  365;  maize  imports  and  exports 
of,  compared,  234;  population  of,  233;  wheat  and  rye  imports 
and  exports  of,  compared,  234. 

Alino,   Prof.   Bernardo   Giner,  nitrate   expert,  256. 

Allan.  James   D.,  of  Canada,  35,  383. 

Allspice  industry  of  Jamaica,  325. 

Almeida,    Dr.    Fernando   Mendes   de,   343. 

Almon,  J.,  80. 

Almonds,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294. 

Alum,  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 

Aluminum   and   manufactures   thereof,   trade   in,   in   India,    128. 

Alzamora,  Enrique,  of  Spain,   16,  223,  383. 

Amazonas,  Brazil,  area,  government,  and  population  of,  273. 

America,  settlement  of,  by  Europeans,  209. 

American   Bicycle  Company,  organization  of  the,   181. 

American  cofifee  market,  32. 

American   cotton   goods   in   China,  96. 

"American   Export   Methods   Compared   with    European,"    131. 

American   goods  in   New   South   Wales,  39. 

American  goods,  opportunities  for,  in  Natal,  187;  demand  for,  in 
Cuba,   213;    supremacy    of,    in   the    Far    East,   213. 

American   industry,   growth   of,  8. 

American  shipping,  decline  of,   163. 

Ames    Iron    Works,    376. 

Ammen,   Rear-Admiral  Daniel,  canal  expert,  200. 

Ammunition  and  explosives,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands 
from  the  United  States,  329. 

Anderson,  George  H.,  United  States,  222,  223,  224,  225.  227,  228, 
229,  230,  231,  232,  234,  235,  275,  383. 

Anguilla,   see   St.   Christopher. 

Angus,   William,   United   Kingdom,   170,  258,   344. 

Animal  products,  exports  of,  from  New  Zealand,  56;  imports  of. 
into  Mexico  from  the  United  States,  260. 

Animals,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  from  Spain,  294;  imports 
of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Antigua,  exports  from,  value  and  articles,  327;  population  of,  327. 

Antimony  ores  of  Bolivia,  278. 

Antimony,   production   of,   in  Japan,  358. 

Arbitration  in   Chile,  269. 

Arbitration  in  international  disputes,  resolution  regarding,  275, 
337,.  340. 

Arbitration  of  labor  disputes  in  New  Zealand,  54. 

Argentine  Republic,  area  of,  237,  240;  business  methods  in,  237; 
cliinate  of,  236;  credit  in,  238;  commercial  integrity  in,  237;  de- 
cline in  trade  of,  with  the  United  States,  237;  demand  for  agri- 
cultural machinerj-  in.  238:  exports  from,  by  articles,  238.  240; 
exports  from,  to  Belgium.  France,  Germany.  ItaIy,United  King- 
dom United  States.  240.  241;  exports  from,  value,  239:  govern- 
ment of,  240;  immigration  to.  241;  imports  into,  by  countries 
f Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Italy,  Paraguay,  United  King- 
dom. United  States),  240,  241;  imports  of  sheep  into.  184:  im- 
ports into,  per  capita,  from  the  United  States.  347;  industries  of. 
237,  240;  lack  of  American  travelers  in,  237:  population  of,  233. 
237,  240;  protective  tariflf  of,  238;  railways  of.  241;  reciprocity 
treaty  of,  with  the  United  States,  239;  relations  of,  with  the 
United  States,  241;  samples  necessary  in,  238;  sheep-growing 
in.  183:  trade  of,  with  various  countries,  241;  trade  of,  with 
the  United  States,  237,  241:  wheat  and  rye  in,  234;  wheat  pro- 
duction of.  233;  woo!  in,   181,   184,  185.  240. 

"Are  Current  Objections  to  Higher  Commercial  Education  well 
Founded?"   146. 

Arms   and   explosives,   imports   of.   into   Mexico   from   the   United 

States.  260. 
Armsby,  Dr.,  nitrate  expert,  256.  ' 


422 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCEEDIXGS  OF  THE 


Army  and  navy,  rise  ol  tlie.  in  the  United  States,  i6i. 

.\rnlu)ld,  Eduard,  Gcrnuuiy,  5,  343. 

ArosauL-na,  Justo,  on   Isthmian   Canal,   196. 

Arriago,  A.   Lazo,   Guatemala,  350,  383. 

Arthur,    Hon.   Allan,   343. 

Artistic  productions,  plea  for  free  trade  in,  227. 

■'Arts  and  Artistic   Industry,"  227. 

Art  works,  free  trade  in,  resolution  regarding,  335,  345. 

Asbestos,  production  of,  at  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  316. 

Ashbridge.  Samuel   IL,   Mayor  of   Philadelphia,  2. 

Asia,  development  of,  290;  exports  from,  to  the  United  States.  22, 
j^;  imi)orts  into,  from  the  United  States,  22;  lack  of  commu- 
nication with  central,  119;  population  of,  290;  share  of,  in 
world's  trade,  290;  trade  of  central,  119,  120,  121. 

Assan,   B.   G.,    Roumania,  232,   344. 

Assimilation  of  agricultural   reports,  resolution  regarding,  339. 

Assimilation   of  trade  statistics,   resolution  regardng,  339. 

Associa(;ao  Commercial,  Campos,  Brazil,  371. 

.Association  of  agricultural  college  presidents  and  experiment  sta- 
tion   directors,    255. 

.Association  pour  I'unification   au  droit  maritime,    177. 

Asthenidhis,   G.,  Turkey,  362. 

"A  System  of  Control  to  Check  the  Prohibitive  Methods  of  Specu- 
lative Trade,"  351. 

.Atherton,  J.    B.,   Hawaiian   Islands,   121,  343. 

.Atkinson,   Edward.  20,  384. 

.Australasian  Colonies,  exports  from,  to  New  South  Wales.  39:  im- 
ports into,  from  the  United  States,  23. 

.Australi.-i.  aborigines  of,  37;  animals  of,  37;  area  of,  37;  change 
in  sheep  stock  of,  183;  climate  of,  37;  consignments  to,  52; 
co-operation  between  prinicipal  and  agents  in,  52;  direct  repre- 
sentation in  markets  of,  51;  exports  from,  to  various  conti- 
nents, and  per  capita,  22;  imports  into,  from  various  conti- 
nents, 22:  Jarrah  timber  in,  74;  minerals  of,  37;  pastoral  in- 
dustry of,  38;  payments  in,  52:  population  of,  233;  reciprocity 
of.  with  tlie  United  States.  73;  sheep  stock  in,  38;  trade  of, 
with  the  United  States.  25.  73:  utility  of  export  merchants  in, 
50;  value  of  advertising  and  catalogues  in,  52;  value  of  occa- 
sional visitation  in,  51;  wheat  and  rye  imports  and  exports  of, 
234;  wheat  production  of,  233;  wool  production  of,  38,  183,  300. 

Australian  Colonies,  trade  of,  with  New  Zealand,  57. 

Australian  Federation,  55,  67,  75,  79. 

Australian  markets,  agents  in.  51;  invoices  for,  52;  methods  of 
introducing  goods  in,  50,  53;  packing  goods  for,  52,  73;  sam- 
ples necessary  for,  51;  shipping  for,  73. 

Austria,  duty  on  coffee  in,  244;  plea  of,  for  free  trade,  15;  ports 
of,  223;  railway  fares  in,  217;  trade  of,  with  the  Balkan  Penin- 
sula, 332. 

"Austria-Hungary,"  223. 

Austria-Hungary,  coal  production  of.  224:  cotton  goods  industry 
<■>(•  379;  customs  advisory  board  of.  376,  380;  decline  in  sheep 
stock  in.  182;  demand  for  United  States  textile  machinery  and 
machine  tools  in,  224;  deposits  of  iron  ore  in,  366;  exports 
from  223:  exports  of  iron  ore  from,  366;  exports  of  sugar  from, 
224;  exports  of  wheat  and  rye  from.  234;  imports  into,  223: 
imports  of  iron  ore  into,  ,366;  imports  into,  from  the  United 
States.  24;  industries  in.  223:  iron  and  steel  production  of.  224; 
iron  ore  production  of,  365;  maize  imports  and  exports  of, 
compared.  234;  need  of  reciprocity  of,  with  the  United  States. 
224;  petroleum  production  of.  224;  pig  iron  production  in.  365; 
plea  of.  for  free  trade.  377;  population  of,  223,  233;  sugar  pro- 
duction of,  224;  textile  industry  of,  224:  variance  in  national 
character  in,  223;  waterways  of,  223;  wheat  production  of,  223, 

233- 
.Austrian  Commercial  Museum,  nature  of.  226. 
.Azores,  imports  into,  from  United  States,  24. 


Bacon  and  hams,  e.xports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  exports  of.  from 
the  United  States,  205;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands. 
.329. 

Bacon,  produced   in   New   South   Wales,  40. 

Badische  Anilin-Fabrik  Conipanj',  292. 

Bahia,    Brazil,   products   of,   273. 

Baker,  Capt.  L.   D,,  founder  of  the  banana  trade  of  Jamaica.  319. 

Balance  of  trade  between  Japan  and  United  States,  109. 

Balkan  States,  credit  in  the,  333;  need  of  direct  steamshi])  line 
from  United  States  to  the,  333:  need  of  United  .States  :igcnts 
and  banks  in.  333:  reasons  for  small  trade  of,  with  the  United 
States.  333;  trade  of,  with  Germany  and  Austria,  332;  trade 
possibilities  of,  333. 

B;dliviau,   Manuel   V.,   Bolivia,  343. 

Banana  and  sugar  industries,  dependence  of  Jamaica  upon.  321. 

Banana  industry  of  Costa  Kica.  267;  of  Jamaica,  319,  324,  325.  326. 

Bank.  German,   in   Southern   Brazil,  211. 

Bank,  United  Slates,  needed  in  the  Balkan  States,  333;  in  Brazil, 


209,  244;  in  Guatemala,  350;  in  Haiti,  29c);  in  India.  120;  in 
South  America,   151,   185;  in  Southern  Brazil,  211. 

Banking  facilities  in   Guatemala,  350. 

Banking,  in   Persia,   120. 

Banks,  in  Buenos  Aires,  239;  in  Guayaquil,  285;  in  Hong  Kong. 
85;  in  Japan,  358:  in  Mexico,  262;  in  New  South  Wales,  46; 
in  New  Zealand,  54;  in  Para,  273;  in  Paraguay,  251;  in  Sao 
Paulo,  244;  in  Spain,  294;  in  Uruguay,  301. 

Barker,   L.    D.,   developer  of  Jatnaica,  325. 

Barker,   William   C,   United  States,   131,   156,  312,  379. 

Barley,  imports  of  into  Leeward  Islands  from  United  States.  329; 
production  of,  in  Japan,  358;  production  of,  in  New  Zealand. 
56. 

Barr,  Peter,  New  Zealand,  55,  343,  384,  416. 

Barrett,  John,  United  States,  93. 

Bartol,  George   E.,   United  States,  242. 

Basadre,  Jorge,   Peru,  277. 

Basave  y  del  Castillo   Negrete,   Carlos,   Mexico,   262,   384. 

Bates,  Lindon,  62. 

Bateman,  J.   H.,  344. 

Bayard,   Thomas,    II. 

Beale,  Truxtun,  119. 

Beans,  peas  and  barley,  imports  of,  into  Leeward  Islands.  329. 

Beche-de-mer   industry   of   Queensland,   the,  68. 

Beef,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Beef,  dressed,  exports  of,  from  Venezuela,  242. 

Beef  extract,  exports  of.  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  240. 

Beef,  jerked,  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  240;  exports 
of,  from  Urugu.iy  to  the  United  States,  301. 

Beef,  preserved,  exports  of,   from  the  Argentine   Republic,  240. 

Beer,   foreign,   in   Mexico,  260. 

Beer,  spirits  and  wine,  imports  of,  into  New  Zealand,  56. 

Beernaert,    Mr.,    177. 

Beet  growth,  effect  of  nitrate  of  soda  on,  257. 

Belgium,  deposits  of  iron  ore  in,  366;  duty  of.  on  raw  cacao  and 
sugar,  381;  exports  of  iron  ore  from,  366;  exports  from,  to  the 
Argentine  Republic,  241;  exports  from,  to  Mexico,  26a:  exports 
from,  to  New'  South  Wales,  40;  imports  of  iron  ore  into,  366: 
imports  into,  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  241;  imports  into, 
from  New  South  Wales,  40;  imports  into,  from  the  United 
States,  22,  24;  imports  of  nitrate  into,  254;  itnports  of  wool 
from  the  Argentine  Republic  into,  184:  production  of  iron  ore 
in,  365- 

Beelen,   Federico  A.,   Chile,  384. 

Bell,  Geo.  W.,  New  South  Wales,  42,  74,  100. 

Belly,  Felix,  concession  of,  for  the  N.acragua  Canal,  190. 

Benton,  Thos.   H.,  214. 

Berliner,' Marcus,   185,  258,  384. 

Bermuda,  area  of,  370;  climate  of,  370;  effect  of  United  States 
tariff  on,  370;  exports  from,  370:  exports  from,  to  Great  Bri- 
tain, United  States  and  West  Indies,  370;  geography  of,  370; 
government  of,  370;  history  of,  370;  imports  into,  370;  imports 
into,  from  Canada,  Great  Britain  and  United  States,  370;  im- 
ports into,  from  the  United  States,  23;  need  of  reciprocity 
of,  with  the  United  States,  370;  reciprocity  treaty  of.  with  the 
United  States,  371;  tariff  of,  370;  trade  of,  with  the  United 
States,   370. 

Betocchi,  Carlo.  Italy,  157.  i77,  3^4- 

Betts.  W.  C,  379,  380,  382. 

Bicycle,  cost  of,  180;  first  complete  patent  for,  obtained  in  the 
United  States,  180;  industry, .in  the  United  States,  180;  inven- 
tion of  the.   180;  trust  in   England.   180. 

Bicycles,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  180;  output  of,  by  the 
American  Bicycle  Co.,  181;  prices  of,  in  the  United  States.  181. 

Biddle,  A.  J.   Drexel,  343.  384,  416. 

Biddle.   Charles   M..  United   States.  340. 

Bills  of  Exchange  suggested  for  delivery  of  goods,  352. 

Bingham,  H.  H..  United  States,  160,  163,  167,  169,  170,  171,  172, 
'176,    181,   185.    186,    188. 

Biographies    of   foreign   delegates,   383. 

Birkinbine,  John,  364. 

Bismarck.   I'rince.   on  the  importance  of  schools,  29. 

Bismuth  ores  in   Bolivia,  278. 

Bitters,   imports  of,  into   Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Black,    M.-ijor,    United   States,   235,   372. 

Blacking,  trade  in,  in  India,   128. 

Bliss,  Cornelius  N.,  United  States,  80,  83,  85.  86,  87,  92,  93.  96, 
97,  99,   100,   106. 

Board   of  experts,   in    New   South   Wales,  41. 

Board   of  Trade,   National.   169;   proposed   in   Spain,  294. 

Boats  and  ships,  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Bocca,   Ferdinand,   Italy,  385. 

Boilers  for  Germany  must  be  constructed  according  to  German 
regulations,  377;  imports  of,  into  Germany,  from  Great  Bri- 
tain,  377;   market  in   Germany  for  American,  377. 

Bole,    D.   W.,   Canada,  36,  375. 


INTEENATIOjSTAL  commeecial  congeess 


423 


Bolet  Peraza,  Nicanor,  Honduras,  271,  275,  385. 
Bolivia,  antimony  ores  in,  278;  area  of,  278;  bismuth  ores  in,  278; 
cabinet  wood  of.  278;  copper  production  of,  278;  currency  of. 
279;  drug  wood  trees  of,  278;  dyewoods  of,  278;  exports  of. 
compared  with  Para,  273;  forests  of.  278;  gold  mines  of,  279; 
industrial  condition  of,  279;  internal  improvements  proposed 
in,  2;g:  need  of  transportation  facilities  to,  279;  opportunites 
for  capital  in,  279;  population  of,  278;  attitude  of,  toward 
Panama  Canal,  176;  rubber  industry  of,  278;  silver  production 
of.  278;  tin  ore  deposits  of,  278;  trade  mark  agreements  of, 
with    France   and   Great   Britain,   312. 

Bonay.  M.  de,  report  of,  on  uniform  standard  of  measurement,  172. 

Bone  ash,  exports  of.  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  240. 

Bones,  exports  of.  from  Uruguay  to  the  United  States,  301. 

Bonilla.   Cjen.   Policarpo,   Honduras,  343. 

Booby   egg   trade   of  Jamaica,   323. 

Books,   imports  of,   into   Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Books,  maps,  etc.,  trade  in,  in  India,   128. 

Books,  paper  and  printing  industry  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Books,  stationery  and  paper,  imports  of,  into  New  Zealand.  56. 

Boots  and  shoes,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294;  imports  of,  into  Lee- 
ward Islands,  329;  imports  of.  into  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Boots  and  shoes  and  leather,  trade  in,  in  India,  129. 

Boston    Fruit   Company,  324. 

Botanical  department.  Jamaica,  325. 

Bowden,   Herbert.   Queensland,  67. 

Braddon,  Edward,  75. 

Bran,  exports  of,  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  240. 

Brass  and  manufactures  of,  trade  in,  in  India,  128. 

"Brazil  and  its  Resources,"  272. 

Brazil,  area  of,  210,  243;  business  methods  of,  208:  character  of 
people  of.  210;  climate  of,  210,  272;  coffee  industry  of,  243.  274: 
competition  in,  209;  cotton  goods  trade  of,  with  England. 
275;  credits  in,  2og;  direct  steamship  line  to  the  United  States 
needed  in,  209,  244.  275;  educational  appropriations  in,  274; 
efficiency  of  United  States  consular  service  in.  208;  exports 
from,  by  articles,  274;  exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  244: 
exports  of  coffee  from,  274,  355;  exports  of  rubber  from.  274: 
government  of,  272;  immigration  into,  209;  imports  into,  from 
Paraguay,  251;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  244.  347; 
275;  imports  of  drygoods  into.  275;  market  for  United  States 
coal  in,  244;  need  of  a  United  States  bank  in.  244;  opportunitie; 
in.  for  United  States  goods,  208:  proposed  subsidization  of 
steamship  lines  in,  209;  railways  of.  244;  topography  of,  272; 
trade-mark  agreement  of.  with  the  United  States,  Germany 
and  France.  312;  trade  of.  w-ith  the  United  States.  17,  208,  274. 

Brazil.  Southern.  German  bank  in,  211;  steamship  lines  to,  211: 
supremacy  in,  211;  need  of  a  United  States  bank  and  steam- 
ship line  in,  211;  opportunities  in,  211;  products  of,  210. 

Brazilian  manganese,  market  for,  in  the  United  States,  208. 

Bread  eaters  of  the  world,  233. 

Bread,  imports  of,  into  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Breadstuffs.  exports  of,   from   Canada,  29. 

Breweries   of  Sao   Paulo,   Brazil.   245. 

Brewster,   Samuel   D.,  80. 

Bricks,  imports  of,  into  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Brigandage  in   Southern   China,  347. 

British  Africa,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  23. 

British  China,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States.  23. 

British  East  Indies,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  23. 

British  goods.  Canadian  preferential  tariff  on.  28. 

British  Guiana,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States.  23. 

British  Honduras,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States.  23. 

British   India,  population  of.  233;   wheat  production   of,  233. 

British  North  America,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  22, 

23- 

British  West  Indies  and  the  United  States,  trade  per  capita  of.  2$. 

British  West  Indies,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  22,  2^ 

Brijckelmann.   Fritz  A..  China.  347,  385. 

Bronzes,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Brooks,    Dr.,   nitrate    expert.   256. 

Brough,   Bennett   H.,  365. 

Brouwer.  Jacques  de,  Belgium.  385. 

Brown   hematite,  production  of,   in  the  LTnited   States,  368. 

Brown,  J.  L.   M.,  Cape  Colony,  343. 

Brushes,  trade  in.  in  India,  128. 

Bruun,    H.   M.,   Denmark,  385. 

Bryan.  Charles  Page,  208. 

Buchanan.   W.   I.,   248. 

Buckwheat,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Buenos  Aires,  banks  of,  239;  climate  of,  239;  death-rate  of.  239: 
development  of,  245:  docks  of,  239;  drainage  of,  239;  news- 
papers of,  239:  population  of,  2,39;  railways  of,  239. 

Building  materials,  lumber  and  timber,  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Building  materials  in  New  South  Wales,  41. 


Bulgaria,  as  a  market  for  United  States  machinery,  3:^3;  maize 
imports  and  exports  of,  compared,  234:  population  of,  233; 
wheat  imports  and  exports  of,  234;  wheat  production  of,  233. 

Bundell,   F..   Secretary   Institute  of  Jamaica,  325. 

Bureau  of  Commercial  Information,  in  Spain,  to  be  given  greater 
power,  294. 

Bushel   measure,  variation  in,  in  the  United  States,   174. 

Business  companies  in  Japan,  358. 

Business  integrity  in   Mexico,  261. 

Business  methods,  American   and   European,  compared,   132. 

Business  methods  of  Argentine  Republic.  237.  245;  of  Brazil,  208; 
of  Costa  Rica,  268;  of  Chile,  280,  281 ;  of  New  South  Wales,  47. 

Business  methods  of  the  United  States,  in  Mexico,  261. 

Butcher.  Thomas   S.,   Mexico,  334,  335,  338,  339,  362,  385. 

Butter  and  cheese  trade  of  Canada,  30. 

Butter,  exports  of,  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  240;  from  Can- 
ada, 29;  from  New  South  Wales,  40,  44;  from  Victoria.  49. 

Butter,  imports  of,  into  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Butter  inspection  in  Victoria,  49. 

Buying  capacity  of   New   South  Wales,   45. 


Cabinet  wood  of  Bolivia,  278. 

Cable   connections   with   Haiti,   300. 

Cable,  necessity  of  a  Pacific.  116,  117,  122;  ownership  of  pr(ip(j.-i-d 
Pacific,   117;  proposed   routes  for  Pacific,   117. 

Cabling  to  Far  East,  difficulty  of,  116. 

Cacao  crop,  of  Para,  273. 

Cacao  industry  of  Costa  Rica,  267. 

Cacao  production,  in  Ecuador,  285,  330. 

Cadoret,   Prof.,   nitrate  expert,  256. 

Calder,   H.   K.,  Queensland,  Australia,  71. 

Calderon,   Climaco,   Colombia,   igo. 

California,  acquisition  of,  by  the  United  States,  205;  gold  output 
of,  217;  similarity  of,  to  Chile,  279:  similarity  of,  to  Persia. 
121;  wheat  crop  of,  217. 

Calvo,  J.   B.,  Costa  Rica,   189.  268,  386. 

Camphor,  exports  of,  from  Japan  to  the  United  States,   124. 

Campos,   Brazil,   suggestions   from,  371. 

Canada,  butter  and  cheese  trade  of,  30;  canals  of,  30;  canning  in- 
dustry of.  30;  copper  deposits  in.  36;  cotton  industry  of.  29: 
deposits  of  iron  ore  in,  367;  effect  of  United  States  navigation 
laws  on,  II,  34,  36:  egg  trade  of.  29,  30;  exports  of  animals, 
bacon  and  hams,  breadstufifs.  butter,  cheese,  coal  and  coke, 
fish,  fruit,  furs,  gold  and  silver,  hides,  leather,  metals,  provi- 
sions, vegetables,  and  w-ood  and  its  manufactures  from.  29: 
exports  of  wood-pulp  from,  230:  exports  from,  to  New  South 
Wales,  39;  exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  347;  fishing 
industry  of,  ,30;  foreign  trade  of,  27;  government  relations  of, 
with  Great  Britain,  28;  grain  trade  of,  29;  imports  and  exports 
of,  28;  imports  of  manufactured  goods  into,  from  the  United 
States,  347;  imports  into,  from  New  South  Wales,  39;  imports 
into,  from  the  United  Kingdom,  347:  imports  into,  per  capita, 
from  the  United  States,  347;  live-stock  trade  of.  29:  nickel 
deposits  in,  36;  packing  goods  for,  347;  paper  and  pulp  in- 
dustry of,  29;  population  of.  233,  347;  postage  to,  from  the 
United  States,  ,347;  poultry  trade  of,  30;  preferential  tariff  of, 
on  British  goods,  28;  production  of  iron  ore  in,  365;  pro- 
duction of  pig  iron  in.  365;  railways  of,  30;  sawmills  of,  30: 
trade  of,  wth  Great  Britain,  28;  trade  of,  with  the  United 
States,  24,  28,  347;  waterways  of,  30;  wheat  production  of,  233; 

"Canadian  Trade  with  the   United  States,"  347. 

Canal   development  in   Germany,   189.  292;   in   Russia,   189. 

Canal.   Erie,   cost,   length  and   improvement   of,   215. 

Canal,  Isthmian,  162;  benefits  of,  195;  benefit  of.  to  Great  Britain, 
194:  benefit  of.  to  Peru,  276;  estimated  cost  of.  193;  must  be 
built  and  controlled  by  the  United  States.  193;  need  of  an, 
122,  198.  330.  331;  attitude  of  Costa  Rica  tow-ards,  189;  reso- 
lution  regarding,  314,  340. 

Canal,  Nicaragua,  advantages  of,  over  Panama,  200:  concession 
for,  190:  eilect  of,  on  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua,  194:  esti- 
mated saving  of,  189:  estimated  toll,  expenses  and  profit  of, 
igg;  position   of  Costa   Rica  regarding,   190. 

Canal,  Panama,  advantages  of.  190.  191:  advantages  of.  over  Ni- 
caragua, 195,  196,  197,  350;  attitude  of  Bolivia  toward,  196: 
benefits  of  the.  196;  Colombian  subsidization  of,  202;  influence 
of,  on  United  States  export  trade,  192:  length,  depth  and  width 
of,  192:  propositions  for,  190;  questions  of  United  States 
ownership  of,  192:  relation  of  Panama  railroad  to,  192,  197.   • 

Canal   rates.   United   States,  231. 

Canal,  Suez,  charges,  cost,  and  dividends  of,  200;  saving  of,  189. 

Canal  traffic  of  New  York,  decline  in,  215. 

Canals,  Canadian.  30. 

Canals,  Nicaragua  and  Panama,  cost  of  construction  and  opera- 
tion, 199;  economy  of  navigable  distances  of,  198;  local  earn- 


424 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


iiig  capacity  of,  compared,  200;  supply  of  lockage  water  of, 
igu;  comparison  of  distances  saved  by,  202;  facility  of  con- 
struction of,  199;  lengtli  of,  compared,  iy8.  201;  sanitary  con- 
ditions of,  compared,    198. 

Canals,  proposed,  in   Germany,  231. 

Canals,   Suez  and   St.    Mary's,   compared,  35. 

Canals,  superseded  by  railways,  215. 

Canals,   United   States,   causes  of  decline  of,  216. 

Cafias,   Don   Antonio  Jose.    190. 

Candamo,  Manuel,  Peru,  343. 

Candles,  trade   in,   in    India,   128. 

Canning  industry  of  Canada,  ,30. 

Cape  Colony,  exports  of  diamonds  and  gold  from,  185;  exports 
of  wool  from,  186;  exports,  total  from,  185;  imports  into, 
value,  l8s;  imports  into,  from  United  States,  185;  population 
of.  185:  reciprocity  of.  with  the  United  States,  186. 

Cape  to   Cairo   railway,   proposed,    195. 

Capital  m   Persia,  foreign,   120. 

Capital,  influx  of,  in   Spain,  296. 

Capital,  needed  in  Cuba,  212;  in  Peru,  276;  in  tropical  countries, 
.320. 

Capital,  opportunities  for  in  Bolivia,  279;  in  Chile,  280;  in  Ecuador, 
286;  in  Honduras,  271;  in  Jamaica,  319;  in  Mexico,  261,  262; 
in  New  South  Wales,  41:  in  Peru,  276. 

Carbons,  electric,  duty  on,  in  the  United  States,  378,  379. 

Carbonate,  production   of,  in  the  United   States,  368. 

Carhonell,   W.,   Francisco,   Colombia,   386. 

Cardenas,    .\dan,   343. 

Caribbean  Sea  fisheries  develoi)nicnt  syndicate,  ;^22. 

Carpenter.   H.   C,   United   States,  235,  372. 

Carpets,  exports  of,  from  Japan  and  Kobe  to  the  United  States, 
124. 

Carriage-Builders'  technical  schools  in  the  United  States,  364. 

"Carriage   Building  Industry,"  363. 

Carriage,  saddlery  and  harness  industries  in  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Carriages,  cars,  etc.,  trade  in,  in  India,  128;  increased  exports  of, 
from  the  United  States,  205. 

Carriages,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  364;  imports  of, 
into  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of,  into  Mexico,  from  the 
Ujiited  States,   260. 

Carroll,  Mr.,  manufacturer  of  first  bicycle,   180. 

Carson,   J.    M.,   United   States,    150. 

Casings,  exports  of,  from   Uruguay  to  the  United  States,  301. 

Cassarini,  Prof.,  256. 

Castellano,  Julio  A.,   Colombia,  386. 

Catalogues,  value  of,  in  Australia,  52;  English,  useless  in  Germany,, 
377;  English,  useless  in   Central  America,  349. 

Cattle,  exports  of,  from  the  .\rgentine  Republic,  240;  from  Mon- 
treal, 29. 

Cattle,  in  Natal.  187;  in  New  South  Wales,  40.  44:  in  Queensland. 
62,  65;  in  Uruguay,  302;  in  Venezuela,  242. 

Cattle  industry,  of  Costa  Rica,  267;  of  Nicaragua.  270;  of  Rio 
(jrande  do  Sul,  274;   of  Western   .\ustralia.  72. 

Ceara,  products  of,  273, 

Cement,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Cement  (Portland)  manufacture  of,  at  Sao  Paulo,  245;  in  Kiu^hiu, 
Japan,  356. 

Central   America  and    United   .States,   trade  of,   per  capita,  25. 

Central  .'\merica,  catalogues  useless  in,  349;  geography  of.  270; 
imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  24;  need  of  American 
agents  in,  349;   need  of  samples  in,  349. 

Cerro  de   Pasco,  mining  district  of,  276. 

Ceylon  and  India,  exports  from,  to  New  .South  Wales,  39;  imports 
into,  from  New  .Scnith  Wales,  39. 

Chamberlain,  J.,    United    Kingdom,  49,   76. 

Chambers  of  commerce,  organization  of  central  intern.ilion.il  ol'licc 
of,  proposed,  178. 

Chambers  of  commerce,  congress  of  Spanish,  294. 

Chambers  of  commerce  in  the  United  States  on  the  Dcunestic 
Advisory   Board,  418. 

Chambers   of  commerce,  work,   inthience   and   sphere   of,    177. 

Chandeliers  and  lamps,  trade  in,  in   India,   129. 

Charcoal,   reipiired   in   production   of  pig   iron,   365. 

Cheese   and    butter   trade   of   Canada,   30. 

Cheese,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  imports  of,  into  the  Lee- 
ward Islands,  329;  production  of,  in  New  South  Wales,  40,  44. 

Chemical  industries  in  the  United  States,  development  of.  254. 

Chemical   industries,  utility  of  nitrate  of  soda  in,  254. 

Chemical  products,  imjjorts  of.  into  Spain,  295. 

Chemicals,   drugs   and   medicines,   trade   in.   in   India,    128. 

Chemicals,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands  from  the  United 
Slates,  329;  imports  of,  into  Mexicr),  [mm  the  Lhiited  Slates, 
260. 

Chemicals,  increased  exports  of,   from  the   United   States,  205. 

Chemicals,  production   of,  in   Sweden,  297. 

Chemnitz,   Germany,   exports   of.   to   the   United   .Stiiles,   289. 


Chile,  agricultural  zone  of,  269;  arbitration  in,  269;  area  of,  269, 
279;  business  methods  in.  281:  climate  of,  269;  coal  deposits 
in,  280;  commercial  conditions  in,  28r;  copper  mining  in,  279: 
decline  of  agriculture  in,  279;  education  in,  269;  English  and 
German  business  methods  in,  280;  English  influence  in.  280; 
exports  from,  254,  280;  exports  of  nitrate  from,  to  Belgium, 
Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  and  the  United  States,  254; 
fisheries  zone  of,  269;  forests  of,  280;  government  of,  269;  im- 
ports into,  280;  industries  of,  269;  lumber  of,  280;  lumber  zone 
of,  269;  manufacturing  in,  280;  mineral  zone  of,  269;  need  of 
United  States  steamship  line  to,  280;  nitrate  fields  of,  254; 
nitrate  industry  of,  280;  opportunities  for  capital  and  young 
men  in,  280;  population  of.  133,  269,  279;  reciprocity  of,  with 
the  United  States  needed,  280;  similarity  of,  to  California, 
279;  trade  of,  280;  transportation  facilities  to,  260;  vine  culture 
in,  280;  wheat  production  in,  233. 

China,  area  of,  81;  brigandage  in  Southern,  347;  cotton  goods 
trade  of,  82,  95,  96,  97;  currency  and  coinage  of.  92;  delivery 
of  goods  in,  82;  desirability  of  parcels  post  with,  82;  disad- 
vantage of  silver  basis  in.  93;  early  agriculture  and  finances 
of,  88;  early  inventions  of.  87;  early  legislation  in,  88;  Eng- 
land's position  in,  86,  89;  English  cottons  in.  96,  97;  exports 
from,  to  Japan,  357;  exports  from,  to  New  South  Wales,  40:  ex- 
ports from,  to  New  Zealand,  56;  flour  trade  of.  95;  French  in- 
fluence in,  88;  imports  and  exports  of  gold  to  and  from,  93; 
imports  into,  from  Japan,  357;  imports  into,  from  New  South 
Wales,  40;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  22,  24;  in- 
crease of  native  merchants  in,  gi;  need  of  unifonn  weights 
and  measures  in,  91;  open  door  policy  in.  86.  94.  100;  opening 
of,  89;  opportunity  for  the  United  States  in,  89;  packing  goods 
for,  81;  population  of,  81,  87,  95;  possibilities  of,  290;  pro- 
posed International  Institute  of  "Trade  for.  90;  quality  of  goods 
for,  82;  railways  in,  95,  215;  reorganization  of,  proposed.  89; 
riglits  of  the  United  States  in.  82,  85,  98,  too;  Russian  in- 
fluence in,  89;  sample  warehouse  in,  proposed,  82;  spheres  of 
influence  in,  86,  94;  status  of  foreign  merchants  in,  91;  trade- 
marks in,  81,  312;  trade  of,  88,  91,  95;  trade  of  Southern,  de- 
creasing, 348;  trade  of,  with  Japan,  357;  trade  possibilities  of, 
82,  103;  trade  of,  with  ForuKisa,  124;  trade  of,  with  the  United 
States,  81,  97,  ?I4. 

Chinese,  in   Peru,  277;   in  the   Philippines,  85,  97. 

Chinese  restriction,  97,   105,   130;   resolution  regarding,  313,  336. 

Chocolate,  United  States  duty  on  iinports  of,  from  Germany, 
France.  Holland.  Belgium,  Switzerland  and  United  King- 
dom, ,■381. 

Chow  Tsz  Chi,   China,  275,  386. 

Cigarettes,  imports  of,   into  the  Leeward   Islands,  329. 

Cigars,  imports  of,  into  the   Leeward   Islands,  329. 

Cigars,  tobacco  and  snuft',  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Cities  of  JJapan,  360. 

Citrus   fruit   industry   of  Jamaica.   324. 

Civilization,  degree  of,  in  the  riiilippines.  206;  expansion  a  neces- 
sary  principle   of,   207. 

Civilization   in   America,   283. 

Clark,  William   Grant,   Queensland,  66,  218. 

Clarke,   Sir  Andrew,   Victoria,   ir.  48,  75,   78.   79, 

Clarke,   George  C,  80. 

Clay,  fire,  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 

Clocks  and  watches,  trade  in.  in  India,  128. 

Clothing  and  textile  fabric  industries  in   New   South  Wales.  41. 

Coal  and  coke,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  imports  of,  into  -Spain, 

295- 

Coal  and  iron,   factors  in   commercial  supremacy.  290. 

Coal,  bearing  of.  on  development  of  nations,  289;  deposits  of.  in 
Chile,  280;  exports  of,  from  New  South  Wales,  40;  exports 
of,  from  New  Zealand.  56;  imports  of.  into  .\den.  26;  imports 
of,  into  Kiushiu,  Japan,  from  United  Kingdom,  355;  imports 
of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  production  of,  in  .-Xustria- 
Hungary,  224;  production  of,  in  Kiushiu,  Japan,  355;  produc- 
tion of,  in  Japan,  358;  production  of,  in  New  South  Wales,  38, 
40;  production  of,  in  Natal,  187;  production  of,  in  Sweden. 
297;  production  of,  in  Victoria,  48;  required  in  production  of 
pig  iron,  365;  United  States,  market  for,  in  Brazil,  244. 

Coal   mines  of  Japan,    III,  358. 

Coal    mining   in    New   Zealand,   57. 

Coal  oil,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Coast  line  of   Norway,  230. 

Coasting  trade   of   the   United   States.    115. 

Cdb.alt  oxide,  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 

Cockburn.  John  A.,  South  Australia,   11.   13.  68,  75,  79,   146. 

Cockshutt,  W.   F.,  Canada,  3H6. 

Cocoanuts.  exports  of,  from  Jamaica  to  the  United  States.  326. 

Cocoons,   production   of,   in  Japan,  358. 

CofTee.  decline  in  price  of.  243,  354;  duty  on,  in  Austria,  England, 
France  and  Italy,  244. 


INTEKNATIONAL   COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS 


425 


Coffee,  exports  of,  from  Aden,  27;  from  Brazil,  274.  355;  from 
Haiti,  298;  from  Jamaica,  324;  from  Jamaica  to  the  United 
States,  326;  from  Mexico,  259;  from   Venezuela,  242. 

Cofifee,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  into  Spain,  295; 
into  the   United   States,  32. 

CofTee  industry,  of  Brazil,  274;  of  Costa  Rica,  267;  of  Guatemala, 
350;   of  Jamaica,  324;   of  Sao    Paulo,   Brazil,  243. 

Cofifee  market,  American,  32. 

CofTee  production  in  Brazil,  243;  in  Costa  Rica,  267;  in  Ecuador, 
285;    in    Paraguay,    251;    in    Sao    Paulo,    Brazil,    243;    world's 

243- 

Cofifee,   speculation   in,   244. 

Coke  and  coal,  imports  of,   into  Spain,  295. 

Colombia  and   Para,  exports   from,  273. 

Colombia,  subsidization  of  Panama  Canal  by.  202. 

Colombia,  trade-mark  agreements  of,  with  France  and  Great  Bri- 
tain, 312. 

Colorado,  gold,  lead  and  silver  production  of,  217;  iron  ore  and 
pig  iron  production  of,  369. 

Columbia  River  ports,  flour  exports  from,  217. 

Columbia   River  Valley,   wheat   shipments   from,   217. 

Commerce,  a  harbinger  of  peace,   i,  4,   13.   15,  204,  331. 

Commerce  and  industry,  proposed  department  of,  in  the  United 
States.   i6g. 

Commerce  and  navigation  of  Para,  273. 

Commerce,   chambers  of,  work,   influence,  and   sphere   of.    177. 

Commerce,   importance   of,  50. 

Commerce  of  Croatia,  297;  of  Mexico,  259. 

Commerce,  reciprocal  influence  of,  170;  value  and  importance  of 
trade-marks    in,   304. 

Commercial  attaches  to  Spanish  legations,  proposed,  294. 

Commercial   combinations,   value  of  trade-mark   in,   .^og. 

Commercial   companies   in   Japan.   358. 

Commercial  conditions  in  Chile.  281. 

"Commercial  conditions  of  Paraguay,"  249. 

Commercial  Congress,  a  permanent,  suggested,  371;  international, 
presentation   committee   of,  341;   international,   results   of,  343. 

"Commercial   development   in   the    Balkan    Peninsula,"   332. 

Commercial  development,  bearing  of  industrial  education  on,  291. 

Commercial   development   of   Germany,   291. 

"Commercial    Education,"    139. 
..Commercial  education,   139,   141,   146,   153;    in    the  United    States, 
228;  in  Japan,  229;  need  of,  in  the  United  States,  229,  232. 

Commercial  integrity  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  237;  in  Japan, 
360;   in    Mexico,   362. 

Commercial   language,   need   of  a   uniform,   371. 

Commercial  Museum,  Austria,  nature  of,  226. 

Commercial  Museum  of  Philadelphia,  nature  of,  178,  284,  290,  374. 

Commercial  Museum,  Philadelphia,  members  of  Advisory  Board 
of,  343;  opinions  of  some  delegates  concerning  the  work  of 
the,  416;  proposed  change  of  name  of,  342;   sketch  of,  414. 

Commercial   Museum  of  Japan,   Lnperial,   112. 

Commercial  museums,  proposed  establishment  of.  in  all  countries, 
resolution   regarding.   335.   336. 

Commercial   museums,  work,  nature  and   growth   of,   177. 

Commercial   nomenclature,   code  of.   176. 

Commercial  organizations.  European  and  American,  compared.  134. 

Commercial   outlook   of   Spain.   294.  296. 

Commercial  questions,  growing  importance  of,  205. 

Commercial    ratings,    bureau    of.    suggested    for    Italy.    371. 

"Commercial  Relations  between  Asiatic  Turkey  and  the  United 
States."  362. 

"Commercial  Relations  between  Japan  and  the  United  Stat'^s," 
,361,   112. 

"Commercial  Resources  of  Kiushiu,  Japan,"  355. 

Commercial   School  of  Japan,  229. 
-Commercial   schools  in  the  United  States,  need  of  higher,   228. 

Commercial  supremacy,  changes  in,  289;  coal  and  iron  as  factors 
in,   290. 

Commercial  traveler  of  the  United  States  and  Germany,  compari- 
son of,  248. 

Commercial  treaties,  adoption  by  the  United  States  of  the  Euro- 
pean  system   of,   382. 

Communication   in   Mexico,   261. 

Competition,  efifect  of,  on  trade-mark  system,  306. 

Competition   in   Brazil,   209. 

Concentration   plants,   opportunity   for.   in    Peru.   276. 

"Concerning  Parcels   Post,"   371. 

Congress  of  chambers  of  commerce,  in  Spain,  294. 

Connecticut,   production   of  iron   ore   and   pig  iron   in.   369. 

Conradty.   C,   Nuremburg,    Germany,   378. 

Consular  reports.  United   States,   publication   of.   229. 

Consular  school,  Vienna  export  Acedemy  as  a.  226. 

Consular  service  of  the  United  States,  character  of,  203:  efficiency 
of,  in  Brazil,  208;  bill  for  reforms  in.  204;  defense  of.  229; 
reform  of,  advocated,  203,  331;  weakness  of  the,  280. 


Consuls  of  United  States,  alleged  exorbitant  charges  by,  in  Ger- 
many, 373. 

Consumption,  relation  of,  to  production  in  the  United  States,  23. 

Convention  for  the  protection  of  industrial  property,  action  of 
the,  309. 

Cook,  Joel.  United  States.   170,  336. 

Co-operation   between   principal   and   agent   in   Australia,   52. 

Co-operation  necessary  among  producing  nations.  7. 

Copper  deposits  of,  in  Canada,  36. 

Copper,  exports  of,  294;  from  Mexico,  259. 

Copper  manufactures  of  the   United  States,  increased  exports  of, 

-OS- 
Copper  mining  in   Chile,  279;   in  Mexico,  263. 
Copper   ore.   exports   of,   from    Peru,  276;    from    Spain,   294;    pro- 
duction of,  in  Sweden,  297. 
Copper  production,  of  Bolivia,  278;  of  Japan.  358;  of  Mexico,  263; 

of  New   South  Wales,  38,  40,  70;   of  Sweden,  297. 
Copper  sulphate,   production   of,  in   Sweden.  297. 
Cordage  and  naval   stores,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward   Islands, 

329- 

Cordes,   Albert,  80. 

Corca,  Luis  F.,  Nicaragua,  270,  386. 

Cork,   exports   of.   from   Spain.  294. 

Corn  and  wheat,   imports   of,   into  the   Leeward   Islands,   329. 

Corn  crop  of  Paraguay.  250. 

Correspondence,  use  of.  in  foreign  trade.   134. 

Costa  Rica,  attitude  of,  toward  Isthmian  canal,  189;  attitude  of, 
toward  Nicaraguan  Canal,  194;  banana  industry  of,  267;  busi- 
ness methods  of,  268:  cacao  industry  of.  267;  cattle  industry 
of,  267;  climate  of,  267;  cofTee  industry  of,  267;  foreigners  in. 
265;  German  travelers  in,  265:  gold  mining  in,  268:  land 
ownership  in,  267;  mines  of,  268;  need  of  United  States  trav- 
elers in,  265;  effect  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  on,  194;  oppor- 
tunities for  investment  in,  266:  packing  goods  for,  265;  par- 
cels post  in,  154;  population  of.  264.  265.  266;  protection  of 
life  and  property  in.  265.  267,  268;  relations  of,  with  Nica- 
ragua. IQO:  rubber  industry  of.  267;  statistical  bureau  of,  267; 
trade  with  the  United  States,  265,  267,  268. 

Costa  Rica,  trade-mark  agreement  of,  with  France.  312;  with  Great 
Britain,  268. 

Cotton  cloth,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States  to  Japan,  in. 

Cotton,  exports  of,  from  Peru,  277;  exports  of,  from  the  United 
States  to  Japan,  113,  122,  124,  357;  imports  of,  into  Spain, 
295;  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Cotton  goods,  complaint  against  duty  of  Germany  on,  379:  Eng- 
lish trade  in,  with  Brazil,  275;  English  trade  in,  with  China, 
97;  trade  of  China.  95,  97;  production  of.  in  Japan,  358;  pro- 
duction of,  in  the  United  States  and  England,  compared,  246. 

Cotton  goods  industry  in  Austria-Hungary  and  in   Germany,  379. 

Cotton  manufacture,  in  Canada,  29;  in  Kiushiu,  Japan.  356;  in 
Sao  Paulo,  Brazil,  245. 

Cotton  manufactures,  in  India,  128;  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294; 
imports  of,  into  Spain,  295;  increased  exports  of,  from  the 
United  States,  205. 

Cotton  manufacturing  industry  of  Mexico,  259;  of  the  United 
States,  32. 

Cotton   oil,  increased  exports  of,  from  the  United  States.  205. 

Cotton  piece  goods  trade  between  China  and  the  United  States.  82. 

Cotton  production  in  Haiti.  299;  in  Paraguay.  251;  in  Persia,  121; 
in   Peru,  277;  in  the  United  States,  .33. 

Cotton   spinning  industry   in  Japan,   109. 

Cotton  textiles,  imports  of,  into   Mexico,  259. 

Cotton  varn,  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295;  production  of.  in  Japan. 
358." 

Countries  of  the   future,  leading,  290. 

Cow  and  ox  (salted),  exports  of,  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  240. 

Coward,    W.,    Belgium,   343. 

Cowperthwait,  J.    F.,  80. 

Craig,   Hugh,  United  States,  343. 

Cramp,   Charles   H.,  United  States,  9. 

Credit,  in  Argentine  Republic.  238;  in  Balkan  States,  ^x^'-  in 
Brazil.  209;  in  Guatemala,  350;  in  Haiti,  299;  in  Jamaica.  3,-6; 
in  Mexico.  260;  in  the  Far  East.  85:  in  Nicaragua,  270. 

"Croatia  and  her  Commerce,"  297. 

Cronkhite.  E.   P.,  80. 

Crookes,  Sir  Wm.,  regarding  decline  in  wheat  production,  181; 
prophesy   of,   on   wheat   famine,   255. 

Crops  of  Nebraska,  216. 

Cuba,  area  of,  212;  demand  for  American  goods  in,  212;  deposits 
of  iron  ore  in,  367;  development  of,  212:  early  exports,  im- 
ports, population  and  trade  of,  211;  exports  from,  to  Mexico. 
260;  exports  from,  to  the  United  States.  212;  future  market  for. 
in  the  United  States.  212;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States. 
24;  need  of  capital  in.  212:  labor  in,  212:  population  of.  212: 
production  of  iron  ore  in,  365;  sample  warehouse  in,  suggested, 
212;  sugar  industry  of,  212;  tobacco  industry  of,  212. 


426 


INDEX  TO  THE  PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


Cuban   Educational  Association  of  the  United  States,  284, 

Currency  and   coinage  of  China,  92 

Currency  fluctuations  in  Mexico,  260. 

Currency,  of  Bolivia,  279;  of  Japan,  old  and  new,  109;  of  Mexico, 
259;  of  Persia.  120;  in  the  Philippines,  85;  of  Uruguay,  .^oi. 

Currency,   relation   of,   to   trade,   20 

Curtis,   Wm.    E.,  247. 

Custom   house  schedules,  reform  needed  in,  371. 

Customs  Advisory  Board,  formation  of,  374,  375,  379,  380;  pro- 
posed for  the  United  States,  374,  376,  380,  382;  resolution  of 
German- American  Commission  regarding,  379,  380;  recom- 
mended by  the   German-American  Commission,  235. 

Customs  .Vdvisory  Board  of  Austria,  376,  380. 

Customs  appraisers  in  the  United  States,  arbitrary  methods  of, 
378;  complaints  against,  373.  375;  need  of  limitation  of  powers 
of,  225. 

Customs  disputes,  decisions  in,  375. 

Customs  practices  in  the  United  States,  discussion  of,  37^,  374.  375. 

Customs  register  of  articles,  need  of  a  more  extensive,  374. 

Cutlery  and   hardware  trade  in   India,   128. 

Cuyas,  Antonio,  Spain,  258,  293,  334,  335,  3^6,  339,  344,  387. 


Dairy  industry  of  New  South  Wales.  40,  44,  45;  of  New  Zealand, 
60;   of  Victoria,  48. 

Dairy  products,  exports  of,  from  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  316. 

Daniels,  George  H.,  282,  213. 

Davey,   A.    E.,  South  Australia,  344. 

Davidson,   W.    S.,   Siberia,  258. 

■'Decrease  in  the  World's  Wool  Production  and  the  Importance 
of  .Argentina  as  a  Source  of  Supply,''   181. 

Delegates,  biographies  of,  383;  list  of,  to  the  International  Com- 
mercial  Congress.   403. 

Dellino,   Antonio   E.,  Venezuela,  241,  344.  387. 

Delivery  of  goods,  bills  of  exchange  suggested  for.  352. 

Demand  and  supply  displaced  by  speculation  as  a  price-maker,  351. 

Denmark,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  24. 

Depew,  Chauncey  M.,  214. 

Diamond  exports  from  Cape  Colony,  185. 

Diaz.  .-Vbraham.   Mexico,  263,   387,  416. 

Diaz,  Porfirio,  President  of  Mexico,  362. 

Dillon,   Luis  A.,   Ecuador,   343. 

Dmglestedt  &  Co.,  Germany,  378. 

Diplomatic  service,  members  of  foreign.  406. 

Dividends  declared  in  Japan,  359. 

Doane,  John   E.,   Brazil,  387. 

Dobell,    R.    R.,   Canada,   10,  34,  36.  343,  387. 

Docks  of  Buenos  Aires,  239;  of  Kobe,  123;  of  Japan,  356;  of  Syd- 
ney. N.  S.  W.,  39. 

Domestic  Advisory  Board.  Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum, 
sketch  of  the,  418. 

Dominica,  area,  328;  exports  from,  value  and  articles,  328;  popula- 
tion  of,  328. 

Dorn,  Alexander  von,  Austria,  2^5,  341,  372,  37;^,  374,  375,  380, 
382,  388. 

Douet,  G.  A.,  .Secretary  Agricultur.il   Society  of  Jamaica,  325. 

Dow.  J.    L.,   49. 

Dowler.   Arthur   E.,   China,  81.    388. 

Downing  &  Co.,  R.   p..  United  States,  378. 

Drainage  of  Buenos  Aires,  239. 

Drugs,  chemicals  and  medicines,  trade  in.  in  India.  128. 

Drugs  and  chemicals,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329, 

Drugs,  paints  and  chemicals,  imports  of,  into  Mexico  from  the 
United   States,  260. 

Drug  wood  of   Bolivia,  278. 

Druinnu)nd,    Henry'    216. 

Dry   docks   of  Japan.  356. 

Dry  goods,  imports  of,  into  Brazil.  275. 

Duell.  Chas.  II.,  United  States,  304,  308,  309,  311,  312,  313,  314,  315. 

Duerden,  J.    E.,  Jamaica,  320. 

Durban,  population  of,   187. 

Duties,  specific  and  ad  valorem,  375. 

Duval.  George   L.,  279. 

Dwyer,    Michael,   Canada,   .388. 

Dyer.   Dr.   Bernard,  256.  I 

Dye   wood   of   Bolivia,  278. 

E. 

Eads,  Jas.  R.,  canal  expert,  200. 

Kchagaray.  Salvador,   Mexico,  259,  286,  .388. 

Ecuador,  cacao  production  of,  285,  330;  coffee  production  of,  285; 
exports  of  hides  from,  285,  330;  exports  from,  compared  with 
Para,  273;  fire  insurance  in.  286;  health  of,  286:  Isthmian  canal, 
need  of,  in.  330;  ivory  nut  production  of,  285;  mining  industry 
of,  285;  opportunities  for  capital  in,  286;  ports  of.  285;  public 
improvements    in,   285;     railways   of,   285;     resources   of,   284: 


rubber  production  of,  285:  shipping  route  to,  330;  sugar  in- 
dustry of,  285;  trade-mark  agreement  of,  with  Great  Britain, 
312- 

Eddy,  Ulysses  G.,  United  States,  245. 

Edmunds,   George  F..   United  States,   i.  2. 

Education,  appropriation   for,   in   Brazil,  274. 

Education,  commercial,  132,  139,  141,  153;  in  Japan,  229;  in  United 
States,   228. 

Education,  in  Chile,  269;  in  China,  88;  in  Haiti,  299;  in  Japan, 
112;  in  Nicaragua.  270;  in  Para.  273;  in  South  .\ustralia.  70; 
in  Uruguay,  303. 

Education,  industrial,  bearing  of,  on  commercial  development,  291. 

Ivlucation,    industrial,   in    Germany,   291. 

Educational   association   suggested   for   America,  284. 

"Effect  of  Brigandage  upon  Business  in  Southern   China,"  347. 

Egg  trade  of  Canada,  29.  30. 

Egypt,  maize  imports  and  exports  of,  234;  wheat  and  rye  imports 
and  exports  of,  234. 

Ehrmann,   Felix,   Panama,   Colombia,  343,  349. 

Electric   carbons,   duty   on,   in   the   United   States,   378,   379. 

Electric   lighting  at  tlie   Paris   Exposition,  228;   in    Spain,   296. 

Electric   railway  in   Korea,   118. 

Electrical  and  scientific  instruments  and  apparatus,  increased  ex- 
ports  of.   from   the   United   States.   205. 

Electrical  apparatus,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Electrical  machinery,  manufacture  of,  in  the  United  States,  246. 

Eliot.   Chas.   W.,  United   States,   139. 

Elkins,  Wm.  L.,  United  States,  343. 

Emory,   Frederic,   United   States,  229. 

England,  cotton  goods  production  of.  246;  duty  on  coffee  in,  244; 
position  of,  in  China,  86,  89:   railway  fares  in.  217. 

English  and  German  business  methods  in   Chile,  280. 

English    influence    in    Chile.   280. 

Endicott,  Mr.,  member  of  canal  commission.  200. 

Erie  Canal,  cost,  length  and  improvement  of.  215;  decrease  of 
tonnage  on,  215. 

Espirito  Santo.   Brazil,  products  of,  273. 

Europe,  exports  from,  to  New  Zealand,  56;  freight  rates  from,  to 
Panama,  compared  with  those  from  New  York.  348;  imports 
into,  from  Paraguay,  251;  imports  into,  from  the  Uf^nited  States, 
22,  23,  24;  imports  of  wheat  into,  234;  markets  of,  compared 
with  those  of  the  Far  East,  291:  phase  of  trade  in,  290:  popu- 
lation of,  290;  trade-mark  registration,  necessity  of.  in.  311; 
wheat  production  of,  233. 

Europe.   Northern,  as  a  place  for  exports,  289. 

European  and  American  methods  compared,  as  to  business.  132. 
1,33.  349;  cost  of  transportation.  134,  283;  commercial  educa- 
tion, 132;  commercial  organizations,  134;  export  business,  131: 
factories,   133;  labor,   134;   packing,   129;  and  railways,   134. 

European  settlement  of  America,  209. 

European  ships  carrying  LTnited  States  goods,  283. 

European  system  of  commercial  treaties,  adoption  of,  by  the 
LTnited  States,  375,  382. 

Exchange,  of  Haiti.  299;   of  Panama,  258. 

Expansion,  necessary  principle  of  civilization.  207;  territorial,  of 
the  United  States,  205. 

Expenditure  of  Japan,  360. 

Expenditure   of   Mexico,   total   and   detailed.   261. 

Explosives  and  amnnmition,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Is- 
lands, 329. 

Explosives  and  arms.  im])orts  of.  into  ^Mexico  from  the  United 
States.  260. 

Export  Academy,  Vienna,  objects,  maintenance,  arul  course  of 
instruction   of,  226. 

Export  merchants,  utility  of.   in   Australia,  50. 

"Export  of  American   Bicycles."   180. 

Export  trade,  must  develop  simultaneously  wiht  impiu't  trade,  382; 
struggle   for,  by   Germany,   232. 

Exports  and  imports,  classification  of,  in  various  countries,  165,  168. 

Exports,  from  Aden.  126;  from  Antigua,  articles  and  value.  32  ; 
from  Argentine  Republic,  articles,  238,  240;  from  .'\ustria-Hun- 
gary,  223;  from  Bermuda,  370;  from  Brazil,  articles,  274;  from 
Canada,  28;  from  Cape  Colony,  185;  from  Chile.  280;  from 
Cuba.  2H;  from  Dominica,  articles  and  value.  328:  from  Ecua- 
dor, 285,  330;  from  Haiti,  articles  and  value,  298.  2gg:  from 
Jamaica,  326;  from  Japan,  108,  113,  357;  from  Kiushiu,  Japan, 
355;  from  Leeward  Islands,  articles  and  value,  328;  from 
Mexico,  259;  from  Montserrat,  articles  and  value,  328;  from 
New  South  Wales,  38,  39;  from  New  Zealand,  55,  56,  60: 
from  Panama,  articles  and  value,  258:  from  Para,  272,  273: 
from  Paraguay,  value,  251;  from  Spain,  articles  and  value. 
294,  295;  from  St.  Christopher,  Nevis  and  .Anguilla.  328:  from 
Sweden,  297;  from  Three  Rivers,  317;  from  the  United  States, 
21,  205,  290;  from  Venezuela,  value,  242;  from  Virgin  Islands, 
articles  and  value,  328. 

Exposition  of  samples,  a  permanent,  proposed  for  China.  98. 


INTEENATIONAL   COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS 


427 


Faljrics,  imports  of,  into  Mexico  from  the  United  States,  260. 

Factories   in   Hong   Kong,   85. 

Factories  in  Japan,  358. 

Factory  methods,  United   States  and   European,   compare<l,   1,33. 

F'airbanks,   R.   N.,  United  States,   155. 

Falkner,   Roland   P.,  United  States,   146. 

Fancy   goods,   imports   of,   into  the   Leeward   Islands,  329. 

Far  East  and  Russia,  markets  of  the,  compared,  291. 

Far  East,  credit  in  the,  85;  difficulty  of  cabling  to  the,  116;  future 
trade  of  the,  122;  open  door  policy  in  the,  100;  shipping  facili- 
ties to  the,  283;  supremacy  of  American  goods  in  the,  213; 
trade   possibilities   in  the,  93,   95,   96,   291. 

Farmer  and  manufacturer,  close  relationship  of,  282. 

Farmers'  Alliance,  failure  of  the,  in  the  United  States,  171. 

Farmers,  state  bank  credit  to,  in  Russia,   171. 

Farijuhar,  A.   B.,  United  States,  252. 

Fawcett,  W.,   Director  Botanical  Department  of  Jamaica,  325. 

Fearon,  James  S.,  China,  96,  99,  343. 

Federation,  Australian,  55,  67,  75,  76,  77,  78,  79. 

Feldspar,   production   of,   in   Sweden,  297. 

Felt  hat  manufacture  in  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil,  245. 

Fernandez,  Alauro,  Costa  Rica,  343. 

Fertilizer,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  use  of  nitrate 
of  soda  as  a,  254. 

Fertilizer  industry  in  the  United  States,  255, 

Fibres,  imports  of  textile,  into  Mexico,  259. 

Field,  Cyrus,   United  States,   iiS. 

Fiji,  exports  from,  to  New  South  Wales,  40;  imports  into,  from 
New  South  Wales,  40. 

Finances  of  Japan,  360. 

Fire-clay,  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 

Firestone,  C.  D.,  United  States,  363, 

Fischer,   Emil   S.,  Austria-Hungary,  92,   188,  228,  234,  341,  388. 

Fish,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  from  Norway,  230;  from  the 
United  States,  21;  imports  of,  into  Jamaica,  322;  imports  of, 
into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295;  pro- 
duction of,  in  Jamaica,  322;  production  of,  in  New  South 
Wales,  45. 

Fisheries  Commission,  experiments  of  the  United  States,  in  Porto 
Rico,  322. 

Fisheries  zone  of  Chile,  269. 

Fishing  industry,  of  Canada,  30;  of  Jamaica,  322;  of  Kiushiu.  Japan, 

ass- 
Flax  culture  in  Minnesota,  282. 

Flax,  production  of.  in  Japan,  358. 

Flint.  Charles  R..  United  States,  343. 

Flour,  exports  of,  from  Columbia  River  ports  and  Pu.get  Sound. 
217;  exports  of,  from  Spain,  113;  imports  of,  into  Japan  from 
the  United  States,  113,  357;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward 
Islands,  329:  production  of,  in  Minnesota,  282;  trade  of  China, 
95- 

Food  and  drink  industries  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Foord.  John,  United  States,  83,  98,  375. 

Foot.  James  D.,  80. 

Foot   measure,   variation   in   the,    174. 

Forbes,   Francis,  United   States,  308.  312.  313,  314.  315,  336. 

F^oreign  delegates  to  the  International  Commercial  Congress,  list 

of,  403. 
"Foreign  Trade   Possibilities   of  the   Far   East,"   93. 

Foreign  trade,  use  of  correspondence  in,   134. 

Foreigners   in   Costa   Rica,   265. 

Forest  products,  of  New  South  Wales,  45;  exports  of,  from  the 
United  States,  21. 

Forests,  of  Bolivia,  278;  of  Chile,  28;  of  Nicaragua,  270;  of  Three 
Rivers,   Canada,   316. 

Formosa,   trade   of,  with   China,   Great   Britain,   Hong   Kong  and 

the  United  States,  124. 
Fox.   Williams   C,   United   States,    119,  376. 

France,  duty  on  coffee  in,  244:  duty  on  raw  cacao  and  sugar  in, 
,381;  duty  on  wheat  in,  233;  exports  from,  to  Argentine  Re- 
public, 241;  exports  from,  to  Haiti,  299;  exports  from,  to 
Japan.  357;  exports  from,  to  Mexico,  260;  exports  from,  to 
New  South  Wales,  40;  exports  of  iron  ore  from,  366;  im- 
ports into,  from  Argentine  Republic,  241 ;  imports  into,  from 
Japan.  357;  imports  into,  from  New  South  Wales,  40;  im- 
ports into,  from  the  United  States.  22:  imports  of  iron  ore 
into,  366;  imports  of  nitrate  into,  from  Chile,  254;  imports 
of  wool  into,  from  Argentine  Repitblic,  184;  imports  into,  per 
capita,  from  the  United  States.  347;  iron  industry  of.  366; 
packing  in,  compared  with  Germany,  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States,  330:  pig  iron  production  of,  365;  railway  fares 
in,  217:  trade  of.  with  Argentine  Republic,  241;  trade  of,  with 
Japan.  357;  trade  of,  with  Mexico,  260;  trade-mark  agreements 
of,  with  Bolivia,  Brazil,  Colombia,  Costa  Rica.  Guatemala,  Mex- 
ico, Peru  and  Venezuela,  312. 


Frazar,     Everett,     United    States,    85,  99,    lofi,    107.    108.    110.    112. 

IIS,   117.   118,   121,   124,   125,   127,   129,   130. 
Freeman,  Captain,  developer  of  Jamaica,  325. 
Free  ports,  proposed  in  Norwai',  230;  statistics  of,   165. 
Free  trade  in  artistic  productions,  plea  for,  227;  resolution  regard- 
ing, 335,  345- 
Free  trade,  plea  for,  from  Austria,  15,  377;  England,  5;  Germany, 

6.  34;   Italy,   289;    New   South   Wales,  37;     New   Zealand,   55; 

Uruguay,  302. 
Freight  rates,  bearing  of,  on  our  South  American  trade.  349;  from 

Europe  and  New  York  to  Panama,  compared,  348;  from  the 

United  States  to  Italy,  compared  with  parcels  post  rates  from 

Italy  to  foreign  countries,  371;  on  the  Panama  Railroad,  348; 

on   parcels   from   the    United   States   to   Italy,   371;     from   the 

United  States  to  South  America,  348. 
"Freight  Tariffs  and  Transportation  Conveniences  on  the  Isthmus 

of  Panama,"  348. 
French   influence  in   China,  88. 
Frers.   Dr.    Emilio,   Argentine   Republic,  343. 
Frothingham,  W.  F'.,  80.  • 
Frozen  meat  industry,  of  Argentine  Republic.  240;  of  New  South 

Wales,  44;  of  New  Zealand,  56,  60:  of  Victoria,  49. 
Frozen  sheep,  exports  of.  from  Argentine  Republic,  240. 
Fruit,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29:  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294; 

imports  of,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of  canned,  to 

the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 
Fruit   industry,   of  Jamaica.  319,  324,  325;  of  Natal,   187;   of  New 

South   Wales.  44;   of   Paraguay,   251;   of  South   Australia,   69; 

of  Victoria.  49. 
Fuchs.  Julius,   Doos,   near   Nurcmburg,   Germany,   378. 
I-'uel  (other  than  coal),  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329. 
Fuel,  required  in  production  of  pig  iron,  365. 
Furbish.    Mr,,   on   the   failure   of  the   United   States   to   adopt  the 

metric  system,  175. 
Furniture,   demand   for  United   States,   in   Natal.   187;   imports   of. 

into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  trade  in  India,   129. 
Furniture  industry  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 
Furs,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29. 
Furuya,  T.,  Japan,  15,  115. 
"Future  Trade  of  the  Far  East,"   122. 


Gandhi,   Virchand   R.,   India,   127.    153. 

Garland,  Alejandro,   Peru,  343, 

Gas  company  of  Guayaquil,  Ecuador,  286, 

Geissel,  H.   L,,  United  States.  235,  372,  373,  375,  376,  377,  379. 

Geoft'rion,  L.   E.,  Canada,  389. 

Geography,  of  Bermuda,  369:  of  Central  America,  270;  of  Guate- 
mala, 270;  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  327;  of  Panama,  258;  of 
Paraguay.  250, 

Georgia,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369, 

German  bank   in   Southern    Brazil,   211. 

German   business   methods   in   Chile,   280. 

German  clerks,  in  all  countries,  291. 

German  commercial  travelers,  compared  with  American,  248;  in 
Costa  Rica,  265. 

German  commercial   unions,  292. 

German  element  in  the  United  States,  210,  292. 

German   influence   in    Russia,   292. 

German  manufacturers  compared  with  American,  232. 

German  steamship  lines  to  Southern  Brazil,  211, 

German   supremacy  in   Southern    Brazil.   211. 

German-American  Commission,  membership  of.  235;  purpose  of, 
234;  recommendations  of,  235;  report  of,  234. 

Germany,  agents  from,  representing  several  firms,  290:  boilers  for, 
must  be  constructed  according  to  German  regulations,  377; 
canal  building  in,  292;  canal  development  in,  189;  canals  pro- 
posed in,  231;  charges  of  U.  S,  consuls  in,  373;  catalogues  in 
English  useless  in,  377;  commercial  development  of,  291;  com- 
plaint against  duty  of,  on  cotton  goods,  379;  complaints  from, 
against  United  States  customs  appraisers.  373;  cotton  goods 
industry  in,  379;  decline  of  sheep-stock  in,  182;  deposits  of 
iron  ore  in,  .365;  development  of  manufactures  in,  23:  difficulty 
of  foreigner  securing  patent  in,  315;  difficulty  of  protecting 
foreign  patents  in,  379;  duty  of,  on  cotton  goods.  379;  duty 
of.  on  raw  cacao  and  sugar,  381;  export  trade  of,  232;  ex- 
ports of  iron  ore  from,  366;  exports  from,  to  Argentine  Re- 
public. 241;  exports  from,  to  Guatemala,  350;  exports  from, 
to  Haiti,  299;  exports  from,  to  Japan,  357;  exports  from,  to 
Mexico,  260;  exports  from,  to  New  South  Wales,  40;  imports 

'  into,  from  Argentine  Republic,  241;  imports  into,  from  Japan, 
357;  imports  into,  from  New  South  Wales,  40:  imports  into, 
from  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  317:  imports  into,  from  the  United 
States,  24.  347;  imports  of  bicycles  into,  from  the  United 
States,   181;  imports  of  boilers  into,  from   Great  Britain,  377; 

■■:_       imports  of  iron   ore  into,   366;   imports   of  nitrate   into,   from 


428 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


Chile.  254;  imports  of  wool  into,  from  Argentine  Republic, 
184:  imiiistrial  education  in.  291:  market  for  American  boilers 
.uul  fittings  in.  Xi7\  methods  of  securing  trade  in,  291 :  nuitual 
ineresls  of,  with  the  United  States,  5:  need  of  reciprocity  witli 
the  United  States,  382:  packing  of,  292;  packing  in,  compared 
with  France,  Great  Britain,  and  tlie  United  States.  330:  patent 
laws  of.  ,314:  plea  of.  for  free  trade,  6;  prices  for,  should 
be  quoted"  c.  i.  f..  377;  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in, 
.565:  railway  extension  in,  215;  registration  of  trade-marks  in, 
311:  rural  and  urban  population  of,  292;  shipbuilding  in,  292; 
"speculative  trade  in  grain  prohibited  in,  354;  trade  of,  com- 
pared with  (ireat  Britain's,  292:  trade  of,  in  boilers,  377;  trade 
of.  with  Argentine  Republic,  241;  trade  of.  with  the  Balkan 
Peninsula.  232;  trade  of,  with  Chile,  280;  trade  of,  with  Japan. 
357;  trade  of.  with  Mexico,  260:  trade  of.  with  South  America, 
247;  trade  commissions  of.  291;  trade-mark  agreement  of,  with 
Brazil,  Guatemala,  Mexico  and  Venezuela,  312. 

Gibraltar,  imports  of,  from  the  United  States,  23. 

Gibson,   Herbert,   Argentine   Republic,    16,    181. 

Gilbert,    Dr.,   nitrate   expert,   256. 

Gillies,  Mr.,  75,  76- 

Ginger,  exports  of,  from  Jamaica,  326. 

Glassware,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329. 

Glue  stock,  exports  of.  from  Uruguay,  to  the  United  States,  301. 

Gold  exports,  from  Canada,  29;  from  Cape  Colony.  185;  from 
China.  03;  from  New  South  Wales.  40;  from  New  Zealand,  56. 

Gold  fields,  "of  Australia,  37;  of  Queensland,  64,  65;  of  Western 
.Australia,  38,  72. 

Gold  imports  into  Mexico,  259. 

Gold  mines,  of  Bolivia,  279;  of  Honduras,  271;  of  Nicaragua,  270. 

C^iolil  mining,  in  Costa  Rica,  268;  in  Korea,  118;  in  New  Zealand, 
57;  in  Peru,  276:  in  Queensland,  63,  64;  in  Victoria,  48. 

Gold  production,  of  California,  217;  of  Colorado,  217;  of  Mexico, 
260;  of  Japan,  ,^58;  of  New  South  Wales,  38,  40;  of  Para,  273; 
of  Queensland,  64;  of  Sweden,  297;  of  Victoria,  48;  of  West- 
ern  Australia,  72. 

Goldschmidt,   Fricdrich,  Germany,   5.  234.   372,  373.  374.  375.   389- 

Gore,  Thomas  H.,  United   States,   172. 

Government,  of  Amazonas,  Brazil,  273;  of  Argentine  Republic, 
240;  of  Bermuda,  370;  of  Brazil,  272:  of  Chile,  269:  of  Nica- 
ragua, 270;  of  Panama,  258;  of  Para,  273;  of  the  Philippines,  161. 

Graqa,  J.  Cordeiro    da.  Brazil.  17.  272,  ,309,  313.  315.  ,M3.  344.  389- 

Grain,  consumption  of,  in  New  Zealand,  56;  export  duty  on,  pro- 
posed for  Roumania,   Russia  and  the  United  States,  233. 

Grain  exporting  countries,  232. 

(Irain.  exports  of.  from  New  South  Wales,  40;  from  New  Zealand. 
56:  from  Roumania.  2^,^:  speculative  trade  in.  prohibited  in 
Germany.  354;  transportation  of.  in  the  United  States.  246. 

Grain  growing  in  Jalisco,  Mexico,  262. 

Grain   products,  exports  of.  from   Canada,  29. 

c;rain  trade  of  Manitoba,  North  West  Province,  Canada,  and  the 
United  States,  35,  36. 

Grant,   President,   .362. 

Grant.   President,  on  the   Isthmian   Canal,   196. 

Grai)e  fruit,  exports  of,  from  Jamaica,  324. 

Grape  industry,  in   New  South  Wales,  44. 

(jraiK-s.  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294. 

Graphite,  production  of,  in   Sweden.  297. 

Gray,  George,  United  States,  78. 

Grazing,  in  Queensland,  6s;  in  Venezuela,  242. 

Great  Britain,  see  "United  Kingdom." 

Grebst,   Harald,   Sweden,   297,   344.   .389. 

Greece,  deposits  of  iron  ore  in,  367;  imports  into,  from  the  United 
States,  24:   production   of  iron   ore   in,  365;  trade   possibilities 

of,  3.13 

Greeley,  Arthur  P.,  United  States,  311. 

Green,  C.   A.,  290. 

Guatemala,  banking  facilities  in,  350;  cotTee  industry  in,  350;  credits 
in.  350;  development  of,  351;  English  competition  in,  declin- 
ing. 350;  exports  from,  to  Germany,  350;  imports  into,  from 
the  United  Kingdom,  350;  imports  into,  from  the  United 
States,  350;  need  of  American  agents  in.  350;  need  of  United 
States  bank  in,  350;  need  of  steamship  lines  from  the  United 
States  to,  350;  notes  on  the  commercial  relations  of,  with  the 
United  States,  350;  packing  goods  for,  350;  trade-mark  agree- 
ments of,  with  France,  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  312;  trade 
of,  with  the  United  States.  350. 

Guayatpiil.  Ecuador,  banks  of,  285;  gas  company  of,  286;  street 
railways  of,   286. 

Gudgcr.   H,   A..   191. 

Giilpen,  A.  van,  Germany,  235,  3.S1,  372,  375.  389. 

H. 

Haberdashery,  imports  of.  into  the  I.eew.ird   Islands.  329. 
Ilabutai,  exports  of,  from  Japan  to  the  United  States,   114,  357. 
Ilagemans,    Paul,   390. 


Haile,   William   B.,   United   States,   343. 

Ilair,  exports  of,  from   the  Argentine   Republic.  240. 

Haiti,  agriculture  in,  300;  bank,  United  States,  needed  in,  299; 
cable  connections  of,  300:  cotton  industry  of,  299;  credit  in, 
299;  education  in,  299;  exchange  through  Europe,  299;  ex- 
ports from,  298,  299;  exports  of  cofifee  from,  298:  imports  into, 
299;  imports  into,  from  France.  Germany  and  Great  Britain, 
299;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  24,  299:  industries 
of,  298,  300;  mines  of,  300;  possibilities  of,  299;  public  peace 
in,  298;  steamship  lines  from  the  United  States  to,  298;  tele- 
graph in,  300;  topography  of,  298;  trade  of,  299;  trade'  of, 
with  the  United  States,  299. 

Ham  and  bacon,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  205;  imports 
of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Harbor  facilities  of  Aden,   126. 

Harbor  improvements,  in  Mexico,  261;  of  Montevideo.  303.  304: 
of  Shanghai,  83;   of  Tamaulipas,  263. 

Harbor   of   Havana,   211. 

Harbors  of  the  seaports  of  the  Panama  and  Nicaragua  Canals 
compared.   192. 

Hardware,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329;  imports  of, 
into  New  Zealand,  56;  trade  in,  in  India,  128. 

Hardwood,  exports  of.  from  .Argentine  Republic,  240. 

Harness,  saddlery  and  carriage  industries  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Harper,  D.  N.,  Ecuador,  284. 

Harper.  Wm,,  LTnited  States,  37,  258,  290,  Jii^. 

Harris,  Townsend,  first  United  States   Minister  to  Japan.  356. 

Hartwell,  Alfred  S.,   Hawaiian  Islands,   117,  390. 

Hat   (felt)   manufacture,  in  Sao   Paulo,   Brazil,  245. 

Havana,  harbor  of.  211. 

Hawaii,   annexation   of.   by   the   Lhiited   States.   205. 

Hay.  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  240;  imports  of,  into 
the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  production  of.  Three  Rivers,  Canada, 
316. 

Health.  Dr.  E.  K,  278. 

Hemp  industry  of  Venezuela.  242. 

Henequin.   exports   of.   from    Mexico,  259. 

Herlitschka,  Julius,  Austria-Hungary,  235,  373,  379,  390. 

Hermsdorf,  Louis,  dyer,  292. 

Hidalgo,  of  Mexico,  362. 

Hides,  exports  of,  from  Aden,  126;  exports  of,  from  Argentine 
Republic,  240;  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  exports  of.  from 
Ecuador,  285;  exports  of,  from  Natal,  187;  exports  of,  from 
Spain,  294;  imports  of,  into  Mexico,  259;  imports  of,  into 
Spain.  295. 

HilkofT.   Michael,  Minister  of  Railways,   Russia,  215. 

Hill,   David  J.,  United  States,   i,  2.  3. 

Hill.  J.  J.,  on  shipping  to  the  Far  East,  283. 

Hodgson,  Henry  E.,  United  Kingdom,  390. 

Hodgson.   Richard,  United   Kingdom.  390. 

Holland,  duty  of.  on  raw  cacao  and  sugar,  381. 

Honduras,  climate  of,  271:  geography  of,  270;  gold  mines  of,  271; 
opportunities  for  capital  in,  271;  revolutions  in,  271;  silver 
mines  of,  271;  soil  of,  271. 

Hong  Kong,  banks  in.  ^5;  exports  from,  to  New  South  Wales. 
40;  factories  in.  85;  imports  into,  from  New  South  Wales. 
40;  tonnage  of,  85;  trade  of,  85;  trade  of,  with  Formosa,  124. 

Hopkins,  Mr.,  developer  of  Jamaica.  325. 

Horse  hair,  exports  of,  from  Uruguay  to  the  United  States,  301. 

Horse  (salted),  exports  of,  from  the  .Argentine  Republic,  240. 

Horses,  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  240;  from  Montreal, 
29. 

Horses,  in  New  South  Wales,  40.  44;  in  Queensland,  65. 

Howatson,  William,  Trinidad.  West   Indies.  344. 

"How  Best  to  Introduce  Manufactured  Products  in  .Auslrnlian 
Markets,"   50. 

"How  to  Promote  Reciprocity,"  252. 

Howes.    Mr.,    347. 

Hulett.  Mr.,  pioneer  of  the  tea  industry  in   South   .Africa,   187. 

Humphreys.  J.  W..  Colombia,   195,  390. 

Hurlbut,  Stephen   W..  on  the  Isthmian   Canal.   196. 

Hussein  Agha   Etimad-et-Tuiljar.  Persia.  ,343. 


Ice.  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329. 

Illinois,    pro<luction    of    iron    ore    in.    3^)9;    production    of   pig    iron 

in,  .(68.  369. 
Immigrants,   attraction   of  .Argentine   Republic   for,  237. 
Immigration,  into  .Argentine   Republic.  241;   into   Brazil.  209:  into 

Paraguay,  250;   into   Sao    Paulo,    Brazil,  243:   into  the   United 

States,  130. 
"Imperial  Royal  Austrian  Commcrci.il  Museum  of  Vienna,"  225. 
Import  and  export  trade  must  develop  siimiltaneously.  382. 
Import  values,   divergence  in,   164. 
Imports,  into  Aden,  .Arabia,  126;  into  Austria-Hungary,  223;  into 

Bermuda,  370;   into  Canada,  28;   into   Cape  Colony,   185;   into 


INTERNATIONAL   COMMEECIAL    CONGRESS 


429 


Chile,  280;  into  Cuba,  2ii:  into  Haiti,  299;  into  Jamaica,  326; 
into  Japan,  108,  113,  357:  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  328;  into 
Mexico.  259,  260;  into  New  South  Wales,  38,  39,  41;  into  New 
Zealand,  56:  into  Panama.  258;  into  Paraguay,  251;  into  Spain, 
295;  into  Sweden,  297:  into  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  317;  into 
the  United  States,  22,  129;  into  Uruguay,  300;  into  Victoria,  48. 
Imports  and  exports,  registration  of.  165,  168. 
Imports,  classification  of,  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States, 

168. 
Imports,  valuation  of  temporary,   165. 

India.  American  bank  needed  in,  129;  exports  from,  to  New  South 
Wales.  39:  exports  from,  to  New   Zealand,  56;  exports  from, 
to  the  United   States,   129;  imports  into,  per  capita,  from  the 
United   States,   22;    iron   ore   production   of,   ,365;   possibilities 
of,  290:  samples  necessary  in,  127;  terms  quoted  for,  128;  trade 
of,  127:  trade  of,  in  various  lines  of  goods,  128,  129;  trade  of, 
with  the  United   States,   127;  transportation   facilities  of,  with 
the  United  States,  129. 
Indigo  leaves,  production  of.  in  Japan,  358. 
Industrial   condition  of   Bolivia.  279. 
Industrial  education,  bearing  of,  on  commercial  development,  291; 

in    Germany,   291. 
Industries,  of  Argentine   Republic,  237,  240;   of  Austria-Hungary, 
222:  of  Haiti.  298.  300:  of  Japan,   109;   of  New  South   Wales, 
40,  41,  45:   of   New  Zealand,   56:   of  St.    Paul,   Minn.,   282;   of 
Venezuela,  242;  of  Western  Australia,  72. 
Industries,  protection   of,  in   Chile,  269. 
Industry  and   commerce,  proposed   department   of,   in   the   United 

States,  169. 
Industry,  development  of.  in  Mexico,  260;   in   America,  8,  31. 
Infante  V.,  Eliodoro.  Chile,  269,  391. 
Institutions,  solidarity  of.  in  Chile,  269. 
Insurance,  in  Ecuador,  286;  in  New  Zealand,  54. 
"Interdependence  of  Nations."  20. 
Interest,   rate  of.  in  Japan,  359. 
Internal   improvements  proposed,  in   Bolivia,  279. 
International  bureau  of  agricultural  statistics  proposed,  171. 
International  Central  Office  of  Chambers  of  Commerce,  plan  for, 

176. 
International    Commercial    Congress,   aim    of  the,   42;    reason    for 
Brazil's   participation   in   the,    17:   reasons   for   England's   par- 
ticipation  in  the,   16:   results  of,   343,  345. 
International  institute  of  trade,  proposed  for  China,  go. 
"International    Patents  and  Trade   Marks,"   212. 
International   Statistical  Institute,   170. 
"International   Union   of  American   Republics."   263. 
Invoice  value,  discussion  of.  375.  376. 
Invoices  and  tariff  regulations,  discussion  of.  375.  376. 
Invoices,  certification  of.  and  consideration  of  tarifT  rates,  373.  374. 

375.  376,  377,  378.  379- 
Irigoyen,  Carlos,  Guatemala,  343. 

Iron  and  coal,  as  factors  in  commercial  supremacy,  290. 
Iron   and   steel,   exports   of.    from    Sweden.   294;    imports   of,    into 
Mexico,   259;    imports    of.   into    New    South    Wales,   41;    pro- 
duction  and   consumption   of,   24;   production    of,   in   Austria- 
Hungary,   24;    production    of,   in   the   United    States,   31,   246: 
relation   of,  to  purchasing  power  of  countries,   24;  the  world 
as  a  market  for  American,  31:  trade  in,  in  India,   128;  trans- 
portation of,  in  the  United  States,  ,364. 
Iron  and  steel  manufactures,  exports  of,  from  Great  Britain,  ,365; 
exports  of,   from  the  United   States   increasing,   205,   368;   im- 
ports of.  into  Spain,  295;  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 
Iron  deposits  of  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  316. 

Iron,   exports   of.   from  the   United   States  to  Japan,   113:   imports 

of.  into  Japan,  from  the  United  States.  357:  production  of.  in 

Japan.  358;  production  of.  in  New  Zealand.  57;  production  of, 

in  Sweden.  297:   (see.  also,  pig  iron). 

Iron   mines  of  Spain,  287,  296. 

Iron    mining,   in     Sweden,   297:     development    of,    in   the     United 

States,  368:  development  of.  in  Russia,  366. 
Iron  ore.  deposits  of.  in  Algeria.  ,367;  deposits  of.  in  Austria-Hun- 
gary and  Belgium.  367;  deposits  of.  in  Canada  and  Cuba,  367; 
deposits  of,  in  France,  366:  deposits  of,  in  Germany,  365:  de- 
posits of,  in  Greece,  ,367:  deposits  of,  in  Italy,  368;  deposits 
of.  in  Mexico,  362;  deposits  of,  in  Newfoundland,  368:  deposits 
of,  in  Russia,  366;  deposits  of,  in  Spain  and  Sweden,  367; 
deposits  of,  in  the  United  States,  369:  exports  of,  from  .Algeria, 
367:  exports  of,  from  Austria-Hungary,  Belgium,  France  and 
Germany.  366:  exports  of,  from  Newfoundland.  368:  exports 
of.  from  Spain,  294.  367:  exports  of.  from  Sweden.  367;  im- 
ports of.  into  Austria-Hungary.  Belgium.  France  and  Germany, 
366:  imports  of.  into  Great  Britain.  365:  imports  of.  into  the 
United  States.  368;  in  New  South  Wales.  .38:  production  of. 
365:  production  of.  in  Alabama.  369;  production  of.  in  Alge- 
ria. Austria-Hungary.  Belgium,  and  Ecuador.  ,365:  production 
pf,  in  Colorado  and  Connecticut.  ,369;  production  of.  in  Cuba 


and  France,  365;  production  of,  in  Georgia,  369;  production 
of,  in  Germany,  Great  Britain  and  Greece,  365:  production 
of,  in  Illinois,  369;  production  of,  in  India  and  Italy.  365; 
production  of.  in  Kentucky.  Maryland.  Massachusetts.  Michi- 
gan, Minnesota,  Missouri.  Montana  and  Nebraska.  369;  pro- 
duction of,  in  New  Jersey,  New  York,  New  ilexico  and 
North  Carolina,  369;  production  of,  in  Norway,  365;  produc- 
tion of,  in  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania,  369;  production  of,  in  Rus- 
sia and  Spain,  365;  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297,  365;  pro- 
duction of,  in  Tennessee  and  Texas.  369;  production  of.  in 
the  United  States,  365,  368,  369;  production  of,  in  Utah,  Vir- 
ginia,  West    Virginia,   Wisconsin   and   Wyoming,   369. 

Iron  sulphate,  pro<luction  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 

Ironmongery  and  hardware,  imports  of,  into  New  Zealand,  56. 

Irrigation,  in  South  Australia,  69;  in  Tamaulipas,  Mexico,  263; 
proposed,  in  Peru,  277. 

Isthmian  Canal,  162;  benefits  of,  195;  benefits  of,  to  Costa  Rica, 
189;  benefits  of.  to  Ecuador,  330;  benefits  of,  to  Great  Britain! 
194;  building  and  control  of,  by  the  United  States  necessary, 
193:  estiniated  cost  of,  193:  need  of,  by  the  United  States,  122, 
198,  331:   resolution  regarding,  314,  337,  340. 

Italy,  bureau  of  commercial  ratings  suggested  for,  371;  duty  of, 
on  coffee,  244;  duty  of.  on  wdieat,  i^y.  effect  of  the  United 
States  tariff  on  the  trade  of,  288,  289:  exports  from,  to  Mex- 
ico, 260;  exports  of  lemons  from,  decreasing,  288;  exports  of 
lemons  from,  to  the  United  States,  288:  exports  of  oil  from, 
to  the  United  States,  decreasing,  288;  exports  of  oranges  from! 
decreasing,  288;  exports  of  oranges  from,  to  the  United  States! 
288:  exports  of  w^ine  from,  to  the  United  States,  decreasing,  288; 
freight  rates  from,  to  the  United  States,  371;  imports  intoi  froni 
Argentine  Republic,  241;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States, 
24:  imports  of  wool  into,  from  Argentine  Republic,  184;  iron 
ore  deposits  in,  368;  iron  ore  production  of,  365;  parcels  post 
agreement  needed  between  the  United  States 'and,  371;  pig 
iron  production  of,  365;  plea  of.  for  free  trade  with  the 
United  States,  289:  reciprocity  of,  with  the  United  Stales 
needed,  227,  288:  trade  of,  with  Argentine  Republic,  241. 

Ivory  nuts,   production   of,   in   Ecuador,  285. 


Jackson.   Milton,  United  States,   148. 

Jalisco,  Mexico,  grain  growing  in,  262. 

Jamaica,  agriculture  of,  325,  327;  Agricultural  Society  of,  322;  all- 
spice industry  of,  325;  area  of,  322;  as  a  health  resort,  319: 
banana  industry  of,  319,  324,  325;  booby  egg  trade  of,  323; 
Botanical  Department  of,  325:  citrus  fruit  industry  of,  324; 
climate  of,  319:  coffee  industry  of,  324:  death  rate  of,  327; 
exports  from,  total,  326:  exports  of  bananas  from,  324,  326; 
exports  of  cocoanuts  from,  to  the  United  States,  326;  exports 
of  coffee  from,  324,  326:  exports  of  ginger  from,  to  the  United 
States,  326;  exports  of  oranges  from,  324,  326;  exports  of 
pineapples  from,  to  the  United  States,  326:  exports  of  rum 
from.  323;  exports  of  sugar  from,  323,  326;  fish  industry  of, 
,322:  fish  production  of,  ^22;  fruit  industry  of,  319,  321,  325; 
geology  of,  323:  grape  fruit  industry  of,  324;  imports  into, 
326:  imports  of  fish  into,  322:  institute  of,  325:  labor  in,  321; 
mineral  resources  of,  323:  newspapers  of,  318;  opportunities 
for  capital  in,  319:  pearling  industry  of,  323;  pineapple  in- 
dustry of,  324;  population  of,  322:  protection  of  life  and  prop- 
erty in.  318;  race  question  in,  318;  proposed  reciprocity  be- 
tween, and  the  United  States,  326:  resources  of,  320,  325: 
Royal  Society  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  and  Merchants' 
Exchange  of,  325:  rum  industry  of,  323;  shipping  facilities 
of,  with  the  United  States,  320:  shipping  of,  tonnage,  326: 
shipping  statistics  of,  326:  shell  trade  of,  323;  societies  and 
departments  of,  325:  sugar  industry  of,  323:  terms  of  credit 
in,  326;  tobacco  industry  of.  324:  topography  of,  318;  trade 
of,  325;  trade  of,  with  the  United  States,  326:  transportation 
between,  and  Canada,  326:  transportation  between,  and  the 
United  States,  326.  327:  turtle  trade  of,  323. 

James,  W.  T..   Bermuda.  West  Indies.  ,369,  391. 

Japan,  agricultural  companies  in,  358:  agricultural  products  of. 
enumerated,  358:  area  of,  in:  banks  in,  358;  business  com- 
panies in,  358:  cities  and  towns  of,  360;  coal  mines  of,  in; 
commercial  education  in,  229;  commercial  integrity  in,  360: 
commercial  relations  of,  with  the  United  States,  i_t2.  _2,()i ; 
commercial  school  at  Tokyo,  229;  cotton  spinning  industry 
of,  109:  currency  of,  109:  development  of,  124:  dividends  de- 
clared in,  359:  education  in,  112;  effects  on,  of  opening  to 
foreign  residents,  no;  effects  of  United  States  duty  on  tea 
industry  of.  114:  expenditure  of.  360;  exports  from,  108,  113, 
357:  exports  from,  to  China,  France,  Germany.  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States.  357:  exports  from,  to  New  Zealand. 
56;  exports  of  camphor  from,  to  the  E'nited  States.  124;  ex- 
ports of  carpets  from,  to  the  United  States.  124;  exports  of 
habutai  from,  to  the  United  States,  114,  357;  exports  of  mat- 


430 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


ting  from,  to  the  United  States,  114,  123,  357;  exports  of  nee 
from,  to  the  United  States,  124;  exports  of  silk  from,  to  the 
United  States,  114,  357;  exports  of  tea  from,  to  tlie  United 
States,  123,  357:  factories  in,  358;  finances  of,  360;  foreign 
trade  of.  95,  108,  357;  government  development  of,  112;  Im- 
perial Commercial  Museum  of,  112:  imports  into,  108:  im- 
l>orts  into,  from  China,  France,  (Germany,  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States,  357;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States, 
articles,  24,  ill,  113,  123,  124;  imports  of  cotton  into,  from 
the  United  States,  111,  113,  122,  124,  357;  im^iorts  of  flour  into, 
from  the  United  States,  113.  357;  imports  of  iron  into,  from 
the  United  States,  113,  357;  imports  of  kerosene  into,  from 
the  United  States,  113,  124,  357;  imports  of  machinery  into, 
from  the  United  States,  113,  357;  imports  of  tobacco  into,  from 
the  United  States,  113,  124:  improvement  of  transportation 
in,  in;  industries  of,  109;  land  ownership  in.  361;  locomotives 
of  United  States  in,  213;  manufactures  of,  358;  manufacturing 
companies  in,  358;  mineral  products  of,  enumerated,  358;  need 
of  reciprocity  t)etween,  and  the  United  States,  112,  114;  old 
treaty  ports  of.  ni;  opening  of  country  to  foreigners  in,  no: 
opportunities  in,  357;  population  of,  iii:  railways  of,  too,  112. 
359:  rate  of  interest  in.  ccg;  raw  silk  industry  of.  109;  raw 
silk  trade  of.  with  the  United  States,  109;  relations  of,  with 
the  United  States,  356:  revenue  of,  360;  rice  crops  of,  ni; 
shipping  statistics  of,  359:  steamship  lines  to,  109,  124:  super- 
fices  in,  .36;  tariff  on  principal  imports  of,  1^3.;  tea  trade  of,  with 
the  United  States,  109;  tobacco  trade  of,  113:  trade  of,  hin- 
dered by  the  United  States  tariff,  123;  transportation  com- 
panies in,  358;  trade  of,  with  the  United  States,  8t,  109,  no, 
112,  113,  115,  122,  357;  transportation  between,  and  the  United 
States,   122;  wages   in,  358 

'•Japan  in  Her  New  Relations,"  356. 

Japanese  Traders'   Society.  361. 

J.irrah   timber   in   Australia.   74. 

jarrah   wood   in   Western   Australia,   72. 

lenkins.    Dr..    nitrate    expert,   256. 

Jensen,  Emil,  391. 

Jerked  beef,  exports  of.  from  Argentine  Kepnblic.  240. 

levons.  Thomas  E..  United  States,  80. 

Jewelry,  imports  of,  into  the   Leeward  Islands,   329. 

Johnston.   Dr.   James,   Jamaica,   West     Indies,   318,   ^27.   329.   3,30, 

331.  332,  391- 
lohnston,  J.  Barre,  New  South  Wales,  Australia,  .^6,  340.  343.  391. 
Johnston,  J.   B.,   United  States,  288,  336,  343. 
Joint   stock  companies  in  Japan,  358. 
Jones,  R.   B.,   Ecuador,  330,  332,  391. 
Juarez,  of  Mexico,  362. 

K. 

Kangaroo  skins  in  New  South  Wales,  ,38. 

Kaolin,  in  Arita,  Japan,  356. 

Karagheusian,    Archag,   Turkey,   344,    392. 

Kasson,  John   A.,  United   States.   204. 

Kauri  gum.  exports  of,  from   New   Zealand,  56. 

Keith,  John  M.,  Costa  Rica,   154,  266,  392,  416. 

Kelly,  N.   B.,  United  States.   n8,  235,  258,  3,36,  338. 

Kemp,  A.  E.,  Canada,  ,392. 

Kentucky,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in.  .369. 

Kerosene,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States  to  Japan,  113;  im- 
ports of,  into  Japan  from  the  United  States,  124,  357;  imports 
of,  into  Kobe,  from  the  United  States,  124;  imports  of.  into 
the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  trade  of,  between  Japan  and  the 
United  States,  T09. 

Kilbournc,  James,  United  States,  343. 

Kiniura,  T.,  Japan,  122. 

Kiushiu,  Japan,  commercial  resources  of,  355;  coal  mining  in. 
355;  exports  from.  3.55;  fishing  industry  of,  355:  imports  of  coal 
into,  from  Great  Britain,  355;  industries  of,  355,  356;  manufac- 
ture of  cement  in,  356;  manufacture  of  cotton  goods  in.  356: 
manufacture  of  paper  in,  356:  matting  industry  in,  356;  pottery 
industry  in,  356;  railways  of,  356:  rice  industry  in,  355;  tea 
industry  in,  355;  tobacco  industry  in,  355. 

Klctt.  Carlos  Lix.  Argentine  Republic.  ,343. 

Kline.  M.  N.,  United  States.  ,309. 

Knight.  Geo.  M..  United  States,  80. 

Knoller.  Richard.  Austria-Hungary,  223,  258,  3.36,  375,  .392. 

Kobe,  climate  of,  T23;  docks  of,  123;  exports  from,  to  the  United 
States,  123;  exports  of  camphor,  carpets  and  rice  from,  to  the 
United  States,  124;  exports  of  mattings  and  tea  from,  to  the 
United  States,  123;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  123, 
124;  imports  of  cotton,  kerosene,  and  tobacco  into,  from  tin- 
United  States,  124;  population  of.  123;  railways  of.  123;  ton- 
nage of,  123:  trade  of.  compared  with  Nagasaki,  355:  trade  of. 
compared  with  Shanghai,  355;  trade  of,  compared  with  Yoko- 
hama, 123,  355;  whaler  works  of,   123;  wharfage  dues  of,   123. 

Komura,  J.,  Japan,   108. 


Kopp,   Leo  S.,   Colombia,  343. 

Korea,  development  of,  118;  electric  railway  in,  118;  gold  mining 
in,  118;  lighting  in,  n8:  market  for  petroleum  in,  118;  opening 
of,  118;  products  of,  118;  railways  in.  118;  trade  of,  95. 

Koto  Shagio  Gakko,  the  commercial  school  of  Japan,  229. 

Kovascy.   Bela,  prophecy  of.  concerning  wheat  famine,  255. 

Kiichler,  C.  W.,  Austria-Hungary,  235,  392. 

L. 

Labeling  goods  for  the  .Australian  markets,  52. 
Labor  conditions  in  the   United   States  and   Europe.   134. 
Labor  disputes,  compulsory  arbitration  in,  in  New  Zealand,  54. 
Labor,  in   Cuba,  212;  in  Jamaica,  321;   in   Norway,  230;  in   South 

Australia,  69;  in  the  Tropics,  321. 
Labor  saving  devices  in   the   United  States,  231. 
Lacquer  ware,  production  of,  in  Japan.  358. 
Ladd.   E.   F.,  chemist,  255. 
Ladies  accompanying   delegates   to   the   International    Commercial 

Congress,   names  of,  407. 
Lallemont,  Pierre,  invention  of  bicycle  by,  180. 
Lamps  and  chandeliers,  trade  in,  in   India,   129. 
Land  ownership,  in  Costa  Rica,  267;  in  Japan,  361:  in  New  South 

Wales,  43. 
Land  ownership,  governinent.  in   New  Zealand,  54. 
Langlois,  C.  A.,  Canada,  392, 
Language,  need  of  a  uniform,  in  international  congresses,  13;  need 

of  a  uniform   commercial,  371. 
Lard  compounds,  exports  of.   from  the   United   States  increasing. 

205. 
Lard,  exports  of.  from  the  United  States,  increasing,  205:  imports 

of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 
Latin   America,   action   of   delegates   from,   286;   imports   into,  per 
capita,  from  the  United  States,  22;  trade-mark  agreements  of, 
with  the  United  States  necessary,  312. 
Laurie.  J.   Wimburn,   United   Kingdom,  4,   86,    169,   170,   3,36,   392. 
Lawes,   Dr.,   nitrate  expert,  256. 

Lead,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294;   imports  of,  into   Mexico,  259. 
Lead  mining  in  Mexico,  263. 
Lead  production,  of  Colorado,  217;  of  Japan,  358;  of  Mexico,  263; 

of  Sweden,  297. 
Leather,  exports  of,  from  New  South  Wales,  40;  exports  of,  from 
New   Zealand,  56;   exports  of.  from  Victoria.  49;   imports   of, 
into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 
Leather  industry  of  Victoria,  49. 

Leather   manufactures,   exports   of.   from    Canada,   29;   exports   of. 
from  the   United   States   increasing.  205;   imports  of,   into  the 
Leeward  Islands.  329;  trade  in,  in  India,  129. 
Leeward   Islands,  agriculture  in,  328:  area  of.  328;  geography  of, 
327;  imports  into,  by  articles  and  value,  329;  imports  into,  from 
the   United   States,  by  articles  and  value,  329:   population  of, 
328;   rainfall   in,  328:   reciprocity  with  the  United   States   pro- 
posed l)y,  328;  sugar  industry  of,  328;  trade  of.  with  the  United 
States,  329. 
Legislation   in   China,   88. 
Legislation,  patent,  375,  379. 

Legislation,  tendency  of.  in   New  South  Wales.  45. 
Lemons,  exports  of.  from  Italy  decreasing,  288;  exports  of,  from 

Italy  to  the  United  States,  288. 
Leon.  ]\Iichael  A.,  de,  Colombia,  393. 
Lesseps,  Count  de,  canal  expert,  200. 
Levy,   George,  325. 
Lewis,   Gerardo,   Colombia,  348. 

"Liberal   Culture   Element   in   Commercial    Education."   141. 
Life  and  property,  protection  to,  in  Costa  Rica,  265.  267,  268;  pro- 
tection  to,  in  Jamaica,  318. 
Lighting,    electric,    in    Spain,   296. 
Lighting,  in   Korea,   118. 
Limanlour.  Julio  M.,  Mexico,  343. 
Lime  required  in  the  production  of  pig  iron.  .365. 
Linctdn,  President,  362. 
Lindsay,  S.  M.,  United  States,   141.   148. 
Linen,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 
Linseed,  exports  of,  from  .Xrgentine  Republic,  240. 
Liquor,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of.  into 
Mexico,  259;  imports  of,  into  Mexico  from  the  IJnited  States, 
260. 
List   of  those   who   sent   regrets   at   not   being  able  to   attend   the 

International   Commercial   Congress.  408. 
Live   stock,   exports   of,   from    Qiieenslaiul.   65:    in    Natal.    187:   in 

New  South  Wales,  40,  44;  trade  of,  in  Canada,  29. 
Locomotives,  exports  of,  from  the   United  States.  246;   American. 

in  Great  Britain  and  Russia.  214;  American,  in  Japan.  213. 
Loewe.   Isidor,   Germany,   5.  393. 
Loredo.  J.  A.,  Peru,  276,  393. 
Lorentzen,   Christian   B.,  230,  343,  361.  393. 
Louisiana,  acquisition  of,  by  the  United  States,  205. 


INTERNATIONAL   COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS 


431 


Low,  Scth,  United  States,   131,   135,   138,   141,   146.   148. 

Lubbock.  Sir  John,  United  Kingdom,  344. 

Lucas  Albert,  United  States,  331. 

Luckniann,    Heinrich,    Austria-Hungary,   393. 

Ludlow,  General,  member  of  the  canal  commission,  200. 

Luigi.  Musso  &  Co.,  Italy,  371. 

Lull.  U.  S.  N.,  Capt.,  canal  expert,  200. 

Lumber,   exports   of,   from   Sweden,   297;   exports   of,   from   Three 

Rivers,    Canada,   317;    imports   of,    into   the    Leeward    Islands, 

329:   imports  of.  into  Spain,  29.=;. 
Lnml)cr  industry,  of  Chile,  280;  of  Minnesota,  282. 
Lumber  zone  of  Chile,  269. 

M. 

Machine  tools,  demand  for  American,  in  Austria-Hungary,  224. 
Machinery,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States  to  Japan,  113,  357; 
imports   of,   into   the    Leeward   Islands,   329;   imports   of,   into 
Mexico,  259;  imports  of,  into  Mexico,  from  the  United  States. 
260;  imports  of,  into  New  South  Wales.  41:  imports  of,   into 
Spain.  295:  market  for  American,  in  Bulgaria,   Roumania  and 
Turkey,  333;  superiority  of  American,  231;  trade  in,  in  India, 
128;  United  States  tarif?  on,  253. 
Alachincry  and  metal  works  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 
Machinery,  mining,  in  demand  in  New  Zealand,  57. 
Machine-using   nations,    principal,   24;     exports    from    the    United 
States  to,  24. 

Maduro,  Joshua  L.,   Colombia,  257,  ,393,  416. 
Magalhaes,   Dr.  Jacintho  de,  Portugal.  ,344. 

Magnetite,  production  of.  in  United  States.  ,368. 

Mail  facilities,  revolution  in,  brought  about  by  railways,  216. 

Maine.   Henry  Sumner,  27. 

"Maintenance  of  Open   Door  Policy  in  China,"  86. 

Maize,  crop  in  New  South  Wales,  40;  exports  of,  from  Argentine 
Republic,  240;  exports  of,  from  Russia,  Roumania  and  the 
United  States.  234;  imports  and  exports  of.  to  and  from,  Al- 
geria, Argentine  Republic,  Australia,  Austria-Hungary,  Bul- 
garia, Egypt,  Servia  and  Turkey-in-Europe.  234;  imports  and 
exports  of,  to  and  from,  Roumania,  Russia  and  the  United 
States.  233:  production  of.  in  New  South  Wales.  .38. 

Malta,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  23. 

Malt,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  ,329. 

Malt  liquors,  exports  of.  from  the  United  States,  increasing,  205. 

IManganese,  market  for  Brazilian,  in  the  United  States,  208;  pro- 
duction of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Manganese  ore,  production   of.   in   Sweden.  297. 

Manganese  peroxide,  production  of.  in   Sweden,   297. 

Manitoba,  grain  trade  of.  35,  36. 

Manufactured  goods,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States.  290,  .304: 
exports  of,  from  the  United  States  to  Canada,  347;  increased 
demand  for.  in  Western  Australia.  73. 

Manufacturer  and  farmer,  close  relationship  of.  282. 

Manufactures,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  21;  of  Germany, 
231;  of  Japan,  358;  of  New  South  Wales,  45;  of  New  Zea- 
land, 56. 

"Manufactures  and  Industries  of  New  South  Wales."  40. 

Manufactures  and  industries  of  Western  Australia,  72- 

Manufacturers  of  Germany  and  the  United  States  compared,  232. 

Manufacturing  companies  in  Japan.  358. 

Manufacturing,   local,   in    Chile,   280. 

Maranhao.    Brazil,    resources   of,    273. 

Marcker.  Prof,,  nitrate  expert.  256. 

Marheinecke.  C.  B.,  Germany,  17,  235,  372,  375,  393. 

Market  value,  complaints  against  method  of  calculating,  in  United 
States,  381,  .382;   discussion  of.  375,  380.   381. 

Marshall.  Wm.   B.,  394. 

Maryland,  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  .369. 

Mason,  Consul  General,  on  need  of  metric  system,  176. 

Mason.  John.  394. 

Massachusetts,  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  production  in.  369. 

Masson.  Georges,  France,  343- 

Mata,  J.  Rafael.  Costa  Rica.  Central  America.  393.  416. 

Matto  Grosso.   Brazil,  products  of,  274. 

Matches,   imports   of,   into  the   Leeward   Islands,  329. 

Matches,   production   of,   in  Japan,   358. 

Matting,  exports  of,  from  Japan  to  the  Ur.ited  States.  114.  357: 
exports  of,  from  Kobe,  to  the  United  States,  114;  production 
of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Matting  industry  in  Kiushiu,  Japan,  356. 

May  &  Edlich,  Leipsic,  Germany,  379. 

McKinlcy,  Wm..  President  of  the  United  States,  i.  12.  17.  159. 
362;  message  of.  420;  speech  of,  420. 

McLagan,  George,  Canada.  394. 

Measurement,  uniform  method  of.  report  of  M.  de  Talleyrand, 
172;  uniform  standard  of,  report  of  M.  de  Bonay.  172. 

Measures,  misapplication  of  various.  173. 

Measures  and  weights,  legislation  on,  173;  need  of  uniformity  in, 


371;  report  on,  by  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons 
173- 

Meat,  exports  of,  from  New  South  Wales,  40. 

Meat  industry  of  Minnesota,  282. 

Medicines,  drugs  and  chemicals,  trade  in,  in  India,  28. 

Megargee,   S.    Edwin,  394. 

Mejia,  Federico,  Salvador,  Central  America,  344. 

Menocal,  A.  G.,  U.  S.  N.,  canal  expert,  200. 

Merchant  niarine,  need  of,  in  the  United  States,  i6j,  202,  282,  .331; 
of  Spain,  -296;  resolution  regarding,  313,  334. 

.Merchants,  increase  in  the  munber  of  native,  in  China,  91;  status 
of  foreign,  in  China,  91;  United  States  and  foreign  compared. 
231;  utility  of  export,  in  Australia,  50. 

Merriam,  W.   H.,  United  States,  379. 

Merry,  Wm.     Lawrence,   198. 

Messiter,   R.   P.,  80. 

Metals,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294;  production  of.  in  New  South 
Wales,  38. 

Metals  and  manufactures  of.  exports  of.  from  Canada,  29;  imports 
of,  into  Mexico  from  the  United  States,  260. 

Metal  works  and  machinery  works,  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Methods  of  introducing  goods  in  the  Australian  markets,  .^o. 

Metric  .system,  arguments  against  adoption  of.  175;  availableness 
of.  172;  claims  of,  172;  decimal  advantages  of,  174;  degree  of, 
172;  difficulties  of  introduction  of,  in  England,  174:  expense 
of  changing  into,  175;  method  of  introduction  of,  in  Germany. 
174:  method  of  introduction  of.  in  Switzerland,  174;  Mr.  F'ur- 
bish,  on  failure  of  the  United  States  to  adopt  the,  175;  need 
of  the,  20,  176;  patronage  of,  by  the  United  States,  175;'  reso- 
lution of  the  French  National  Assembly  on,  172;  universal 
adoption  of,  172. 

Mexico,  banks  of,  262;  business  integrity  in,  261;  climate  of.  .362: 
comnierce  of,  259;  commercial  integrity  in,  362:  comnumica- 
tion  in,  261;  copper  mining  in,  263;  cotton  manufacturing 
nidustry  of,  259;  credit  in,  260;  currency  of,  2.S9:  currency 
fluctuations  of,  260;  exports  from,  to  the  United"  States,  239; 
exports  from,  259;  exports  from,  comi)ared  with  Para,  273; 
expenditure  of,  261;  foreign  beer  in,  26a;  foreign  paper  in, 
261;  history  of.  compared  with  that  of  the  United  States.  362; 
imports  of  cotton  textiles,  gold,  iron  and  steel,  products,  "ma- 
chinery, paper,  textile  fibres,  wine  and  linuor,  wooil  textiles 
into,  259;  imports  into,  from  Belgium,  Cuba,  France.  Ger- 
many, Great  Britain,  Italy  and  Spain,  260;  imports  into,  from 
the  United  States,  24,  259,  260:  imports  into,  jjcr  capita,  from 
the  United  States.  22,  347;  imports  of  animal  products,  arms 
and  explosives,  fabrics,  machinery  and  apparatus,  metals  and 
manufactures  of.  paper  and  manufactures  of.  and  wines  and 
liquors  into,  from  the  United  States,  260:  industrial  develop- 
ment of.  260;  iron  ore  deposits  in.  362;  lead  mining  in,  263: 
mining  industry  of.  262;  opportunities  for  capital  in,  261,  262; 
production  of  copper  in.  263:  production  of  gold  in,  260;  pro- 
duction of  lead  in,  263;  production  of  silver  in.  260;  products 
of,  ,362;  prosperity  of,  262;  railways  in.  261,  262;  reason  for 
participation  by,  in  the  International  Commercial  Congress, 
16;  silver  mining  in,  263:  telegraph  in,  261:  telephone  in,  261; 
trade  of,  16,  259;  trade  of.  with  France.  Gcrm.my  and  Great 
Britain.  260;  trade  of.  with  the  United  States,  16,  260:  trade  of, 
per  capita,  with  the  United  States.  25:  trade-mark  agreements 
of.  with  France.  Germany  and  Great  Britain,  312:  transporta- 
tion of,  between,  and  United  States,  261;  United  States  business 
methods  in,  261. 
Michaux,  M.,  connection  with  bicycle  invention.  180. 
Michigan,  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  production  in.  369. 
Afigneaux.  Prof.,  nitrate  expert.  256. 
Miles,  Henry,  Canada,  27,  ,394,  416. 

Milk,  exports  of.  from  the  United  States,  increasing.  205. 
Millet,   production    of.    in   Japan.   358. 
Milling  industry  of  Minnesota  282. 
Milne,  James.  Queensland.  Australia,  394. 
Minas,   Brazil,  products  of,  274. 

Mineral  resources  of  Jainaica,  323:  of  Peru,  276;  of  Uruguay,  .302. 
Mineral   zone  of  Chile,  269. 

Minerals,  of  Australia,  37;  of  Panama,  258:  of  Juensland,  64,  65, 
66:  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic.  240:  production  of. 
in  Japan.  358;  production  of.  in  New  South  Wales.  40:  pro- 
duction of,  in  Nicaragua,  270:  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 
Mines,  of  Costa  Rica.  268;  of  Haiti.  .300;  of  Peru.  276.  of  coal,  in 
Kiushiu.  Japan,  355:  of  coal,  in  Japan,  iii:  of  gold,  in  Bo- 
livia. 279;  of  gold,  in  Nicaragua.  270:  of  gold,  in  Victoria. 
48:  of  iron,  in  Spain.  287.  296. 
Mining,  of  coal,  in  New  Zealand,  57:  of  copper,  in  Chile,  279:  of 
copper,  in  Mexico.  263:  of  copper,  in  Queensland.  62;  of  gold, 
in  Costa  Rica,  268:  of  gold,  in  Korea,  118:  of  gold,  in  New 
Zealand,  .S7;  of  gold,  in  Peru.  276:  of  gold,  in  Queensland. 
63,  64;  of  iron,  in  Sweden.  297;  of  lead,  in  Mexico,  263;  of 
silver,  in  ^Mexico,  263. 


432 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCIiEDINGS  OF  THE 


Mining  districts  of  Cerro  de  Pasco,  and  Yauli,  Peru,  276. 

Mining  industry,  of  Ecuador,  285;  of  Mexico,  262;  of  Minnesota, 
United  States.  282:  of  New  South  Wales.  45;  of  New  Zealand, 
57:  of  Peru.  276;  of  Queensland.  66;  of  South  Australia,  70. 

"Mining  Interests  of  Queensland,"  66. 

Mining  interests  of  Tamaulipas,   Mexico,  263. 

Mining  machinery,  demand  for.  in  New  Zealand.  57. 

Mining  products,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  21;  of  New 
South  Wales,  45. 

.Mining  regulations  in   Queensland.  65. 

Minnesota,  flax  culture  in.  282;  flour  production  of,  282;  meat 
industry  of.  282;  milling  industry  of,  282;  mining  industry 
of.  282;  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  .369;  wheat 
shipment  of,  216,  282;  timber  industry  of.  282. 

Miquclon,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  24. 

Missouri,  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  production  in.  369. 

Mitchell.    Hon.    George,    Canada,   34.3.   395. 

.Mitchell,   W.    F.,  34.3. 

Mitsu  Bishi  Co..  of  Japan,  355. 

Mizutany.   T.,   Japan,    112.   393. 

Mocha  coffee,  source  of  supply  of,  127. 

.Molasses  and  sugar,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States  increas- 
ing. 205. 

Monaghan.'  J.  C.  United  States,  188,  189.  190.  191.  193.  194,  195. 
796.   197.   198.  200.  201,  202.  235,  289.  314.  315.  341.  ^73•  373- 

.Money   cpiestion   in  the   United   States.    161. 

.Montana,  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  production  in.  369;  wheat  ship- 
ment  of.   216,  282. 

Montevideo,  harbor  improvements  of,  303.  304. 

Montgomery.  Ward  &  Co.,  United  States.  379. 

Montreal,  exports  of  cattle,  horses  and  sheep   from.  29. 

Montserrat.  area  of,  328:  exports  from.  328;  exports  from,  to  the 
United  States.  328;  population  of.  328. 

Moraes.   Mr.,  on  possibilities  of   Brazil,  272. 

Morris,  C.  G.  M.,  Dr.,  328. 

Morris,  Consul,  need  of  metric  system.  176. 

Morse.  James   R.,   118. 

Moxhani.  W.  J..  New  South  Wales.  Australia.  40.  336.  33(j,  343. 

Mules,   exports   of.   from    .■\rgentine    Republic.   240. 

Mulhall,  Mr.,  statement  of,  regarding  the  wealth  of  countries,  213. 

Munitions  of  war,  trade  in.  272. 

Miinsterberg.   Prof..  6. 

Murguiondo.  Prudencio  de,  Uruguay,  300.  344,  395. 

.Murray.   E.   Somerville.   .'\rabia.    125. 

Musical  instruments,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329; 
trade  in,  in  India,  129. 

Myers.  John  C.  253.  395. 

N. 

Nagasaki,  Japan,  dry  docks  of,  356;  tonnage  of,  355;  trade  of, 
compared  with  that  of  Kobe  and  Yokohama.  355. 

Narcotics,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Natal,  cattle  in,  187;  climate  of,  187;  demand  for  American  agri- 
cultural implements  in,  187;  demand  for  American  furniture 
in,  187;  exports  of  hides,  skins  and  angora  hair,  wattle  bark 
and  wool  from,  187:  fruit  industry  of.  187:  geography  of.  186; 
live  stock  in,  187,  opportunities  for  American  goods  in,  187; 
ports  of,  187;  production  of  coal  in,  187:  production  of  sugar 
in,  187;  railways  of.  187;  sheep  stock  of.  187;  sugar  industry 
of.  187:  tea  cultivation  in,  187. 

National  Carbon  Co..  United  States.  378. 

Nations,  bearing  of  coal  on  the  development  of,  289;  co-operation 
necessary  among,  7:  diverging  interests  of,  171;  interdepend- 
ence of,  20. 

"Natural  Resources  of  Jamaica,"  320. 

"Natural  Wealth  and  Commercial  Facilities  of  Honduras — Revo- 
lutions in  Spanish-America — Commerce  in  Munitions  of  War," 
271. 

Naval   stores,    imports   of.   into   the    Leeward    Islands.   329. 

Navigation  and  commerce  of  Para,  273. 

Navigation  laws  of  the  United  States,  effect  of,  on  Canada.  II, 
34.  36. 

Navy  and  Army,  rise  in  the  LTnitcd  States  of  the,  161. 

Nebraska,  crops  of,  216. 

"Need  of  an  International  Bureau  for  the  Collection  and  Dis- 
semination of  Agricultural  Reports  and  Statistics,"  170. 

Netherlands,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  23,  24. 

Nevada,  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  production  in,  369. 

Nevis,  sec  St.  Christopher. 

Newfoundland,  deposits  of  iron  ore  in.  368;  exports  of  iron  ore 
from,  368;  iron  ore  production  in.  365. 

New  Jersey,  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  production  in.  369. 

New  Mexico,  iron  ore  and    pig  iron  production  in,  369. 

New  South  Wales,  agriculture  in,  38.  40.  44;  American  goods  in. 
39;  area  of.  38.  43;  banks  of,  46;  board  of  experts  of,  41;  build- 
ing materials  in,  41;  business  methods  in.  47;  buying  capacity 
of,  45;  cattle   in.  40.  44:  climate  of.  38,  44:   dairy  and  poultry 


products  of,  45;  dairy  industry  of,  44;  decline  of  sheep-stock 
in,  182;  expenditure  for  education  in,  45;  exports  from,  by 
countries,  38,  39;  exports  of  butter,  coal,  frozen  mutton,  gold, 
grain,  leather,  meat,  sheep,  silver,  lead  ore,  tallow  and  wool 
from,  40;  exports  from,  to  Belgium,  China,  Fiji  Islands, 
France,  and  Hong  Kong,  40;  exports  from,  to  the  United 
States,  39,  40;  fish  products  of,  45;  food  and  drink  industry  of. 
41;  forestry  products  of,  45;  frozen  meat  industry  of,  44;  fruit 
industry  of,  44;  furniture  industry  of,  141;  grape  industry  of.  44; 
harness,  saddlery  and  carriage  industry  of,  41;  lieat,  light 
and  fruit  industry  of,  41;  horses  in,  40,  44;  illiteracy  in.  45; 
imports  into,  38,  39,  41 ;  imports  into,  from  the  Australian 
Colonies,  Canada  and  Great  Britain,  39;  imports  into,  from 
Belgium.  China,  Fiji.  France,  Germany,  Hong  Kong,  and 
India  and  Ceylon,  39;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States. 
39,  40,  48;  imports  of  agricultural  implements,  boots  and  shoes, 
iron  and  steel,  machinery  and  paper,  into,  41;  industries  of,  40; 
industries  treating  pastoral  products  and  raw  materials  in,  41 ; 
iron  ore  of,  38;  kangaroo  skins  in,  38;  land  ownership  in.  43; 
live  stock  in,  40,  44;  machinery  and  metal  works  of,  41:  maize 
crop  of,  40:  manufactures  of,  45;  manufacturing  industries  of, 
41;  mining  interests  of,  45;  opportunities  for  capital  in,  41; 
orange  industry  of.  44;  output  of  industries  of.  45;  pai)er. 
books  and  printing  industry  of,  41;  pastoral  products  of.  44.  45; 
plea  of,  for  free  trade  with  the  United  States,  37;  population 
of.  45:  production  in,  44;  production  of  bacon  in,  40;  produc- 
tion of  butter  in,  40,  44:  production  of  cheese  in,  44;  produc- 
tion of  coal  in,  38,  40;  production  of  copper  in,  38.  40;  pro- 
duction of  gold  in.  38,  40;  production  of  maize  in,  38;  produc- 
ton  of  metals  in,  38:  production  of  minerals  in.  40.  45;  produc- 
tion of  silver  in,  38,  40;  production  of  tin  in.  38.  40;  produc- 
tion of  wheat  in,  38;  production  of  wool  in,  38,  44;  public  debt 
of.  46:  rabbit  skins  in,  38;  railways  of,  39.  46;  rainfall  in. 
38,  44;  revenue  of,  39;  school  system  of,  45;  sheep  in,  38,  40. 
44;  shipbuilding  industry  of,  41;  shipping  statistics  of,  39: 
sugar-cane  industry  of,  40;  telegraphs  in,  46;  telephones  in,  46; 
tendency  of  legislation  in.  45;  textile  and  clothing  fabric  in- 
dustries of,  41:  timber  of.  38;  tobacco  of,  40;  tonnage  of,  41; 
tonnage  statistics  of,  47;  trade  of,  47;  trade  of,  with  the  United 
States,  39,  48;  value  of  production  of  agricultural  products  of, 
45;  value  of  production  of  manufactured  products  of,  45;  wdieat 
crop  of,  40. 

Newspapers,  of  Buenos  Aires,  239:  of  Jamaica,  318. 

New  York,  decline  in  canal  traffic  of.  215:  freight  rates  from,  to 
Panama,  compared  with  those  from  Europe,  348;  iron  ore 
and  pig  iron  production  in,  369. 

New  Zealand,  agricultural  products  of,  56;  agriculture  in.  54; 
arbitration  in  labor  disputes  in.  54:  balance  of  trade  of.  50; 
banks  of,  54;  climate  of,  53;  coal  mining  in,  57;  dairy  industry 
of.  60;  decline  of  sheep-stock  of.  182;  demand  for  mining  ma- 
chinery in.  57;  electors  in.  54:  exports  from.  55:  exports  of 
agricultural  products,  animal  products,  coal,  frozen  meat.  gold. 
Kauri  gum,  leather,  timber,  wool,  and  woolen  manufactures 
from.  56;  frozen  meat  industry  of.  60;  geography  of.  53:  gold 
mining  in.  57;  imports  of  beer,  spirits  and  wine,  paper,  books 
and  stationery,  hardware  and  ironmongery,  soft  goods,  tea 
and  sugar  and  tobacco  into,  56:  imports  into,  from  Australian 
Colonics.  China.  Europe.  Great  Britain,  India.  Japan  and  the 
United  States.  56;  local  transportation  in,  59;  manufactures 
and  industries  of,  56;  mining  industry  of.  57:  pastoral  industry 
of,  54;  people  of,  54;  plea  of.  for  free  trade  with  the  United 
States,  55;  ports  of.  58;  production  of  frozen  meat  in,  56;  pro- 
duction of  grain  in.  56;  production  of  iron  in.  57;  production 
of  oats  in.  56;  production  of  silver  in,  57;  production  of  wheat 
in,  56;  production  of  wool  in.  38,  56;  public  works  in.  54; 
railways  of.  59:  reciprocity  of,  with  the  United  States,  60; 
shipping  facilities  to,  from  the  United  States.  59;  shipping 
in.  12;  shipping  statistics  of.  58;  state  activity  in.  54:  state  in- 
surance in.  54;  tariff  of.  54:  total  pasturage  of.  55:  trade  of.  12: 
trade  of.  with  Australian  colonies,  57:  trade  of.  with  the  United 
States.  54,  58;  trade  and  transixirtaticm  of.  58:  wages  in.  57; 
wealth  of.  54:  wom:in  suffrage  in.  54:  wool  industry  of,  com- 
pared with  ."Xustrali.-i  and  Uruguay.  300:  wotdcn  goods  indus- 
try of,  57; 

Nicaragua,  agricultural  products  of.  270;  cattle  industry  of,  270: 
climate  of,  270:  credit  in,  270:  education  in.  270;  efifects  of 
Nicaragua  Canal  on.  194;  forests  of.  270;  gold  mines  of,  270 
government  of.  270;  mineral  products  of.  270;  relations  of. 
with  Costa  Rica.  190;  telegraph  in.  270;  telephone  in.  270; 
transportation  in.  270. 

Nicaragua  Canal,  advantages  of  the.  198;  an  American  undertaking. 
201;  attitude  of  Costa  Rica  toward.  190:  decree  for  construction 
of,  18,  25.  190;  early  concessions  for,  190;  eflect  of.  on  Costa 
Rica  and  Nicaragua.  194;  estimated  expenses,  profits  and  toll 
of.  109:  estimated  saving  by.  189;  need  of.  181. 

Nicaragua  Canal  Commission,  200. 

Nicaragua   and   Panama   Canals,   compared   with   reference   to,  cli- 


INTERNATIONAL   COMMERCIAL    CONGRESS 


433 


matic  influences,  191;  cost  of  construction  and  operation,  199; 
economy  of  navigable  distances,  198,  202;  facility  of  construc- 
tion, 199;  facility  of  ocean  navigation  by  sailing  vessels,  199; 
harbors,  192;  length,  198,  201;  bocal  earning  capacity,  200; 
routes,  191,  195,  196,  197,  200,  350;  sanitary  conditions,  198; 
supply  of  lockage  water,  199- 

Nickel,  deposits  of,  in  Canada,  36. 

Nicolas.  Joseph,  Haiti,  298,  395. 

Niederlein,  Dr.  Gustavo.  United  States,  87,  188,  290. 

Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha,  of  Japan,  355. 

Nishimura.  S.  T.,  of  Japan,  115,  396. 

"Nitrate  of  Soda,"  253. 

Nitrate  of  soda,  composition  of,  253;  dependence  on,  257;  deposits 
of,  253;  effect  of,  on  beet  cultivation,  257;  experiments  with, 
256;  exports  of,  from  Chile  to  Belgium,  France,  Germany, 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  254;  fields  of,  in  Chile, 
254;  imports  of,  into  the  United  States,  254;  industry,  280; 
large  consumption  of,  looked  for.  257;  method  of  packing, 
253;  need  of,  throughout  the  United  States,  255;  production  of, 
in  Chile,  254;  uses  and  efifects  of,  256;  use  of,  as  a  fertilizer, 
254:  use  of,  on  wheat  fields,  255;  utility  of,  in  chemical  in- 
dustries, 254. 

Noble,  Alfred,  member  of  canal  commission,  200. 

Nomenclature,  code  of  commercial,  176. 

Non-delivery  of  goods,  352. 

Norden.  H.,  80. 

North  Carolina,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369, 

North  Dakota  Experiment  Station,  255. 

North  Dakota,  wheat  shipment  of,  216,  282. 

"Northern  Europe  as  a  Place  for  Exports,"  289- 

"Northern  Mexico,"  362. 

Northwest  Province,  grain  trade  of,  35. 

Northwest,  United  States,  development  of,  282;  wheat  production 
of,  282. 

North  America,  exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  22;  imports 
of,  from  the  United  States.  22.  23. 

Norway,  climate  of,  230;  coast  line  of,  230;  exports  from,  of  fish, 
wood  and  wood-pulp.  230;  exports  from,  to  the  United  States. 
24;  free  ports  proposed  in,  230;  labor  in.  230;  production  of 
iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  365;  tonnage  of,  230;  trade  of,  with 
the  United  States,  230;  water  power  of,  230;  water  routes  of. 
230. 

"Notes  on  the  Commercial  Relations  of  Guatemala  with  the  United 
States  of  America,"  350. 

Nuiiez,  Emilio,  Cuba,  211,  286,  343,  396. 

Nuts,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294. 

0. 

Oats,   imports  of.   into  the   Leeward   Islands,  329;   production  of, 

in  New  Zealand.  56. 
Oceanica,   exports  from,  to  the   United   States,   22;   imports   into, 

from  the  United  States,  22,  24. 
Ohio,   iron   ore  production   in,   369;   pig  iron  production   in.   368, 

369- 

Oil-cake,  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  205,  240;  imports 
of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Oil.  imports  of,  into  Aden.  Arabia,  126;  imports  of,  into  the  Lee- 
ward Islands,  329;  trade  in,  in  India,  129. 

Okada,  M-,  Japan,  124,  396. 

Oleomargarine,  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  increasing, 
205;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Olive  oil,  exports  of,  from  Italy,  to  the  United  States,  decreasing, 
288;  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294. 

Olivier.  Arthur,  Canada.  316. 

Open  door  policy  in  China,  maintenance  of,  86,  94,  loo;  in  the  Far 
East,  100. 

"Opportunities  for  investment  in  Costa  Rica,"  266. 

Opportunities  in  Southern  Brazil.  211. 

Orange  industry  of  New  South  Wales,  44. 

Oranges,  exports  of,  from  Italy,  to  the  United  States,  288;  ex- 
ports of.  from  Jamaica,  324:  exports  of.  from  Jamaica,  to  the 
United  States,  326;  exports  of.  from  Paraguay,  251;  exports 
of.  from  Spain,  294. 

Oregon,  wheat  crop  of,  217. 

Ores,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294;  production  of,  in  Sweden.  297. 

Ostheimer.  .Mfred  J.,  no,  225.  341,  396. 

Otani.  Kobe.  Japan.  15.  112,  115,  129,  343.  397- 

Otis,  General.  United   States  Commander  in  the  Philippines,-  218. 

"Our  Mercantile  Marine  from  a  Farmer's  Standpoint,"  282. 

"Outlook  of  the  Argentine  Republic."  236. 

Over  production,  tendency  to.  in  the  United  States,  231. 

Oxide  of  cobalt,  production  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 

P. 

Pacific  cable,  need  of.  81.  116,  117,  122;  ownership  of,  117;  propo- 
sitions for,  IIS,  116;  routes  proposed,  117. 
Pacific  coast,  development  of,  217. 


Pacific  Islands,  acquisition  of,  by  the  United  States,  205. 

Packing, defects  of,  in  United  States,  330;  method  of, nitrate  of  soda, 
253;  method  of.  pearl  shells,  67;  superiority  of  German  meth- 
ods of,  292;  United  States  and  European  compared,  129; 
United  States  methods  of,  compared  with  France,  Germany 
and  Great  Britain,  330. 

Packing,  methods  of,  for  the  Australian  markets,  52,  73;  for  Can- 
ada, .347;  for  China,  81;  for  Costa  Rica,  265;  for  Guatemala,  350. 

Paints,  imports  of,  into  tlie  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of.  into 
Mexico,  from  the  United  States,  260;  trade  in.  in  India,  129. 

Panama  and  Nicaragua  Canals  compared  with  reference  to,  cli- 
matic influences,  191;  cost  of  construction  and  operation,  199; 
economy  of  riavigable  distances,  198,  202;  facility  of  construc- 
tion, 199;  facility  of  ocean  navigation  by  sailing  vessels,  199; 
harbors,  192;  length,  ig8,  201;  local  earning  capacity,  200; 
routes,   191,    195.    196,    197,   200,   350;   sanitary   conditions,    198. 

Panama,  area  of,  258;  business  methods  in,  compared,  349;  ex- 
change in,  258;  exports  from.  258;  freight  tariffs  and  transpor- 
tation in,  348:  geography  of,  258;  government  of,  258;  im- 
ports into,  258;  minerals  of,  258;  need  of  steamship  lines  to  the 
United  States,  348;  population  of,  258;  ports  of,  258;  railways 
of,  258;  sample  warehouse  suggested  for,  349;  tarifl  of,  258; 
textile  trade  of,  349;  trade  of,  258;  trade  of,  with  the  United 
States,  258,  348,  349. 

Panama  Canal,  a  French  undertaking,  201 ;  advantages  of,  190,  191 ; 
attitude  of  Bolivia  toward,  196;  benefits  from,  196;  Colombian 
subsidization  of,  192;  depth  of,  202;  influence  of,  on  the  United 
States  export  trade,  192;  influence  of,  on  export  trade,  192; 
length  of,  192;  propositions  for,  190;  question  of  United  States 
ownership  of,  192;  relation  of,  to  Panama  Railroad,  197;  width 
of,  192. 

Panama  railroad,  freight  rates  on,  348;  relation  of,  to  the  Panama 
Canal,  197. 

Paper  and  pulp  industry  of  Canada,  29. 

Paper,  books  and  printing  industry  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Paper,  exports  of,  from  Spain.  294;  exports  of.  from  Three  Rivers, 
Canada,  317;  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  increasing, 
205;  foreign,  in  Mexico,  260;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Is- 
lands, 329;  imports  of,  into  Mexico,  259;  imports  of,  into 
Mexico,  from  the  United  States,  260;  imports  of,  into  New 
South  Wales,  41;  imports  of,  into  New  Zealand,  56:  manufac- 
ture of,  in   Kiushiu,  Japan,  356;  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Para.  Brazil,  banks  of,  273;  cacao  crop  of,  273;  climate  of,  273: 
commerce  and  navigation  of,  273;  education  in,  273;  exports 
from,  272;  exports,  of  tobacco,  tonka  beans  and  vanilla,  fro-n, 
273;  exports  from,  compared  with  Bolivia,  Colombia.  Ecuador, 
Mexico  and  Peru.  273;  government  of,  273;  population  of, 
272;  production  of  gold  in,  273;  resources  of,  272;  rivers  of,  272. 

Paraguay,  alfalfa  production  of,  251;  banks  of,  251;  climate  of, 
250;  coffee  production  of,  251;  commercial  conditions  of,  249; 
corn  crop  of,  250;  cotton  production  of,  251;  exports  from, 
251:  exports  of  oranges  from,  251;  exports  from,  to  Argen- 
tine Republic.  Brazil.  Europe  and  Uruguay,  251;  fruit  indus- 
try of.  251:  geography  of,  251;  immigration  into,  250;  imports 
into,  articles  and  values,  251;  products  of  250;  ramie  produc- 
tion of.  251;  silk  industry  of.  251;  sugar  production  of.  251; 
tobacco  industry  of.  250;  trade  relations  of.  with  the  United 
States.  251:  trade-mark  agreement  of,  with  Great  Britain,  312; 
vegetable  industry  of,  251;  War  of  1865,  250;  yerba  mate  in- 
dustry of,  250. 

Parahyba  do   Norte.   Brazil,  products  of,  273. 

Parana.  Brazil,  products  of,  274;  yerba  mate  industry  of,  274. 

"Parcels  Post,"   148. 

Parcels  post,  concerning.  371;  countries  having  treaties  on.  with 
Germany.  149;  countries  having  treaties  on.  with  Great  Bri- 
tain. 149;  desirability  of,  for  China.  82:  discussions  on.  148: 
in  Costa  Rica,  154:  need  of.  between  ftaly  and  the  United 
States,  371:  need  of,  in  the  United  States,  149.  152,  153,  154, 
303.  331;  rates  of.  from  Italy  compared  with  freight  rates.  371; 
resolution  regarding,  157,  336,  339. 

Paris  Exposition,  contract  for  electric  lighting  of,  228. 

Parkes,  Henry.  75. 

Parry,   David   M..   United   States.  .343. 

Parsons.  W.   H..   LTnited  States.   135. 

Pastoral  industry,  of  Australia,  38;  of  New  Zealand,  54;  of  Queens- 
land, 65. 

Pastoral  products  and  raw  materials,  treatment  of.  by  industries 
in  New  South  Wales.  41. 

Pastoral   products   of  New   Soutli   Wales.   44.  45 

Pasturage,  total  extent,  in  New  Zealand.  55, 

Patents,  attempt  to  use  trade-marks  as  perpetual,  305;  difficulty  of 
maintaining,  in  foreign  countries.  311;  difficulty  of  protecting 
foreign,  in  Germany.  379;  difficulty  of  foreigner  securing,  in 
Germany.  315;  taxation  on,  for  revenue,  313:  superiority  of 
trade-marks   over.   310. 

Patent  laws,  of  Germany,  314;  United  States  and  European,  com- 
pared, 313. 


434 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


Piitciit  legislation,  375.  379;  i"  t'le  United  States,  375. 

Patent  system  and  trade-mark  system,  divorce  of,  307. 

I'atfiit  and  trade-mark,  cannot  coexist  on  same  article,  306. 

Patterson,  Dr.,  nitrate  of  soda  expert,  256. 

Patterson,  Joseph   R.,  80. 

Paving  in  Sydney,  74. 

Payments   in   Australia,  52. 

Payne-Hanna  ship  subsidy  bill,  162. 

Pcabody,  Henry  W.,  United  States,  201,  236,  239,  241,  242,  243. 
245,  247,  248,  249,  252,  253,  257,  258,  347. 

Peace,  coinmcrce  a  harbinger  of,  I,  4,  13,  15.  204.  331. 

Pcarcy.  J.  L..  Colombia,  200. 

Pearl  shelling  industry,  of  Jamaica,  323;  of  Queensland.  67,  68; 
of  Western  Australia,  72. 

Pearl  sliells.  market  tor.  67:  packing  of,  67;  price  of,  67. 

Peartrce.   Henry,   France,  343. 

Peas,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Pennsylvania,  exports  of  pig  iron  from.  368;  production  of  iron 
ore  and  pig  iron  in.  369. 

Penrose,  Boies,  United  States,   19.  27,  31,  32,  33,  34. 

People  of  Argentine  Republic,  237;  of  Brazil,  210;  of  Chile,  279; 
of  China,  87;  of  New  Zealand,  54;  of  the  United  States,  210. 

"People  of  Costa  Rica,"'  264. 

Pepper.  William,   17. 

Perfumery,  imports  of.  into  tlie  Leeward  Islands,  329;  trade  in, 
in  India.   I20- 

Pcrnanibuco.   Brazil,   products   of.  273. 

Peroxide  of  manganese.  pro<hiction  of,  in   Sweden,  297. 

Persia,  agriculture  in,  121;  banking  in,  120;  cost  of  transportation 
in,  121;  cojgper  ore  production  o^,  276:  cotton  industry  of, 
121;  currency  of,  120:  foreign  capital  in,  120;  isolation  of,  120; 
production  of  wine  in,  121;  production  of  wool  in,  121;  prod- 
ucts of,  121:  progress  of,  120;  similarity  of,  to  California,  121; 
trade  possibilities  of,   120;  wheat  cultivation  in,   121. 

Peru,   area    of,   277;     capital     needed   in,   to    develop     mines,    276; 
Chinese  in,  277;  cotton   industry  of,  277;  exports  from,  com- 
pared with  those  from  Para,  273;  exports  of  copper  ore  from, 
276:   exports  of  cotton  from,  277;  exports  of  rice   from,   277; 
exoprts   of  sugar   from,   276:   gold   mining   in,   276;    irrigation 
proposed   in.  277:   mineral   resources  of,   276;   mining  industry 
in.  276:  need  of  buying  agencies  in,  276:  need  of  direct  steam- 
ship line  with  the  United  States, 276;  Isthmian  Canal  needed  by, 
276:  opportunities  for  capital  in,  276;  opportunity  for  concen- 
*  tration  plants  in,  276;   petroleum  deposits  in,  277;   population 
of,  277;  sugar  cane  industry  in,  277:  topography  of,  277;  trade 
of.  277;  trade  of.  with  the  United  States,  276,  277;  trade-mark 
agreement  of.  with   France.  312. 
Petroleutn,  deposits  of,  in  Peru.  277;  imports  of,  into  Spain,  29S; 
market  for,  in  Korea.  118;  production  of,  in  Austria- Ilung.ary. 
224;   proposed  tax  on  exports  of,  by   Russia  and   the   United 
States.   234. 
Phelan.   Thomas    A.,   80. 
Phelps,   Prof.,    131. 

Philadelphia,  a  textile  centre.  289;  benevolence  in.  2:  building  as- 
sociations in,  2;  homes  in,  2;  population  of,  2;  seat  of  Liberty, 
2;  streets  of.  2. 
Philadelphia  Commercial  Museum,  Advisory  Board  of.  343;  liber- 
ality of,  290;  nature  of,  2,  3,  37.  178,  284.  290.  374:  opinions 
of  some  of  the  delegates  concerning  the  work  of  the.  416; 
proposed  change  of  name  of,  ,342:  resolution  regarding,  220, 
.-?40;  sketch  of,  414. 
"Philippine   Islands,"   218. 

Philippine  Islands,  acquisition  of.  by  the  United  States.  205; 
Chinese  in.  85,  97:  civilization  in,  206;  currency  of,  85:  devel- 
opment of  American  trade  in,  206:  government  of,  t6i,  206; 
imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  24:  imports  into,  per 
capita,  from  the  United  States,  22:  natural  relation  of,  to  the 
United  States,  207:  opportunities  in,  20.S,  206;  possibilities  of, 
95;  resources  of,  218;  United  States  in,  104. 
Piece  goods,  imports  of,  into  Aden,  26. 
Pietermaritzburg.   Natal,   187. 

Pig  iron,  charcoal,  coal,  fuel  and  lime  required  in  the  production 
of.  .•?6.V.  daily  production  of.  by  furnaces.  ,364;  exports  of.  from 
Great  Britain.  ,365;  exports  of.  from  Three  Rivers,  Canada, 
317:  production  of,  365;  production  of,  in  Alabama,  ,368,  369: 
production  of,  in  Austria-Hungary.  Belgium  and  Canada,  .365; 
production  of,  in  Colorado  and  Connecticut,  ,3(19;  production 
of,  in  France,  .365:  production  of,  in  Georgia,  369;  production 
of,  in  Germany,  ,■^65;  production  of,  in  Great  Britain,  31,  36.:;; 
production  of,  in  Illinois,  ,368,  369;  production  of,  in  Italy, 
,36,=;:  production  of,  in  Kentucky,  Maryland.  Massachusetts. 
Michigan.  Minnesota.  Missouri,  Montana,  Nevada.  New  Jer- 
sey. New  Mexico,  New  York  and  North  Carolina.  369;  pro- 
duction of.  in  Norway.  36.=;;  production  of.  in  Ohio.  ,368.  369; 
production  of.  in  Pennsylvania.  ,368.  ,369;  production  of,  in 
Russia,   ,365;   production   of,   in   Spain,   ,365:   production   of,   in 


Sweden,  ^7,  365;  production  of,  in  Tennessee  and  Texas   369- 
production  of    m  the  United  States,  31,  365,  .369;   productioii 
of,  m  Utah,  Virginia,  West  Virginia  and  Wisconsin,  369, 
"Pig  Iron   Producing  Industry  of  the  World,"  364. 
Pimento  industry  in  Jamaica,  325. 
Pineapple  industry  in  Jamaica,  324. 

Pineapples,  exports  of,  from  Jamaica  to  the  United  States    326 
Piorkowski,  A.   E.,  80. 
Pipes,  trade  in,  in  India,   128. 

Pistor    Eric,  Austria-Hungary,  235,  372,  373,  376,  377,  380,  397, 
Piza,  Benjamin  E.,  Costa  Rica,  Central  America,  265. 
"Plan   for  an   International   Central   Office  of  Chambers  of   Com- 
merce," 176. 
Pope,   Albert   A.,    United   States,    180. 
Porcelain,   production   of,   in  Japan,   358. 
Pork    exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  increasing,  205;  imports 

of.  into  the   Leeward  Islands,  329. 
Port  of  Three  Rivers,  Canada.  316." 

Portland  cement  manufacture  in  Sao   Paulo,  Brazil,  245. 
Porto  Rico,  acquisition  of,  by  the  United  States,  20^;  experiments 
of  the  United   States   Fisheries   Commission   in,   322;   imports 
into,  from  the  United  States.  24. 
Ports,  of  Austria,  223;  of  Ecuador,  285;  of  Japan,  in;  of  Natal, 

187;  of  New  Zealand,  58;  of  Panama,  258;  of  Sweden,  297 
1  orts.  free,  proposed  in  Norway,  230;  statistics  of,   165. 
Portugal,   duty  on  wheat  in,  233;   imports  into,   from   the   United 

States,  24, 
Post,   Alexander,   Germany,   235,   372.   374. 
Postage  rates,  between  the  United  States  and  Canada,  347 
Potatoes,   imports   of.   into  the   Leeward   Islands,   329;   production 

of,  in  Japan,  358. 
Pottery   industry   in    Kiushiu.    lapan.    \s6. 
Poultry  products,  value  of,  in 'New  South  Wales,  30. 
Poultry  trade  of  Canada.  30. 

Powell,   Wilfred,   United   Kingdom.    171.  i 

"Present  Trade-Mark   Needs  in   International  Trade,"    508 
Presentation   to   Dr.   Wilson,   343. 

Preserved  beef,  exports  of,  from   Argentine  Republic,  240. 
Preserved  tongues,  exports  of.   from  Argentine   Republic,  240. 
President  of  the  LInited   States,   reception   of  delegates  by.   159. 
Prices,   for   Germany   should   be   quoted  c,   i.   f.   not  f.   o.   b..    ^77; 
no   longer  fixed   by   supplv   and   demand,   but   by  speculation' 
3Sr. 
Principal  and   agent,   relations   oT;   .S2. 

Printing,  paper  and  book   industry  of  New   South  Wales,  40. 
Proceedings  of  German-American  Commission,  372-.382. 
Produce,  exports  of,  from   Roumania,  2,30. 
Production   in   New   South  Wales.  45. 

Production,  relation  of,  to  consumption  in  the  United  States.  23. 
Products,   of   Paraguay,  250;   of   Persia,   121;   of  Southern   Brazi'l, 

210;   of  Venezuela,  242. 
"Progress   in    Paper   Making."    135. 
Progress,  railways  essential   to,   216. 
Property,  in  Victoria.  48:   protection  to.  in   Costa   Rica,  265,  267, 

268:  protection  to.  in  Jamaica,  318. 
"Proposition   for   a   Committee   to    Review   Treaties   and   Tariffs," 

361. 
"Proposition  for  the  Laying  of  a  Submarine  Telegraph   Cable  in 

the   Pacific."   115. 
Protection,   early  policy  of  Great   Britain.  289;   necessary  in   new 

countries,  289;  to  new  industries  in  Chile,  269. 
Provisions,   exports  of.  from   Canada.  29. 
Prussia,   method   of    introducing  metric   system   in,    174;     railway 

fares  in.  217. 
Public   improvements  in   Ecuador,   285. 
Public  works  in   New  Zealand.  54;  in  Uruguay,  302. 
Puget  Sound,  exports  of  f!our  and  wheat  from',  217. 
Pulp  and  paper  industry  of  Canada,  29. 
Purdon,  John   G.,   China,  397. 

Q. 

Queensland,  agriculture  in.  65;  area  of,  63:  articles  in  demand  in. 
62;  bcche-de-mer  industry  in,  68;  rattle  industry  in.  62.  65; 
copper  deposits  of,  65;  copper  mining  in.  62;  exptirts  of 
live  stock  and  wool  from,  6,";;  gold  fields  of.  6^.  64;  gold 
mining  in.  63.  64;  gold  production  in.  64;  grazing  in.  65; 
horses  in.  65;  minerals  of.  64.  65,  66;  minin.g  industry  in.  66; 
mining  regulations  of.  65;  pastoral  industry  in.  6,^;  pearl 
shelling  industry  in.  67;  pearls  in.  68;  population  of.  63; 
reciprocity  of.  with  the  LInited  States  desired.  62;  revenue 
of,  61;  sheep  in.  62;  sugar-cane  industry  in.  62;  sugar  industry 
in.  65;  tariff  of.  6t;  tortoise-shell  industry  in.  68;  towns  of, 
66;  trade  of,  61;  trade  of,  with  the  United  States,  62,  64; 
wealth  of,  63:  wool  production  of,  38, 

Qucsada,  J,  A.   Miro,  Peru.  343. 

Quicksilver,  exports  of.   from   Spain.  294. 


INTEENATIONAL   COMMEECIAL   CONGRESS 


485 


R. 

Rabbit  skins  in   New  Soutli   Wales,  38. 
Rabbits,  exports  of,   from  Victoria,  4y. 
Race    question    in   Jamaica,   318. 
Raigosa,  Genaro,  Mexico,   16,  397. 

"Railroads  and  their  Relations  to  Our   Export  Trade,'  213. 
Railway  advertising  in  the  United  States,  influence  of,  216. 
Railway,  Cape  to  Cairo,  proposed.   195;  cost  to  Russia  of  Trans- 
Siberian,    14;   Trans-Saharian,   proposed,    195;    Trans-Siberian, 
195;   Yang-tse  Valley  and  the  Burmah,   195. 
Railway  charges  in  the  United   States,  231. 
Railway  equipment,   superiority  of  American,  214. 
Railway  extension,  in  Germany,  215;  in   Rvissia.  215. 
Railway  fares  in  Austria-Hungary,   France,  Germany,   Great     Bri- 
tain, and  the  United  States,  217. 
Railway  meVi,  importance  of,  in   Russia,  215. 
Railway  service  in  the  United  States,  217. 
Railway  speed  in  the  United  States,  217. 
Railway  trafiic  of  Buenos  Aires,  239. 

Railways,   accomplishment  of,  216;    appropriation  of    Russia    for, 
215;  essential  to  progress.  216:  European  and  American,  com- 
pared,   134;   of    Argentine     Republic,   241;   of     Brazil,   244;    of 
Buenos  Aires,  239;  of  Canada,  30;  of  China,  95;   of  Ecuador, 
295;   of  Guayaquil,   286;    of  Japan,   109,    112,   359;   of   Kiushiu, 
Japan,  356:  of  Kobe,  123;  of  Korea,  118;  of  Mexico,  261,  262: 
'.of  Natal,   187;  of  New  South  Wales.  39,  46;  of  New  Zealand, 
159;  of  Panama,  258:  of  Rio  de  Janeiro,  273;  supersede  canals, 
215;   value  of  world's,  215. 
■Kajnifall,  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  328;  of  New  South  Wales,  38,  44 
Raisijis,  exports  of,  from   Spain,  294. 
Ramie,   production   of,   in    Paraguay,  251. 
Rape  seed,  production   of,  in  Japan,  358. 
Rape  seed  oil,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 
Ratings,  need  of  better  commercial,  in  South  America,  151. 
Raw    cacao,    duty    on,    in    Belgium,    France,    Germany,    Holland, 

Switzerland  and  United   Kingdom,  381. 
Raw  materials  and   pastoral   products,   industrial   treatment   of,   in 

New  South  Wales,  41. 
Raw  silk,  exports  of,  from  Japan  to  the  United  States,   109,    114, 

357;   production   of,   in  Japan,    109,   358. 
Reception  of  delegates  by  the  President  of  the  United  States,   159. 
Reciprocal  influence  of  commerce,    170. 
Reciprocity,  how  to  promote,  252. 
Reciprocity  in  the   United   States,  205. 

Reciprocity,   need   of,   between   the   United     States   and   Argentine 
Republic,  238;  Australia,  73;  Austria-Hungary,  224;   Bermuda. 
370:   Cape  Colony,   186;   Chile,  280;   Germany,  382;   Italy,  227, 
288;  Japan,  112,  114;  New  Zealand,  60:  Queensland,  62;  Spain, 
223,  296;  Turkey,  363;  Uruguay,  302. 
Reciprocity,  proposed  treaties  for,  between  the  United  States  and 
Argentine    Republic,    239;    Bermuda,    370;    Jamaica,    326;    the 
Leeward  Islands,  328. 
Redding,   Dr.,  nitrate  of  soda  expert,  256. 
Red  hematite,  production  of,  in  the  United  States,  368. 
Reeves,  W.  P.,  New  Zealand,  11,  12,  53,  62,  77,  79,  99,  397,  416, 
Register,  need  of  a  more  extensive  customs,  374. 
Registration  of  imports  and  exports,  methods  of,  165,  168. 
Regrets,  list  of  those  who  sent,  at  not  being  able  to  attend,  408. 
Rei,   Alejandro  Thompson,   Chile,  343. 
Reisinger.   Hugo,   Nuremburg,   Germany,   378. 
'■Relative    Commercial    Relations   between   the   United    States   and 

Bermuda,"  369. 
"Remarks  about  Packing,"  129. 

Representation  by  agents,  advantages  of,  in  Australia,  51. 
Resolution,  thanking  the  Committee  on  Resolutions,  346;  thanking 

Dr.   Wilson   and  his  assistants,  346. 
Resolutions,  committee  on,  members  of,  258;  motion  for,  219;  mo- 
tion to  increase,  188;  report  of,  336. 
Resolutions,  concerning  arbitration  in  international  disputes,  275, 
337,340;    concerning   assimilation    of  agricultural   reports,    170, 
336.  339;   concerning  assimilation   of  trade  statistics,    169,  .336, 
339;  concerning  Chinese  restriction,   130,  313.  ^^6:  concerning 
the  establishment  of  commercial  museums  in  all  coimtries.  335, 
336:  concerning  the  establishment  of  a  customs  advisory  board 
in  the   United   States,   379.   380;   concerning  free   trade   in   art 
works,  335,  345;  concerning  Isthmian  Canal,  314.  337.  340;  con- 
cerning maintenance  of  United  States  rights  in  China.  98.  100; 
concerning   maritime   associations,    177;    concerning   merchant 
marine  in  the  United  States,  313,  334;  concerning  the  metric 
system,  by  the  French  National  Assembly.  172;  concerning  par- 
cels post,  157,  336,  339;  concerning  the  Philadelphia  Commer- 
cial Museum,  220,  340;  concerning  trade-marks,  336;  concern- 
ing trade-mark  union,  314,  338;  concerning  transportation  fa- 
cilities, 345. 
Resolutions,  reference  of,  336:  treatment  of,  304. 
"Resources   of  Three   Rivers,   Canada,"   316. 
Resources,  of  Ecuador,  284;  of  Jamaica,  325;  of  Para,  Brazil,  272; 


of  the  Philippine  Islands,  218;  of  Russia,  291. 

Revenue,  of  Japan,  360;  of  New  South  Wales,  39;  of  Queensland, 
61;  of  the  United  States,  25,  26;  of  Victoria,  48,  of  West  Aus- 
tralia, 72. 

Rice,  exports  of,  from  Japan  and  Kobe,  to  the  United  States,  124; 
exports  of,  from  Peru,  277;  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294;  im- 
ports of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329;  production  of,  in  Ja- 
pan, III,  358;  production  of,  in  Paraguay,  251. 

Rice  industry  of  Kiushiu,  Japan,  355. 

Richter,  Gustav  H.,  British  Guiana,  343- 

Ringer,  F.,  355. 

Rio  de  Janeiro,  death  rate  in,  273;  population  of,  273;  railways  of. 
273;  sanitary  work  proposed  in,  274;  trade  of,  with  the  United 
States,  declining,  274. 

River  Plate,  wool  production  of  the,   183. 

Rio  Grande  do  Norte,  products  of,  273. 

Rio  Grande  do  Sul,  cattle  raising  in,  274. 

Roberts,  Coolidge  S.,  Argentine  Republic,  236, 

Rockhill,  W.  W.,  United  States,  263,  264,  265,  266,  268,  270,  271, 
272,  275,  276,  277,  278,  279,  281,  283,  284,  286,  332. 

Rodrigues,  Jose  C,  Brazil,  343- 

Rogers,  Carlos,  Chile,  343. 

Rogers  J.  H.,  Queensland.  61,  63,  344. 

Romero,  Miguel,  Venezuela,  275,  283,  397,  417. 

Rotherham,  H.,  Victoria,  47,  74,  154,   188,   198,  219,  220,  258;  304; 

313,  332,  334.  335,  336,  337,  339,  344- 

Roumania,  export  duty  on  grain  proposed  in,  233;  exports  of 
grain  from,  233;  exports  of  maize  from,  234;  exports  of  pro- 
duce from,  233;  exports  of  rye  and  wheat  from,  233;  exports 
from,  to  the  United  States,  24;  exports  from,  and  imports 
into,  of  grain,  maize,  rye  and  wheat,  compared,  233;  market  for 
American  machinery  in,  333;  population  of,  233;  wheat  pro- 
duction of,  233. 

Routkowsky,  M.  de,  Russia,  14,  170,  336,  344,  398- 

Royal  Jamaica  Society  of  Agriculture  and  Commerce  and  Mer- 
chants' Exchange,  325. 

Rubber,  exports  of,  from  Brazil,  274;  industry,  in  Bolivia,  278;  in- 
dustry, in  Costa  Rica,  267;  production  of,  in  Ecuador,  285. 

Rubber  goods,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Rubelli,  Ludwig,  297,  398. 

Rum  and  sugar,  exports  of,  from  Jamaica,  323;  industry,  in  Ja- 
maica, 323. 

Russell,  Captain,  United  States,  78- 

Russia,  aid  of,  to  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway,  14;  appropriation 
for  railways  in,  215;  canal  development  in,  189;  export  duty  on 
grain  proposed  in,  233;  export  duty  on  petroleum  proposed  in, 
234;  exports  of  maize  from,  234;  exports  of  rye  and  wlicat 
from,  233;  exports  from  and  imports  into,  of  maize,  rye  and 
wheat  compared,  233;  German  influence  in,  292;  importance 
of  railway  men  in,  215;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States. 
24:  influence  of.  in  China.  89;  iron  ore  in,  365,  366;  leading 
country  of  the  future,  290;  need  of  direct  steamship  line  with 
the  United  States,  292;  population  of,  233,  290:  railway  ex- 
tension in,  215;  resources  of,  291;  state  bank  credit  to  farmers 
in,  171;  trade  possibilities  of,  291;  trade  outlook  of,  with  the 
United  States,  290:  Trans-Siberian  Railway  in,  195;  United 
States  locomotives  in.  214;  wheat  production   in,  2.33. 

Rutis,  A.  A.,  Brazil,  155,  243,  398. 

Rye,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 


Saddlery  and   leather,   imports   of,   into  the   Leeward  Islands.  329. 

Saddlery,  harness  and  carriage  industry  in  New  South  Wales,  41. 

St.  Christopher.  Nevis  and  Anguilla.  area  of.  328:  exports  from. 
328;  exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  328;  population  of,  328. 

St.  Mary's  Canal,  compared  with  Suez  Canal,  35. 

St.  Paul.  United  States,  industries  of,  282. 

Salisbury,  Lord,  United  Kingdom,  5. 

Salt,  exports  of,  from  Aden,  Arabia,  126;  imports  of,  into  the  Lee- 
ward Islands,  329;  production  of,  in  Aden,  Arabia,  126. 

Salvador,  description  of,  270. 

Salvini.  Mario,  Italy,  227,  341,  342,  343,  398. 

Sample  warehouse,  advisability  of,  in  Cuba,  212;  suggestion  re- 
garding, in  Panama,  349;  suggestion  regarding,  in  Uruguay, 
301. 

Samples,  necessity  of,  in  Argentine  Republic,  238;  necessity  of, 
in  Australia,  51;  necessity  of,  in  Central  America,  349;  ne- 
cessity of,  in  India,  127;  utility  of,  in  foreign  trade,  149. 

Sampson,  E.  H..  80. 

San   Domingo,  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  24. 

Sanitation,  proposed,  in  Rio  de  Janeiro,  274. 

Santa  Catharina.  Brazil,  products  of,  274- 

Santos.  Carlos  R..  Paraguay,  249,  .342,  398. 

Sao  Paulo,  Brazil,  area  of,  243:  banks  of,  244;  breweries  of,  245; 
climate  of,  245;  coffee  industry  of,  243;  commercially  consid- 
ered, 243;  cotton  manufacture  in,  245;  felt  hat  manufacture  in. 
245;   immigration   into,   243;   population   of,   245;   portland  ce- 


436 


INDEX  TO  THE  PEOCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


incnt   inaimtacture   in,  245;   producton   of   coffee   in,   ^43;   pro- 
ducts of,  274;  water  power  in,  245. 
Satdli,  Henry,  Japan,  356. 

Sausage,  imports  of,  into  tlie  Leeward  Islands,  329. 
Saw  mills  of  Canada,  30- 

Sawter,  Consul,  on  need  of  metric  system,   176. 
Scandinavia,   need  of  direct   United  States  steamship  line  to,  292. 
Scandinavian  element  in  the  United  States,  210. 
Schernikow,  Ernest,  399,  417. 
Schieren,  Charles  C,  United  States,  231. 
Schieren,  Charles  C,  Jr.,  United  States,  80,  399. 
Schofl-',  Wilfred  H.,  258,  336,  345. 
"Scliool   of   Finance  and   Economy,   University  "of  Pennsylvania," 

143- 
Schools,   of  agriculture   in   South   Australia,   71;   of   China,   87;   of 

New  South  Wales,  45;  of  Uruguay,  303- 
School  system  of  New  South  Wales,  45. 
Schuk.  Jacques.   Hungary.  152.  399.  417. 
Scientific  and  electrical  instruments  and  apparatus,  exports  of,  from 

the  United  States  increasing,  205. 
Scovell,  Dr.,  nitrate  of  soda  expert,  256. 
Seeds,  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  240. 
Seeger,  Eugene,  United  States,  209. 
Sell.  Henry,  United  Kingdom,  99,  188,  194,  258,  336,  341.  344.  345; 

346. 
Senj,  Austria,  decline  of  trade  of,  298- 

Scrvia,  exports  from  and  imports  into,  of  maize,  rye  and  wheat, 
compared,  234;  imports  into,  fnom  the  United  States,  24;  pop- 
ulation of,  233;  production  of  wheat  in,  233. 
Seymour.  Edmund.  United  States,  343. 

Shanghai.  China,  harbor  improvement  of,  83;  institute  of  commerce 
proposed  for,  98;   trade  of,   compared   with    Kobe  and  Yoko- 
hama. 123. 
Shand,  C  Arthur,  Leeward  Islands,  327,  330,  343. 
Sheep,  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  240;  exports  of,  from 
Great   Britain   to   Argentine   Republic,    184;    exports   of,    from 
Montreal,  29;  exports  of,  from  New  South  Wales,  40;  exports 
of.  from  the  United  States  to  the  Argentine  Republic,  184- 
Sheep  raising  in  the  Argentine  Republic,  183. 

Slieep  stock  of  Australia.  38;  change  in,  of  Argentine  Republic. 
183;  decline  of,  182;  decline  of  in  Australia,  Austria-Hungary, 
Germany,  Great  Britain,  New  South  Wales,  New  Zealand, 
South  Africa,  South  Australia,  and  the  United  States.  182;  in- 
crease of,  in  Argentine  Republic  and  Uruguay.  183;  of  Natal, 
187;  of  New  South  Wales,  38,  40,  44;  of  Queensland.  65;  re- 
lation of.  to  the  population,  182. 
Shell   industry  of   Queensland,  68;   production   of.   in   Queensland, 

68;  trade  of  Aden,  Arabia.  127;  of  Jamaica,  323. 
Sliiiiglcs.   imports  of.  into  the   Leeward   Islands.   .529. 
Shi|il)uilding  industry  of  Germany.  292;  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 
Shiiibuilding.  superiority  of  United  States,  214. 
Sliipi)ey.  F..  Natal,  186.  343.  399,  417. 
Shipping,  decline  of  American,  lOi,  163. 

Sliipping  facilities  from  the  Lhiited  States,  to  Ecuador.  330;  to  the 
Far   East,  283;   to  Jamaica.   320;   to    New   Zealand.    12.   59;   to 
Uruguay,  301. 
Shipping  goods  to  the  Australian  market.  73. 
Sliiiiping  statistics,  of  Jamaica.  326;  of  Japan,  359;  of  New  South 

Wales.  39;  of  New  Zealand,  .s8;  of  Spain,  295- 
Ships  and  boats,  imports  of,  into  Spain.  295. 
Shiraishi.   Motojiro,  Japan.  399. 

Shoes.  Europe  as  a  market  for  American,  293;  imports  of.  into  the 
Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of,  into  New  South  Wales,  41; 
trade  in,  in  India,  129. 
Shoninger,  B.  J.,  France,  399. 

Shooks,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 
".Short  Notes  on  the  Riches  of  the  State  of  Tamaulipas,  Mexico," 

263. 
Siam,  foreign  trade  of,  95. 
Siberia,  trade  of,  with  the  United  States,  95. 

Siemens  Bros..  CharKjttenburg.  Germany,  378.  : 

Silk  and  cotton  goods,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358.  ' 

Silk  cocoons,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294. 
Silk  industry  of  Paraguay,  251. 

Silks,  exports  of,  from  Japan  to  the  United  States,   114,  357;  im- 
ports of,  into  Aden,  Arabia,  126;  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295; 
production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 
Silks,  raw  and  thrown,  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 
.Sillcox.  George  W.,  399. 
Silver  basis,  disadvantages  of,  in  China,  93. 

Silver,  exjiorts  of,  from  Canada,  29;  exports  of,  from  Mexico,  259. 
Silver  lead  ore.  exports  of,  from  New  South  Wales,  40. 
Silver  mines  of  Honduras,  271. 
.Silver  mining  in   Mexico,  263. 
Silver  ore.  production  of,  in  Sweden.  297. 
Silver  production  of  Bolivia,  278;  of  Colorado,  217;  of  Japan,  358; 


of  Mexico,  260;  of  New  South  Wales,  38,  40;  of  New  Zealand 
57;  of  Sweden,  297.  ' 

Skertchly,  S.  B.  J.,  65. 

Skins,  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  240;  exports  of,  from 
Spain,  294:  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Slavery,  abolishment  of,  in  Jamaica,  318. 

Slavonic  element  in  the  United  States,  210. 

Smith,  A.  Asher,  New  South  Wales,  73,  74,  399.  417. 

Smith,  Edwin  Holden,  Japan,  400. 

Smith,  Fred.  F.,  United  States,  73,  74,  100,  130,  158,  219,  220,  336, 
337- 

Smith  Fred.  William,  Queensland,  Australia,  186. 

Smith,  H.  Llewellyn,  United  Kingdom,  9,  163,  400. 

Snuff,  cigars  and  tobacco,  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Societies  and  departments  of  Jamaica,  325- 

Soap,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward 
Islands.  329. 

Soda,  nitrate  of,  composition  of,  253;  consumption  of,  257;  de- 
mand for,  in  the  United  States,  255;  dependence  on,  257; 
deposits  of,  253;  effect  of.  on  beet  growth,  257;  experiments 
with.  256;  industry  in  Chile,  280;  packing  of,  253;  use  of,  as 
a  fertilizer,  254;  use  of,  in  chemical  industries,  254;  use  of,  on 
wheat  fields,  255;  uses  and  effects  of,  256. 

Soft  goods,  imports  of,  into  New  Zealand,  56. 

Soil  impoverishment,  experiments  in,  by  North  Dakota  Experi- 
ment Station,  255. 

Somali  coast,  possibilities  of,  127. 

"Some  Anomalies  in  the  Trade-Mark  System:  A  Uniform  Inter- 
national Trade-Mark  Law  Suggested,"  305. 

"Some  Notes  on  Mexican  Trade,"  259. 

"Some  Useful  Suggestions  on  the  Adoption  of  a  Trade-Mark." 
309- 

Soutar.  Simon.  Jamaica,  West  Indies,  258,  325,  343.  400. 

South  Africa,  decline  in  sheep  stock  in.  183. 

South  America,  aim  of  United  States  diplomatic  officers  in,  208; 
exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  22,  23;  growth  of,  as  an 
exporting  country.  249;  freight  rates  from  United  States  to. 
348;  growing  importance  of,  248;  imports  into,  from  the  United 
States,  22,  24;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  per  cap- 
ita, 22,  347;  interest  of  nations  in,  248;  need  of  improved  com- 
mercial ratings  in,  151;  need  of  improved  transportation  fa- 
cilities with  the  United  States.  151,  185,  349;  need  of  United 
States  agents  in,  301;  need  of  United  States  banks  in,  151.  185; 
producing  capacity  of,  increasing,  249;  trade  of.  with  Germany. 
247;  trade  of.  with  Great  Britain,  247;  trade  of.  with  the  Unite'd 
States.  150.  151.  246.  247,  249,  301,  349;  trade  of,  per  capita 
with  the  United  States,  25. 

South  Australia,  agricultural  schools  of.  70:  area  of,  13,  68;  cli- 
mate of,  68;  copper  mining  in,  70;  decline  of  sheep  stock  in. 
182;  education  in,  70;  exports  of  wool  from,  13;  fruit  industry 
of.  69;  homes  in.  69;  irrigation  in.  69;  labor  in,  69;  mining  in, 
70;  population  of.  68;  sphere  of  government  activity  in.  70; 
wheat  industry  of.  69;  woman  suffrage  in.  70;  wool  industry  of. 
38,  69. 

South  Dakota,  wheat  shipments  from.  282. 

Soutliern  China,  trade  of,  decreasing,  348. 

Spain,  banks  of,  294;  bureau  of  commercial  information  of  great 
power  proposed  by,  294;  commercial  attaches  to  legations  pro- 
posed- by,  2Q4;  commercial  outlook  of,  294,  296;  congress  of 
chambers  of  commerce  in,  results  of,  294;  deposits  of  iron 
ore  in,  367;  electric  lighting  in,  296;  exports  and  imports  of. 
compared.  295;  exports  of  almonds,  animals,  boots  and  shoes, 
copper,  copper  ore.  cork,  cotton  manufactures,  flour,  fruits, 
grapes,  hides  and  skins,  iron  and  steel,  iron  ore.  lead,  metals, 
nuts,  olive  oil.  oranges,  ores,  paper,  quicksilver,  raisins,  rice, 
silk  cocoons,  soap,  wine,  wool  and  woolen  manufactures  from. 
294;  exports  of  iron  ore  from.  367;  exports  from,  to  Mexico. 
260;  exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  222;  imports  of  ani- 
mals, chemical  products,  coal  and  coke,  coffee,  cotton,  cotton 
manufactures,  cotton  yarn,  crude  petroleum,  fish,  iron  and  steel 
manufactures,  leather,  hides  and  skins,  lumber,  timber  and 
building  materials,  machinery  and  parts  of.  ships  and  boats, 
silk,  silk  manufactures,  spirits,  sugar,  tobacco,  ci.gars  and 
snuff,  wheat,  wool  and  woolen  manufactures  into.  295;  imports 
into,  from  the  United  States.  24.  222;  influx  of  capital  into. 
296;  iron  mines  of,  287.  296;  merchant  marine  of,  296;  nation.il 
board  of  trade  proposed  for.  294;  need  of  direct  steamship  line 
to  the  United  States.  223;  production  of  pig  iron  and  iron  ore 
in,  .-^65;  recent  development  in.  294;  reciprocity  needed  with 
the  United  States,  223.  296:  relations  of,  with  the  United  States. 
293;   shipping  statistics  of,  295;   sugar   industry   in,   296;   ton- 

■*  nage  of,  295;  trade  of.  222,  295;  trade  of.  with  the  United  States. 
296;  United  States  goods  unknown  in,  223;  wine  industry  of. 

205- 

Specific  and  ad  valorem  duties,  375. 

Specific  duties,  plea  for,  225. 

Speculation  in  goods,  controlling  office  proposed  for,  352;  displaces 


INTERNATIONAL   COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS 


437 


supply  and  demand  as  a  price  regulator,  351;  effect  of,  3S3; 
proposed  prohibition  of,  by  legislation,  352- 

Speculative  trade  in  grain  prohibited  in  Germany,  354. 

Spirits,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of,  into 
New  Zealand,  56;  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Spruce  tree  area  of  the  United  States,   138. 

Stamp  tax  in  the  United  States,  25. 

Starches,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

State  activity  in  New  Zealand.  54. 

"State  of  Sao  Paulo  (Brazil)  Commercially  Considered  with  a  Few 
Observations  on  the  CofTee  Trade,"  243. 

Stationery,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329;  imports  of. 
into  New  Zealand.  56. 

Statistical  Bureau  of  Costa  Rica,  267. 

Statistical  comparisons,  importance  of  exact,  169. 

Statistics,  advantages  of  a  uniform  classification  of,  by  different 
countries  167;  assimilation  of  trade,  164,  167;  classification  of, 
166;  difficulties  in  unification  of,  167;  method  of  publishing, 
166;   of  free  ports,   165;   uniformity  in,   163. 

Staver.  H.   C,  United  States.  343- 

Steamship  lines  between  the  United  States  and  Japan.  124.  209. 

Steamship  lines,  need  of  American,  between  the  United  States  and 
Brazil.  275,  348;  Chile,  280;  Guatemala,  350;  Haiti,  298;  Pan- 
ama, 348:'  Peru.  276;  South  America,  249;  Southern  Brazil. 
211 ;  Spain,  223. 

Steamship  lines,  resolution  regarding,  345. 

Steamship  lines,  subsidization  of,  proposed  by  Brazil.  209;  pro- 
posed by  the  United  States,  102,  162,  293,  364. 

Steel  and  iron,  exports  of,  from  Spain,  294;  imports  of,  into 
Mexico,  259:  imports  of,  into  New  South  Wales,  41;  pro- 
duction and  consumption  of,  24;  production  of.  in  the  United 
States.  31,  246:  relation  between  production  of,  and  the  pur- 
chasing power  of  countries,  24;  relation  of,  to  the  prosperity 
of  countries,  364. 

Steel  and  iron  manufactures,  exports  of,  from  United  Kingdom, 
365;  imports  of.  into  Spain,  295:  production  of,  in  Sweden, 
297. 

StefTens.   C.   M.,  United  States,  379. 

Sternbergh.  J.  H..  United  States.  31. 

Stewart.  Dr.  A.  E..  United  States.  305. 

Stone,  \V.  C,  Governor  of  Pennsylvania,  8,  17,  33. 

Straw.   Mr.,   118. 

Streets,   of   Philadelphia.  2. 

Stubbs.  Dr..  nitrate  of  soda  expert,  256. 

Subsidization  of  Panama  Canal  by  Colombia,  202. 

Subsidization  of  steamship  lines,  discussions  concerning,  in  the 
United  States,  102,  162,  283.  364;  proposal  for,  by  Brazil,  209. 

Subsidy  bill,  Payne-Hanna,  in  the  United  States,  162. 

Suez  Canal,  comparison  of.  with  St.  Mary's  Canal.  35;  cost,  divi- 
dends and  tolls  of.  200;  saving  effected  by.  7.  189:  traffic  on,  7. 

Sugar-cane  industry,  of  Jamaica,  323;  of  New  South  Wales,  40;  of 
Peru.  I-JT.   of  Queensland.  62. 

Sugar,  duty  on.  in  Belgium.  France.  Germany.  Holland,  Switzer- 
land and  United  Kingdom.  358:  exports  of.  from  Argentine 
Republic.  240;  exports  of.  from  .Austria-Hungary.  224;  exports 
of.  from  Jamaica,  izy.  exports  of.  from  Jamaica  to  the  United 
States.  326;  exports  of.  from  Peru.  277;  exports  of,  from  the 
United  States,  increasing,  205:  imports  of.  into  Aden,  Arabia. 
126;  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329;  imports  of. 
into  New  Zealand.  56:  imports  of.  into  Spain.  295:  production 
of.  in  .\ustria-Hungarv.  224;  production  of.  in  Japan,  358; 
production  of.  in   Natal  187:  production  of,  in  Paraguay.  251. 

Sugar  industry,  of  Cuba.  212;  of  Ecuador.  285;  of  Jamaica,  ^li. 
324;  of  the  Leeward  Islands,  328;  of  Natal.  187;  of  Queens- 
land. 65;   of  Spain.  296. 

Sugar  machinery,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Suggestions   from    Campos,    Brazil,    371. 

Sulphate  of  copper,  production   of,   in   Sweden,   297. 

Sulphate  of  iron,  prxjduction  of,  in  Sweden,  297. 

Sulphur,  production  of,  in  Japan,  358;  production  of,  in  Sweden, 
297. 

Superfices  in  Japan,  ,361. 

Supplee,  W.   W.,  United  States.  314.  , 

Supply  and  demand  displaced  by  speculation  as  a  price  regulator. 

■■Surroundings   and  Trade   of  Aden.      125. 

Sweden,  deposits  of  iron  ore  in,  367;  exports  from,  by  articles 
and  countries,  297;  exports  of  iron  ore  from,  367;  exports 
of  timber  from,  297:  imports  into,  by  articles  and  countries. 
297;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States.  24;  iron  mining 
in  '297;  mineral  products  of,  297;  need  of  direct  steamship 
line  with  the  United  States,  297;  ports  of,  297;  production  of 
alum,  chemicals,  coal,  copper,  copper  ore,  feldspar,  fire  clay, 
gold,'  gold  ore.  graphite  and  iron,  in,  297;  production  of  iron 
ore  in,  297.  365;  production  of  lead,  lead  ore,  manganese  ore, 
manufactured  iron  and  steel,  ore,  oxide  of  cobalt  and  peroxide 


of  manganese  in,  297;  production  of  pig  iron  in,  297,  365; 
production  of  pyrites,  silver,  silver  ore,  sulphate  of  copper, 
sulphate  of  iron,  sulphur,  zinc  ore  in,  297;  trade  possibiHties 
of,  297:  trade  of,  with  the  United   States,  297. 

Sweet  potatoes,   production   of,   in  Japan,  358. 

Switzerland,  duty  of,  on  raw  cacao  and  sugar,  381;  imports  into, 
from  the  United  States,  24;  method  of  introduction  of  metric 
system   in,    174. 

Sydney.  New  South  Wales,  docks  of,  .39;  paving  in,  74. 

Szavay,  Julius  von,  Hugary,  343,  400,  417. 

T. 

Talleyrand.  M..  report  of,  on  a  uniform  method  of  measurement, 
172. 

Tallow,  exports  of,  from  Argentine  Republic,  240;  exports  of. 
from  New  South  Wales,  40;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward 
Islands,  329. 

Tamaulipas,  Mexico,  agriculture  in,  263;  harbor  improvement  pro- 
posed, 263;  irrigation  in,  263;  mining  interests  of,  263;  water 
works  of,  263. 

Tappari.    Pietro,   Italy,   287.  400. 

Tariff,  advantage  of  specific  over  ad  valorem  duties,  225;  eflfect 
of.  on  a  producing  exporter,  252;  preferential,  of  Canada,  28; 
jiroposition   for  a   committee  to   review,   361. 

Tarif?,  of  Argentine  Republic,  238;  of  Bermuda,  370;  of  Japan, 
113;  of  New  Zealand.  86;  of  Panama.  258;  of  Queensland.  61. 

Tariff  of  the  United  States,  complaints  regarding  administration 
of,  285,  382;  effect  of.  on  trade  with  Bermuda,  370;  effect  of, 
on  trade  with  Italy.  288,  289;  effect  of.  on  trade  w-ith  Japan, 
123;  on  chocolate,  imported  from  Belgium,  France,  Germany. 
Holland,  Switzerland  and  United  Kingdom,  381;  on  electric 
carbons,  378,  379;  plea  for  repeal  of,  253;  plea  for  reduction  of, 
181;  protective,  claimed  to  be   no  longer  needed,  374. 

Tariff  classification,  difficulty  in,  of  new  articles,  374. 

Tariff  rates,  consideration  of,  and  certification  of  invoices,  373. 
374,  375.  Zl^,  377,  378,  379;  on  new  articles,  374, 

Tariff  regulations  and  invoices,  375,  376. 

Tariffs,  a  bar  to  international  trade,  7;  relation  of,  to  trade,  20; 
retaliatory,   of  foreign   countries,  252. 

Tasajo,  exports  of,  from  LTruguay  to  the  United  States,  301;  in- 
dustry,  in   Uruguay,   302, 

Tasmania,   production  'of  wool   in,   38, 

Tax,  internal  revenue,  in  the  United   States,  25. 

Tavener,  Mr.,  48. 

Tea,  cultivation  of,  in  Natal,  187;  exports  of,  from  Japan  to  the 
United  States,  114,  357;  exports  of,  from  Kobe  to  the  Unite<l 
States,  123;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports 
of,  into  New  Zealand,  56;  production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Tea  industry,  of  Japan,  effect  of  the  United  States  duty  on,  114; 
of  Kiushiu,  Japan,  355. 

Tea  trade  between  the  United  States  and  Japan,   109. 

Technical  schools  for  carriage  builders  in  the  United  States,  364, 

Telegraph,  in  Haiti,  300:  in  Mexico,  261;  in  New  South  Wales. 
46;  in  New  Zealand,  54;  in  Nicaragua,  270. 

Telephone,  in  Mexico,  261;  in  New  South  Wales,  46;  in  New  Zea- 
land, 54;  in  Nicaragua,  270. 

Temporary  imports,  method  of  valuation  of,  165. 

Tennessee,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369. 

Terms,  how  to  quote,   for  India,   128. 

Texas,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369. 

Textile  and  clothing  fabric  industries  of  New  South  Wales,  41. 

Textile  centre,  Philadelphia  as  a.  289. 

Textile  fibres,  imports  of.  into  Mexico,  259. 

Textile   industry   of  Austria-Hungary,   224, 

Textile  machinery,  demand  for  American,  in  .Vustria-IIungary, 
224. 

Textile  trade  of  Panama,  349. 

Textiles,  imports  of,  into  the   Leeward  Islands,  329. 

Thomson,  Ralph  N.,  80. 

Thomson,   Wm.,  80. 

Thorne,    Dr.,    nitrate    of   soda   expert,    256. 

Thorne,    Mr.,    United    States,   379. 

Thorsch.   Otto,  Austria-Hungary,  235.  377,  401. 

Three  Rivers,  Canada,  agriculture  in,  316:  as  a  seaport,  316;  ex- 
ports from,  316;  exports  of  dairy  products  from,  316;  exports 
of  lumber,  paper,  pig  iron  and  wood-pulp  from.  317:  exports 
from,  to  Australia,  France,  Germany,  Great  Britain,  South 
America  and  the  United  States,  317;  forests  of,  316;  imports 
into,  317:  influence  of  the  United  States  in.  317;  iron  deposits 
in,  316;  production  of  asbestos  and  hay  in,  317:  resources 
of.  316;  trade  of.  317;  trade  of,  with  the  United  States,  317;. 
■water-power  of.  316. 

Thurber,   F.   B..  80. 

Timber,  exports  of,  from  New  Zealand,  56:  exports  of,  from 
Sweden,  297:  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295;  in  New  South 
Wales,  38;  in  West  Australia,  72. 


438 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


Tinibtr   industry   of   Minnesota,   282. 

Tin  ore  deposits  in   Bolivia,  278. 

Tin,  production  of,  in   New  .South  Wales,  ,?S.  40. 

Tingle,  E.  W.  S.,  United  States,  235,  290,  37-2,  373,  374,  375,  376, 

377,  379.  380,  3«-'-  .  ^  •        „        ,  ,•  ,        , 

Tobacco,  exports  of,  troin  Argentnie  Kcpublic,  240;  exports  ot, 
from  Para,  Brazil,  273;  exports  of,  from  the  United  States 
to  Japan,  113,  124,  357;  exports  of,  from  the  United  States 
to  Kobe,  124;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329; 
imports  of,  into  New  Zealand.  56;  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295; 
production  of,  in  Japan,  358. 

Tobacco  industry  of  Cuba,  212;  of  Jamaica,  324;  of  Kiushm,  Japan, 
355;   of  New  South   Wales,  40;   of  Paraguay,  250. 

Tobacco  trade,  of  India,  129;  of  Japan,   113. 

Todd,  W.  T.,   New  Zealand,  Australia,  58,  258,  336. 

Tombstones,  imports  of,  into  the   Leeward   Islands,  329. 

Tompkins,  D.  A.,  United  States,  ,33- 

Tongues  (preserved),  exports  of.  from  Argentine  Republic,  240. 

Tonka  beans,  exports  of,  from  Para,  273. 

Tonnage  statistics,  of  Erie  Canal,  215;  of  Hong  Kong,  85;  of 
Jamaica,  326;  of  Kobe,  123;  of  Nagasaki,  355;  of  New  South 
Wales,   41,   47;    of   Norway,   230;   of   Spain,   295. 

Topography,  of  Brazil,  272;  of  Haiti,  298;  of  Jamaica,  318;  of 
Peru,  277. 

Tortoise  shell  industry  in  Queensland,  68. 

Totten,   Col.,  canal   expert,   buililer   of  Panama    Railroad.  200. 

Towns  of  Japan,  360. 

Townsend,  A.   M.,  Cliina.  85.  401. 

Tozcr.  Horace,  Queensland.  Australia,  61,  341,  344.  345.  346. 

Trade,  a  harbinger  of  peace,  I,  4,  13,  15,  204,  331;  advertising  in 
foreign,  149;  balance  of,  in  New  Zealand,  56;  correspondence 
in  foreign,  134;  disadvantages  of  a  silver  basis  in  foreign,  ot 
China,  93;  export  and  import,  must  develop  simultaneously, 
382;  methods  employed  by  Germany  to  secure,  291;  present 
trade-mark  needs  in  international,  308:  railroads  and  their 
relations  to  our  export,  213;  relation  of  currency  to,  20:  rela- 
tion of  tarififs  to,  20;  samples  in  foreign,  149;  speculative,  351; 
tariffs  a  bar  to,  7;  trade-mark  necessary  in  foreign,  304;  value 
of   export,   when   pushed.   231. 

"Trade  and  Commerce  of  New  Zealand,"  56. 

Trade  commissions,  great  value  of  German.  291. 

Trade,  national  board  of,  proposed,  in  Spajn.  294;  in  the  United 
States.   169. 

Trade,  of  Aden.  Arabia,  127;  of  Argentine  Republic,  241;  of 
China.  82,  88.  91,  95,  348;  of  Central  Asia.  119:  of  Chile,  280; 
of  Cuba,  211;  of  Formosa,  124;  of  Haiti,  299;  of  Hong  Kong, 
85:  of  India,  127;  of  Jamaica,  325;  of  Japan,  95,  108,  357; 
of  Mexico,  16;  of  New  South  Wales,  47;  of  New  Zealand,  12; 
of  Panama.  258;  of  Peru,  277;  of  Queensland.  61;  of  Senj, 
Austria,  298;  of  Siam,  95;  of  Spain.  295;  of  Three  Rivers, 
Canada.  317;   of  the  world,  290. 

Trade  of  Belgium,  with  Argentine  Republic,  241. 

Trade  of  France,  with  Argentine  Republic.  241;  with  Mexico,  2OO. 

Trade  of  Germany,  with  Argentine  Republic.  241;  with  Mexico, 
260;  compared  with  that  of  Great  Britain.  292. 

Trade   of   Italy,   with    .Argentine   Republic.   241. 

Trade  of  Japan,  with  China.  France.  Germany  and  United  King- 
dom,  357- 

Trade  of  United  KingdKjm,  with  Argentine  Republic,  241;  with 
Chile,  280;  with  Costa  Rica,  268;  with  Mexico,  260;  with  Vic- 
toria, 49. 

Trade  of  the  United  States,  probable  influence  of  Isthmian  Canal 
on,  192;  percentage  of,  carried  in  United  States  vessels,  202; 
with  Argentine  Republic,  237,  240,  241;  with  Australia,  73; 
with  Balkan  Peninsula,  3.32,  333;  with  Brazil,  17,  208,  274;  with 
Canada,  24,  347;  with  Chile  257,  280:  with  China.  81,  97,  214; 
with  Costa  Rica,  265,  267,  268;  with  Guatemala,  350;  with  Haiti. 
299;  with  India,  127;  with  Italy,  288;  with  Jamaica,  326;  with 
Japan,  81,  109,  no,  112,  113,  115,  122,  357;  with  the  Leeward 
Islands,  329;  with  Mexico,  260;  with  New  South  Wales,  39,  48; 
with  New  Zealand,  54;  with  Norway,  230:  with  Panama,  258, 
348;  with  Paraguay,  251;  with  Peru,  276;  277;  with  Philippine 
islands,  206;  with  Queensland,  62,  64;  with  Russia,  290;  with 
Siberia,  95;  with  South  America,  246,  247,  301,  349;  with  Spain, 
296;  with  Sweden.  297;  with  Three  Rivers,  Canada.  317;  with 
Uruguay,  301 ;  with  Venezuela,  242. 

Trade  per  capita,  between  the  Lhiited  States  and  Australia,  Britisli 
West  Indies.  Central  America.  Mexico,  and  South  America, 
25:  between  the  United  Slates  and  Canada,  ,347. 

Trade  possibilities,  of  Balkan  States,  333;  of  Central  Asia,  119; 
of  China.  82,  91,  103;  of  the  Far  East.  93.  291;  of  Greece, 
3.33;  of  Persia,   120;  of  Russia,  297;   of  .Sweden,  292. 

"Trade  Possibilities  of  the  Far  East,"  93- 

"Trade  Relations  Between  Panama  and  the  United  States,"  349. 

"Trade  Relations  Between  the  United  States  and  the  Leeward 
Islands,"  327. 


"Trade   Routes   of  the   World."    194. 

Trade  routes  to  Central   Asia,   119. 

Trade  statistics,  assimilation  of.  164;  resolution  regarding  assimi- 
lation of,  169,  339;  resolution  regarding  uniformity  in.  336: 
uniformity  in,  163. 

Trade,  transit,  method  of  classifying.   165. 

"Trade  with  Spain."  222. 

Trade-mark,  a  national  institution,  311;  a  perpetual  patent,  307; 
agreement  of  France,  with  Bolivia,  Brazil.  Colombia,  Costa 
Rica,  Guatemala.  ^Mexico,  Peru  and  Venezuela,  312;  agree- 
ment of  Germany,  with  Brazil,  Guatemala,  Mexico  and  Vene- 
zuela, 312;  agreement  of  Great  Britain,  with  Bolivia,  Colom- 
bia, Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Mexico  and  Paraguay,  312;  agree- 
ment of  the  United  States  with  Brazil,  312;  agreement  of  the 
United  States,  with  foreign  countries,  311:  agreements  needed 
between  the  United  States  and  Latin  America,  312;  attempt 
to  use,  as  a  perpetual  patent,  305;  conducive  to  fraud,  305; 
difficult  to  maintain  in  foreign  countries,  311;  effect  of  regis- 
tration of,  308;  "Eye"  and  "Ear,"  309;  in  China,  81;  neces- 
sary in  foreign  trade,  304;  necessity  of  registration  of.  311; 
necessity  of  registration  of,  in  Europe.  311;  necessity  of  regis- 
tration of,  in  Germany,  311;  need  of  universal  registration  of, 
309;  number  of,  registered  in  the  United  States,  304;  property 
right  of,  universally  recognized,  304;  protection  of,  varies  in 
foreign  countries,  308;  resolution  regarding,  336;  some  anoma- 
lies, 305;  some  useful  suggestions,  309:  suggestions  of.  for 
China,  312;  suggestions  regarding  selection  of.  304,  308:  sug- 
gestions regarding  the  validity  of  various  classes  of  words. 
305.  .306;  superiority  of,  to  patent.  310;  universally  recognized. 
311;  value  of.  as  an  advertising  medium,  310:  value  of,  in  com- 
mercial combinations,  309;  value  and  importance  of,  in  com- 
merce, 304. 

Trade-mark  and  patent  cannot  coexist  on  the  same  article,  306. 

Trade-mark  law,  abuse  of,  205;  countries  having,  308;  of  the 
United  States,  304. 

Trade-mark  Record,  the,  310. 

Trade-mark  system,  effect  of  competition  on,  306;  necessity  of 
separation   of,   from  patent   system,  307. 

Trade-Mark  Union,  resolution  regarding.  314.  338. 

"Trade-Marks  and   Foreign   Trade,"   311. 

Traffic,  cost  of,  in   Europe  and  the  United   States,   134. 

Traffic  on  the  Suez  Canal,  7. 

Transit  goods,  discussion  on  valuation  of,  380;  to  be  improved 
or  perfected,  380,  381. 

Transit  trade,  method  of  classifying.    165. 

Transportation  companies  in  Japan.  358. 

Transportation,  conveniences  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  348;  cost 
of,  in  Europe  and  the  United  States  compared,  283;  cost  of,  in 
Persia,  121;  importance  of,  to-day,  181,  213;  improvement  of, 
in  Japan,  in. 

Transportation  facilities,  of  Aden.  Arabia,  126;  of  New  Zealand, 
59;  of  Nicaragua,  270;  resolution  regarding,  345. 

Transportation  facilities,  between  the  United  States  and  Balkan 
States,  333:  Bolivia,  279;  Brazil,  209;  Canada,  326;  Central 
Asia,  119:  Chile,  269:  India,  129;  Jamaica.  326.  327;  Japan. 
122;  Mexico,  261;  South  America,  151,  185. 

Trans-Saharian   Railway,  proposed,   195. 

Trans-Siberian  Railway,  cost  of,  to  Russia,  14;  description  of.  195. 

Travel  by  native   Costa   Ricans,   264. 

Travelers,  commercial,  German  and  .Anurican  comjjared.  248: 
German,   in   Costa   Rica.  265. 

Treaties,  adoption  by  the  LTnited  States  of  the  European  system 
of  commercial.  375,  382;  proposition  for  a  committee  to  review, 
361,  362. 

Tripp.   P-dgar.  Trinidad.   West  Indies.  401. 

Trolley  road  in  Korea,   n8. 

Tropics,  labor  in  the,  321:  the  white  race  in  the.  321. 

Trov   pound,  inaccuracy  of.   175. 

Trusts,  development  of,  in  the  United  States,  246. 

Trust   cpiestion   in  the   United   States.    162. 

Tucker.   Wm.    R.,   United    States.   2Jg. 

Turkey,  exports  from,  and  imports  into,  of  maize,  rye  and  wheat, 
compared.  234;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States.  24;  mar- 
ket in,  for  .American  machinery,  333:  population  of.  233;  wheat 
production  in,  233. 

Turkey  in  Asia,  commercial  relations  of.  362;  reciprocity  needed 
between,  and  the   United  States,  363. 

Tnr])entine.  pitch,  etc.,  imports  of,  into  the  Leewar<l  lsl;inds,  329. 

Turtle   tr.ide   of  Jamaica,   323. 

V. 

Uchida.  S..  Japan,   is.    108.  401. 
Ulloa  C;..  J.  J.,  Costa  Kica,  193,  264. 
"Uniformity  in  Trade  Statistics,"   163. 
Union    F.lectrical   Carbon   Works,    Kronach, 


Germany,   378. 


INTERNATIONAL   COMMERCIAL   CONGRESS 


439 


Unions,   commercial,   importance   of.   in    Germany,   292. 

United    Fruit   Company.  324.  325. 

United  Kingdom,  bicycles  in,  180;  competition  of,  declining  m 
Guatemala,  350;  decline  of  sheep-stock  in,  182;  difficulties  of 
introducing  metric  system  in,  174;  division  of  exports  and 
imports  in,  168;  duty  of,  on  raw  cacao  and  sugar,  381;  exports 
of  boilers  from,  to  Germany,  377;  exports  of  coal  from,  to 
Kiushiu,  Japan,  355;  exports  of  iron  ore  from,  365;  exports 
of  iron  and  steel  manufactures  from,  365;  exports  of  sheep 
from,  to  Argentine  Republic,  184;  exports  from,  to  Argentine 
Republic,  241;  exports  from,  to  Bermuda  and  Canada,  347; 
exports  from,  to  Guatemala,  350;  exports  from,  to  Haiti,  299; 
exports  from,  to  Japan,  357;  exports  from,  to  Mexico,  260; 
exports  from,  to  New  South  Wales,  39;  exports  from,  to 
New  Zealand,  56;  imports  of  bicycles  into,  from  the  United 
States,  181;  imports  of  iron  ore  into,  365;  imports  of  nitrate 
into,  from  Chile,  254;  imports  of  wheat  into,  234;  imports  of 
wool  into,  from  Cape  Colony,  186;  imports  into,  from  Argen- 
tine Republic.  241;  imports  into,  from  Bermuda,  370;  imports 
into,  from  New  South  Wales,  39;  imports  into,  from  Spain, 
357;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  23;  imports  into, 
per  capita,  from  the  United  States.  22.  34;  iron  ore  production 
in.  365:  leading  country  of  the  future.  290;  packing  in.  com- 
pared with  France,  Germany  and  the  United  States,  330;  par- 
cels-post treaties  of,  149;  pig  iron  production  in,  31.  365;  pro- 
tective policy  of,  289;  trade  of,  in  cotton  goods,  with  Brazil, 
275;  trade  of,  in  cotton  goods,  with  China,  96;  trade  of,  com- 
pared with  that  of  Germany,  292;  trade  of,  with  Argentine 
Repulilic,  241;  trade  of,  with  Canada,  28;  trade  of,  with  Chile, 
280;  trade  of.  with  Costa  Rica,  268;  trade  of.  with  Formosa, 
124;  trade  of.  with  Mexico,  260;  trade  of,  with  South  America. 
247;  trade  of.  with  Victoria.  49;  trade-mark  agreement  of.  with 
Bolivia,  Colombia,  Ecuador,  Guatemala,  Me.xico  and  Para- 
guay, 312:  United  States  locomotives  in.  214. 

United  States,  ability  of,  to  export,  290;  acquisition  of  Alaska, 
Aleutian  Islands,  California.  Florida.  Louisiana.  Pacific  Is- 
lands, Philippines  and  Porto  Rico,  by,  205;  adoption  by,  of  the 
European  system  of  commercial  treaties,  375,  382;  agents 
from,  needed  in  the  Balkan  States,  333:  agents  from,  needed 
in  Central  America,  349;  agents  from,  needed  in  Guatemala, 
350;  agents  from,  needed  in  South  America,  301;  agents  from, 
compared  with  European.  133;  agricultural  experiment  sta- 
tions in,  256;  area  of,  compared  with  Brazil,  210:  agricultural 
implements  from,  in  demand  in  Natal,  197;  aim  of  diplomats 
of,  in  South  America,  208;  annexation  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
by,  205;  arbitrary  methods  of  customs  appraisers  of.  378;  at- 
titude of,  toward  China,  86.  94;  balance  of  trade  of.  with 
Japan.  109:  banks  of,  needed  abroad,  332;  banks  of.  needed  in 
Balkan  States.  333;  banks  of,  needed  in  Brazil,  209,  244:  banks 
of,  needed  in  Guatemala,  350;  banks  of,  needed  in  Haiti.  299; 
banks  of.  needed  in  India.  129:  banks  of.  needed  in  South 
America.  151.  195;  banks  of,  needed  in  Southern  Brazil,  2ir; 
bicycle  industry  in,  180;  bicycle  patented  in,  180;  bicycle,  price 
of,  in,  181 ;  board  of  customs  appraisers  in,  225,  330;  boundary 
of,  in  Alaska.  10;  business  methods  of,  compared  with  Euro- 
pean, 132,  349;  business  methods  of,  in  Mexico,  261;  business 
methods  of,  in  Panama.  349;  canals  in.  declining,  216:  canal 
rates  in.  231;  characteristics  of  people  of,  210;  chemical  in- 
dustries in.  254:  Chinese  restriction  in.  97,  105;  coasting  trade 
of,  115;  commercial  education  in,  228,  229.  232:  commercial 
education  in.  compared  with  European.  132;  commercial  or- 
ganizations in,  compared  with  European,  134;  commercial  re- 
lations between,  and  Asiatic  Turkey,  362;  commercial  relations 
between,  and  Japan,  112,  361;  commercial  relations  between, 
and  South  America,  150;  commercial  schools,  in.  228;  commer- 
cial travelers  of,  compared  with  those  of  Germany,  248;  com- 
plaint against  method  of  calculating  market  values  in  the,  381, 
382;  complaints  against  tariff  administration  of,  375;  consular 
service  of,  203,  204.  208,  229.  280,  331,  373;  consumption  of  wool 
in,  184;  cost  of  transportation  in,  compared  with  that  of  Eu- 
rope, 134.  283:  cotton  industry  in,  32,  33;  coton  piece  goods 
trade  of,  with  China,  82;  Cuba  as  a  market  for  goods  of.  212; 
customs  advisory  board  in,  resolution  of  German-Ameri- 
can Commission  on.  379.  380;  customs  advisory  board 
suggested  for,  376,  380.  382;  customs  appraisers  of,  com- 
plaint against.  373,  375;  demand  for  furniture  of,  in 
Natal,  187;  department  of  commerce  and  industry  pro- 
posed in,  169;  deposits  of  iron  ore  in,  369;  devel- 
opment of  iron  ore  mines  in,  368;  discussion  of  customs 
practices  in,  373,  374.  375:  duty  of.  on  chocolate  imported  from 
Belgium.  France.  Germany.  Holland.  Switzerland  and  United 
Kingdom,  381;  duty  on  electric  carbons  in.  378,  379;  effect 
of  tariff  of,  on  trade  of  Bermuda,  370;  effect  of  tariff  of,  on 
Italian  trade.  288,  289;  effect  of  tariff  of.  on  Japanese  tea 
industry,  114;  effect  of  tariff  of,  on  Japanese  trade,  123;  ex- 
ports  from   24;   exports   from,   by  articles,   205;   exports   from. 


(classified),  21;  exports  from  (by  continents),  22;  exports  from 
(by  groups  and  countries),  23;  exports  from,  value  of,  290; 
exports  from,  classification  of,  i68;  exports  of  agricultural 
implements  from,  21,  205;  exports  of  ammunition  and  explo- 
sives from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  animal 
products  from,  to  Mexico,  260;  exports  of  arms  and  explo- 
sives from,  to  Mexico,  260;  exports  of  beef  from,  to  the  Lee- 
ward Islands,  329;  exports  of  bicycles  from,  180;  exports  of 
books,  boots  and  shoes,  bread  and  biscuit,  butter,  cacao  and 
carriages  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands.  329;  exports  of  car- 
riages from,  364;  exports  of  carriages  from,  to  Mexico.  260; 
exports  of  cement  and  cheese  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands, 
329;  exports  of  chemicals  from.  205;  exports  of  cigarettes, 
cigars,  coal  and  coffee  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands.  329; 
exports  of  copper  manufactures  from,  205;  exports  of  cordage 
and  naval  stores,  and  corn  and  wheat  from,  to  the  Leewird 
Islands,  329;  exports  of  cotton  from,  to  Japan,  113,  122.  357; 
exports  of  cotton  from,  to  Kobe,  124;  exports  of  cotton  cloth 
from,  to  Japan,  iii:  exports  of  cotton  manufactures,  and 
cotton  oil  from.  205;  exports  of  drugs  and  chemicals  from,  to 
the  Leeward  Islands.  329;  exports  of  drugs,  paints  and  chem- 
icals from,  to  Mexico,  260;  exports  of  electrical  apparatus 
from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  fabrics  from, 
to  Mexico,  260;  exports  of  fancy  goods  and  fertilizer  from,  to 
the  Leeward  Islands,  329:  exports  of  fish  from,  21;  exports  of 
fish  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  flour  from,  to 
Japan,  113,  357,  359;  exports  of  Hour  from,  to  the  Leeward 
Islands.  329;  exports  of  forest  products  from,  21;  exports  of 
fruit,  fuel  (other  than  coke),  furniture,  glassware  and  haber- 
dashery from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  ham. 
bacon  and  pork  from.  205:  exports  of  ham.  hardware  and 
hay  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands.  329:  exports  of  iron  from, 
to  Japan,  113.  357:  exports  of  iron  and  steel  manufactures 
from,  205;  exports  of  iron  and  steel  manufactures  from,  to 
Japan.  368;  exports  of  jewelry  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands, 
329:  exports  of  kerosene  from,  to  Japan,  113,  124,  357;  ex- 
ports of  kerosene  from,  to  Kobe,  124:  exports  of  kerosene 
from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  lard  from,  205; 
exports  of  lard  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329:  exports, 
of  lard  compounds  from,  205:  exports  of  leather  and  its  manu- 
factures from,  20s;  exports  of  leather  and  saddlery  and  lum-. 
ber  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands.  329;  exports  of  locomotives, 
from,  246;  exports  of  machinery  from,  to  Japan,  113,  357; 
exports  of  machinery  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329; ^ 
exports  of  machinery  from,  to  Mexico.  260;  exports  of  maize- 
from,  234;  exports  of  malt  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329; 
exports  of  malt  liquors  from,  205;  exports  of  manufactured' 
goods  from.  21,  290,  304;  export  of  manufactured  goods  from, 
to  Canada.  347;  exports  of  matches  from,  to  the  Leewarci' 
Islands,  329;  exports  of  metals  and  manufactures  of,  from,  ^ 
Mexico,  260;  exports  of  milk  from,  205;  exports  of  mining 
products  from.  21:  exports  of  musical  instruments,  narcotics, 
oats,  oil  and  oil  cake  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;-  ex- 
ports of  oleomargarine  from.  205:  exports  of  oleomargarine- 
and  paint  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  paper 
from,  205;  exports  of  paper  and  stationery  from,  to  the  Lee- 
ward Islands,  329:  exports  of  paper  and  manufactures  of.  from, 
to  Mexico.  260;  exports  of  peas,  beans  and  barley,  perfumery, 
pork,  potatoes,  rice,  rubber  goods,  salt,  and  sausage  from,  to  ^ 
the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  scientific  and  electrical; 
instruments  and  apparatus  from,  205;  exports  of  sheep  from, 
to  Argentine  Republic,  184;  exports  of  shingles,  shooks, 
soap,  spirits  and  starches  from,  to  the  Leeward  Is- 
lands, 329;  exports  of  sugar  and  molasses  from,  205;  exports 
of  sugar,  sugar  machinery,  tallow,  tea,  textiles  and  tinned 
fruit  and  vegetables  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329:  ex- 
ports of  tobacco  from,  to  Japan.  113.  124:  exports  of  tobacco 
from,  to  Kobe.  12.4;  exports  of  tobacco,  tombstones,  turpen- 
tine and  vermicelli  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands,  329:  ex- 
ports of  wheat  from.  205:  exports  of  wine  from,  to  the  Lee 
ward  Islands,  329;  exports  of  wine  and  liquors  from,  to  Mex- 
ico, 260;  exports  of  wood  pulp  from.  230;  exports  of  wooden 
manufactures  from,  to  the  Leeward  Islands.  329:  exports  of 
woolen  goods  from.  185;  exports  from,  to  Africa,  22,  24;  ex- 
ports from,  to  Argentine  Republic,  240,  241,  347;  exports 
from,  to  Asia,  22;  exports  from,  to  Australasia,  23:  exports 
from,  to  Austria-Hungary,  Azores  and  Belgium,  24;  exports 
from,  to  Bermuda,  23,  370:  exports  from,  to  Brazil,  244.  275. 
347;  exports  from,  to  British  Africa.  British  China.  British 
East  Indies.  British  Guiana.  British  Honduras,  British  North 
America,  and  British  West  Indies,  23;  exports  from,  to  Can- 
ada, 347;  exports  from,  to  Cape  Colony.  185:  exports  from, 
to  Central  America,  China,  Cuba  and  Denmark.  24;  exports 
from,  to  Europe,  22,  24;  exports  from,  to  Germany,  24;  ex- 
ports from,  to  Gibraltar  and  Great  Britain,  its  Colonies  and 
dependencies,  23;  exports  from,  to  Greece,  24;   exports  from, 


440 


INDEX  TO  THE  PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE 


to  Guatemala,  350;  exports  from,  to  Haiti,  24,  299;  exports 
from,  to  Italy,  24;  exports  from,  to  Jamaica,  326;  exports 
from,  to  Japan,  24,  iii,  113,  123,  124.  357:  exports  from,  to 
Kobe,  123,  124;  exports  from,  to  Leeward  Islands,  328,  329; 
exi)orts  from,  to  machine  using  countries,  24;  exports  from, 
to  Malta,  23;  exports  from,  to  Mexico,  24,  259.  260,  347; 
exports  from,  to  iVIiquelon  and  Netherlands,  24;  exports  from, 
to  New  South  Wales,  39.  40,  48;  exports  from,  to  North 
America,  22;  exports  from,  to  New  Zealand,  56;  exports 
from,  to  Norway  and  Sweden,  24;  exports  from,  to  Oceanica, 
22,  24:  ex])orts  from,  to  Philippine  Islands,  Porto  Rico,  Por- 
tugal. Roumani;i,  Russia  and  Servia,  24;  exports  from,  to 
South  America,  22,  24,  347;  exports  from,  to  Spain,  24,  222; 
exports  from,  to  Switerland  and  Turkey,  24;  exports  from, 
to  United  Kingdom,  23,  347;  exports  from,  per  capita,  to 
Argentine  ReiHiblic,  347;  exports  from,  per  capita,  21;  exports 
from,  per  capita,  to  Australia,  22;  exports  from,  per  capita, 
to  Brazil,  347;  exports  from,  per  capita,  to  British  North 
America,  and  British  West  Indies,  22;  exports  from,  per  capita, 
to  Canada,  347;  exports  from,  per  capita,  to  China,  22;  ex- 
ports from,  per  capita,  to  France,  Germany  and  Great  Bri- 
tain, 22,  347;  exports  from,  per  capita,  to  India  and  Latin 
America.  22:  exports  from,  ix-r  capita,  to  Mexico.  22.  347; 
exports  from,  per  capita,  to  the  Phillippines,  22;  exports  from, 
per  capita,  to  South  America  and  Venezuela,  347;  export  duty 
on  grain  proposed  in,  233:  export  trade  of,  possible  through 
organization  and  transportation,  246;  factory  methods  in,  com- 
pared with  European,  133:  Farmers'  Alliance  in,  171;  ferti- 
lizer industry  in,  255;  freight  rates  on  parcels  from,  to  Italy, 
371;  freight  rates  to  Italy,  compared  with  parcels  post  rates 
from  Italy  to  various  countries,  371;  freight  rates  from,  to 
-South  America.  348;  German  element  in,  210,  292:  goods  from, 
in  demand,  in  Brazil,  208;  goods  from,  in  demand,  in  Cuba, 
212;  goods  from,  in  demand,  in  Far  East.  213;  goods  from, 
unknown  in  Spain.  223;  grain  movement  in.  256:  grain  trade 
of,  35;  history  of,  compared  with  that  of  Mexico,  362; 
immigration  mto,  130;  imports  of  bananas  into,  from 
Jamaica,  326;  imports  of  bones  into,  from  Uruguay, 
301;  iinports  of  camphor  into,  from  Japan.  124;  im- 
ports of  camphor  into,  from  Kobe,  124:  imports  of 
carpets  into,  from  Japan,  124;  imports  of  carpets  into,  from 
Kobe.  124;  imports  of  casings  into,  from  Uruguay,  301; 
imports  of  cocoanuts  into,  from  Jamaica.  326;  imports  of  coflfee 
into,  32;  imports  of  coffee  into,  from  Jamaica,  326;  imports  of 
ginger  into,  from  Jamaica.  326;  imports  of  glue  stock  into,  from 
Uruguay.  301;  imports  of  habutai  into,  from  Japan.  114.  357; 
imports  of  horse  hair  into,  froin  Uruguay,  301;  iinports  of 
iron  ore  into,  368;  imports  of  jerked  beef  into,  from  Uruguay. 
,301:  imports  of  lemons  into,  from  Uruguay,  288;  imports  of 
matting  into,  from  Japan,  114,  357;  imports  of  matting  into, 
from  Kobe,  123;  imports  of  nitrate  into,  254:  imports  of  nitrate 
into,  from  Chile,  254;  imports  of  olive  oil  into,  from  Italy, 
28<S;  intports  of  oranges  into,  from  Italy,  288;  imports  of  or- 
anges into,  from  Jamaica,  326:  imports  of  pineapples  into, 
from  Jamaica,  326;  imports  of  raw  silk  into,  from  Japan,  114, 
357;  imports  of  rice  into,  from  Japan,  124;  imports  of  rice 
into,  froni  Kobe,  124;  imports  of  silk  goods  into,  from  Japan, 
'14.. 357;  imports  of  sugar  into,  from  Jamaica,  326;  imports  of 
tasajo  into,  from  Uruguay,  301;  imports  of  tea  into,  from  Ja- 
pan, 114,  357:  imports  of  tea  into,  from  Kobe.  123:  imports  of 
wine  into,  from  Italy,  288;  imports  of  woo!  into.  185;  imports 
of  wool  into,  from  Argentine  Republic,  184,  185;  imports  of 
wool  into,  from  Cape  Colony,  185;  imports,  classification  of, 
in,  168;  ini])orts  into,  from  Antigua,  327;  iinports  into,  from 
Argentine  Republic,  240.  241;  imports  into,  from  Asia,  22; 
impijrts  into,  from  Bermuda,  370;  imports  into,  from  Brazil, 
244;  imports  into,  from  Canada,  347;  imports,  into,  from  Chem- 
nitz. Germany,  289;  imports  into,  from  Cuba,  212;  imports 
into,  from  Dominica,  .■^28;  iinports  into,  from  Europe,  22,  23, 
129;  imports  into,  from  Jamaica,  326;  imports  into,  from  Ja- 
I)an,  III.  114.  123.  357;  iinports  into,  from  Kobe,  123;  imports 
into,  from  the  Leeward  Islands.  328;  imports  into,  from  Mex- 
ico, 259;  imports  into,  from  Montserrat,  328;  imports  into, 
from  New  South  Wales,  39,  40;  imports  into,  from  North 
America.  22.  23;  imports  into,  from  St.  Christopher,  Nevis 
and  Anguilla.  328;  imports  into,  from  South  America,  22,  23; 
imports  into,  from  Spain,  222;  iinports  into,  from  Three  Rivers, 
Canada.  317;  imports  into,  from  Uruguay,  300;  imports  into, 
from  Virgin  Islands,  328;  improved  machinery  in,  231;  in- 
dustrial growth  of,  5,  6,  31 :  influence  of.  in  Three  Rivers, 
Canada.  317;  influence  of  railway  advertising  in,  216;  internal 
revenue  tax  in,  25;  Isthmian  Canal  must  be  built  and  controlled 
by,  193;  Isthmian  Canal  needed  by,  331;  kerosene  trade  of, 
with  Japan,  109;  labor  conditions  in,  compared  with  Europe, 
134;  labor-s.iving  devices  in,  231;  lack  of  artistic  taste  in,  227; 
Latin  element  in,  210;  leading  country  of  the  future,  290;  lo- 


comotives from,  in  use  in  Great  Britain,  Japan  and  Russia,  210, 
214;  losses  by  foreign  manufacturers  through  fluctuations  in 
tariff  of,  382;  maintenance  by,  of  rights  in  China  (resolution 
on),  98,  100;  maize  exports  and  imports  of,  compared,  233; 
manufacture  of  electrical  machinery  in,  246;  market  for  boilers 
and  flttings  from,  in  Germany.  377;  market  for  coal  from. 
in  Brazil,  244;  market  for  machinery  from,  in  Bulgaria,  Rou- 
mania  and  Turkey.  333:  market  for  shoes  from,  in  Europe. 
293:  market  for  textile  machinery  and  machine  tools  from, 
in  Austria- Hungary,  224;  markets  for  goods  of,  23;  market  in,' 
for  Brazilian  manganese,  218;  manufacturers  of,  compared  with 
German  manufacturers.  232;  merchants  of.  compared  with 
those  of  foreign  countries,  231;  money  question  in,  161:  mer- 
chant marine  of,  needed,  162,  202,  331;  merchant  marine  of. 
resolution  regarding.  313,  334;  metric  system  in,  175;  mutual 
interests  between  Germany  and  the,  5;  a  natural  market  for 
Cuba,  212;  natural  relation  of  Philippines  to,  207;  need  of 
steamship  lines  from,  to  Argentine  Republic,  238;  need  of 
steamship  lines  from,  to  Balkan  States,  333;  need  of  steam- 
ship lines  from,  to  Brazil,  209,  244,  275;  need  of  steamship 
lines  from,  to  Chile,  280;  need  of  steamship  lines  from,  to 
India,  129;  need  of  steamship  lines  from,  to  Panama,  348: 
need  of  steamship  lines  from,  to  Peru,  276;  need  of  steamship 
lines  from,  to  Scandinavia  and  Russia,  292;  need  of  steam- 
ship lines  from,  to  South  America,  151,  185.  349:  need  of 
steamship  lines  from,  to  Southern  Brazil.  211;  need  of  steam- 
ship lines  from,  to  Spain.  223;  need  of  steamship  lines  from, 
to  Sweden,  297;  need  of  steamship  lines  from,  to  Uruguay. 
301,  302;  nitrate  of  soda  in  demand  in,  255;  notes  on  the  com- 
niercial  relations  of  Guatemala  with  the,  350;  opportunities  for, 
in  China,  69;  ownership  of  Isthmian  Canal  by,  proposed,  192; 
packing  in,  330:  packing  in,  compared  with  that  in  France. 
Germany,  and  Great  Britain,  330;  packing  in,  compared  with 
European  packing,  129;  parcels  post  needed  by,  149,  152,  153, 
154.  I55>  303.  331-  371;  patent  law  of,  compared  with  European, 
313;  patent  legislation  in,  375;  payments  by,  to  foreign  ship 
owners,  102;  Payne-Hanna  subsidy  bill  in  Congress  of,  162: 
population  of,  21,  233;  production  of  brown  hematite  and  car- 
bonate in,  368;  production  of  cotton  in,  33;  production  of  cot- 
ton goods  in,  compared  with  that  in  England,  246;  production 
of  iron  and  steel  in,  31,  246;  production  of  iron  ore  in,  365,  368; 
production  of  magnetite  in,  368;  production  of  pig  iron  in,  31; 
365;  production  of  red  hematite  in,  368;  production  of  wheat 
in,  233;  production  of  wool  in,  182;  prosperity  of,  205;  pro- 
tective tariff  of.  374;  publication  of  consular  reports  of,  229; 
railways  of,  compared,  with  European,  134;  railway  equipment 
in,  214;  railw^ay  fares  in,  217;  railway  service  in,  217;  railway 
speed  in,  217;  raw  silk  trade  of,  with  Japan,  log;  reciprocity  in, 
205;  reciprocity  between,  and  Argentine  Republic,  238,  239:  rec- 
iprocity between,  and  Australia  needed,  73;  reciprocity  between, 
and  Austria-Hungary  needed,  224:  reciprocity  between,  and 
Bermuda  needed,  370;  reciprocity  between,  and  Cape 
Colony  needed,  186;  reciprocity  between,  and  Chile 
needed,  280;  reciprocity  between,  and  Germany  needed, 
382;  reciprocity  between,  and  Italy  needed,  227,  288; 
reciprocity  between,  and  Jamaica  proposed,  326:  reciprocity 
between,  and  Leeward  Islands  proposed.  328;  reciprocity  be- 
tween, and  Japan  needed.  112.  114:  reciprocity  between,  and 
New  Zealand  needed.  60;  reciprocity  between,  and  Queens- 
land needed.  62;  reciprocity  between,  and  Spain  needed.  223. 
296;  reciprocity  between,  and  Turkey  needed.  363;  reciproc'ty 
between,  and  Uruguay  needed.  302:  reciprocity  treaty  of.  with 
Bermuda.  370;  relation  between  production  and  consunip'ion 
in,  23;  relations  of.  with  Bermuda.  371;  relations  of,  with 
Japan.  356;  revenue  of,  26;  revenue  per  capita  of.  25:  rights 
of.  in  China,  82,  85;  rights  of,  in  the  Philippine  Islands  un- 
disputed. 207:  rise  of  army  and  navy  of.  161;  samples  from, 
needed  in  Central  .America.  349:  sheep  stock  of.  declining. 
182;  shipbuilding  in,  214;  ships  of.  as  carriers  of  American 
trade.  202;  shipping  of,  declining.  loi:  spruce  tree  area  in. 
i,?8:  stamp  tax  in,  25;  subsidization  of  steamship  lines  pro- 
posed in,  102,  283,  304;  tariff  administration  defective  in,  285: 
tariff,  relation  of,  to  protected  industries  in.  253:  tariff 
on  machinery  in.  proposed  removal  of,  253:  tariff  on  wool  in, 
184:  tariff  reduction  in.  i8i:  tax  on  petroleum  exports  pro- 
posed in.  and  Russia.  234:  tea  trade  of.  with  Japan.  109: 
technical  schools  for  carriage  builders  in.  364;  tendency  to 
over-production  in,  231:  territorial  expansion  in,  285:  trade 
of.  with  .'Xrgentine  Republic.  237.  239,  240,  241:  trade  of.  with 
Australia.  73:  trade  of.  with  Balkan  States.  333.  333:  trade 
of.  with  Bermuda,  370;  trade  of,  with  Brazil,  17.  208,  274: 
trade  of.  with  Canada.  24.  28,  .347:  trade  of,  with  Chile.  257. 
280:  trade  of.  with  China,  81,  97.  214;  trade  of.  with  Costa 
Rica,  265,  267,  268:  trade  of.  with  Formosa.  124:  trade  of. 
with  Guatemala.  350;  trade  of.  with  Haiti.  2<>^:  trade  of.  with 
India.   127;   tr.'ide  of,   with   Jam.'iica.  326:   trade   of.   with   Jap.iii. 


INTEENATIONAL    COMMEECIAL    CONGEESS 


441 


8l,  109,  no.  III,  112,  113,  IIS,  122,  357;  trade  of,  with  Lee- 
ward Islands,  329;  trade  of,  with  Mexico,  16,  260;  trade  of, 
with  New  South  Wales,  39,  48;  trade  of,  with  New  Zealand, 
54.  58;  trade  of,  with  Norway,  230;  trade  of,  with  Panama, 
258,  348;  trade  of,  with  Paraguay,  251;  trade  of,  with  Peru, 
2/6,  277;  trade  of,  with  Philippine  Islands.  206;  trade  of,  with 
Queensland,  62,  64:  trade  of.  with  Russia,  290;  trade  of,  with 
Siberia.  95;  trade  of,  with  South  America,  151,  246,  247,  249, 
301.  349;  trade  of,  with  Spain,  293,  296;  trade  of,  with  Swe- 
den. 247;  trade  of,  with  Three  Rivers,  Canada.  317;  trade 
of,  with  Uruguay,  301;  trade  of,  with  Venezuela,  242;  trade  of, 
per  capita,  with  British  West  Indies,  Canada,  Central  Amer- 
ica, Mexico  and  South  America,  25;  trade  of,  per  capita,  with 
Canada,  347;  trade  of,  carried  in  European  ships,  283;  trade 
relations  between  Panama  and,  349;  trade-mark  agreement 
of.  with  Brazil,  312;  trade-mark  agreements  of,  with  foreign 
countries,  311;  trade-mark  agreements  of.  with  Latin-Ameri- 
can countries.  312;  trade-mark  law  of,  304;  trade-marks  in, 
number  registered,  304;  transportation  facilities  between  Haiti 
and.  298;  transportation  facilities  between  Jamaica  and,  326, 
327;  transportation  facilities  between  Japan  and,  122;  trans- 
portation facilities  between  Mexico  and,  261;  transportation 
of  iron  and  steel  in.  368;  travelers  of,  needed  in  Argentine 
Republic,  237;  travelers  of,  needed  in  Costa  Rica,  265;  trust 
question  in,  162;  trusts  in,  development  of,  246;  variation  of 
bushel  measure  in.  174;  wages  in,  231;  wealth  of,  213;  wealth 
of,  compared  with  foreign  countries,  213;  wheat  and  rye  ex- 
ports and  imports  of,  compared,  233;  wheat  land  impoverish- 
ment in,  255. 

United  States  Fisheries  Commission,  experiments  of,  in  Porto 
Rico.  322. 

United  States  navigation  laws,  effect  of,  on  Canada,  11,  34,  36. 

"Universal   Adoption   of  the   Metric   System,"    172. 

Uruguay,  area  of.  302;  banks  of.  301;  cattle  in,  302:  climate  of. 
302;  currency  in.  301;  education  in.  303;  exports  of  bones, 
casings,  glue  stock,  horse  hair  and  tasajo  from,  to  the  United 
States.  301:  exports  of  wool  from.  300;  exports  from,  to  Uru- 
guay, 300;  imports  into,  300;  imports  into,  from  Paraguay. 
251;  imports  into,  from  the  United  States,  300;  increase  of 
sheep  stock  in,  183;  jerked  beef  industry  in.  302;  mineral  re- 
sources of.  302;  need  of  an  American  line  from,  to  the  United 
States.  302;  opportunities  for  capital  in,  302;  parcels  post 
needed  between  United  States  and,  303:  plea  of,  for  free  trade. 
302;  population  of.  302;  rubber  works  in.  302:  reciprocity 
needed  between  the  United  States  and,  302;  sample  warehouse 
suggested  in.  301:  schools  of.  303;  trade  of.  with  the  United 
States.  301;  transportation  facilities  of.  with  the  United  States. 
302;  wool  industry  of,  compared  with  that  of  Australia  and 
New  Zealand.  300;  yellow  fever  in,  303. 

Utah,  production   of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369. 

V. 

Valuation,  difference  in  method  of,  167;  of  transit  goods,  380. 

"Value  and  Importance  of  Trade-Marks  in   Commerce,"   304. 

Value,  discussion  of  invoice,  375,  zi^;  discussion  of  market,  375, 
380,  381. 

"Value  of  the  Export  Trade  when  Pushed,'    231. 

Values,  import,  divergence  in,  164. 

Vanilla,   exports   of,   from    Para.   273. 

Van   Vleet.   P.   G.,  Canada,  347. 

\'egetable   industry  in   Paraguay,  251. 

Vegetables,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  imports  of.  into  the 
Leeward  Islands.  329. 

\'egetation  in  Australia,  2>7- 

Venezuela,  cattle  in,  242;  exports  from,  value.  242;  exports  of 
coflee  from.  242:  exports  of  dressed  beef  from,  242:  grazing 
in.  242;  hemp  industry  in,  242;  imports  into,  per  capita,  from 
the  United  States.  347;  industries  of.  242;  population  of.  242; 
products  of.  242;  trade  of.  with  the  United  States,  242;  trade- 
mark  agreements   of.  with   France  and   Germany,  312. 

Vermicelli,  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329. 

"Victoria  and  Its  Resources."  48. 

Victoria,  butter  inspection  in,  49;  dairy  industry  in,  48;  expen- 
diture of.  48;  exports  from,  48:  exports  of  butter,  leather,  rab- 
bits and  wool  from.  49;  imports  into.  48:  frozen  meat  industry 
in.  4Q;  fruit  industry  in,  49;  gold  mining  in,  48;  leather  industry 
ni.  40;  population  of.  48:  production  of  coal  and  gold  in,  48; 
production  of  wine  in,  49;  production  of  wool  in,  38;  prop- 
erty in.  48;  rabbit  inspection  in.  49:  revenue  of,  48;  trade  of. 
with   Great  Britain,  49;  wine  industry  in,  49. 

Vienna  Export  Academy,  an  ideal  consular  school,  226;  course 
of  instruction  in.  226:  maintenance  of,  226;  objects  of,  226. 

\'ine  culture  in  Chile,  280. 

Vinegar,  imports  of.  into  the  Leeward  Islands.  329. 

\'irgin  Islands,  area  of.  328;  exports  from,  articles  and  value,  328; 
exports  from,  to  the  United  States,  328;  population  of,  328. 


Virginia,   production   of  iron   ore  and   pig   iron   in.  369. 

Volcker,  Dr.,  nitrate  of  soda  expert,  256. 

Vorhees,  Dr..  nitrate  of  soda  expert,  256. 

Vosberg-Rekow,    Germany,  6,  34,  234,  235,  343,  372,  373.  .374,  375. 

376.  in,  379>  380,  382. 
Vossen,  Leo,  Germany,  TiJ,,  234,  372,  374,  401. 

W. 

Waetzoldt,  G.  D.,  Germany,  235,  372,  375,  376,  377,  402. 

Wages,  in  Japan,  360;  in  New  Zealand,  57;   in  the   United  States. 

231- 
Wagner,  Dr.  Paul,  nitrate  of  soda  expert,  256;  experiments  by,  257. 
Wanger,  I.  P.,  United  States.  287,  289.  293,  297,  298,  300. 
Ward.  Geo.  C,  United  States,   121. 
Ward,  J.   K.,  Canada,  30. 
Warehouse,  sample,  proposition  for,  in  China,  82;  proposition  for, 

in   Uruguay,   301;    suggested   for   Panama,   349. 
Warwick,  Charles  F.,  United  States,   159. 
Washington   ceremonies,  ,159. 
Washington.   President,  362. 
Washington,   wheat   crop   of,   217. 
Watches  and  clocks,  trade  in,  in  India,  128. 
Water-power,  of  Norway,  230;  of  Sao  Paulo,  Brazil,  245:  of  Three 

Rivers.  Canada.  316. 
Waterways,  of  Austria-Hungary,  223;   of  Canada,  30;  of  Norway, 

230. 

Waterworks  of  Kobe,  123:  of  Tamaulipas,  Mexico,  263. 

Wattle  bark,  exports  of,  from  Natal,  187. 

Wax.   production   of.   in  Japan.  358. 

Wealth,   of    New   Zealand,    54:    of   North    Queensland,   6^ 

Webb.  Silas   D.,  United  States,  80. 

Webster,  A.  G.,  Tasmania,  344. 

Wedding.   Dr.   Herman.   Germany,  365. 

Weights  and  measures,  legislation  on,  173;  need  of  uniformity  in. 
371:  of  China,  88,  91,  92;  report  of  the  Committee  of  the 
House   of   Commons,    England,   on,    173. 

West  Virginia,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369, 

"Western  Australia,"  71. 

Western  Australia,  area  of,  72;  cattle  industry  in.  72:  climate  of. 
72;  gold  fields  of,  38.  72;  increased  demand  for  manufactured 
goods  in,  73;  industries  and  manufactures  of,  72:  jarrah  wood 
of.  72;  pearl  shelling  in.  72:  population  of,  72;  production  of 
gold  in.  72;  production  of  wool  in,  38;  revenue  of,  yi;  timber 
of,   72;   wood-paving  blocks   in,   74. 

Wharfage  dues   in   Kobe.  Japan,   123. 

Wharton  School  of  Finance  and  Economy,  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania.  143. 

"What  Jamaica  Offers  to  the   United   States,"   317. 

Wheat  and  rye.  comparison  of  exports  and  imports  of,  in  Alge- 
ria, Argentine  Republic,  Australia.  Austria-Hungary,  Bulga- 
ria. Egypt.  Roumania.  Russia.  Servia.  Turkey  and  the  United 
States.  233,  234. 

Wheat  crop,  of  Austria-Hungary,  223;  of  California,  217;  of  New- 
South  Wales.  40;  of  Oregon  and  Washington,  217. 

Wheat,  cultivation  of.  in  Persia.  121;  decline  in  price  of.  282; 
duty  on,  in  France.  Italy  and  Portugal,  233;  e.xports  of.  from 
Roumania  and  Russia.  2:>,y.  exports  of.  from  the  United 
States.  205.  233;  imports  of.  into  Europe,  204:  imports  of. 
into  Great  Britain.  234:  imports  of.  into  Leeward  Islands. 
329;  imports  of.  into  Spain.  295:  production  of,  in  .A.lgcria. 
."Vrgentine  Republic,  Australia,  Austria-Hungary.  British  In- 
dia. Bulgaria.  Canada.  Chile  and  Europe.  233;  production  of. 
in  Japan,  358;  production  of.  in  New  South  Wales,  38:  pro- 
duction of.  in  North  West  United  States.  282:  production 
of,  in  Roumania.  Russia,  Servia.  Turkey  and  the  United 
States,  2T^y.  shipment  of,  from  the  Columbia  River  \'alley. 
United  States,  217;  shipment  of.  from  Minnesota.  216,  282: 
shipment  of,  from  Montana,  216,  282;  shipment  of,  from 
North  Dakota,  216,  282;  shipment  of,  from  South  Dakota,  282. 

Wheat   industry   in   South   Australia,  69. 

Wheat  fields,  use  of  nitrate  of  soda  on,  255. 

Wheat  land,  impoverishment  of.  in  the  United  States,  255. 

Wheeler.  Dr..  nitrate  of  soda  expert.  256. 

\^'heeIock,  Thomas  R.,  China,  83,  401. 

Whellams,  C.  J.,  United  States.  99,   157.  221,  287,  334. 

White  race,  in  the  tropics,  321. 

Williger,  J.  W.  G.,  Germany,  401. 

Wilson.  Dr.  Wm.  P.,  3.  4.  8.  18,  19.  Z2.  34.  35.  36.  40.  42.  48. 
49.  S3,  55.  58,  60,  61,  63,  71,  Ti,  74,  79,  80,  99,  107,  118,  130, 
131.  148,  150.  152,  153,  154.  155.  156.  157.  158.  159,  160,  176. 
187,  188.  203,  219,  220,  221,  222,  230,  234.  236,  252.  258,  259, 
262,  263,  277,  286.  287,  304,  315,  316,  317,  320,  325,  334,  335, 
336,  337.  338.  339.  340,  341.  342.  345- 

Wine,  exports   of,  from   Italy  to  the   United   States,  288;   exports 


442 


INDEX   TO    THE   PROCEEDINGS    OF   THE 


of,  from  Spain,  294;  export's  of,  froin  Victoria,  49;  imports  of, 
into  the  Leeward  Islands,  329;  imports  of,  into  Mexico,  259; 
imports  of,  into  Mexico,  from  the  United  States,  260;  im- 
ports of,  into  New  Zealand,  56;  production  of,  in  Persia,  121; 
production  of,  in  Victoria,  49. 

Wine   industry,   of  Spain,  295;   of  Victoria,  49. 

Wine  trade  of  Spain,  295. 

Winsmore,   Robert  J.,   Nicaragua,   Central    .America.   402. 

Wirth,   Edmund,    Germany,   235,   372,   375,   376,   382. 

Wisconsin,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369. 

Wise,  Morris  S.,   United  States,  309. 

Witte,  M.  de,  Russian  Minister  of  Finance,  215. 

Wittenoom,  Mr.,  Western  Australia,  71. 

Wolf,  J.  E.  de,  Canada,  417. 

Woman  suffrage,  in  New  Zealand,  54;  in  South  Australia,  70. 

Wood  and  manufactures  of,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  29;  exports 
of,  from  Norway,  230;  imports  of,  into  the  Leeward  Islands, 
329- 

Wood,  dye,  drug,  and  cabinet,  of  Bolivia,  278. 

Wood   paving   blocks   of   Western    Australia,   74. 

Wood  pulp,  exports  of,  from  Canada,  230;  exports  of,  from  Nor- 
way, 230;  exports  of,  from  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  317;  ex- 
ports of.  from  the  United  States,  230. 

Wood  textiles,  imports  of,  into  Mexico,  259. 

Wool,  clianges  in  the  value  of,  183;  consumption  of,  in  the  United 
States,  184;  countries  exporting,  182;  exports  of,  from  Ar- 
gentine Republic,  181,  184.  240;  exports  of,  from  the  Argen- 
tine Republic,  to  Belgium,  France,  Germany,  Great  Britain 
and  Italy,  184;  exports  of,  from  the  United  States,  184,  185; 
exports  of,  from  Cape  Colony  to  Great  Britain,  and  the 
United  States,  186;  exports  of,  from  Natal,  187;  exports  of, 
from  New  South  Wales,  40;  exports  of,  from  New  Zealand, 
56;  exports  of,  from  South  Australia,  13:  exports  of,  from 
Queensland,  65;  exports  of,  from  Uruguay,  300;  imports  of, 
into  Spain,  295;  imports  of,  into  the  United  States,  185; 
method  of  selling,  in  Argentine  Republic,  184;  production  of, 
declining.  182;  production  of.  in  Australia,  38,  183;  produc- 
tion of.  in  New  South  Wales.  38,  44;   production  of.  in   New 


Zealand,  38,  56;  production  of,  in  Persia,  121:  production  of, 

in  Queensland,  38;  production  of,  in  River  Plate  country,  183; 

production   of,    in    South     Australia,   Tasmania.   Victoria,    and 

Western  Australia,  38;  production  of,  in    the    United    States, 

182;  tariff  of  the  United  States  on,  184. 
Wool  industry,  of  Australia,  New  Zealand  and  Uruguay,  compared, 

300;  of  South  Australia,  69. 
Woolen   goods,   exports  of,  from   Spain,   56,  294,  295;   exports  of, 

from   United  States,   185. 
Woolen  goods  industry  of  New  Zealand,  57. 
Woolson,  A.   M..  United  States,  32. 
World,   a   market   for   American   iron   and   steel,   31;    bread   eaters 

of,   233;   coffee   production   of.   243;   population   of,   233;   trade 

of,  290;  wheat  exports  of  the,  233. 
Wright.   Carroll    D..    United   States,    167,    170. 
Wulff,    Enrique,    Bolivia,    196,   278,   402. 
Wu  Ting  Fang.  China,  13,  97,  105. 
Wyoming,  production  of  iron  ore  and  pig  iron  in,  369. 


Yamamoto.  K.,  Japan,   122. 

Yang-tse  Valley  and  the  Burmah   Railway,   195. 

Yarn,  cotton,  imports  of,  into  Spain,  295. 

Yauli,   Peru,   mining   district   in.   276. 

Yellow  fever,  in  Uruguay.  303;  proposed  treaty  concerning.  ,^03. 

Yensen.    Carlos.    Spain,   287.   402. 

Verba  Mate  industry,  of  Parana.  Brazil.  274:  of  Paraguay.  250. 

Yokohama,    Japan,    trade    of,    compared    with    Kobe,    Japan,    anr 

Shanghai,   China.    123. 
Young.   Captain,  developer  of  Jamaica,  325. 
Yung   Kwai,  China,  402. 

Z. 

Zacaton,  root,  exports  of,  from  Mexico,  259. 

Zertuche,  Segundo,   Mexico,  402. 

Zimmerman.  John  C.  Argentine  Republic.  239.  258.  343. 

Zinc  ore.  production  of.  in   Sweden.  297. 

Zones  of  Chile,  269. 


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